Rodolfo Agrella

Rodolfo Agrella came up in Buenos Aires during the 1970s, when the local rock scene was taking shape. He grew up around music, his father was a gaucho singer, and he listened to a mix of folk, rock, and blues, from Argentine voices like Mercedes Sosa to international figures like Bob Dylan and The Beatles.

In 1982, he started the band No Santo Lugar with Juan Soto on guitar, Julio Agrella on bass, and Miguel Angel Aguilar on drums. Their self-titled debut came out in 1984, and the title track 'No Santo lugar' turned into a kind of anthem, a ballad about forbidden love that connected with a lot of people in Argentina at the time. The record did well enough that the band toured around South America.

He faced censorship and even spent time in prison for songs that criticized the government. He kept writing through that, though, and later tracks like 'Aba Pai' and 'Deus do Impossível' continued in a similar vein, plainspoken, spiritually tinged folk-rock that didn't shy away from harder themes.