Aquelarre -

Aquelarre was an Argentine hard-rock/psych band that released four albums between 1974 and 1975 on the Trova and Talent labels. Bassist Emilio Del Güercio and drummer Rodolfo García hailed from local rock pioneers Almendra.

Members: Emilio Del Güercio (bass, guitar, flute, vocals), Héctor Starc (guitar, vocals), Rodolfo García (drums, vocals), Hugo González Neira (keyboards, vocals)

Background

After Almendra split in 1970, Rodolfo García approached guitarist Héctor Starc about forming a new group. Emilio Del Güercio joined soon after and the trio commenced rehearsals. At the same time, Starc remained active with the Héctor Starc Trío (with Black Amaya and Machi Rufino) and built a profile on the Buenos Aires jam circuit, where contemporary press attached the nickname “Bola de Ruido” to his high-volume, insistent approach.

As an unnamed trio, García, Starc, and Del Güercio appeared in June 1970 in the Música Beat cycle at Teatro IFT, then played the “Recital de las Antorchas” event in Parque Lezama, which ended with a police intervention. In September they took the stage at Teatro Margarita Xirgu under the banner “rock Experimental” with invited musicians; keyboardist Hugo González Neira—already linked to the local scene through work with Litto Nebbia—joined the lineup from that point, completing a quartet in which all four members composed and sang.

By 1971 the group’s live profile rose further, including an appearance during the second edition of B.A. Rock and a year-ending bill at Cine Pueyrredón de Flores (December 18, 1971) alongside Luis Alberto Spinetta, Edelmiro Molinari, and Gabriela. The band now operated under the name Aquelarre (Coven)—locking in the personnel and shared-writing framework that carried into their eventual first album.

Aquelarre

Aquelarre released their self-titled debut album in June 1972 on Trova.

The album runs just under forty minutes across six extended pieces, keeping a raw, worked-in sound while moving between heavier electric passages and quieter, folk-leaning sections led by acoustic instruments. Guitarist Héctor Starc’s distorted Gibson Les Paul and keyboardist Hugo González Neira’s Hammond organ and clavinet set the front-line contrast, trading weight and sustain against sharper, keyed figures while bassist Emilio Del Güercio and drummer Rodolfo García hold a steady underpin that supports the album’s longer instrumental builds.

“Canto, desde el fondo de las ruinas” opens fast and restates its main figures in modified shapes. “Aventura en el árbol” extends the same method into a longer frame, pivoting between riff blocks, brief metric kinks, and open solo space. “Cantemos tu nombre” clears the electric density for a arrangement with Starc on ukulele. Aquelarre rides out with extended passages where biting lead guitar and hard-edged keys swap the foreground from section to section.

A1. “Canto, desde el fondo de las ruinas” [“Song, from the depths of the ruins”] (3:57)
A2. “Yo seré el animal, vos serás mi dueño” [“I’ll be the animal, you’ll be my owner”] (5:17)
A3. “Aventura en el árbol” [“Adventure in the tree”] (8:47)

B1. “Jugador, campos para luchar” [“Gambler, fields to fight for”] (6:53)
B2. “Cantemos tu nombre” [“Let’s sing your name”] (5:25)
B3. “Movimiento” [“Movement”] (7:50)

Aquelarre self-produced the album in March–April 1972 at Estudios ION in Buenos Aires. The basic setup stayed close to the stage lineup—guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards—with minimal playback, captured on four-track tape and completed within roughly ninety hours of recording and mixing time.

Candiles

Aquelarre released their second album, Candiles, in January 1973 on Trova.

Candiles (Lamps) shifts from the debut’s guitar-led attack toward a more keyboard-shaped framework, with keyboardist Hugo González Neira’s Hammond, clavinet, Pianet, and piano supplying much of the color and detail. Guitarist Héctor Starc cuts through with long-form solo space—especially on the instrumental “Patos trastornados”—while bassist Emilio Del Güercio and drummer Rodolfo García keep a firm underpin, opening room for multi-voice vocal writing and specific timbral turns such as Del Güercio’s flute.

“Cruzando la Calle” establishes that balance with a restrained pulse, layered keys, and close-set vocals, then pivots through angular turns and abrupt sectional cuts. “Hermana vereda” stacks multi-voice lines, then tilts the texture with electronic accents and flute, while “Miren a ese imbécil” builds its impact on sudden rhythm resets and tight stop-start breaks.

“Patos Trastornados” expands into an instrumental of shifting meters, hard edits, and extended guitar roaming over cycling figures, with repetition used to stretch and compress the solo space. “Iluminen La Tierra” closes at a slower pace, widening the harmonic frame and settling into a reflective fade, while “Cuentos Tristes” holds attention through carefully shaped contours and small harmonic moves that generate lift without a volume spike.

A1. “Cruzando la calle” [“Crossing the street”] (6:16)
A2. “Soplo nuestro” [“Our breath”] (4:36)
A3. “Hermana vereda” [“Sister sidewalk”] (3:43)
A4. “Cuentos tristes” [“Sad stories”] (3:37)

B1. “Miren a este imbécil” [“Look at this idiot”] (5:38)
B2. “Patos trastornados” [“Deranged ducks”] (6:23)
B3. “Iluminen la tierra” [“Light up the earth”] (8:24)

Aquelarre self-produced the album in September–October 1972 at Estudios ION. The cover reproduces part of one of Francisco Goya’s “Black Paintings,” linking the album’s presentation to the “El aquelarre” imagery associated with the name.

Later in 1973, issued a standalone single:

A. “Violencia en el Parque” [“Violence in the Park”] (5:20)
B. “Ceremonias Para Disolver” [“Ceremonies to Dissolve”] (3:28)

Brumas

Aquelarre released their third album, Brumas, in February 1974 on Talent.

Brumas absconds their earlier heaviness for jazz and folk inflections and more eclectic arrangements, replete with live-in-the-room tension. Guitarist Héctor Starc and keyboardist Hugo González Neira work in close counterpoint—Starc moving between sustained, noisy lead lines and tighter figures while González Neira layers clavinet and organ color—over a backbone anchored by Emilio Del Güercio and Rodolfo García, with additional orchestral direction and arrangement on the title track credited to Rodolfo Alchourrón.

Side A stays quiet and acoustic-leaning, with a pastoral tone, vocals pushed forward, and pacing that remains unhurried even as the harmony shifts into sharper turns. Lead vocals rotate across the lineup—Héctor Starc carries one track, and Rodolfo García takes the lead on “Silencio marginal”—while Hugo González Neira sings less prominently than on the prior albums. Side B moves into a more electric frame and longer forms, opening with “Milagro de pueblo,” where guitar and organ build over a steady low-end underpinning, then open into extended solo passages.

“Brumas en la bruma” pairs surreal, nature-focused lyrics with an added orchestral arrangement that expands the texture, and the standalone single “Violencia en el parque” / “Ceremonias para disolver” emphasizes abrupt sectional pivots and active arrangement shifts.

A1. “Parte del día” [“Part of the day”] (6:09)
A2. “Silencio marginal” [“Marginal silence”] (3:29)
A3. “Aniñada” [“Childlike”] (3:53)
A4. “Brumas en la bruma” [“Mists in the mist”] (3:52) — Aquelarre , Alchourrón

B1. “Milagro de pueblo” [“Village miracle”] (8:07)
B2. “Aves rapaces” [“Birds of prey”] (3:41)
B3. “Mirando adentro” [“Looking inward”] (5:56)

Aquelarre self-produced the album between September and December 1973 at Estudios Phonalex. The 1997 Brumas CD reissue adds “Violencia en el parque” and “Ceremonias para disolver,” both from the 1973 standalone single.

Siesta

Aquelarre released their fourth album, Siesta, in October 1975 on Talent.

Siesta carries a rustic, pastoral profile in both sound and lyric focus, with nature imagery running across the set and giving the material a consistent atmosphere. Guitarist Héctor Starc and keyboardist Hugo González Neira shape the foreground in alternating layers—Starc’s lines moving through longer, shifting sections while González Neira stacks Hammond, clavinet, and ARP 2600 textures—over an underpin held by Emilio Del Güercio and Rodolfo García, with additional color from García’s percussion and vibraphone.

“Pájaro de la locura” opens with keyboards out front, setting the album’s unhurried center, and several tracks keep the rhythm deliberately lethargic, especially across the first half, where simple, acoustic-leaning frameworks carry the writing. The longer instrumental passages draw more movement from the same materials, and “Canto Centrino” turns in its second section, widening the texture as the parts stretch and recombine; the back half holds the same relaxed pulse.

A1. “Pájaro de la locura” [“Bird of madness”] (5:04)
A2. “Árboles caídos para siempre” [“Trees fallen forever”] (3:33)
A3. “Canto cetrino” [“Citrine song”] (3:50)
A4. “Siesta cambiada” [“Changed siesta”] (6:30)

B1. “Cacería en el bosque” [“Hunt in the forest”] (7:57)
B2. “Savia de los aromos” [“Sap of the acacias”] (3:10)
B3. “El hombre cercano” [“The nearby man”] (8:00)

Aquelarre recorded the album at Estudios Phonalex in Buenos Aires and handled composition, arrangements, and production as a unit. Emilio Del Güercio also supplied the cover illustration, with Juan Gatti credited for cover layout and Eduardo Martí for photography, and the original LP back cover prints the full song lyrics.

Postlude

Aquelarre entered the Siesta period as Argentina moved toward the civil–military dictatorship that began a few months after the album’s release, and Héctor Starc later recalled that the group largely avoided censorship pressure. Even so, “Violencia en el parque”—available at the time only as a 1973 single—appeared on radio blacklists, despite not being part of the Siesta album program.

Before Siesta reached stores, the band committed to a Spain tour and treated the move as a last-reset option while internal momentum was fading. Starc described the trip as a practical equalizer—no star treatment, no stage crew, shared load-in duties—and framed it as the factor that briefly re-tightened the unit. In 1977 Aquelarre returned to Buenos Aires for a farewell concert at Luna Park with Carlos Cutaia replacing Hugo González Neira, and the group also issued a best-of release. Final goodbye dates followed in Montevideo, Uruguay, on March 14–16, 1978, closing the band’s original run; soon after, Rodolfo García and Starc formed the jazz-rock group Tantor with bassist Machi Rufino.

Aquelarre resurfaced intermittently through reunions tied to the Argentine rock canon: Rodolfo García organized the “Rock Nacional: 30 años” event that brought the band back onstage in December 1996, followed by an Expo-Rock appearance in 1997 with bassist Machy Madco. Private rehearsals at García’s home led to four Teatro Presidente Alvear shows in December 1998, recorded for Corazones del lado del fuego, and five Teatro Maipo dates in 1999. Starc’s 40-years-in-music concert on October 23, 2004 included an Aquelarre reunion segment, and he repeated the pattern on April 17, 2013 during the launch show for his first solo album at El Roxy, again bringing former bandmates onstage for Aquelarre material.

Across the catalog, the members chose to credit all songs to the band collectively, a decision noted at the time as a rejection of internal spotlighting. Later, Starc identified specific underlying credits for select pieces—naming “Parte del día” and “Aniñada” as his songs, and describing “Mirando adentro” as his music with lyrics by Emilio Del Güercio—while also singling out “Violencia en el parque” as the one track he considered fully co-written by the complete lineup.

Discography: