Congreso -

Congreso are a Chilean folk-rock band that has released 17 studio albums since 1971. The band are most renown internationally for their ’80s-era string of symphonic/jazz/folk albums such as Viaje por la Cresta del Mundo (1981) and Pájaros de Arcilla (1984). Over the years, the band has endured with its native Quilpué audience with a mix of politics and poetry set to music.

Members: Fernando González (guitar), Patricio González (guitar, violoncello, charango, spring guiro), Fernando Hurtado (bass), Sergio González (drums, percussion, piano, guitar), Francisco Sazo (vocals, recorder, rondador, tarka), Renato Vivaldi (flute, tarka, rondador), Joe Vasconcellos (vocals, percussion, trutruca, tarka, zampoña), Hugo Pirovich (flute, recorder, melodica, tarka, vocals), Ricardo Vivanco (marimba, percussion), Ernesto Holman (bass), Aníbal Correa (piano), Jaime Atenas (saxophone, flute, clarinet), Jaime Vivanco (piano, synthesizer), Jorge Campos (bass), Raúl Aliaga (percussion)

Background

Congreso formed in 1969 in Quilpué, Chile, when former Los Sicodélicos singer Francisco Sazo joined the Los Masters lineup of bassist Fernando Hurtado, drummer Sergio “Tilo” González, and guitarists Fernando and Patricio González.

Fernando learned basic guitar in a workshop at Colegio Rubén Castro in Valparaíso and taught Patricio at the family home. Sergio started on a homemade drum kit assembled from tins and household objects while still a child. The brothers recorded a home version of Los Teen Tops’ “Buen rock esta noche” on a Grundig tape machine in 1963, then formed an instrumental quartet with cousin Carlos Rodríguez. The quartet used the names Los Jets and Los Stereos until singer Patricio Hevia joined late in 1964, when the group became Patricio Hevia y Los Masters.

Los Masters debuted in February 1965 at the Carnaval del Sol in Quilpué. They recorded sessions for Valparaíso radio stations and appeared on Discomanía, the Santiago program hosted by Ricardo García. Los Masters opened for Italian singer Ennio Sangiusto at the early-1966 Viña del Mar Song Festival. Fernando Hurtado replaced Rodríguez on bass that year and joined the first Pleno single, “En la quietud de la noche” (b/w “Mirándote a los ojos”). EMI-Odeón issued two further Los Masters singles in 1968 under the group name.

Sazo followed a separate path through the Quilpué school-band circuit. He sang and played bass in The Growlings, a quartet that manager Mario Marín renamed Los Sicodélicos after a 1967 performance at the Sindicato de Estibadores in Valparaíso. Los Sicodélicos recorded the 1968 Orpal album Sicodelirium and appeared regularly on UCV Canal 8 program Go-In-Go. The group used ocarina, charango, cascahuillas, trompe, and quena alongside electric beat-band instrumentation.

The Los Masters instrumentalists continued together after the group name lapsed in 1969, initially with former Los Sicodélicos guitarist Waldo Morales as singer. Sazo replaced Morales ahead of the first formal Congreso recital at 11 a.m. on Aug. 24, 1969, in Teatro Velarde, Quilpué. Congreso developed Spanish-language originals and combined electric rock instruments with recorders, charango, and Andean aerophones.

Fernando González set the Pablo Neruda poem “Maestranzas de noche” from Crepusculario to music as part of the new repertoire. Congreso presented the arrangement to EMI-Odeón artistic director Jorge Oñate, who approved a recording. Odeón issued “Maestranzas de noche” in 1970 (b/w “El cóndor pasa”). Sazo wrote a new Spanish lyric for the Daniel Alomía Robles composition on the B-side. EMI-Odeón followed in 1971 with “Vamos andando, mi amigo” (b/w “Rompe tu espada, vive la vida”). The company then moved the quintet into album sessions for the 1971 debut El Congreso.

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