Guatemalan rock

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Guatemalan Rock or Rock Chapín is a genre of rock music which has been developing in Guatemala since the mid 1960s.

[edit] Guatemalan Rock Music

The rock movement with Spanish texts began in Guatemala in the mid 1960s. One of the first representatives of the rock movement was Luis Galich, with his band Santa Fé, who played gigs and concerts in Guatemala City and some of the towns. Bands like Plástico Pesado, later renamed Quetzalumán, were more on the side of the experimental. Other psychedelic bands of that time included S.O.S. (Rony de Leon, Chepito Hope, David de Gandarias), Caballo Loco, Apple Pie (Tito Henkle, Luis Zetina, Rico Molina & Gentry), Cuerpo y Alma, Banda Clásica, Cerebro, La Compañía, Siglo XX, Eclipse, and Pastel de Fresa. One remarkable milestone was the unprecedented creation in 1973-74 of the rock opera Corazón del sol naciente (Heart of the Sunrise) by Sol Naciente, a large youth group formed by dancers, solo vocalists, an extended chorus, as well as band which included Guatemalan percussion instruments besides "unplugged" acoustical guitars, piano, and solo violin. Some of the band members later formed the group Alción.

A unique case in the rock scene is the rock band Sobrevivencia from Huehuetenango whose lyrics are sung in Mam, a Mayan language spoken in the Guatemalan northwest.

In Guatemala City, rock bands such as Radio Viejo, Ricardo Andrade y los últimos adictos (which disbanded when their leader, Ricardo Andrade, was murdered in Zacapa), Bohemia Suburbana, Viernes Verde, and Viento en Contra have enjoyed popularity among high-school and college students during the 1990s. Viento en Contra are still around, backing the campaigns of a certain presidential candidate, thus adding a political component to their rock gigs and recordings.

Another band that was popular during the 1980s and 90s was Alux Nahual, one of the Spanish lyrics writing and singing rock bands, that has published a number of recordings in Guatemala.

Some of the bands of Guatemalan rock active in the present are El Tambor de la Tribu, Malacates Trebol Shop, La Gran Calabaza, El Clubo, Viento en Contra, Extincion, Legión, and Vitriolo.