Gustavo Cerati: the tremor is not over yet

If you’re a Soda Stereo fan or simply like good music, outstanding artists hold a tribute today 

By Julio Nakamurakare
Herald staff

Lilian Clark was there and witnessed the moment when her son Gustavo improvised the first chords of what would become one of Soda Stereo’s biggest hits: Cuando pase el temblor. No-one is able to tell her, of all people, who the composer of Soda Stereo’s emblematic songs was, Clark assured in an interview earlier this year. The temblor anecdote is valid and very telling: a very young Cerati played the song’s infectious introduction in the family home in Villa Urquiza for her mother to listen. She did. She approved. Enthusiastically. The song, years later, became one of Soda’s best-loved rock-fusion songs. 
Cerati, the former Soda Stereo frontman and solo artist hailed as the most influential artist in the so-called rock en español  movement, will be given a most fitting tribute tomorrow at the Palermo Planetarium as part of the Ciudad Emergente 2015 arts festival segment honouring the late musician.
Held over four days at the Recoleta Cultural Centre, the Cerati tribute wraps up with outstanding artists like Richard Coleman, Leandro Fresco, Fernando Nalé, Gonzalo Córdoba and Martín Carrizo plus guest performers.  Featured at the Planetario show will be Benito Cerati, Leo García, Miranda!, Banda de Turistas, Fernando Ruiz Díaz and Walas (Massacre), among others.
“We are not going to play Soda Stereo’s songs,” Coleman said in an interview, meaning that the original arrangements will be respected. “We will perform Gus’ songs from his last two tours, his phase as a solo artist. We intend to perform them as we did with him, there will be no adaptations, as much as this is possible,” he added.
In an interview with the Spanish-language version of Rolling Stone magazine, Cerati’s former touring musicians agreed not to go back to that painful moment — May 2010 in Venezuela — when Cerati suffered a massive CVA that left him into a four-year-long coma from which he never recovered.
“This is a positive moment, filled with happiness. Let’s not deal with the ugly, with the horrendous; it makes no sense,” Coleman said in the RS interview. Recalling the Cerati tribute inception, Coleman, in an emotion-filled statement, said that, “It was a huge responsibility for me. My intention was to take this opportunity to make a present to Gus, as the musicians who performed with him through all these years will be there.” Sunday’s show, then, rather than a recreation of Soda Stereo, will reflect the tribute performers’ work with Cerati, moving forward so that the late musician’s output reaches down to the audience, highlighting his presence rather than his absence, according to Coleman. “His presence gradually became stronger and stronger in our music,” Córdoba explained.

When and Where
Gustavo Cerati Tribute — Ciudad Emergente 2015 arts festival. On Sunday, June 21 at 7pm at Palermo’s Planetario. Tel: 4771-6629. On the Web: www.planetario.gov.ar. Earlier during the day,  Cerati’s fans will be able to enjoy the Recoleta Cultural Centre’s exhibition on the musician’s life and legacy (Junín 1930). Free admission.