Les Luthiers

Les-Luthiers is a comedy-musical group from Argentina, very popular also in several other Spanish speaking countries such as Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Uruguay and Venezuela. They were formed in 1967 by Gerardo Masana, during the height of a period of very intense choral activity in Argentina's state universities. Their outstanding characteristic are the home-made musical instruments (hence the name luthiers, French for "musical instrument maker"), some of them extremely sophisticated, which they skillfully employ in their recitals to produce music and texts full of high class and refined humor. Since 1980 they have had collaboration from Roberto Fontanarrosa, a renowned Argentine cartoonist and writer.

Informal Instruments

The group's first home-made musical instrument, the bass-pipe a vara (a sort of trombone), was created by Gerardo Masana, the founder of the group, by joining cardboard tubes found in the garbage and domestic items. Forty years later, this instrument is still being used on stage.

The first informal instruments were relatively simple, like the Gum-Horn, made with a hose, a funnel and a trumpet's mouthpiece, and some of them were born as a parody of musical instruments, which is the case of the latín and the violata among others.

As time went by Carlos Iraldi became a member of the group, and as "Les Luthiers' luthier", he continued with the creation of strange instruments, like the mandocleta, a bicycle whose rear wheel moves the strings of a mandolin; the bajo barríltono, a Double bass whose body is a giant barrel, and so on.

After Iraldi's death in 1995 Hugo Domínguez took his place, and made instruments such as the desafinaducha, the nomeolbídet etc.

Members

* Carlos López Puccio
* Jorge Maronna
* Marcos Mundstock
* Carlos Núñez Cortés
* Daniel Rabinovich

Former members

* Gerardo Masana, founder (died in 1973)
* Ernesto Acher (left the group in 1986)

Source