Rodondendro Mariñansky was a musician from the Brazilian Chaco, who moved to the Argentine Chaco, El Chaco.
His days in Chaco went by playing an -as original as exotic- instrument called 'verdulera', sort of Italian accordion, but smaller, and with a screeching, characteristic sound.
His days in Chaco went by playing an -as original as exotic- instrument called 'verdulera', sort of Italian accordion, but smaller, and with a screeching, characteristic sound.
In 1976 Rodondendro formed a band: 'Los Caú', they played a typical folklore, chamamé, a mixture of Polish polka with something un-decipherable.
He recruited some people of the zone, mixture of circus troupe and desperadoes, among them, an Ukranian bloke who was escaping from the law, due to some murders he committed in the Matto Grosso, where he burnt alive two men, using, as combustible, a spirituous beberage called 'Caña Legui', and 1 match.
The band started playing the traditional, picaresque tunes of the folklore of Chaco, they rolled all along the province of Chaco, enduring days of 55ºc in the shade, and drinking 'vino Resero'.
They were transporting all the instruments and amps in an old van 'Estanciera' 1950: one burning afternoon, Rodondendro heard something on the radio of the van, that opened his eyes.
It was 'Love her all I can' by KISS: the tatty speakers of the Estanciera were almost blowing away with the alienated rock and roll: Rodondendro jumped like a perturbed off the van, and sat down there, on a cut log of quebracho, to ruminate deeply all this, whilst drank a boiling maté, though the barometric record reached that afternoon the 66ºc.
After being thinking during all the afternoon long, he finally shouted something that the rest of the band couldn't understand exactly what it was: he decided to give his band a drastic stylistic shift, they would start being a band of KISS covers, but in chamamé versions: so they bought all the KISS cassettes in a store of Resistencia, store where were sold vinyls and tapes which were pirated in contraband from Pelotas, Brazil, and which were as well transported from the guerilla front in Colombia, in large caravan of trucks, Scania Vavis.
As Rodondendro saw on the 'Dressed to kill' cover the members of the band of NYC with their faces painted and wearing suits, so he imitated every detail: suits and make-up for his band, too.
The tours around Chaco became feverish and unexpected things happened, like one night, when someone did loose a mad tapir in the middle of the show, and the enraged animal hopped over the stage, pushing everyone's way through with furious haste, even the amps. The gig ended with everybody under arrest, even the musicians, who were transported toward la commissariat in a Fiat 600.
Their first album: 'Hotter than mulatta in carnival', sold the astonishing number of 500 copies; released by the microscopic Discos de La Concha label: on the cover could be seen the five members of Los Caú wearing the make-up, and correctly dressed with their suits under an abrasive sun, in the infernal 75ºc of the Chaco's afternoon.
The next year, with the release of 'The kings of the tropical chamamé', they started wearing some curious top hats:
apparently time later, the strange Danish musician-singer-performer-whatever: King Diamond, stole them the whole concept, and formed the acclaimed band of black metal MERCYFUL FATE: during the tour of a Danish contingent, that visited Chaco in 1979, Diamond could see a show of Los Caú, and got strongly shocked; but this is only a rumour.
But the truth is that the next year, Diamond was already seen on the streets of Copenhagen wearing a top hat and make-up, in front of the dumbfounded neighbours, who couldn't understand this extravagant behaviour.
Very strange, strange things.
Nobody knows what happened with Rodondendro Mariñansky; there are several theories, let's see:
Some biographers assure that Rodondendro, in front of a succulent sum he owed to the drummer (18.000.000.000 of patacas of Macao), escaped to the Brazilian planalto of Matto Grosso in the night, being subsequently shattered and devoured by strange entities in the jungles; others, instead, do affirm that he hid himself into the woods of Chaco (El Impenetrable), and was haunted by the owls and the witches of El Impenetrable, until he lost his mind, and turned into a sort of wild beast with human appearance, and wings of swan.
In those profound sub-tropical forests of Chaco, called EL IMPENETRABLE, do live unclassified creatures, they say; like the weeping women-angels, and the witch-tree: 'La Lechiguana'.
Other people simply say that Rodondendro was driven by ..... towards ... .... one summer night.
.
