Rockdrigo González

Rodrigo González, (December 25, 1950 – September 19, 1985), better known as Rockdrigo or El profeta del nopal ("The Nopal Prophet"), was a Mexican singer-songwriter. He died at age 35 with his girlfriend, Francoise Bardinet, when the apartment building in which he was living collapsed in the Mexico City earthquake of September 19, 1985. His early death made him a legend in Mexican rock.[1]

Rodrigo González
Cover of the album Hurbanistorias
Background information
Birth nameRodrigo Eduardo González Guzmán
Also known asRockdrigo, El Profeta del Nopal
Born(1950-12-25)December 25, 1950
Tampico, Tamaulipas, Mexico
DiedSeptember 19, 1985(1985-09-19) (aged 34)
Mexico City, Mexico
GenresFolk, rock, blues.
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter, author.
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, harmonica.
Years active1979–1985
LabelsEdiciones Pentagrama
Associated actsMovimiento Rupestre, Javier Bátiz
Websiterockdrigo.com.mx

Biography

Rodrigo was born in Tampico, Tamaulipas.[2] He studied psychology for a brief time at the Universidad Veracruzana in Xalapa before moving to Mexico City in 1977 with the desire to make music.[3]

He arrived to the capital and began playing in bars and cafés. At first, he survived by singing covers in the streets of the city "in the English style." Over time, he began to create an oeuvre from his experiences on the streets.[3]

The lyrics of Rockdrigo mixed the urban lifestyle with the troubles of the urban poor, and found many listeners among students.[1][4] His songs could also be tender, such as "Metro Balderas," the ballad about a man who has lost his lover, and hijacks a subway train.[1]

Glasses and broken guitar that belonged to Rockdrigo, found in the debris of the building which he lived in Mexico City.

In the early 1980s he and other musicians including Rafael Catana, Jaime Lopez, and Roberto Ponce founded the La Liga de Musicos Errantes y Cantantes Rupestres (The League of Wandering Musicians and Prehistoric Cavemen Singers) which became known as the Movimiento Rupestre, a folk music scene that strongly influenced Mexican rock for the next ten years or so.[1][2][4] Their music was similar to the Nueva canción movement in protesting social conditions, but unlike Nueva canción, they used street slang in their lyrics, were not overtly political, and drew on U.S. folk music instead of traditional Mexican instruments and sounds.[1] Rockdrigo wrote the manifesto for the group.[3]

In 1983 the novelist José Agustín said that Rockdrigo had "achieved what is, for me, an extraordinary accomplishment: making Spanish sound perfect, truly natural in rock'n'roll....From the beginning I thought that Rodrigo González was our version of Bob Dylan with a sense of humor."[5]

At the time of his death he was living in an apartment in the Unidad Tlatelolco, which was devastated by the 1985 earthquake.[1] After his death musicians would gather at the Metro Balderas station on September 19 to commemorate him and the earthquake and sing his songs.[1]

He was survived by a daughter, Amandititita, who became a cumbia singer and songwriter. In 2011 she and others unveiled a statue of Rockdrigo at the Metro Balderas station.[6]

Music

As of 2007 there were four collections of his music:[1]

Posthumous:

Films

References
  1. Hernandez, Mark (2007). "Chronicles of Mexico City Life: The Music of Rockdrigo González". Studies in Latin American Popular Culture. 26: 63–78. ISSN 0730-9139.
  2. Castillo, Oscar (September 19, 2016). "Rockdrigo González: protagonista del rock mexicano". La Izquierda Diario (in Spanish).
  3. HG, Eduardo (September 23, 2017). "La profecía de Rockdrigo González – La Razón". La Razón (in Spanish).
  4. Bárcenas, Arturo Cruz (March 21, 2013). "Los músicos del movimiento rupestre, eslabón perdido del rock". La Jornada (in Spanish).
  5. Berthier, Hector Castillo (2004). "My Generation". In Hernandez, Deborah Pacini; l'Hoeste, Héctor D. Fernández; Zolov, Eric (eds.). Rockin' Las Américas: The Global Politics of Rock in Latin/o America. University of Pittsburgh Press. p. 250. ISBN 9780822972556.
  6. Net, Nuria (September 21, 2017). "La hija de Rockdrigo González revive la trágica muerte de su padre en el terremoto en México". Univision.
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