http://www.argentina.ar/blog/english/">Argentina Blog Inglés

Mariano Otero

Musician

Bassist and composer, Mariano Otero has already recorded six albums being only 33. His first album, A través (Through), was recorded with his octet in 2003. The following year, he released D-Forma (D-Form) with his quintet. Then it came Tres (Three - 2006) and Cuatro (Four - 2007), both with his band. In 2008 it was released Mariano Otero Quinteto en vivo en Medio y Medio (Mariano Otero Quintet live in Half and Half), recorded in Uruguay with his new band formed by Juan Cruz de Urquiza, Rodrigo Domínguez, Francisco Lo Vuolo and Sergio Verdinelli. His latest album, Desarreglos (Derangments), pays tribute to one of the most experienced jazz musicians in Argentina, Walter Malosetti. In 2009 he received the Clarin Award for Best Figure of Argentine Jazz, an award he had already won in 2006.

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Franco Luciani

Musician

Franco Luciani is one of the most remarkable and talented artists of the new generation of Argentine popular musicians. Born in the city of Rosario in 1981, he studied at the University of Rosario (Higher Music Institute) and the Provincial School of Music in the same city. In 2002 he was awarded the Cosquín Revelation Prize. That same year he recorded independently Armusa, his first album. In 2006 he edited Harmonica and tango, with pianist Daniel Godfrey. The following year arrived Acuarela de bolsillo (Pocket Watercolor). In 2009, released the live album of the Sanluca Project, which he shares with Raúl Carnota and Rodolfo Sánchez. At the Cosquín Festival 2010, he won the Consecration Award.

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Pietro Sorba
A journalist, an enogastronomic reviewer and a specialist in culinary history and anthropology

Born in Italy, Pietro Sorba is a journalist, an enogastronomic reviewer and a specialist in food history and anthropology. Since 1992, he has shared his life and work between Argentina, his native country, and other Latin American areas. In 1999 he was one of the responsible people involved in the coming up of the TV signal elgourmet.com. At present he cooperates with the Restaurants Guide of the Italian newspaper L´espresso and runs the food section of Elle Argentina magazine. In 2008, he wrote Bodegones de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires´Inns), which became a best-seller within the food literature. The series goes on with Parrillas de Buenos Aires (Buenos Aires´grill rooms), recently published by Planeta and now he is planning to release a special edition about Buenos Aires pizzerias and also write a book about country stores and ”pulperías” (local stores) with the cooperation of the Cultural Institute of Buenos Aires Province.

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Rodolfo Hamawi
National Director of Cultural Industries.

He is an expert in publishing, cultural management, contemporary philosophy, strategic marketing and export consortium. From 2007 to 2009 he acted as President of the Social and Political Book Committee which belongs to the Argentinean Book Chamber (CAL) and he was in charge of the organization of the Social and Political Book Fair in Buenos Aires city. From 2001 to 2003 he was president of the CAL Foreign Trade Committee.

He has been the Director of Editorial Altamira since 1999. He was the Managing publisher of El Porteño Magazine from 1999 to 2000. Also he worked as Managing Director of Editorial ACME- Robin Hood Collection, principal of the Distributon of cultural magazines DC (Distribuyendo Cultura) and represented the Spanish Association of Cultural Magazines (ARCE).

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Daniel Santoro
Artist.

Artist Daniel Santoro recreates the Peronist mythology symbolic connotations in his works. He was born in Buenos Aires in 1954,and studied at Prilidiano Pueyrredón Fine Arts School and at Osvaldo Attila´studio. He served as scenographer at the Colon Theater between 1980 and 1991,and has exhibited his works in various museums and art galleries. In 2003, the International Art Critics Association (AICA) awarded him the best art book prize for his work entitled Manual del niño peronista (The Textbook of the Peronist Cild). In 1996 he received the Primer Premio Dirección de Museo Fundación Banco Ciudad(Banco Ciudad Foundation First Prize).

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Teresa Parodi
Musician and composer. Director of the Espacio Cultural Nuestros Hijos, settled in the ex ESMA.

Born in Corrientes in 1947,Teresa Parodi is, at present, regarded as one of the top Argentine folk music artists. She was a member of Ástor Piazzolla´s quintet and performed as guest singer in 1979. The following year she launched her first soloist album: Teresa Parodi Desde Corrientes. By mid 80´s, she achieved enormous success with the symbolic Teresa Parodi´s El purajhei in 1984, which included classical songs like “Apuráte José” and “Pedro canoero”. After working with Antonio Tarragó Ros, she launched her album “El otro país” in 1988. While being on several tours all over the world, she performed with Ramona Galarza in a concert known as “Correntinas” in 1993. In 1995 she received the Platinum Konex Prize being acknowledged as the best author/composer of the decade. Later on, she was awarded the “Camín de Oro” prize at Cosquín Festival in 1999. In 2003 she was bestowed the Gardel Prize for her “Soy feliz” album. Her latest album called “Corazón de pájaro”, it was released in 2009, it epitomizes the appearance of new genres and entails a compilation of the songs that left a mark during her youth.

Last October 21, while on a tour in Israel, she planted the first memorial tree to honor Mercedes Sosa´s memory. She had gone with “La Negra” on a famous tour around that country in 2000.

She has been leading the Cultural Undertaking known as Espacio Cultural Nuestros Hijos (EcuNhI) at the Navy Mechanics School (ESMA) since 2008. As to this initiative, it has been boosted by Madres de Plaza de Mayo in an attempt to pay homage to their dead children, and endorse the fight for and protection of the truth, justice and human rights.

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Andrés Di Tella
Film director y scriptwriter.

He directed the documentary Films “Montoneros, una historia” in 1995, “Prohibido” in 1997, “La televisión y yo” in 2003, “Fotografías” in 2007 and “El país del diablo” in 2008. Furthermore, he was awarded the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1996, and was the founder and first director of Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival in 1999. He has been running the Princeton Documentary Festival at Princeton University in the United States since 2002, and that institution has recently published a book about his work comprising: Conversación en Princeton. Andrés Di Tella: and Cine Documental y Archivo Personal edited by Paul Firbas and Pedro Meira Monteiro. As regards the latter, “Cine Documental”, edited by Paulo Antonio Paranagua in Latin America, it definitely causes him to be ranked among this continent´s top 15 documentary filmmakers.

There was a flashback of his work in Lima Festival in August 2009 followed by other flashback scenes depicted in Madrid´s Spanish Film Library and Cataluña Film Library in Barcelona. As to his essays, they have been published as part of different books both in Argentina and abroad.Furthermore, he has been developing a blog also entitled Fotografías: fotografiasdeandresditella.blogspot.com since 2008.

In this blog, he tells us about the photograph development process, answers the question regarding his personal and cultural identity and lets us know about his new initiatives.

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Norma Aleandro
Actress, scriptwriter and theater director.

The film “Anita”, directed by Marcos Carnevale has just released, where she plays the mother of a girl with Down Syndrome who gets lost in the city after the terrorist attack at the AMIA. She also stars in the play “August”, directed by Claudio Tolcachir. And in Daniel Bustamante’s film “Andrés Doesn’t Want to Take a Nap”, has just won the Audience Award at the Montreal Festival. Here, Norma Aleandro - who won awards at Cannes and San Sebastián and starred in the Oscar-winning Argentine film “The Official Story” - gives some advice on building up a character.

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Fernando Martín Peña
A film historian, critic, collector and restorer, Fernando Martín Peña is the head of the Buenos Aires Film Archive and founder of the Association for the Support of the National Cinematheque and Image Archive (APROCINAIN) He’s the former artistic director of the Buenos Aires and Mar del Plata film festivals, and is now the film programmer of the Buenos Aires Museum of Latin American Art (MALBA).

Here, he talks about the release of Mosaico Criollo, an anthology of the Argentine silent film period, which includes 3 DVDs and a book. A joint effort by the “Pablo Ducrós Hicken” Film Museum and the National Film and Audiovisual Arts Institute (INCAA), it was directed by Paula Félix-Didier and Peña himself. A retrospective of this period of local cinema will be screened throughout August.

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Julián Varsavsky
Bachelor´s degree in Communications Sciences granted by the UBA. Journalist at the tourism supplement of Página 12 newspaper since 1998. Journalistic editor at “Recorriendo la Patagonia” magazine since 2007. Producer, scriptwriter and documentary editor. Photographer specialized in tourism.

Julián Varsavsky suggests, by means of a detailed and appealing narrative, an itinerary across Jujuy disclosing landscapes, colours and sounds totally different from the traditional tour in this Northern province. From the Humahuaca ravine to the Puna, with the Casabindo bullfighting as an advisable stop or horse-riding through the Yungas forest, Jujuy is a constant surprise.

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