Opa
Biographie Opa
Opa
The story of Opa begins in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo, where brothers Hugo and Jorge Osvaldo Fattoruso forged their musical roots. In 1963, the Fattorusos formed their first band, Los Shakers (alongside Roberto “Pelín” Capobianco and Carlos “Caio” Vila). Influenced heavily—in both look and sound—by the Beatles, the four-piece enjoyed a wildly successful career in South America, releasing multiple hit albums and helping to establish the region’s psychedelic rock scene. When the group disbanded in 1969, however, Hugo and Jorge were eager to expand their repertoire and formed Opa alongside bassist Ringo Thielmann.
Despite their garage rock roots, the Fattoruso brothers took a different direction with Opa, blending Latin jazz, funk, pop, and rock for their own highly delectable flavor of fusion. The venture also found the brothers taking up new instruments, swapping guitars and vocals for keyboards (Hugo) and drums (Jorge). As the new decade dawned, the trio relocated to New York City, where they caught the ears of the celebrated Brazilian jazz drummer, Airto Moreira.
Moreira—who had also recently settled in the US alongside his wife (jazz singer Flora Purim)—was at the forefront of the fusion scene, playing with the likes of Miles Davis, Return to Forever, and Weather Report. He was immediately taken with Opa—recruiting them for several studio projects, hiring them as his live band, and helping the group sign to the venerable jazz label, Milestone Records.
At the top of 1976, the band went straight to work on their US debut, with Moreira serving as producer. Joining the trio were a handful of high-profile guests, including guitarist David Amaro (Antônio Carlos Jobim, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter) and Brazilian icon Hermeto Pascoal (flute, percussion), while Moreira made several cameos as a percussionist. The result was a Latin jazz-fusion extravaganza, filled with enticing three-part vocalizations, robust rhythms, lush synth textures, and enchanting flute solos.
Among the highlights is opener “Golden Wings,” a funk-forward jam, in which Hugo creates otherworldly sonics through multiple layered keyboards, including the Moog, ARP, and Oberheim. Similarly cosmic is “Totem,” which blends percussive breakdowns with soaring synths. The folk-forward “Corre Niña,”meanwhile would be revisited by the band with Flora Purim on her 1977 LP, Nothing Will Be As It Was...Tomorrow.
Ahead of the aptly titled dancefloor closer, “Groove,” the band delves into an impressive, four-part suite—built around Moreira’s enduring hit, “Tombo.” The album also features two compositions by Uruguayan star Rubén Rada: the joyful “African Bird” and the dreamy, seven-minute-long jam, “Paper Butterflies (Muy Lejo Te Vas).” Not long after, Rada would take an active role as a musician on the band’s 1977 follow-up, Magic Time.
Opa only released two albums before disbanding in the early ’80s. Hugo Fattoruso moved to Brazil, where he worked with the likes of Djavan and Chico Buarque, and Jorge returned to Uruguay, where he formed a group alongside his wife, singer Mariana Ingold. While neither of Opa’s albums found commercial success during their initial releases (despite the high-profile personalities involved), both titles gained underground followings over the following decades—coveted by jazz-funk DJs, crate diggers, and acid-jazz aficionados alike. Now, 50 years later, Goldenwings is back for a new generation of groovers and shakers to enjoy.
Hugo Fattoruso
Born in the Uruguayan capital of Montevideo in 1943, composer, arranger and multi-instrumentalist Hugo Fattoruso has had a profound influence on every aspect of Latin American musical culture. From early beginnings, playing in his family band at street festivals around Uruguay, to fronting Los Shakers: South America’s answer to the Beatles, and one of the most successful rock and roll groups from the continent. At the end of the sixties Fattoruso was looking to broaden his musical horizons, and in 1969 he moved to New York where he formed Opa and went on to rub shoulders with the likes of Ron Carter and Creed Taylor.
Fusing Candombe (traditional rhythm of Uruguay) with rock, jazz, funk and other Latin American rhythms, Opa created a distinctive Afro-Uruguayan voice within the global jazz vernacular, influencing a generation of musicians throughout the seventies and beyond. During the eighties Fattoruso moved to Brazil, where he continued to work and record with Brazilian artists including Milton Nascimento, with whom he composed the World Music Grammy winning Nascimento album in 1997. Fattoruso also famously collaborated extensively with Airto Moreira, arranging and playing on a plethora of hit records including Fingers and I’m Fine, How Are You. More recently Fattoruso’s music has been sampled by the likes Flying Lotus and Madlib.
With such a prolific career, Fattoruso’s relative obscurity seems odd. Uruguay is dwarfed on either side by Brazil and Argentina, and while geography may have something to do with it, Hugo’s own elusiveness may also explain why someone so influential has been hitherto, so underappreciated. A deeply humble figure, never settling for too long in any one place, Hugo has dedicated his life to music and little else. It has taken twenty years for Far Out to track down the man behind Golden Wings and Magic Time, and it wasn’t until label boss Joe Davis met a Uruguayan producer (over one too many artisanal beers) at a world music conference in Budapest, that he finally made contact with one of his musical idols.
Following a few internet meetings and some very long impassioned conversations about Hugo’s life, music and mutual musical friends in Brazil, Hugo began writing the new album, and Joe booked a seat on the next flight to Montevideo. Recorded at the state of the art Sondor Studios in Montevideo’s iconic Barrio Sur district, the album features some of the world class musicians at the forefront of today’s Uruguayan jazz scene, including Hugo’s son Francisco Fattoruso on bass, Tato Bolognini on drums, Albana Barrocas on percussion and Nicolás Ibarburu on electric guitar. The album also features the Candombe drumming of the legendary Silva brothers, Mathías, Guillermo Diaz and Wellington, who give the album its Afro-Uruguayan identity, transporting the listener to Barrio Sur, the spiritual home of Montevideo’s Candombe heritage.