This Friday, June 28 at 9 pm, Marcelo “Cuino” Scornik will perform at Rondeman Abasto (Lavalle 3177). It will be his reunion with the stage, at least as the protagonist. That is why the recital has been called Rock is back: 5 years later. “I never left. But we are trying to make everything have a lot of humour”, warns this peculiar figure of Argentine rock. “The last time I played with this line-up it happened coincidentally in the same place where we will perform. Then it occurred to me, together with the people in the room, to put the hook ‘5 years later’. My main activity is not playing, but composing. But from time to time I indulge in doing it. In addition, I am accompanied by very good musicians with whom I sing songs that I think are very good.”
Cuino and his friends is the name of this quintet, in which, apart from its frontman, musicians such as Marcelo Filippo and Tito Losavio (former Man Ray). “They are musicians who are not known for their performance in any of the ‘prime time’ bands, so to speak. However, they are all highly regarded in the music scene,” he describes. “There will be a guest keyboardist, and some surprises that I don’t want to spoil.” What Scornik does dare to reveal is that he will focus on the songs from his album. Enough Cuino! regarding the celebration of their 20 years, which will occur in 2025. “The idea is to have a great anniversary. That’s why I think of this show as a kind of ‘pre-anniversary’”, he reveals. “It’s an album for which I invited the cream of the crop of national rock at the time.”
Enough Cuino! It has contributions from Charly García, Juanse, Andrés Calamaro, Vicentico, Adrián Dárgelos, Daniel Melingo, Hilda Lizarazu, Joaquín Levinton and Pipo Cipolatti. Other Argentine musicians who have transcended towards immortality also participated in the 17 songs that make up this repertoire, such as Palo Pandolfo, Adrián Otero and Horacio Gamexane. “They are all very dear friends that I brought together to appear on my album,” he explains about the collaborators on the only album signed by him. And, apparently, his discography will remain that way. “The album, as we knew it throughout our existence, practically it doesn’t exist anymore. I constantly record songs and they are uploaded to the platforms. “I never put it all together again as a unified work.”
Rather than choosing to become a singer-songwriter or the leader of a rock band, Cuino Scornik, since the 80s, decided to put himself at the service of the song. But as a lyricist. A profession to which very few in the Argentine music scene dedicated themselves, almost exclusively, among whom stands out Roberto Jacoby. After having given free rein to that gift, he became not only one of the most notable Spanish-speaking composers, but also one of the most prolific and with better aim at the time of harvest hits. Apart from his partnership with Andrés Calamaro, which has among its fruits successes of the caliber of “A Thousand Hours”, “Azteca Stadium” and “El Salmon”, This songwriter born from the classical school also worked in tandem with artists of the stature of Estelares, The Twist and The Paranoid Mice.
In fact, the last song of his that appeared on digital music platforms is titled “Modern Youth”, and was originally published by Los Ratones Paranoicos in 2001, on the album The boys want more. Two decades after its publication, the Otra Cepa project proposed to its co-author to interpret it, a version that was released last February on social networks. “I composed that song with Juanse for that album by Los Ratones Paranoicos,” explains Cuino. “Otra Cepa is a kind of group of producers and session musicians who has the habit of grabbing someone else’s song and covering it. I thank them for having the gesture of inviting me to choose a song with them, and for also allowing me to sing it.”
“If I was crazy at 12, at 50 I will be unpunished,” There is a passage in the lyrics that seems even more relevant today. “That surprised me,” Cuino admits. “It’s more current now than when it was made.” In tune with that theme, the lyricist and singer knew how to combine his background with the generational change and trends that local music has experienced in recent years. What his compositions testify to Zoe Gotusso, Santi Celli, Bandalos Chinos, Getting to know Russia or the duo of Juan Ingaramo and Ysy A in “The ball runs.” He could also be seen this year at Fonso’s recital at Niceto Club. “Lea Lopatín, from Turf, called me to work with a musician he was producing,” he says. “That’s how I met Fonso, with whom we made the song ‘No me Affect’. It is fortunate to work with artists of different ages.”
“Bad times for lyric” It is one of the hits left by the Spanish synth pop group Low Blows in its brief and intermittent history. However, 41 years after its launch, that title seems to have more and more vigor. Although Cuino does not agree with that assessment. “Through compositional activity I realized that “There are talented people to meet,” he confirms. “Don’t think it was easy for me to adapt, because I am a very fundamentalist rocker. And it is difficult for me to open up. My condition for working is that people have love for what they do. There is a lot of quality and exponents who write well. The Winona Riders are a hell of a band. Although the kids come at a mile an hour, The lyric in Argentina is in great health. “Devoting yourself to composing is a dose of perseverance, work and, why not, good fortune.”
