Rodrigo González, (25 December 1950 – 19 September 1985), better known as Rockdrigo or ''El profeta del nopal'' ("The

Nopal Nopal (from the Nahuatl word for the pads of the plant) is a common name in Spanish for ''Opuntia'' cacti (commonly referred to in English as ''prickly pear''), as well as for its pads. There are about 114 known species in Mexico, where it i ...

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 19 September 1985. His early death made him a legend in Mexican rock.

Biography

Rodrigo was born in

Tampico, Tamaulipas Tampico is a city and port in the southeastern part of the state of Tamaulipas, Mexico. It is located on the north bank of the Pánuco River, about inland from the Gulf of Mexico, and directly north of the state of Veracruz. Tampico is the fift ...

. He studied

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries between ...

for a brief time at the

Universidad Veracruzana Universidad Veracruzana (Spanish for ''University of Veracruz'') is a public autonomous university located in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Established in 1944, the university is one of the most important in the southeast region of México. Its ...

Xalapa Xalapa or Jalapa (, ), officially Xalapa-Enríquez (), is the capital city of the Mexican state of Veracruz and the name of the surrounding municipality. In the 2005 census the city reported a population of 387,879 and the municipality of which ...

before moving to

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

in 1977 with the desire to make music. He arrived to the capital and began playing in bars and

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

s. 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. The lyrics of Rockdrigo mixed the urban lifestyle with the troubles of the urban poor, and found many listeners among students. His songs could also be tender, such as "

Metro Balderas Balderas is an underground station on the Mexico City Metro. It is located in the Cuauhtémoc borough in the center of Mexico City. It is a transfer station along Lines 1 and 3. Name and iconography The station receives its name from the n ...

," the ballad about a man who has lost his lover, and hijacks a subway train. Lentes y guitarra de Rockdrigo González

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 Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

scene that strongly influenced Mexican rock for the next ten years or so. Their music was similar to the

Nueva canción Nueva canción (European , ; 'new song') is a left-wing social movement and musical genre in Latin America and the Iberian peninsula, characterized by folk-inspired styles and socially committed lyrics. ''Nueva canción'' is widely recognized to ...

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. Rockdrigo wrote the manifesto for the group. In 1983, novelist

José Agustín José Agustín Ramírez Gómez (born 19 August 1944) is a Mexican novelist, short story writer, essayist and screenwriter. He is considered as one of the most influential and prolific Mexican writers of the second half of the 20th century. Caree ...

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." At the time of his death, Rockdrigo was living in an apartment in the Unidad Tlatelolco, which was devastated by the 1985 earthquake. After his death musicians would gather at the

station on 19 September to commemorate him and the earthquake and sing his songs. He was survived by a daughter,

Amandititita Amandititita (Amanda Lalena Escalante Pimentel) is a Mexican cumbia singer and songwriter. She is the daughter of Rodrigo Gonzalez. She came to public attention in 2007 as a performer of what she called 'AnarCumbia', a style said to be entir ...

, who became a

cumbia Cumbia refers to a number of musical rhythms and folk dance traditions of Latin America, generally involving musical and cultural elements from American Indigenous peoples, enslaved Africans during colonial times, and Europeans. Examples include: ...

singer and songwriter. In 2011 she and others unveiled a statue of Rockdrigo at the Metro Balderas station.

Music

As of 2007 there were four collections of his music: *''Hurbanistorias'' (''Urban stories'', 1983), a self-made record Posthumous: *''El profeta del nopal'' (''The Nopal Prophet'') *''No estoy loco'' (''I'm not Crazy'') *''Aventuras en el DF'' (''Adventures in DF'')

Films

* ''No tuvo tiempo: La Urbanistoria de Rockdrigo González'' by Rafael Montero * ''Un toke de roc'' by Sergio García Michel * ''Por qué no me las prestas?'' by Sergio García Michel * ''¿Cómo ves?'' by Paul Leduc

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gonzalez, Rodrigo 1950 births 1985 deaths Mexican male singer-songwriters 20th-century Mexican poets 20th-century Mexican male writers Mexican male poets People from Tampico, Tamaulipas Deaths in earthquakes Natural disaster deaths in Mexico 20th-century Mexican male singers