About Me
Luca Prodan (17 May 1953 22 December 1987) was an Italian-Argentine musician.Born in Rome, he was the son of an Italian father and a Scottish mother. Prodan attended Gordonstoun School, a private boarding school in Scotland, and for some time drifted in Manchester and London. In 1981, after two of his friends died(he was devastated by the death of friend Ian Curtis), he moved to Argentina seeking peace to try kicking his heroin addiction.After some time, Luca tired of the quiet of the country and took off to Buenos Aires, looking for its underground music scene.Argentina was under a repressive military dictatorship, and many music and performing-arts acts kept a low profile to avoid problems with police (Cafe Einstein in the Balvanera district was a favorite venue for such acts, as were some pubs in Olivos). Luca soon found musicians willing to join his reggae-rock vision.Sumo's initial formation was: Prodan on vocals and guitar, Germán Daffunchio on guitar, Alejandro Sokol on bass, and Stephanie Nuttal (an English friend of Luca's and former member of the band Manicured Noise) on drums.The first incarnation of Sumo played mostly around Luca's neighborhood (Hurlingham, Buenos Aires province) and in Cafe Einstein. Nuttal returned to England when the Falklands/Malvinas war started, so Sokol took on the drums, and Diego Arnedo joined on bass. Sax player (and later media star) Roberto Pettinato was a frequent guest.Because they sang mostly in English, Sumo did not enjoy the extensive airplay given to Argentine bands in the wake of the war.Sumo started achieving popularity in the mid-1980s, as Luca's in-your-face style was popular with teenagersbut he could also display a mellower streak. He would shout "Fuck You" randomly, or sing a scathing song about stupid blondes, and immediately swoon about his appreciation for common men drinking ginebra at a bar.In the later releases, some Spanish language lyrics were added to the band's repertoire. Many of Luca's lyrics featured irony, wordplay, and references to drugs, dance parties, sex, and other aspects of young people's lives, while remaining aloof of the political and economic changes of the 1980s.Prodan died either of a heart attack or cirrhosis of the liver in Buenos Aires shortly before Christmas 1987.Two posthumous records of pre-Sumo recordings are available and show us an 'insider's' view of the artist. Recorded mostly in the Traslasierra region of Cordoba, Argentina (his initial dwelling place), they bear testimony to his musical inspiration and inspirators: Peter Hammill, Nick Drake, Lou Reed and Bob Marley.
