Eduardo Mateo

In 1967, Eduardo Mateo, along with Ruben Rada, formed the band El Kinto, featuring Luis Sosa (drums), Walter Cambón (guitar), and Alberto Lagarde (bass). Urbano Moraes, Alfredo Vita (bass), and Chichito Cabral (percussion) also joined the band at different times.

The group became one of the most influential in Uruguayan and South American music, blending rock, pop, and psychedelia with traditional Uruguayan and Latin rhythms, particularly candombe.{{Cite web |title=El Kinto, polvo que el viento no lleva |url=https://www.elobservador.com.uy/nota/el-kinto-polvo-que-el-viento-no-lleva-2020455017 |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=El Observador |language=es-UY}} They sang in Spanish and were pioneers in incorporating Afro-Latin percussion into a rock band for the first time.{{Cite web |date=2023-05-09 |title=El Marchante: Experimental Sounds of Latin America |url=https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/el-marchante-experimental-sounds/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=In Sheeps Clothing |language=en}} El Kinto’s work helped define the genre Candombe-beat,{{Cite web |last=Delucchi |first=Santiago |date=2022-07-20 |title=Candombe Beat: Travel Back in Time of Uruguayan Music |url=https://tigresounds.com/candombe-beat-travel-back-in-time-of-uruguayan-music/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Tigre Sounds - Music Discovery for the Citizen of the World |language=en-US}} a fusion of rock and candombe. Mateo disbanded the group in 1970 (Rada had left in 1968) to pursue a solo career.

In 1972, Mateo released his first solo album, Mateo Solo Bien se Lame, produced by Carlos Píriz. The title is a playful twist on the popular saying “el buey solo bien se lame” (the ox alone well licks itself), meaning that one can manage on their own. On the album, Mateo played all the instruments (guitar and percussion) and handled the vocals, except on the song “Tras de Tí,” where the Argentine vocal group Quinto de Cantares and singer Horacio Molina (father of Juana Molina, who would later be heavily influenced by this album from a young age){{Cite web |last=Staff |first=MAGNET |date=2017-09-28 |title=From The Desk Of Juana Molina: "Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame" By Eduardo Mateo |url=https://magnetmagazine.com/2017/09/28/from-the-desk-of-juana-molina-mateo-solo-bien-se-lame-by-eduardo-mateo/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Magnet Magazine |language=en-US}} participated.

The album became a cult classic upon its release. Its acoustic and minimalist sound, along with a blend of rhythms and genres—including bossa nova, pop, folk, tropicalia, candombe, milonga, Afro-Latin rhythms, and even Indian music—had a profound influence on both Uruguayan and Argentine music, paving the way for a new musical direction in South America.{{Cite web |date=2020-04-23 |title=¿Cómo se grabó "Mateo solo bien se lame", el mejor disco uruguayo de la historia? |url=https://www.elpais.com.uy/tvshow/musica/como-se-grabo-mateo-solo-bien-se-lame-el-mejor-disco-uruguayo-de-la-historia#google_vignette |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=EL PAIS |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Rodríguez |first=Cristofer |date=2024-07-09 |title="Mateo solo bien se lame" Eduardo Mateo |url=https://www.600discoslatam.com/discos/uruguay/mateo-solo-bien-se-lame-eduardo-mateo/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Los 600 de Latinoamérica |language=es}}

When the album was re-released in the United States by Lion Productions in 2006,{{Cite web |title=EDUARDO MATEO “Mateo Solo Bien Se Lame” |url=https://lionproductions.org/pages/MATEOSOLO.html |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=lionproductions.org}} it made a significant impact, receiving praise from music critics and musicians such as David Fricke,{{Cite web |last=Fricke |first=David |date=2007-07-31 |title=Fricke's Picks: Blue Van, Deltahead, Eduardo Mateo |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/frickes-picks-blue-van-deltahead-eduardo-mateo-235603/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}} Devendra Banhart{{Cite news |last=Banhart |first=Devendra |date=2007-09-30 |title=From Uruguay’s Dylan to R. Kelly’s ‘Sex Planet’ |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/arts/music/30play.html |access-date=2025-04-02 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} and Norah Jones,{{Cite news |last=Rogers |first=Jude |date=2020-05-24 |title=Lockdown playlists for every mood, part two: chosen by Norah Jones, Joe Talbot and Flohio |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/may/24/lockdown-playlists-for-every-mood-part-two-chosen-by-norah-jones-joe-talbot-and-flohio |access-date=2025-04-02 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} among others. In 2023, Rolling Stone magazine ranked Mateo Solo Bien se Lame number 30 in its list of The 50 Best Latin-American Rock Albums.{{Cite web |last=Lechner |first=Ernesto |date=2023-09-18 |title=The 50 Best Latin-American Rock Albums |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-latin-american-rock-albums-1234818717/la-conferencia-secreta-del-totos-bar-los-shakers-1234823235/ |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Rolling Stone |language=en-US}}

His eccentric personality, problematic drug use, and difficult economic situation (Mateo was homeless for long periods) led to him recording very little in the following years. However, the few albums he did release remained outstanding works, though they were scarcely listened to at the time. In 1976, he released Mateo y Trasante with percussionist Jorge Trasante.{{Cite web |title=EDUARDO MATEO & JORGE TRASANTE "Mateo y Trasante" LP |url=https://lionproductions.org/pages/MATEOTRASANTELP.html |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=lionproductions.org}} In 1984, he released Cuerpo y Alma, which is considered by many to be one of his best works.{{Cite web |last=Clarín |first=Redacción |date=2008-11-12 |title="Cuerpo y alma", de Eduardo Mateo: Un genio en su punto justo |url=https://www.clarin.com/ultimo-momento/cuerpo-alma-eduardo-mateo-genio-punto-justo_0_ryQzjwoCatx.html?srsltid=AfmBOoqgdtWC4ZDDdqgTOjtmC1zrj7KyR77eNarCUn24SZZTe-k-2url |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Clarín |language=es}}

From the mid-1980s onward, Mateo focused on an artistic project called La Máquina del Tiempo, in which he combined futuristic reflections on time paradoxes and space travel with elements of electronic music. Mateo recorded two albums under the La Máquina del Tiempo subtitle: Mal Tiempo Sobre Alchemia (1987) and La Mosca (1989), both with the collaboration of Hugo Jasa.{{Cite web |title=Eduardo Mateo y “La Mosca”: la vuelta de un disco imprescindible de la música uruguaya |url=https://www.latidobeat.uy/Beat/Eduardo-Mateo-y-La-Mosca--la-vuelta-de-un-disco-imprescindible-de-la-musica-uruguaya-uc838139 |access-date=2025-04-02 |website=Beat |language=es}}

Eduardo Mateo passed away on May 16, 1990, from sudden cancer.

• Mateo solo bien se lame (De la Planta, 1972)
• Mateo y Trasante (Sondor, 1976)
• Cuerpo y alma (Sondor, 1984)
• La Maquina del Tiempo presenta a: Mateo / Mal tiempo sobre Alchemia (1er. viaje) (Ayui/Tacuabe 1987)
• Botija De Mi País (with Ruben Rada) (Sondor, 1987)
• La Maquina del Tiempo / La mosca (Orfeo, 1989)

• Mateo & Cabrera (with Fernando Cabrera) (Orfeo, 1987)

• Musicasión 4 1/2 (De La Planta, 1971)

• Circa 1968 (with El Kinto) ( Clave, 1977)

• La Máquina del Tiempo / 3er. viaje, 1ª parte: Ida (1971 – 1984) (Ayuí/Tacuabé, 1995)
• La Máquina del Tiempo / 3er. viaje, 2ª parte: Vuelta (1983 – 1988) (Ayuí/Tacuabé, 1995)
• Inéditas (with Diane Denoir) (Vade Retro, 1998)
• El Tartamudo (Perro Andaluz, 2000)

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Category:1940 births

Category:1990 deaths

Category:20th-century Uruguayan male singers

Category:Uruguayan percussionists

Category:Uruguayan male musicians

Category:Uruguayan male singer-songwriters

Category:Musicians from Montevideo

Category:Deaths from cancer in Uruguay

Category:Burials at the Cementerio del Norte, Montevideo

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