Les Luthiers: who knew music could bring us much laughter

Les Luthiers are a musical group that uses a unique style in their compositions, music creation and performances to bring comedy and laughter to all who have the opportunity to see them. The group has spent years performing in different cities in Latin America, Spain, among others.

Originally from Argentina, its main members and founders were Gerardo Masana, Marcos Mundstock, Jorge Maronna and Daniel Rabinovich in 1967. Other members who later became recognized as an elemental part of the group were Carlos Nuñez Cortés and Carlos Lopez Puccio. 

With the passing of time and more than 50 years of experience, many musicians joined the group, some as replacements for deceased members and others as new faces and talented additions. Today the group has six members of which only two of the original formation remain, Carlos Lopez Puccio and Jorge Maronna.

Although Les Luthiers has brought so much laughter to the hearts of their audiences, the start of their career had its problems, beginning just five years after the creation of the group, the leader and founding member, Gerardo Masana, died of leukemia. Despite the difficulties, Les Luthiers continued with their incredible career and their comical compositions.

This group is also recognized for creating many of the instruments they used on stage. As their name indicates “Les Luthiers'' which is the title given to a person who specializes in building and repairing stringed instruments, they also made use of their skills to bring musical instruments to life using strange materials such as chairs, heads of showers, silicone, test tubes, typewriters, among many more. Their creativity had no limits, they created new instruments or invented a combination of existing ones to create something new. The list of their creations exceeds the number of 35 instruments throughout their career.

Without a doubt, the music of Les Luthiers was magnificent, using styles and genres from all kinds of places in Latin America and the world. Among their compositions you could hear ballads, tangos, bambucos, music in the baroque style, among many more. Their musical, instrumental and artistic creativity led them to create the main character of most of their performances, Johann Sebastian Mastropiero, who was the supposed "composer" of most of the songs they played. Together with the acting component that they incorporate in all of their performances, the spoken presentation of each piece narrated by Marcos Mundstock and the intrepid music full of jokes, they created an atmosphere of laughter that took over their entire audience.

Without a doubt, this group has taken the genre of musical parody to another level. Unfortunately, Les Luthiers have already announced their last shows, which began on January 12, 2023 and will end with their last stop in Sant Feliu de Guíxols, Girona, Spain on July 9. After 2015 with the death of Daniel Rabinovich, recognized for "the wrongly read monologue" and as the main voice in "Forgive her" and in 2020 with the death of the narrator of the group Marcos Mundstock, the original members who are still in the group, Carlos Lopez and Jorge Maronna, made the announcement of the final tour of Les Luthiers. They stressed that although they still felt energetic, they are already reaching 80 years of life, so their bodies are not like before, and the time has come to say goodbye.

Les Luthiers will be missed, their cunning sense of humor brought lots of laughter to everyone who knew them and without a doubt they will continue to deliver moments of happiness through the videos and records of their presentations that continue to rotate on the internet.