WALDO DE LOS RIOS

Born: September 7th, 1934, Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Died: March 28th, 1977, Madrid (Spain)

Nationality: Argentine

In due course, the short impression below will be replaced with a more extensive career overview

BIOGRAPHY

Waldo de los Rios studied composition and arranging at the National Conservatory of Music in Buenos Aires. He lived a couple of years in the United States (1958-62) before moving to Spain. There, he had some success with his Argentine group Los Waldos, which combined folk music with electronical sounds. De los Rios was the formation’s pianist and wrote all arrangements. He wrote music for films and was the arranger for various pop artists in the recording studio, including Raphael, Facundo Cabral, and Paloma San Basilio. 

In 1970, Spanish singer Miguel Rios had an international hit with a piece of Beethoven, ‘Ode To Joy’, re-arranged by Waldo de los Rios. One year later, De los Rios recorded Mozart’s Symphony no. 40 with the Orquesta Manuel de Falla, a string orchestra with a percussion section added to it; although the piece was heavily criticised as sacrilege, it was a number-1 hit in the Netherlands and a major success in many other European countries. In the years after, until his untimely death in 1977, De los Rios reworked many more classical works for his string orchestra, including Verdi’s ‘Nabucco’.

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST

The only South American conductor ever to appear in the Eurovision Song Contest, Waldo de los Rios, arranged and conducted ‘En un mundo nuevo’, which was sung by Karina and represented Spain in the 1971 festival in Dublin. The song, with a striking intro and elements of brass band music woven into the second half of the arrangement, finished second behind ‘Un banc, un arbre, une rue’, performed by Sévérine for Monaco.

EUROVISION INVOLVEMENT YEAR BY YEAR

1971 Dublin

Country – Spain

Song title – “En un mundo nuevo”

Rendition – Karina

Lyrics – Tony Luz

Composition – Rafael Trabucchelli

Studio arrangement – Waldo de los Rios

Live orchestration – Waldo de los Rios

Conductor – Waldo de los Rios

Score – 2nd place (116 votes)