Ariel Ramírez

Ariel Ramírez (1921–2010) was an Argentine composer, pianist and music director, known primarily for his Misa Criolla. He was born in Santa Fe, Argentina and began his piano studies in Santa Fe. He continued his studies at the National Conservatory of Music, in Buenos Aires. At age 19, Ramírez got a job teaching in the mountains of Argentina, where he was first introduced to his nation's folklore. He spent three years absorbing the music of the Indians, gauchos, and creoles. Ramírez went on to study classical music in Madrid, Rome and mainly in Vienna, from 1950 to 1954. Back in Argentina, he collected and published Andean folk songs and began composing original popular songs, as many as 400 through his career, of which the best-known are Alfonsina y el mar, Indio toba, and La peregrinación. Some of these songs have become increasingly common on recital discs by such Hispanic tenors as Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, and José Cura. In 1964, the Ramírez composition Misa Criolla marked the beginning of a period of high musical productivity for the composer. Misa Criolla was one of the first masses not in Latin shortly after the Second Vatican Council permitted use of the vernacular in Catholic churches in 1962. The Misa, wrote for soloists, chorus, and traditional instruments is based on folk genres such as chacarera, carnavalito, and estilo pampeano, with Andean influences and instruments. Other major compositions by Ramírez include the Cantata Sudamericana (1972) and another mass, the Mass for Peace and Justice (Misa por la paz y la justicia, 1981), with liturgical texts by Félix Luna and Osvaldo Catena, which is also quite famous. Ramírez was first elected president of the Society of Authors and Composers of the Argentine Republic (SADAIC) in 1970, serving for two four-year terms.