Luca not dead: 37 years after the death of a national rock icon
When Luca covered the classic Christmas carol “Silent Night” with Sumo, he surely never imagined that he would leave this world just 2 days before Christmas Eve 1987, on December 22, asleep and drowning in his own vomit. Although he suffered from cirrhosis, sooner or later the reaper was going to take him anyway.
Luca arrived in Argentina from England, escaping from heroin, a drug that had already killed his sister, but in the distant southern American country he found another poison: gin. While it is true that Luca took a couple of years to come to Argentina, it is also true that in these lands he finally sealed his destiny.
He was born in Italy, studied in the best schools in Scotland, and lived in England where he absorbed the main rock influences from which Sumo would later draw, whose first line-up was made up of Luca on vocals, Germán Daffunchio on lead guitar, Ricardo Curtet on rhythm guitar, Sokol on bass and Stephanie Nuttal on drums, a young English woman who was Prodan's partner.
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When the Malvinas conflict broke out, the drummer had to return to England and her place was taken by Sokol. In turn, Diego Arnedo entered the vacant place left by the “bocha” on the bass.
Sokol finally left the Sumo patches in 1984 and shortly after Superman Troglio took his place, Ricardo Mollo also joined on guitar from MAM and later the last to join was Roberto Pettinato on sax, the latter being the “classic” formation. of Sumo that would remain until Prodan's death and the subsequent dissolution of the group.
There are hundreds of anecdotes that portray what a very beloved character Luca Prodan was. He was far from the “unattainable rock star”, on the contrary, he was very close to the public and empathetic: One of the many stories tells that they came on the band's microphone with a couple of fans, and Luca so that one of them could rest, she gave him the seat and he came sleeping on the floor of the bus. That was Luca.
If there is something that Luca contributed to national rock, it is his cheeky and irreverent attitude and beautiful songs that addressed a multiplicity of musical genres such as reggae in several songs: Breaking Away, 1989 (Not so different), or peace and love reggae; punk in “El Ojo Blindado”, slow in songs like “Heroína” or “Mañana en el Abasto”, fusion of styles in “Crua Chan” to name a few from a long list.
Luca was a strong presence in life “and live.” His figure became mythical after his death. Sumo didn't survive it simply because Luca was Sumo. Luca not dead.
