Coco Nelegatti . Gitarrist, Komponist, Arrangeur

He was born in Córdoba (Argentina) on 24 December 1959.

He began singing on the radio at the age of four and studied guitar from the age of six with guitarist and composer Luis Pérez Pruneda in Córdoba. He continued his studies with maestro José María Montini in Tucumán.

He won the ‘Festival de la Cumbre’ (solo singing and guitar) in Córdoba. This allowed him, at only nine years old, to become the first child to perform on the main stage of the Cosquín Festival, which he shared with artists of the stature of Daniel Toro and Mercedes Sosa.

From 1963 onwards, he participated in various folk music and tango festivals, such as the ‘Festival de Música de Baradero‘ and the ‘Festival de Tango de La Falda‘.

In 1979, in Tucumán, he co-founded the group Ritual and served as its pianist, alongside folklorist Lucho Hoyos.

Founder of the ‘Duo Musicanto’ in 1982, with which he performed in Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador, where he promoted Argentine folk music and devoted himself to the study of urban and rural music in these countries. As a result of these studies, he organised, among other things, the exhibition ‘Indigenous Musical Instruments’ in Cochabamba and La Paz (1985), sponsored by the ‘Centro Portales’ and the ‘Casa de la Cultura’ in La Paz, Bolivia.

Composer of musical pieces for theatre and broadcast on Radio Nacional de Ecuador in 1986.

He founded the ‘Coco Nelegatti Ensemble’ in Berlin, dedicated to performing Ariel Ramírez's Misa Criolla and Navidad Nuestra, as well as promoting Latin American musical folklore. They have performed in concert halls such as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Prinzregententheater in Munich, the Liederhalle in Stuttgart and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul (Turkey), among others.

Founder, composer, and arranger of the tango trio ’El Desbande’ (1993–1996), with which he participated in the World Tango Summit in Granada, Spain, and Montevideo, Uruguay.

From 1996onwards, he was musical director of tango productions such as ‘Tango Argentino’ at the Berlin Philharmonic with the renowned singer Siro San Román, and arranger for ‘Die Rose, die ich nicht singe’, featuring actress Sabrina Ascacibar.

Founder of ‘Coco Nelegatti y su Quinteto Arrabal’ (1998), a group that blends Creole roots and the orchestral richness of tango, performing at major venues in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, and Denmark.

He is a regular guest on radio programmes (Musikpassagen, WDR III), television (Tango-Fieber, WDR-Kanal) and conferences (Tangolehrerkonferenz Kassel), among others, where he promotes tango.

Until May 2007, he was the guitarist for the trio ‘Stazo Mayor,’ led by Luis Stazo (founder and former member of the famous Sexteto Mayor).

From 1998to 2013, he was an adjunct professor of Tango World Music at the Rotterdam Conservatory (Netherlands).

After years of studying choral music, in 2014he presented the production ‘Noche de Tango’ for choir, four vocal soloists and tango quintet in Berlin. The compositions ‘La Tucumanita’ for choir and ensemble and the vidala for choir ‘No mires hacia atrás’, based on Argentine folk rhythms, also date from this period.

Since 2020, he has been creating works mainly for strings, such as ‘Coronalmente’ for quartet (based on the Covid period), the suite ‘Tucumán’, also for this same musical formation, “Berlin” for string trio and guitar, and ‘Tres Tangos para Orquesta de Cuerdas’.

CD RECORDINGS (seleccion)

As performer
Nelegatti/Folkers | Hoy en día
Coco Nelegatti y su Quinteto Arrabal | Tango argentino
Collegium Musicum | Ein amerikanisches Programm
Karneval der Kulturen | Vol. 1
Cumbre Mundial del Tango en Granada | Vol.1
Cumbre Mundial del Tango en Granada | Vol.2

As composer-arranger
Sally Walker & Phillip Mayers | First Milonga, last Tango
Sally Walker & Phillip Mayers | Hemispheres
Oliver Fartach-Naini & Thea Nielsen | Ex Oriente Lux
Müller & Funes | Música latina
Cuarteto Rotterdam | Yunta de oro
Cuarteto Rotterdam | Deleitante
Österreichischen Salonisten | Tango de Salón
Virginia Taylor & Timothy Kain | Character Interludes
Quinteto Bailongo | Tiempos viejos
Quinteto Tango Extremo | Una cosa diferente
Tango Concertante | Tango sin palabras