Queso Sagrado

Mexican RIO (Rock In Opposition) type, free jazz, progressive rock hybrid band with different line-ups until 1981. First the group acted as La Marioneta Eléctrica playing covers, becoming then a progressive rock trio in late 1973, similar to EL&P, founded by Alex Eisenring (piano, guitar), Luis Rojas Lefort (drums) and Hector Candanedo (bass). Allegedly the band's name (literally "Sacred Cheese" in English) was a coded glorification of cannabis, inspired by the hippie movement, as at the time "rola el queso" ("pass on the cheese") really meant "pass on the joint". They started working alongside theater director Abraham Oceransky in the live musicalization of different plays: Simio, Deus Machina, Frankenstein and La Muerte de un Girasol, among others. So much activity gave the trio strength, to the point that its leader, Alex, recalls: “El Queso was very impressive live because we played all year round." Now and then they got to share stage with Decibel (2), Capitán Pijama and Dr. Fanatik. Shortly after Luis' early death, many other musicians started to audition and collaborate with the band, while gradually they were becoming an experimental ensemble by adding various strings and brass instruments like violin, saxophone, clarinet and even vocals and performance. Alex was eager to adopt an electronic style for the band however his partners disagreed, that's why in the same night of 1981, Queso Sagrado was being dissolved giving its last live show while Syntoma was being formed by him along with Silvia Candanedo and Bernardo Gonzalez, performing its first live show. Queso Sagrado never got to record properly at the time, even though they had previous negotiations with Tropico Digital. It is said by Alex that the possibility of capturing their sound on an album was always remote: “We had material for about five albums, but not the vision to record. Furthermore, at that time there were not many independent studios in Mexico”. It was until 2019 that Queso Sagrado was released after compilation, clean-up and mastering made by Alex, an album which includes seven recording cuts with different line-ups between 1974 and 1981.