Leon Gieco

León Gieco was born on November 20th, 1951 near Cañada Rosquín in the province Santa Fe, Argentina. Cañada Rosquín is a small farming town of only 5,000 in Northeastern Argentina. Coming from a fairly meager background, Gieco began working young and was able to buy himself a guitar at an early age and got quickly into music.

At the age of 18, he moved to Buenos Aires to pursue music and released his debut album at the age of 22. The youngster built off the self-titled release, and soon he was playing with many famous Argentine artists. As his career progressed, he began performing more shows as a solo artist, armed only with a guitar, a harmonica, and a charango (a ten-string Latin American instrument, smaller than a guitar).

Much of his music features a socially conscious message, and that caused problems with the Argentine government. After his IV LP, he even had to move to Los Angeles for a year due to the government's distaste for his protest songs. His music continues to be popular all over the Spanish speaking world and the folk and world music scenes.