Estimated one million people bid a final farewell to ‘Indio’ Solari

With flags, chants and tears, tens of thousands of people formed queues stretching more than seven kilometres to bid farewell to legendary rocker Carlos ‘Indio’ Solari on the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires over the weekend.

Solari, the iconic frontman of the iconic band Patricio Rey y Sus Redonditos de Ricota, known simply as Los Redondos, died on Friday at the age of 77 after suffering a stroke. He had long suffered from Parkinson’s disease.

The musician’s death triggered an outpouring of tributes and grief from a vast and devoted community of followers, raising expectations of a marathon farewell.

Under intermittent drizzle, wrapped in flags bearing the names of various neighbourhoods and song titles, mourners sang along to the music that local residents blasted from balconies overlooking the route.

“Today it's more than emotion. Indio is like my father. He taught me so much,” said one fan,  Gerardo López.

The 45-year-old grew up in a working-class neighbourhood surrounded by crime, but said Solari helped him choose a different path.

“He taught me to open a dictionary, to understand what words meant,” he said.

Long wait

The doors of the sports centre where the musician is lying in state in the Villa Domínico district opened on Sunday morning. Since then, a constant stream of fans has passed through, throwing flowers, flags and football shirts onto the closed coffin.

The farewell will continue “for as long as necessary, so that nobody misses their chance to say goodbye,” Solari's official account announced. Given the turnout, proceedings stretched long into the night.

“What we're feeling is terrible, it's incredibly intense,” said lawyer Jesica Pereyra after paying her respects to her late idol.

“There's a mixture of heartbreak and anguish, but at the same time it feels like the seed of something that lies dormant in everyone and could erupt at any moment,” she said.

Many in attendance said the singer captured the mood of a country shaped by repeated economic crises.

“He created an identity of resistance for the generation I belong to. He was very emblematic of what later happened socially here in Argentina,” said Diego Vázquez, a 50-year-old teacher who attended with his two daughters, referring to the country's economic and social upheaval in 2001.

The farewell, during which fans often chanted against President Javier Milei, whom Solari openly criticised, is another chapter in the popular phenomenon represented by Los Redondos and Solari himself.

Operating without record-label contracts and outside the mainstream music industry, Los Redondos, active between 1976 and 2001, built a huge following through word of mouth.

Their devoted fan base travelled en masse to the band's concerts, known as misas ricoteras.

Collective grief

Solari's songs, rich in poetic imagery, resonated deeply with generations of fans across all social backgrounds. His lyrics often appear on tattoos, murals and football-stadium banners across the country.

Tunes like ‘Ji ji ji’, ‘La bestia pop’ and ‘Un ángel para tu soledad’ became enduring classics of national rock.

“Solari's body of work is part of the syntax of the Argentine people,” said music journalist Martín Graziano.

“You open a newspaper and you'll find a reference. You look at a wall and you'll see a piece of graffiti. Someone walks past your house singing a Solari song – he's part of who we are,” he added.

Los Redondos transcended music to become a source of identity and belonging for broad sections of society, while Solari evolved into a popular icon whose stature was closer to that of Diego Maradona than that of a conventional musician.

“Indio always struck a particular chord with ordinary people. He always left a sign of hope and a message of freedom. That's why this collective grief is being felt today,” rock journalist Alfredo Rosso said during an interview with Radio 750.

The fans' farewell began on Friday. Just hours after news of the artist's death broke, thousands gathered in Buenos Aires' Plaza de Mayo.

Solari had been living with Parkinson's disease since at least 2016.

By Sunday, the emotion remained as strong as ever. For Roberto Silva, one among the vast crowd, Solari “will never die.”

“He'll always be with us in the good times and the difficult ones,” he said.

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by Tomás Viola, AFP