In 1980, during Argentina’s military dictatorship, a tall and slender man named Luca Prodan arrived at Buenos Aires airport. This Scottish-Italian musician had just consumed the last of his methadone on the flight. His entry into the country would soon create a stir as he formed a band named Sumo, introduced post-punk to Argentina, and became a national icon, with his music still garnering hundreds of millions of streams. “When I attended a Sumo concert in 1982,” recalls Prodan’s younger brother Andrea, “I believed, ‘This transcends any ordinary band. It’s akin to the Velvet Underground.’”
Although Prodan had deep European roots and was highly revered in Argentina, he remains relatively unknown elsewhere. This is expected to change with the upcoming biopic titled Time Fate Love, produced by Armando Bo, co-writer of Birdman. “Luca transformed music history,” Bo emphasizes. “Here, he is revered as a god.”
Prodan was akin to a grenade exploded within the insular Buenos Aires music scene, dominated by musicians with long hair who often played derivative jazz fusion or rock. “People longed for transformation,” states Sumo’s initial drummer, Stephanie Nuttal. “Sumo resonated with them; it was unique and they embraced punk wholeheartedly.”
Fronted by Prodan, who possessed an Ian Curtis-like vocal style and distinctive stage presence, Sumo was vibrant and exploratory, blending post-punk influences with new wave, reggae, and cumbia. Tragically, Prodan passed away at just 34, less than a decade after arriving in Argentina and shortly after the military junta’s fall.
Prior to his arrival in Argentina, Prodan had led a turbulent life, roaming through Europe. “An Italian reborn in England and again in Argentina,” describes Peter Lanzani, the contemporary Argentinian actor portraying Prodan in the biopic. Prodan’s affluent parents, who met in pre-revolutionary China, were imprisoned by the Japanese army in 1943 before fleeing to Italy, where Prodan was born in 1953. According to Andrea, their childhood was privileged, sailing the Mediterranean on their family yacht, but Luca was sent to the esteemed Scottish boarding school Gordonstoun at age 11. “Our parents aimed to provide a good education,” Andrea explains, although for Luca, this experience was negative. “He was unfortunate – Gordonstoun was unbearable.”
At 17, Luca’s rebellious spirit emerged when he allegedly sold a rifle to escape Gordonstoun, prompting an international manhunt. “The police searched for him across Europe for two and a half months,” shares Andrea. “He was truly a rebel. Legend has it he even fought with King Charles.” Following this episode, Luca was drafted into the Italian army, only to desert soon after. His parents attempted to instill stability by purchasing him a house in London, which instead spiraled him deeper into heroin addiction.
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