Sinergia

Some bands invent a sound; Sinergia had a whole genre invented for them, and not by them. The name "metal pájaro" — roughly, "birdbrain metal" — was given to them from outside by their producer and mentor, and it ended up sticking for good. Underneath that half-joking label was a band mixing heavy rock, funk, electronica and humour, singing in the most street-level Chilean Spanish possible. And there was also a song that almost the whole country got backwards.

From the underground to the mainstream

The band formed in 1992, led by Rodrigo Osorio, better known as Don Rorro, its singer, leader and songwriter. At the start they were an underground band, experimental and noisy, moving along the margins with a demo whose title was as deranged as their proposal: Apoyando la demencia, from 1998. All their DNA was already there: the irreverence, the taste for the strange.

The label that would follow them all their lives came from outside. It was Andrés Godoy, the group's producer and mentor, who told them they were "metal pájaro, total nerds", starting from the idea of nerd metal; in the band's own account, it was drummer Bruno Godoy, Andrés's son, who fixed the phrase. They liked it because it was a perfect Chileanisation. That someone else named their own genre takes nothing away from them: what they did was accept it and fill it with content.

The big leap came in 2001 with their first official album, Sinergia, though the mainstream breakthrough came the following year: "Mujer Robusta" was released as a single in June 2002 and its video reached number one on MTV's "Los 10 + Pedidos" chart. Alongside it, "Marina", that story of unrequited love, became the "himno pajarón" — the birdbrain anthem — par excellence, sung by crowds.

The song everybody misread

And we have to talk about "Mujer Robusta" seriously, because that is where the biggest misunderstanding of their career plays out.

Almost everyone heard it as a joke: a funny ode to broad-built women. The band maintains the opposite. For them it is a vindication — robust in attitude too — and they have said they stopped radio stations that tried to use it in a mocking tone. The song that made them mainstream made them mainstream for the wrong reason, and they have spent years explaining the difference.

What nobody disputes is how it is played. The engine of the song is the bass: slapped, percussive, funky, a rhythmic hammer that does not accompany but commands. It is the school of nineties funk-metal and rap-metal, with Primus, Faith No More and the Red Hot on the horizon, translated into Chilean Spanish and neighbourhood life. Beneath the joke that many thought they were hearing were musicians who knew exactly what they were doing, and that bass is the proof: the music was always serious.

Humour as a craft

The brilliant thing about Sinergia is that they used humour without ever stopping being good musicians. Behind the characters and the everyday lyrics there were worked-out arrangements, real energy and a very solid identity. Humour was not a crutch to cover up shortcomings; it was an artistic choice, a way of portraying the real Chile with affection and mockery at the same time.

That approach earned them recognition beyond the gag. In February 2008 they shone at the Festival de Viña del Mar and took home the Antorcha de Plata, the Antorcha de Oro and the Gaviota de Plata in a single night; they won the Premio Altazor for best rock band in 2008, 2010 and 2012. It was not easy: making people laugh and still being taken seriously as a musician is one of the hardest things there is.

The reinvention for children

Over the years they made a turn few saw coming and that says a lot about their intelligence: in 2018 they launched Sinergia Kids, a children's music project, with its own album the following year. That new audience gave them a second life and showed that their talent for catchy melodies and likeable characters worked just as well for the little ones. The metal pájaro band was now singing for kids too, without losing its stamp. They are still active, still reinventing themselves, faithful to their playful spirit.

What to remember

Sinergia taught Chilean rock that you can be funny and good at the same time, and that humour is not at odds with talent. They scored the everyday life of this country like few others: their songs are a fond, teasing portrait of ordinary Chile.

And they left behind a paradox worth looking at head on. The genre that defines them was named by other people, and the song that made them mainstream was understood backwards by half the country. They spent thirty years being read one way and playing another, without correcting themselves or growing bitter. In a world that tends to confuse seriousness with quality, Sinergia showed that laughing is also an art, and a very hard one to master, especially when people are laughing at something that was never the point.

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Sources

Sinergia is a Chilean band formed in 1992, led by Rodrigo Osorio ("Don Rorro"), its vocalist, leader and songwriter. The term "metal pájaro" was not coined by the band: by their own account, producer and mentor Andrés Godoy told them they were "metal pájaro, total nerds", starting from the concept of "nerd metal", and drummer Bruno Godoy, Andrés's son, fixed the expression. After the demo "Apoyando la demencia" (1998), their official debut album "Sinergia" came out in 2001; the single "Mujer Robusta" was released in June 2002 and its video reached number one on MTV's "Los 10 + Pedidos" chart. The band has publicly maintained that "Mujer Robusta" is a vindication of robust women and not a mockery, and has stated that it blocked its use in a mocking key by some radio stations. "Marina" is known as the "himno pajarón". Their sound, with a percussive, prominent bass, is related to the funk-metal and rap-metal of the 1990s; bassist Alexis González cites Primus, Faith No More, Pantera, Level 42 and The Beatles among his references. On 21 February 2008 they performed at the Festival de Viña del Mar, where they won the Antorcha de Plata, the Antorcha de Oro and the Gaviota de Plata. They won the Premio Altazor for best rock band in 2008, 2010 and 2012. In August 2018 they began the children's music project Sinergia Kids, whose album came out on 29 July 2019. The band remains active. Profile compiled for Rebobinados with fact-checking; interpretations of the meaning of the work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Rockaxis, Vice, Wikipedia and other coverage.