Rata Blanca

Infobox musical artist
Name = Rata Blanca


Landscape =
Background = group_or_band
Alias =
Origin = Buenos Aires, Argentina
Genre = Heavy metal Neo-classical metal Power metal
Years_active = 1986–present
Label =
Associated_acts =
URL =
Current_members = Adrián Barilari Hugo Bistolfi Fernando Scarcella Wálter Giardino Guillermo Sánchez
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =

Rata Blanca ("White Rat") is a classic heavy metal band from Argentina that formed in the 1980s.

Biography

The band was founded by Walter Giardino after he left V8. Rata Blanca played together for about two years before their debut on August 15 1987 in the theater "Luz y Fuerza" in Buenos Aires. They later took part in the "Halley en Obras", along with other bands: Alakrán ("Skorpion"), JAF and Kamikaze, in 1988. That year they made their debut album with two hits: "Chico Callejero" ("Street Boy") and "El Sueño de la Gitana" ("Gypsy's Dream").

In 1989, Hugo Bistolfi joined the band and then Saúl Blanch left, to be replaced by Adrián Barilari. With that arrangement, the band made its second album "Magos, Espadas y Rosas" ("Wizards, Swords, and Roses") They released two records between 1989 and 1994 called "Guerrero del Arco Iris" ("Rainbow Warrior") and "El Libro Oculto" ("The Hidden Book"). Both Bistolfi and Barilari decided to leave, being replaced by Mario Ian on vocals and Javier Retamozo on keyboards. With this line-up they released "Entre el Cielo y el Infierno" ("Between Heaven and Hell"). Later that year, they were invited to play in "Festival Monsters of Rock" in São Paulo, Brazil, along with Ozzy Osbourne, Therapy?, and Alice Cooper. They released yet another albums with new singer Gabriel Marian and keyboard player Javier Retamozo (Hugo Bistolfi left to form the band Alianza with singer Adrian Barilari) called "Rata Blanca VII", the group disbanded in 1998. They regrouped in 2000 (with Barilari back on vocals and Bistolfi on keyboards) to tour Latin America. In recent years, they released two more albums, "El Camino del Fuego" ("The Path of Fire") in 2002 and "La Llave de la Puerta Secreta" ("The Key to the Secret Door") in 2005. They are currently working on their twelfth album.

The band is heavily influenced by British hard rock bands like Rainbow, Deep Purple and Whitesnake, as well as by Yngwie Malmsteen.

Walter Giardino has had successful collaborations with Spain's Mägo de Oz.

Personnel

Current

*Wálter Giardino: Guitar
*Adrián Barilari: Vocals
*Hugo Bistolfi: Keyboards
*Guillermo Sánchez: Bass
*Fernando Scarcella: Drums

Original

*Saúl Blanch: vocals
*Wálter Giardino: guitar
*Guillermo Sánchez: bass
*Gustavo Rowek: drums
*Sergio Berdichevsky: rhythm guitar

Others

* Mario Ian: vocals
* Gabriel Marian: vocals
* Javier Retamozo: Keyboards
* Saúl Blanch: vocals
* Sergio Berdichevsky: rhythm guitar
* Shito Molina: vocalst
* Miguel De Ipola: Keyboards

Discography

Albums

*"Rata Blanca (album)" (1988)
*"Magos, espadas y rosas" (1990)
* "Guerrero del arco iris" (1992)
* "El libro oculto" (1993)
* "Entre el cielo y el infierno" (1994)
* "En vivo en Buenos Aires" (1996)
* "Rata Blanca VII" (1997)
* "Grandes Canciones" (2000)
* "Entre el cielo y el infierno/El libro oculto" (2001)
* "El camino del fuego" (2002)
* "Poder vivo" (2003)
* "en vivo estadio obras" (2003)
* "La llave de la puerta secreta" (2005)
* "El Reino Olvidado" (2008)

ingles

* "La Leyenda del Hada y El Mago"
* "Rata Blanca" (2001)
* "Teatro Gran Rex" (2001)
* "Highway on Fire" (2002)

External links

* [http://www.rataweb.com.ar Rata Blanca's official homepage]
* [http://www.rockero.com/artists/rata-blanca/ Rata Blanca] [Fan Site]
* [http://www.rockdetector.com/artist,32979.sm biog and discog at Rockdetector]