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Sixto Rodriguez: Sugar Man, Finally Arrived!!!!


You probably haven't heard of Sixto Rodriguez yet. Even in this era of ubiquitous Rock 'n' Roll music and hundreds of Music artists acting like demigods. You don't live in USA, you don't live in South Africa either. You also haven't managed to see Academy Award Documentary Winner, 'Searching for Sugar Man' for all the wrong reasons. You can beg pardon. You can YouTube Rodriguez. You can watch this amazing film and get overwhelmed. You can live happily thereafter. Start with Wiki. A suggestion.

Rodriguez had the potential to become Bobby Dylan in 70s when Bobby Dylan wasn't even Bobby Dylan. He made two albums. His producers swore by them and him, considering both the greatest creation of Musicology in early 70s. But albums didn't sell. Probably 50 odd copies for both in his home country of USA. Even the black artists raised the hell in US Music Industry but a Hispanic personality, elusive at most of the times with a name like Rodriguez had no chance of finding a foot there. His third album was an unfinished business and Rodriguez was finished, absolutely buried by 1974. That's it.

But then Apartheid era- South Africa comes into the picture. It seemed like one of the first copies of Rodriguez's first album, Cold Facts, somehow ended up on shores of Capetown. It's soulful lyrics was second only to Beatles and in an era when TV was considered a communist thing in SA, the trapped youth took an immense liking to it. Afrikaans population of South Africa made Rodriguez its idol and their music artists started worshiping him like a deity. But after the second album, Coming from Reality, nobody heard of/from Rodriguez again. It was like a favorite doll of a child has been taken back from him only when he fell in love with it. Moreover, who the hell this Rodriguez was, no one had an idea about. Even the personnel responsible for distribution of his vinyl records in SA hadn't heard of him. He was a mythical artist for sure, this much ascertained from his fabulous music but was he a real person? Who was he?

Cue the documentary and his legend......Go wiki......I bet you haven't listened to or seen anything like it/him, EVER!!!!

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