Misa Criolla and Alfonsina y el Mar are probably his best-known compositions. In 1964, the Ramírez composition Misa Criolla marked the beginning of a period of high musical productivity for the composer, which also heralded the premieres of the works Navidad Nuestra and La Peregrinación (both 1964) Los Caudillos (1965) Mujeres Argentinas (1969), and Alfonsina y el Mar (1969), all produced in collaboration with writer Félix Luna. (NB: The Washington Post reported in error that he had two sons.) He married musicologist Norma Inés Cuello de Ramírez. Ramírez had two daughters, Mariana and Laura, and a son, Facundo.
Back in Argentina, he collected over 400 folk and country songs and popular songs and founded the Compañía de Folklore Ariel Ramírez. Ramírez went on to study classical music in Madrid, Rome and mainly in Vienna, from 1950 to 1954. He was also associated with Miguel Brascó and Félix Luna. Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Mercedes Sosa are some of the artists to have recorded his work. He made his first recording in 1946, with RCA he made twenty records with that label until 1956. At the same time continuing his academic studies as a composer at the National Conservatory of Music, in Buenos Aires. He spent time in Mendoza and Buenos Aires. įollowing a suggestion from Yupanqui, he visited the northeastern part of Argentina, and deepened his research into the traditional rhythms of South America. He continued his studies in Córdoba, where he met the great Argentinian folk singer and songwriter Atahualpa Yupanqui and was influenced by him. He began his piano studies in Santa Fe, and soon became fascinated with the music of the gauchos and creoles in the mountains.
He initially pursued tango before switching to Argentine folklore. His father, who was from Spain and immigrated to Argentina, was a teacher and it had been thought Ramírez would also pursue this career path but the job lasted for just two days due to "discipline problems". 3 Society of Authors and Composers of the Argentine RepublicĪriel Ramírez was born in Santa Fe, Argentina.