No duermas más

The story behind

Sumo recorded their first album in a studio in Buenos Aires over three weeks in 1985, using equipment that wasn’t the best but produced a raw and direct sound. The result was Divididos por la felicidad, an album that broke away from the bar and pub circuit where the band used to play. The official release came on April 1st of that year, and two months later the group performed at the Astros theater in front of an audience that was no longer the same. The song that resonated the most was La rubia tarada, but there’s another one that, while not the main hit, has something special: No duermas más. It sounds like a wake-up call, with a rhythm that never stays still and a voice that seems to come from somewhere else.The track lasts just over three minutes, but in that time it achieves something few albums of the era did: blending post-punk with local touches without losing power. Luca Prodan, the band’s leader, had already moved between Joy Division and other British influences, but here he found a sound that felt Argentine without needing to shout it. The album’s title itself is a nod to Joy Division, though the band never openly admitted it. What’s curious is that, despite their later success, they weren’t aiming for mass appeal at the time: they just wanted their music to sound like they felt it. And luckily, it was preserved that way.