“It is very important that we are human beings and not machines; they are not going to create a Spinetta or a Liliana Herrero through AI,” he said upon receiving the highest distinction from the UNR.
“Fito, Fito!” the enthusiastic crowd chanted repeatedly, embracing the Rosario-born musician on a very special night for him and the community of the Universidad Nacional de Rosario (UNR). With pure emotion, heartfelt words, and songs, Rodolfo “Fito” Páez received the highest distinction the University can bestow: an honorary doctorate. He dedicated it to his mother, his father, and especially to his aunt Charito, who, he affirmed, would have loved to see him receive a university degree. He also called for the defense of human dignity: “They’re not going to create a Spinetta or a Liliana Herrero through AI.”
Packed and filled with enthusiastic fans, the University Cultural Space (ECU) gave Fito a standing ovation as he was recognized for his extraordinary career, which has always carried Rosario throughout the world in his work. A prodigal son of the city, the visibly moved singer received his diploma of honor and poured his heart out in his words and songs.
The Rector of the National University of Rosario (UNR), Franco Bartolacci, began by offering a warm and heartfelt tribute to the new UNR Master: “Each of you here today will remember this day. The spirit of this honorary title is to recognize the intellectual and cultural trajectory of the honoree. We have come to settle a debt; we have taken too long to recognize you. Honoring you is an act of justice, a necessity, and also a desire to say 'Thank you.' I want to mention three essential reasons: thank you for being an ambassador for Rosario; thank you for being able to construct, in such a unique way, that narrative of our time; thank you also for that exquisite and inexhaustible sensitivity, as necessary as the very hope of imagining ourselves differently.”
“Beyond the diplomas, what we've come to thank you for is your life's testimony, that unique way of making us feel the world and its things, which moves, challenges, and inspires this community. This tribute is a declaration of principles: art and poetry also set us free and nourish those of us who come to offer our hearts,” Bartolacci concluded, embracing the musician, who hid his tears behind his dark glasses. The rector presented the diploma of honor alongside the sponsor of the appointment, the dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Arts, Alejandro Vila.
Fito's moment arrived. “It's all very exciting, so let's tell you everything. My aunt Charito was a vibrant woman, a catechist, very mischievous. Coming from a lower-middle-class family, a university degree was very important because it gave that little boy the tools to survive in the savage capitalist world. While I wasn't involved in that project, I naturally had an impulse to go in another direction, and that's what we're highlighting here today: that there's someone who perceives the irrational and must express it. Expression as something fundamental to the human condition—they're not going to create a Spinetta with AI, they're not going to create a Liliana Herrero with AI,” he declared, in a kind of rebellion against the advance of Artificial Intelligence.
“What we reward here is that; there has to be some daredevil creating. You can’t monetize everything. It’s very important that we are human beings and not machines. Today, declaring yourself human, creating, expressing yourself, feeling, is a political value,” he asserted.
“I am my mother’s and father’s son, I am a father to my children, but what is non-negotiable is the time you spend alone in your room, writing, creating. Those who allow themselves to be interfered with cannot belong to noble causes. I am grateful to the teachers who taught me, to those who brought me closer to the noble expressions of human beings. This is a collective recognition of the city’s artists, a reminder of the courage of those young people during the dictatorship,” he said, naming the tribe of musicians from Rosario. “I would have loved to give this gift to my Aunt Charito,” he concluded.
And then came the songs. Walking through Rosario, Tramp, Trying to Grow Up, and that chorus of “I Still Believe in Looking into People’s Eyes.” Following that came Prayer of the Backwater, The Sun Rises, A Madman on the Carousel, Home, Mirta Returning, Life Is a Coin, City of Poor Hearts, Technicolor Butterfly, and pure Rosario spirit.
He closed a cappella, emotional, heated with the poetry of "I come to offer my heart", the audience standing, the applause and always the bet: "Who said that everything is lost, I come to offer my heart".
Fito in Rosario's DNA
Rosario is a self-made city, without a founding charter, built on the effort, passion, and rebelliousness of its people. Within that Rosario DNA lies the work of Rodolfo Páez, born in our city on March 13, 1963, who gave melody, lyrics, and images to the lives of entire generations.
In Rosario, he played in bands like Staff (at age 13) and El Banquete. At a young age, he was part of the movement known as the "Trova Rosarina," which revolutionized Argentine popular music during the dictatorship and the Falklands War, alongside some of the biggest names in the local music scene. Later, under democracy, he joined Charly García's band for the "Clics Modernos" tour and recorded on the album "Piano Bar."
In 1984, he released his first album, Del 63, which was followed by other fundamental works such as Giros, Ciudad de Pobres Corazones, La La La, Circo Beat (recorded at Sala Lavardén), El amor después del amor, and, more recently, Novela. With these albums, he developed his own unique musical language, blending diverse traditions to create something new, intimate, and enduring.
In these four decades his work did not stop: more than thirty albums, concerts on stages all over the world and collaborations with artists such as Charly García, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Mercedes Sosa, Caetano Veloso, Elvis Costello, Joaquín Sabina, Pablo Milanés or Gerardo Gandini.
This is not just the story of an exceptional career; it is the path traced by a key artist of Argentine popular music in a body of work made from study, exploration and a great deal of rehearsal; but also from experience, humor, street smarts and that intensity that so reflects that of his hometown.
His artistic quest also led him to film and literature. In film, the medium-length film "The Ballad of Donna Helena," his debut feature "Private Lives," and "Whose Garter Belt Is It?", filmed in Rosario, allowed him to explore other ways of telling stories. And in literature, his first novel, "The Devilish Whore," his autobiography "Childhood and Youth," and the book of poems "The Man with the Naked Torso" reflect the power that runs through his vast body of work like an unmistakable and delicate thread.
His career is marked by international accolades: multiple Latin Grammy Awards, Grammy Awards, Gardel Awards, and the Latin Recording Academy's Lifetime Achievement Award, among others. More recently, his time at universities like Berklee College of Music has showcased another side of him: sharing his experience and personal vision of 21st-century music with students from around the world.
Journalists: Micaela Pereyra, Victoria Arrabal / Photographers: Ramiro Ortega, Karen Roeschlin