by Wade KerganManal are a Buenos Aries power trio similar to Almendra but with a grittier blues-rock approach and are often credited as the first Argentina group to sing blues in Spanish. They released a self-titled album in 1970 and followed it the next year with El León. The group, Javier Martinez on drums and vocals, Claudio Gabis on guitar, and Alejandro Medina on bass and vocals, split after the release of their second album. Medina and Gabis went on to join the rotating cast of producer Billy Bond's supergroup la Pesada. In 1981 Manal reunited and have since reconvened regularly for tours and the occasional live album.