Manal was an early Argentine rock group. Together with Almendra and Los Gatos, they are considered founders of Argentine rock. The band members were Claudio Gabis on guitar, Javier Martínez on drums and vocals, and Alejandro Medina on bass and vocals. Unusually for a drummer, Martínez was the band's lead vocalist and leading songwriter.
The band grew out of the mythic "La Cueva" club, birthplace of the first generation of Argentine rock groups. Martínez was a regular, and Gabis played guitar with several bands, including Miguel Abuelo's Los Abuelos. Gabis was not keen about joining a band and regularly as he was committed to college, but eventually was persuaded by Martínez, and Manal was born.
The name "Manal" was based on the word mano ("hand"), which had acquired an additional meaning among young people in Buenos Aires, to refer to "things" or "the situation" (e.g. cómo viene la mano, lit. "how's the hand coming", would mean "how are things going"). Martínez would use "manal" as a made-up adjective, instead of the correct "manual".
Manal was influenced by Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Animals and other blues rock acts, bringing the blues to Argentina's rock conscience.
