Famed Argentine singer/songwriter adds disabled performers to his shows, film documents the collaboration

From The NY Daily News. In the picture, León Gieco performs with Sandra González Neri and Demián Frontera (r.)

When legendary Argentine singer/songwriter León Gieco (pictured) performs live, he often invites audience members to come onstage and jam with him.

Beginning about 15 years ago, some of the musicians who took up Gieco's offer were physically and mentally disabled. Among them were a man with no arms and legs who played harmonica and sang in a rock band; tango dancers with Down syndrome; a blind singer and a wheelchair-bound dancer.

Gieco, who performed in New York August 5 at Queens Theatre in the Park as part of the Latino Cultural Festival, was initially unsure how to feel about these non-traditional artists.

"I wasn't used to playing with the handicapped, so I didn't know how to approach it," he says over the phone from Buenos Aires. "But now when I'm on tour I miss them, and I miss their camaraderie."

The 58-year-old Gieco went on a wildly successful national tour with a number of them, all of which is documented in "Mundo Alas" ("World Wings"), a film which opened August 6 at the AMC Empire 25 Theater, 234 W. 42nd St.

Gieco, who has recorded more than 30 albums and is known for songs that deal with social and political issues, will also give 7:45 p.m. "mini-concerts" at the theater this Friday, Saturday and Sunday before the 8:15 screening of the film.

The tour, which played the provinces and ended up at Buenos Aires' massive Luna Park stadium, came about because Pancho Chévez, the man without arms and legs, happened to meet Néstor Kirchner, then president of Argentina, and expressed his desire to play in Casa Rosada, the country's version of the White House.

Knowing of Gieco's collaborations with the disabled, Kirchner suggested the singer put together the concert â%88%92 which was broadcast on national TV, and then went on the road, where it was filmed.

"They thought it was a great idea, and great for their careers," says Gieco, a performer who mixes Argentine folk styles with rock.

"There might be some people who might not want to watch, but the response we got was incredible, and the artistry and the musicianship outweighs the fact they are handicapped."

Indeed, the professionalism of performers like Carina Espina, the blind singer, and Alejandro Davio, a hydrocephalic singer-guitarist, is top of the line, and has, in fact, led to recording contracts and live tours. Even more heartwarming is the story of Demián Frontera, the wheelchair-bound dancer who performs with the non-disabled, and at the end of the film is shown marrying one of them.

"The best moment of the tour was the marriage, because it disintegrates all the stereotypes people have, says Gieco. "The film has to do with the kind of people they are, their spirit; they don't feel sorry for themselves."

In the end, Gieco, whose best-known song, "Solo le pido a Dios" ("I Only Ask of God"), became a concert favorite of the late Mercedes Sosa, says his collaboration with the disabled "made me a better person and a better musician."

He hopes audiences will come away from the documentary "feeling happy."

"It's an inspirational movie, and it breaks barriers about the handicapped," he said. "But I also want people to realize that after watching these people, the stupid problems they might be moaning about aren't that important after all."