- country:France
- style(s):Electronic
- label:YA BASTA
- artist posted by:Les Oreilles Bleues
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Gotan Project
In November 2005, just minutes before the
Gotan Project were due onstage at the Gran
Rex theatre in central Buenos Aires,
Argentina, band guitarist and native
Argentine, Eduardo Makaroff, summed it all
up in one key quote: "The lyrics of many of
the famous tango songwriters would always
talk about going back to this city, and so
we're returning to the South and to the place
that's in our hearts."
Seven months previous, Eduardo and fellow
Gotan producers; Parisian Philippe Cohen
Solal and Swiss-born Christoph H. Müller,
had flown from their homes in Paris to
record the new album, 'Lunatico', in Buenos
Aires' prestigious Studio ION - the famed
venue where tango greats like Astor
Piazzolla had once laid down their aural
magic to vast reel-to-reel tape machines.
Sat in on the sessions with them were a host
of local session musicians; a complete string
section, two emcees, one trombonist and
Argentine piano legend and long-time
Gotan collaborator, Gustavo Beytelmann,
conducting much of the musical goings on.
Five years on from breaking new ground in
tango and electronica with their debut, 'La
Revancha Del Tango' - now having sold in
excess of a million copies worldwide, and
shows anywhere from Tel Aviv to Tokyo in
between, the band now had the small matter
of developing the longstanding love affair
that the public had now embarked upon with
tango to concentrate on.
"We really wanted to explore both tango and
folkloric music from Argentina a lot further
than we had before," says Philippe. "That's
why many of the tracks are really classically
tango-orientated, very traditional patterns
that people like (Anibal) Troilo would use."
The resulting material from those sessions
was and is quite possibly their most
accomplished work yet. Not wanting to
replicate any of what 'La Revancha...' had
originally achieved musically, Philippe,
Christoph and Eduardo subsequently flew
back to Paris two weeks later to begin the
second leg of work on 'Lunatico' – named,
quite appropriately, after tango hero Carlos
Gardel's champion racehorse of the 1930's.
Fellow collaborators; Argentine
Bandoneonist, Nini Flores, and
Barcelona-based vocalist, Cristina
Vilallonga, joined up with them at their
Substudioz back in the French capital and
thus began the completion, hidden under
top secrecy, of 'Lunático'.
With a decidedly stronger emphasis on the
more organic roots of tango, almost to a
classical level, 'Lunático' has taken one step
backwards in order to move two steps
forward in what not only the Gotan Project,
but also many of Argentina's top tango
musicians see as the progression of their
beloved music's ever-evolving lifespan.
"Recording this album was a more natural
process for us all," Philippe adds, "as we
wanted to continue the tango experience
and in ten years time hopefully we'll still feel
the same."
(Copyright: Swax T. McIver, 2006)