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Rating: The Rebirth of Tango
Five years have passed since the dazzling debut album of the "Gotan Project" ("La Revancha del Tango" - Ya Basta! 2001), an unexpected international success for a highly original musical offering that blended the tradition of tango with refined electronic sounds. These sounds were consistent with the emotional intensity of Argentine music, retaining all its seductive and melancholic inner strength even in this dimension. Indeed, it can be said that this apparently bizarre choice managed to give a new and thrilling vital sap to this music, allowing it to take its revenge and regaining a popularity everywhere that risked becoming a dusty, yet precious topos of the 20th century as time went on.
In these years, the Franco-Argentine group, riding the wave of acquired fame, has taken around the world a show of rare beauty for music and images, consolidating the strength of this ambitious project, which today is enriched with a second studio chapter: Lunático (Ya Basta! - 2006). And the first listen immediately gives the vibrant and beautiful sensation that these five years have not passed in vain. In fact, while continuing consistently with the settings of the first album, this work has a new soul essentially characterized by the choice of original tracks, all performed by musicians brimming with vitality and passion, also taking advantage of magnificent collaborations. Among these, the collaboration with Calexico stands out, capable of blending in the opening track - "Amor Porteno" - their "desertic" sounds with the languid torment of tango in an unusual, as original, as intriguing sound dimension.
If the first album was the revenge, then this represents the rebirth of tango, which the "Gotan Project" decides to accompany into the future. Indeed, their dream is to give a new life to this genre, dressing it in modernity, while not forgetting the channel where tradition flows. Thus, to revive tango, always maintaining it as a "sad thought that dances" (Enrique Santos Discepolo). So in the foreground are the instruments that have made its history: double bass, piano, violin, and naturally bandoneon. But these are covered with new musical colors that evoke a thousand sensations: red like the passion of love, the mysterious blue of the night, while black and white, playing in contrast, paint an intense and sensual atmosphere. So fragile and sinuous webs of strings intertwine with electronic rhythms; seductive female voices alternate with samples and guitar hints, meeting sweet piano phrases; the trembling breaths of the bandoneon play with loops and rap in Spanish. And while the melody speaks to the soul, the rhythm awakens the numb body, with a musical narrative that unfolds according to a clear stylistic coherence with traits of extreme refinement, care, and elegance, not leaving much room for the nostalgia of the past, but rather opening new horizons.
This music moves with an indolent step, but then attacks with energy, leading to a murky romanticism that recalls at times Carlos Gardel, at times Astor Piazzola, at times the outskirts of Buenos Aires, at times the clubs of Paris, until landing in the Texas of Ry Cooder ("Paris Texas") leaving you breathless, tired and happy like after a long run through the skies of the world, but which you wish to start again as soon as it's over.
Tango is reborn, long live tango.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
03 Diferente (05:23)
En el mundo habrá un lugar
para cada despertar
un jardín de pan y de poesía
Porque puestos a soñar
fácil es imaginar
esta humanidad en harmonía
Vibra mi mente al pensar
en la posibilidad
de encontrar un rumbo diferente
Para abrir de par en par
los cuadernos del amor
del gauchaje y de toda la gente
Qué bueno che , qué lindo es
reírnos como hermanos
Porqué esperar para cambiar
de murga y de compás.
04 Celos (05:30)
Celos
pudo el amor ser distinto
redes
trampa mortal en mi camino
y en un café , un café de ciudad
me contaste otra vez tu destino
Celos
celos en suelo argentino
fiebre
y mi ilusión que se deshizo
mientras te burlas de mí en tu canción
no me puedo librar del hechizo
Nubes
nubes de sal y de hastío
dudas
pago por ver lo que he perdido
la capital te atrapó, te embriagó
en el triste ritual del olvido.
Mmm
pudo el amor ser distinto
mmm
crudo final discepoliano
y en un café, un café de verdad
cayó el último acorde del piano
10 Arrabal (03:57)
El negro bebió
bailando candombe
lágrimas de su tambor
genial
Pociones de amor
volcó en mi guitarra
la luz de su redención
final
Esos cueros llevan sueños
al otro lado del mar
... y un viento de arrabal
La noche silbó
su antigua milonga
y en mi país se oyó
cantar
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