Gotan Project
Lunático

THE REVIEW

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.