Adventures in South America

Tanghetto

Last night (Saturday) we went to a Tanghetto concert at the ND Ateneo Theater in the Centro neighborhood of Buenos Aires. We attended with Fernando and Maru and had an enjoyable experience. For those of you that haven’t heard of Tanghetto, they are a group that fuses electronic music with traditional Tango music. They have been very successful here in Argentina, as well as abroad. It is not uncommon to go into a lounge, bar or swanky restaurant and hear their songs over the locale’s sound system. They have released several albums, many of which we have seen for sale at Virgin in NYC. We own the CD Emigrante, which we purchased it here last year.

The band is made up of 6 members –
Max Masri – the founder of the group, he plays the synthesizer, composes and produces the music
Diego Valazquez – plays guitar, also arranges and composes the music, he served as the MC for the evening
Hugo Satorre – percussion (drum set)
Gabriel Clenar – Acoustic and Electric Piano
Chao Xu – Violoncello and Erhu

The theater was packed and the band played a set that lasted about 90 minutes. They played songs off of their previously released albums, as well as tracks that they had never played live that are on their soon to be released album (i.e. Testigo and Tango en Crisis). There were also some interesting twists to the show – they featured 4 different tango couples. The couples all danced beautifully and it was interesting to see the traditional dance being interpreted to this newer style of Tango music. I especially liked how the fashion styles of the dancers varied – while a few of the men had the suave debonair look that is traditionally associated with Tango dancers, one of the men wore jeans, a t-shirt and a bandanna on his head (his style was definitely more hip-hop but that just emphasized that this music is also appealing to the newer generations). Another highlight was the fact that they played two 80’s songs al estilo Porteño – anotherwards with a Tango flair. New Order’s Blue Monday and Depeche Mode’s Enjoy the Silence.

posted by Kathy T @ 7:13 AM