I wasn’t able to see Bajofondo Tango Club on Wednesday the 15th July, but I heard a lot of good reports about it from friends on Facebook and tweets on twitter.
In support I listened to my small collection of Bajofondo while catching up on a bit of writing.
One of my offspring came into the kitchen where I was writing and asked me why was I listening to dicey Spanish trance music. I explained that it was modern Tango. He wasn’t buying it. Hmmmm.
I actually own 8 hours worth of modern Tango music, most of which I would never dance to but I enjoy listening to some of it. I even made up a CD for the car.
Does he have a point?
6 responses so far ↓
Joli // July 17, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Tango inspired music, perhaps might be a better label? The tango controversy continues…
jantango // July 17, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Yes. Even he recognizes that the modern music labeled tango isn’t soul-filled like the classics from the golden era. The name “tango” is used to market everything from a soft drink to software. Bajofondo is no exception.
Arlene // July 17, 2009 at 3:04 pm
@ Joli
I think you are right about that and what I will be calling it from now on.
Sophie // July 17, 2009 at 4:33 pm
Categorising Bajofondo is really tricky. The recorded album and the live performance are quite different, the later being a LOT more “rock” and loud, with the band jumping up and down on stage. During the gig, band founding member Gustavo Santaollala presented their music as “contemporary music from the Rio de la Plata rather than tango nuevo” (it seems he objects to this label), as band members are Uruguayan and Argentinian and live everywhere, from Bariloche (Patagonia) to Los Angeles. There is a clear inspiration from tango, a bandoneon; the violinist also plays in Café de Los Maestros, but there is also the dub-machine, the scratching, the keyboards, the electric guitars. So the result is, for me, not just electro tango or tango nuevo, but something born of rock, of dance, of electro, of tango, of milonga. I think the music played at the gig was louder, faster than on the record and I think would probably have been pretty hard to dance as tango nuevo. Pogo-ing was a bit more natural to be honest! But it was a great gig with that secret enthusiasm the Argentinians and Uruguayans have, and the perfume of tango in the air gave just the right amount of magic…
Sophie // July 17, 2009 at 4:40 pm
PS they just call themselves Bajofondo, Tango Club was actually the name of their first album.
Arlene // July 17, 2009 at 4:47 pm
@ Sophie,
They do now but not always: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bajofondo
and more recently: http://www.whatsonstage.com/index.php?pg=206&action=details&show=L01676344755