Tango has been filling the streets of Buenos Aires for centuries but in recent years the milongas (dances) have been moving to a different beat. Welcome to the era of alternative tango! Nuevo tango (new tango) began to develop over twenty years ago with the adoption of different musical elements Read more…
Benjamin Biolay will be playing for the first time in Buenos Aires on April 18th and 20th as part of the BAFICI (Buenos Aires Independent Film Festival) activities. The French singer-songwriter is presenting his last album, Trash Yeyé -released last year- and songs from his previous discography.
The 2008 edition of the South American Music Conference (SAMC) wrapped up with a day-long dance party. Tens of thousands of people attended the event, which took place at Centro Costa Salguero along the Rio de la Plata. The dance fest featured four separate stages – Tangent, Freak Circus, Electro Place, and Tent – where dozens of international and local DJs spun grooves from three in the afternoon on Saturday until the wee hours of Sunday morning.
On a dusky, late summer evening, a crowd of close to a thousand people mobbed the lawn in front of the Palermo Planetarium to practice one of romance’s finest inventions—the slow dance. With a half moon floating appropriately over the Planetarium, the crowd of teens, 20 and 30-somethings and older couples gathered in the early twilight, awaiting the Que Vuelvan los Lentos, or the return of the slow dances, as the event was named.
Superstar DJs and a who’s who of the electronic music world descend upon Buenos Aires this week for the South American Music Conference (SAMC). By day, SAMC pulls together artists, producers, record label representatives, and fans for workshops and panels on everything from turntablism to festival organizing to the ins-and-outs of making a re-mix song. By night, DJs in town for the conference entertain the masses at various nightclubs around the city.
Where:Centro Costa Salguero – Av. Costanera R. Obligado and J. Salguero
Cost: General Admission $90 pesos, VIP $160
Website: South American Music Conference Website
Jose Gonzalez is talking to the crowd. He’s funny and entertaining and obviously at ease. As a fan of the Swedish singer-songwriter, who has seen him in concert a few times, I ask myself, “Is this the same artist who performs in monosyllables to solemn, packed houses?” I wonder, “Is it his new look?” His hair has undergone a dramatic change that makes him look all the more Argentine. For reasons beyond his long curls, I decide that it’s Argentina making the difference for this Swede of Mendoza heritage.
More than a weekly party and underground hip hop hub, Zizek is a movement in Buenos Aires. Zizek is the Wednesday night party thrown by What’s Up Buenos Aires and DJ Villa Diamante at Niceto, now in its second year. It gets going around midnight and it’s where Buenos Aires’ cumbia, dub, reggaeton, and hip hop crowd goes out to be seen.
Zizek, the party, was named after a philosopher, Slavoj Zizek – apparently because he’s a well-known Slovenian academic who married an Argentine model (?). It’s a weekly that includes live cumbia and South American rap acts along with resident deejays and their guests. Villa Diamante is a resident, Zurita makes appearances as does El Remolon, Daleduro, Oro11, and Marcelo Fabian. These are the members of Buenos Aires’ default rat pack of hip hop/ cumbia/ reggaeton – call it what you will they bring the street to the club.
Last week in Buenos Aires, Manu Chao joined La Colifata for a live radio broadcast. La Colifata is the radio station run by patients at the Borda Hospital – a psychiatric hospital. There was a rumor that he’d be playing a live show at the hospital, and since he’s done it once before during a visit to Buenos Aires, it seemed worth checking out.
Personal Fest is Argentina’s answer to California’s Coachella or England’s Reading. Sponsored by Personal, a wireless service, it featured local bands like No Lo Soporto and international names like Fischerspooner. It also brought in some big names like Chris Cornell, The Happy Mondays, Tego Calderon, and Snoop Dogg.
If you’re looking for corn tortillas in Buenos Aires, good luck finding them. But if you’re looking for good new music, that’s a whole other story. The city is loaded with music venues of all sizes and it’s the site of several music festivals as well.
One such event is Festival Buen Dia, an annual gathering of alterno bands which took place Saturday, December 15 at the Planetarium in Palermo. The festival used to be held in Palermo Viejo but outgrew the neighborhood. This year’s line-up included Juana Molina, girrrl rockers Las Kellies, psychedelic jammers Banda de Turistas, and the reliable sounds of the well-dressed ensemble Rosal.
