Tango

  • Tango,  The Musical Box

    Gotan Project featuring Osvaldo Pugliese and … Kruder & Dorfmeister

    Osvaldo Pugliese is a tango legend who led the same orchestra for 55 years. So why is he the focus of an article which also mentions two electro DJs from Vienna, downbeat, trip-hop and muzak? The answer is because Gotan Project, the electro tango group, sampled riffs from Pugliese's tangos and specifically named him as one of their influences. Want to know more? Take a look and listen to the multiple music videos in this fourth article in a series of five inspired by the cover version of Chunga's Revenge by Gotan Project.

  • Tango,  The Musical Box

    Zappa remixed by Gotan Project

    Chunga's Revenge may not be the most well-known track from Gotan Project's debut album, but its sung-spoken lyrics tells us a lot about the mix of influences behind Gotan Project. Chunga's Revenge has its origins a million miles from tango, because it is a cover version of a Frank Zappa jazz-rock tune. What? Zappa in a tango post? Yes, along with dubmasters King Tubby, Lee Scratch Perry and Mad Professor. Want to know mor? Step this way.

  • Tango,  The Musical Box

    Astor Piazzolla, Anibal Troilo and … Xavier Cugat in a Gotan Project remix

    Anibal Troilo, Astor Piazzolla and Xavier Cugat make an unlikely trio. But they all get name-checks as inspirations and influences on Gotan Project in the song "Chunga's Revenge". When this track was released in 2001, tango dancers didn't immediately know what to make of Gotan Project. It was electro tango. But was it tango? This series of posts takes a look at the names behind this eclectic musical mix. What would you say to a little tango?

  • Tango,  The Musical Box

    Meet & greet with Gotan Project

    "La Revancha del Tango", the Gotan Project debut album, was released in October 2001. Even if the group had been around for 2 years,, for the general public Gotan Project was a new name which raised questions : Who are these people? Where does their music come from? Some say it's tango others say it's electro tango, but who's right? One song on that debut album, called "Chunga's Revenge", gave answers to all of these questions in a sort of meet & greet. For those with ears to hear, it presented all the members of Gotan Project by name. It takes two to tango so, if you're ready ...

  • Tango,  The Musical Box

    Astor Piazzolla’s Four Seasons of Buenos Aires

    A number of composers have tried to put the seasons to music, so we can have them all year round. Antonio Vivaldi dominates the field with his Four Seasons from 1725. But since 1999, thanks to an arrangement for classical orchestra called Eight Seasons by Leonid Desyatnikov, a concert programme now alternates movements from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi and those by the Argentinian Astor Piazzolla from his tango suite The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires, also known as Cuatro Estaciones Porteñas. Let's take Piazzolla out from the shadow of Vivaldi by taking a closer look at his Four Seasons of Buenos Aires.