Buenos Bands

I have one week left and I haven't been out of Buenos Aires except on short local trips. The thing I've done most here is see live music. It's a great town for tango, rock, and cumbia. A week ago I saw the band to rival Gogol Bordello on musical, spectacle, and political levels. Las Manos de Filippi played in an old tango theater in Avellaneda, an area that has seen some political turmoil in the last few years. It's a working class neighborhood and was home to a big anti-government protest a few years back that turned into a riot where two people sufferred death by cop. The band chose the spot because they're anarchists who sing about social issues and have a pic of a record industry exec on the cross as a cd insert pull out. They were intense and great. www.lasmanos.com.ar



I've seen a lot of rock and electronic hybrids - in clubs, theaters, hotel ballrooms, old factories, old government parlors, former department stores, and on the street. The most popular street music is tango. Bands set up with accordion, strings, and box drum and you could easily be in Buenos Aires between the wars. Except that the violinist has dreadlocks.

La Chicana is a world music kind of retro tango band. Strings, accordion, bass, drums, acoustic guitar, argentine indigenous drums, and a male/female duo up front create an ambiance where Edith Piaf meets the Gypsy Kings. They played in a big, gorgeous theater. The songs are broad and distinct and lovely. www.lachicanatango.com

Rosario Blefari is an edgy, bouncy rock chic with a global electronica sensibility. Like a happy PJ Harvey mixed with a friendlier Karen O and melodic songs, she stands strong on her own but is backed by a band with good chemistry and she's fun to watch. www.myspace.com/rosarioblefari

Error Positivo is my boyfriend's band. I'm biased, obviously. They're moody with strong guitar and emotive melodies that haunt. Plus they had this singer from NYC guesting at their last show and she is me. Rock influenced by the Rolling Stones and Argentine rock nacional. Good guitar rock.



Juana Molina has a record that's selling in the US. She produces her own electronic landscapes and plays live with a laptop, guitar and loop pedal. Soft spoken and a bit boring but a couple solid songs I'm loving and a record that's easy to listen to over and over. She's Argentina's current big export as a singer/actress.


Doris is a band I think I will love when I get to see them live. Or they might be putos - not sure. I like their record a lot.
www.myspace.com/doris


Los Peyotes were amazing live - see my former entry from March. www.myspace.com/lospeyotes

Los Alamos are a big indie rock band. They do a country melodic bilingual sound with a lot of space and multiple guitars. Clean and moody, they are easy to like in the indie rock sort of way. Though that's not my thing so can't say I'm a fan - I doubt I'll be missed - they have a big pile of hipster fans here in Buenos Aires.
http://images.google.com.ar/imgres?imgurl=http://lambrtz.blogsome.com/images/white.jpg&imgrefurl=http://poneplay.blogspot.com/2007_05_01_archive.html&h=487&w=600&sz=60&hl=es&start=28&um=1&tbnid=69U8M5n-YpYvjM:&tbnh=110&tbnw=135&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmataplantas%26start%3D20%26ndsp%3D20%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Des%26sa%3DN


Zurita is a DJ who mashes up classic hip hop with cumbia. His tracks are good times - Jungle Brothers/ Jungle Hermanos south of the border style. www.myspace.com/zuritaa


PolleraPantalon and Manana Me Chanto are two bands I saw playing live downtown in the plaza. www.pollerapantalon.com
They are both ska-influenced and are what people here refer to as "hippy." Hippies as I know them are called "bohemianos." Hippies in BsAs are folks who are street and semi-transient - rastas, punks, and hardcore heads all fall under the category. Manana Me Chanto has a song in English about Dubbya that is particularly funny. www.mananamechanto.com

Pollerapantalon were pure instrumental and invited members of the street audience to freestyle. An Italian looking grandfather got up and ripped it in the downtown plaza with them. And they had to escort him off the mic he bogarted so bad.


Mataplantas played at Ciudad Konex a couple weeks ago in 40 degree weather to a crowd of teens and twenty-somethings in mod gear. (Urban Outfitters would be a big hit in BsAs.) Mataplantas are a band of skinny-jean wearing indie-rock boys who play loud, retro rock with a psychadelic spin. Or maybe it was all the projections of mushrooms behind their heads. They were the best band of the night. www.mataplantas.com.ar

Bicicletas played thick rock with a new wave bounce. They performed at Ciudad Konex and were the opener when Roger Waters from Pink Floyd was here in March. Which, by the way, made the front page of the newspaper and was all anyone talked about. Argentina was closed to any outside media up until the early '80's. When Aerosmith comes to town it's somehow a symbol of this generation's national freedom.


La Pequena Orchesta Reincidentes is my newest love in raucous, tango inspired, horn bands. They could easily share a bill with a Balkan band - instant dance party.
http://www.reincidentes.com.ar/


I hope to see some more before I go. I'm still energized from the Las Manos show and picture myself going to every live latin music show in NYC this summer. I miss you NYC.

I Love Latkas

Would you give up your routine for adventure? Alright, that's an easy one.
Would you leave your comfort zone for "true love?" Also not a tuffy, okay, here goes:
Would you move to a far away country where you'll always be a foreigner, leave all your friends and family, any semblance of a career, a city you adore, semi-equal gender status, and most of your favorite foods, to live in the third world with a guy who looks a bit like Andy Kaufman?

I think I may. I'm in love in Buenos Aires and like I told him, I can't stay another three months. I'm going back to NYC to work and be in the summer and I'm excited to go back to the greatest city in the world. And he loves NYC but he doesn't want to move. I'm going back to Alphabet City for the summer and I might move to Buenos Aires next year. Maxi-taxi asked me to move in with him and I'm considering it. Would you? If you weren't looking for it but it was just right?

Would you be Argentine? And be urban in a city with a subway, the traffic of Los Angeles circa 1975, and where a house in a great neighborhood is 100K? Where daycare is inexpensive and in cute houses with gardens and where people love kids in restaurants? Would you move to a place without gun violence or chronic obesity or chrystal meth? Where people believe in astrology and therapy and everybody sings at sporting events? And where everyone you love is far away - except for one.

Alec goes to Uruguay

Paper Alec came to me by mail from Virginia. He's a "paper person" from my cousin's son's 6th grade class in Reston, a suburb of Washington DC. He has been all over Palermo Soho and Palermo Hollywood - seen quite a lot of Buenos Aires and even made it across the border to Uruguay by ferry. He's a redheaded paper child. Tracy - la chica de Brooklyn, Alec, and I had fun documenting his escapades on foreign soil.

Tango is not Badum-dum-dum

Who would have thought that Tango would be the sexiest dancing I'd ever seen? This is no "nobody puts baby in the corner" moment. This is what the swing craze could have been minus the gymnastics and with a little respect for the intimate moments. Slow, close, and nostalgic, Tango is what you wish for when you look at black and white photos of Paris or NYC. Old movie kisses and Billy Holiday flower in the hair songs. I can't believe it's that good.

Lucky for me, I went to La Viruta instead of going to a more touristy Tango house. La Viruta is the YMCA but super romantic. It's full of regular Argentines celebrating romance with slow dancing - foreheads touching and tushes jutting out to respect the personal space. My parents could have got down at La Viruta and not been at all out of place where there were talented fifteen-year-olds carrying on a turn of the century art form. Walking downstairs into the basement, friends and I encountered a space with a rec-room vibe. The music was old Europe accordions and strings and the crowd was a mix of Argentinians and Foreigners - mostly Scandinavians and Germans with the occasional Japanese or Korean. People were taking classes at 8pm on a Sunday and it was surprisingly crowded.

We didn't feel up to partnering and trying it out so we ate some empenadas and eventually went out for the evening. We ended up coming back to the milonga later with a couple of other friends and we saw La Viruta in full effect. The couples were moving around in a slow embrace, eyes closed, retro outfits, the whole thing. They weren't dancing for show - they were obviously in it for the personal sensation and it was riveting. The five of us sat there for over an hour and stared at the dance floor and were amazed. It was gorgeous.

Legend has it, my maternal grandfather's father was killed at a milonga in Buenos Aires sometime just before World War I. His death would have coincided with the birth of Tango. The first milongas were bordellos for immigrants who were separated from their families and loved ones and went to the milonga for a little TLC and some nookie. Musicians would play to entertain the customers and the ladies would dance with them. The tango was born and had its hayday between the wars. Recently, the Buenos Aires municipal government started up a festival every March. It's gained momentum and tango has become really popular. I just convinced my friend Max to go with me this week - I don't feel up to locking foreheads with a 55 year old Norwegian. If I'm lucky, I'll get a photo of us to post. But first, I need "tacos" - proper high heels for tango-ing.