When you think about music and Argentina, do you immediately think tango?
You’re not alone. Argentina is known for unleashing the sexy style on the world in the early twentieth century. Over almost a hundred years, the tango has been an obsession of many, even leading to an explosion of tango-themed vacation tours.
While I appreciate the music, and especially the dance, of the tango, it’s not something I would necessarily have in my iPod. Throughout the years, the style has of course evolved, first into Nuevo Tango, which incorporated new instruments and new melodies into the traditional music, and then into Neo Tango. This most recent version of the tango style is a fusion of the traditional with an electronic sound.
My favorite example of Neo Tango is a band called Bajofondo. Their song Pa Bailar. The embedding is disabled, but I recommend you click the link. Just like in traditional tango, the video uses dance to tell the story, but in a funky new way.
Another popular style of music in Argentina is cumbia villera, or “shanty town cumbia,” which was derived from the Colombian cumbia but in Argentina has taken on a much grittier and even populist feel. I confess that I am not a fan of cumbia. To me, every line of every song sounds exactly the same and the dance is too slow for my taste. I listened to a lot of different examples of cumbia villera, hoping to find a little variety, but I was mostly disappointed. The video below is a group called Piola Vago (or savvy bum), singing a song called El Triki Triki. I picked this particular song because it sounds a little bit rougher than the others, a little bit more “street", if you will, and the dance is much sexier than your average cumbia. Also, I like this band because Carlos Tevez sings with them when he can find time away from his life as an international football phenom.
I prefer meringue to cumbia, which is why I really enjoy Argentina’s cuarteto, which is similar, and even a little faster, than the meringue I have heard. The style became popular in the 1940s, and remains so today. Here’s a song called Camina Y Ven – 20 Años, by a band called Tru-la-la.
Finally, I perused the top 20 charts for this week and there were only a couple of songs that I found interesting. At number 17, is Babasonicos, and their hit Microdancing.
Coming in at number three is a song titled La Luz del Ritmo, by Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. The band has been popular for over twenty years, mixing rock, punk, ska, reggae, jazz, folk, and funk. The result is energetic and fun, and should wake you up a bit if you’ve stuck with me til the end!
i kind of liked all of these songs. dont think id put any on my ipod, and they all sound like they came from the 80s, but they're eminently danceable - the horns, the beats. and pretty good voices. they sure like to groove in argentina!
O, I actually really enjoyed Microdancing. It has an 80s-ish feel that will make it right at home on my ipod :)
But we can't leave Argentine without tango. We went to see Tango Fire (a dance troupe) last year and they were awesome. This wasn't my fave section, but not surprisingly the clip below is their most viewed on youtube because it's en fuego. But just a not of warning, should you see them live sit at least 5 rows back. The male dancers use tons and tons of hair gel and whip their hair into a frenzy.
There's also lots of blue steel posing going on, but the show was awesome - as was the band Quatrotango who performs live with them.
RALEIGH, N.C. — Federal election officials say John Edwards owes taxpayers more than $2.1 million in public matching funds improperly received after he dropped his 2008 run for the White House, yet disclosure reports show his failed campaign is still spending freely.
Edwards’ hopes for the Democratic presidential nomination imploded in a sex scandal four years ago that left him facing criminal charges. But reports filed last week show his 2008 primary campaign spent $836,712 in 2011 on airfare, hotel rooms, cell phones and other expenses [....]
News came hours after police surrounded the US consulate in Chengdu prompting rumours of an attempted defection
By Tania Branigan in Beijing, guardian.co.uk, 8 Feb., 2012, 07.30 EST
A high-profile Chinese official is receiving "vacation-style treatment" for stress, officials have announced – hours after police surrounded a US consulate, prompting widespread speculation of an attempted defection.
The rumours around Wang Lijun's sudden disappearance from public life are an unwelcome development for his patron, Chongqing's ambitious party secretary, Bo Xilai. Bo has been widely tipped for promotion when a new generation of leaders takes power in China this autumn [....] rumours of a split between the men emerged when Wang was abruptly moved to a non-police portfolio last week [....]
Joe Arpaio is called the 'America's toughest Sheriff', but Maricopa County is not so tough if you are white, booked on suspicion of 8 felonies, caught with stolen items in the home of your grandmother who is trying to kick you out, along with body armor, guns and drug paraphernalia. The Maricopa County Attorney's office, headed by a Republican, released the suspect with no charges being filed, just weeks before two grisly murders, because of the need to 'develop evidence' (like, maybe Grandma stole the motorcycle, owned the drugs, guns and body armor?) If the 8 felony suspect was Latino, would he have been set free so easily?
The individual involved was later arrested with four others, for the crimes of robbing and killing a wealthy Paradise Valley Arizona couple whose burned bodies were found bound in their destroyed house. The Jaguar automobile of the couple was found burned at another location.
MIAMI – A former Ecuadorean newspaper columnist who faces prison and millions of dollars in fines for his criticism of President Rafael Correa requested asylum Wednesday in the U.S., claiming he is the victim of persecution aimed at stifling free expression. Emilio Palacio, 58, said in an asylum application that a criminal libel judgment against him in his homeland shows he "is being severely punished in Ecuador for expressing legitimate opinions and subjective interpretations of factual events."
A four-hour, closed-door hearing was held Wednesday in Miami [....]
The Inter-American Press Association, for example, called the president's actions "a systematic and hostile campaign to do away with the independent press." Similar claims have been leveled against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, an ally of Correa's [....]
By David M. Herszenhorn and James Gorman, New York Times, Feb. 8/9, 2012
MOSCOW — In the coldest spot on the earth’s coldest continent, Russian scientists have reached a freshwater lake the size of Lake Ontario after spending a decade drilling through more than two miles of solid ice, the scientists said on Wednesday.
A statement by the chief of the Vostok Research Station, A.M. Yelagin, released by the director of the Russian Antarctic Expedition, Valery Lukin, said the drill made contact with the lake water at a depth of 12, 366 feet. As planned, lake water under pressure rushed up the bore hole 100-130 feet pushing drilling fluid up and away from the pristine water, Mr. Yelagin said, and forming a frozen plug that will prevent contamination. Next Antarctic season the scientists will return to take samples of the water [....]
The need to prevent even the slightest contamination of the lake is acute. Its environment is comparable to conditions on the moons of Jupiter, which are among the candidates for extraterrestrial life. If life exists in Vostok, it may well exist on Europa, one of the moons of Jupiter [....]
i kind of liked all of these songs. dont think id put any on my ipod, and they all sound like they came from the 80s, but they're eminently danceable - the horns, the beats. and pretty good voices. they sure like to groove in argentina!
O, I actually really enjoyed Microdancing. It has an 80s-ish feel that will make it right at home on my ipod :)
But we can't leave Argentine without tango. We went to see Tango Fire (a dance troupe) last year and they were awesome. This wasn't my fave section, but not surprisingly the clip below is their most viewed on youtube because it's en fuego. But just a not of warning, should you see them live sit at least 5 rows back. The male dancers use tons and tons of hair gel and whip their hair into a frenzy.
There's also lots of blue steel posing going on, but the show was awesome - as was the band Quatrotango who performs live with them.