Tango 3.0

Gotan Project set an example to themselves

The international trio Gotan Project raised a stir in 2001 after released an immensely nice and revolutionary album called La Revancha Del Tango. It looked like there was only one member in the band who could be associated with the type of music that CD presented. We are talking here about an Argentinean Eduardo Makaroff whose ethnical background destined him to love and praise rousing rhythms of tango. Frenchman Philipp Cohen Solal and Swiss Christophe Muller are supposed to be more composed and reserved. After all, they come from Europe. However, tango has no nationality or skin color. This is the music that is loved by everyone in every corner of the world. But if you present it in a fashionable electronically designed shape, you can expect even more people to love what you get. This worked out when Gotan Project did it. La Revancha Del Tango became a golden release and a specimen for musicians working in this field. Even Gotan Project had to work hard and long to produce a new record of the same quality. Listeners spent five years waiting for that album to come out, but the second long player, Lunatico, proved it was not all in vain. Now, what can Gotan Project offer this time on their third album, Tango 3.0, to outdo themselves and fascinate the audience?

Tango 3.0: tango and something else

The new album has quite a simple title and even a simpler cover. It is hard not to agree that the logo of the band on the black background with a hardly seeable name of the studio work is far from the most creative solution. The duration of the CD is also beyond sensation as it equals forty five minutes. This leaves us with the assumption that the musicians of Gotan Project keep all the surprises, pleasant surprises, of course, in the very content of the record. It is opened by Tango Square, a song that signals to us that, hopefully, Gotan Project did not change their own style. The song’s based on Spanish guitar in its prime in a fairy dialogue with bandoneon (national Argentinean concertino). Song number two, Rayuela, is catchy thank to a children’s choir; yet this also tango from Gotan Project. However, the best track off the record is the single La Gloria done in the best traditions of the previous two works. Tango here is not background, foundation or frame, but a gentle drawing, ornamentation, embellishment; and this fusion with electronica makes the best out what this music can give. The following tracks are not better than this overwhelming hit, yet they manage to maintain the high level. You will remember fast Tu Misterio with gracious an exquisite piano tune, and vibrant El Mensajero having a great portion of trip-hop.

Loyalty to original style

There lies a great meaning in the fact that the album’s closing song, Erase Una Vez, has practically nothing that is not tango. Doesn’t this tell us that Gotan Project are distant from the idea of trying anything new on the next albums and will remain loyal to the favorite music. This is not an easy task to compare Tango 3.0 with the other two record to see which one is better. We have to admit that since the times of the debut album’s release, the music of the ensemble has not gone through drastic changes. This is not a sign of creative stagnation of reluctance to look for fresh ideas. The band finds it very comfortable and pleasant to work in the genre they once choose; and they are good at making their new songs so much different from the old stuff. The music business is the sphere where you can hardly satisfy the expectations of each and every one. As soon as you start modifying your sounding, you’ll be blamed for selling out and lacking stylistic originality. In the meantime, if you keep moving in the direction you set in the very beginning, you are likely to get under the fire of criticism for writing incompetence. Anyway, as long as Gotan Project keep releasing albums as powerful as Tango 3.0 with emotional and colorful songs, they will have many more supporters than opponents.