Not so for Zero 7, the exciting group formed by British duo Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker backed by guitar, bass and drums. On Sunday, the performance seemed slightly strained and mechanical. It never quite captured the entrancing magic of its latest album, “Lunatico,” recorded in Buenos Aires in the same studio once used by tango masters such as Astor Piazzolla. Like the visual effects, Gotan’s set as a whole seemed to be searching for focus. The concept worked best when the images were simple, as when two Spanish-language rappers appeared like giants behind the band for one number that seamlessly merged their taped guest vocals with the live performance. But the busy visuals became confusing at times, forcing the eye to the smaller video screens on either side of the stage. The musicians thus became an extension of the large screen behind them, allowing video images to be projected on themselves and the stage during their performance. The ensemble appeared dressed in white on a white set with a white sheet draped over the piano.
Barcelona’s Cristina Vilallonga expertly handled lead vocals, as she has on Gotan’s studio sessions. They were accompanied on stage by a striking string section, a piano and, of course, a bandoneon, the accordion-like instrument that supplies tango’s strains of mournfulness and yearning. Gotan, a name that flips the syllables of the genre, helped pioneer the unlikely but smooth marriage of styles with its 2001 debut CD, “La Revancha del Tango” (The Revenge of Tango), released domestically two years later.Īt the nucleus of Gotan are Argentine guitarist Eduardo Makaroff and his fellow producer-composers, DJ Philippe Cohen Solal and programmer Christoph H.
Most of the crowd, however, had no trouble appreciating how the inherent romance, passion and drama of tango can blend naturally with the hypnotic, digital beats of electronica. (Influential British electronic musician Matthew Herbert opened the show.) The language barrier may have turned off some defectors unaccustomed to Europe’s multilingualism. Several people ducked out of the tent shortly after Gotan, the headliners, took the stage and switched the show from English to Spanish.
Who says we can’t all get along? Judging from the sold-out show, all the world needs is a powerful, pulsing underpinning of electronica to bring such disparate musical elements together under one big, throbbing tent.įor a while, anyway. And Zero 7, the acclaimed London-based band that lights up its chill-out vibe with old-fashioned heart and soul, featured two guest vocalists: the exuberant Sia Furler from Australia and the composed (or is it shy?) Jose Gonzalez, who was born in Sweden of Argentine parents and sings movingly in perfect English with shades of American folk. The Gotan Project, a Paris-based trio that gives a modern twist to traditional tango, is composed of a Parisian, a Swiss and an Argentine with a Spaniard as lead singer. Just consider the make-up of the evening’s two main acts. But KCRW’s World Festival presentation Sunday at the Hollywood Bowl served to remind us that, hey, Europe is part of the world too - and the continent is brimming with immigrant musicians making for an intriguing creative stew. World music concerts tend to spotlight artists from Africa, Latin America and the Middle East.
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