Rodrigo's Album Learning to Live (Aprendiendo a vivir)

Legendary, mythical, saintly: by all accounts, Rodrigo “El Potro” was an Argentine musical phenomenon.

Born in Cordoba, Rodrigo Alejandro Bueno achieved that rare level of Madonna-esque stardom whereby he is most commonly referred to by his first name alone. The star is also affectionately called by his nickname, ‘El Potro’, or ‘The Colt’. Considered one of the most influential cuarteto artists in the genre’s history, Rodrigo was instrumental in spreading the style beyond Cordoba to other parts of Argentina.

Cuarteto first appeared in 1943, and like other forms of Argentine music – including tango –was heavily influenced by the music styles of different immigrant groups. The music has an active and strongly articulated ‘tunga-tunga’ rhythm, and is often classified as having a tropical flavour. Cuarteto lyrics focus on themes of love – and the misfortunes of it – quotidian life, humour and dancing.

Similar to tango, cuarteto originated as music of the working class. For nearly half a century after it appeared, the style retained this reputation, and did not spread far beyond the city of Córdoba and surrounding areas. It was not until the 1990s that the genre attained national appeal and crossed social divides.

Rodrigo’s family was of modest means, but they were well connected in the music world. The singer was therefore surrounded by the cuarteto classics from birth. Carlos “La Mona” Jimenez – who is also considered one of the top cuarteto artists of all time – was good friends with Rodrigo’s mother and became a significant influence on the singer.

Surrounded by music in his home, Rodrigo got his first taste of performing at a young age: at only two years old, a pint-sized El Potro first took to the stage, appearing on television in the “Fiesta del Cuarteto”. By 11, he had joined the band Cheberé, and shortly thereafter signed his first salaried contract with Manto Negro. Against his parents’ wishes, El Potro left school when he was in seventh grade to focus on his music.

At 17, Rodrigo launched his solo career with the album “La foto de tu cuerpo.” It was with his second CD, “Aprendiendo a vivir”, however, that he gained national appeal and made his Buenos Aires debut.

Patricia Pacheco, Rodrigo’s former girlfriend and the mother of his son, remembered in a 2000 interview with Canal Trece that Rodrigo sought to “bring cuarteto to every corner of the country,” in order to “give a little bit of happiness,” particularly in difficult times.

El Potro did not gain his fame through music alone. Fans and commentators consistently recall his “charisma,” an appeal that perhaps helped him to broaden his fan base beyond that of traditional cuarteto stars.

Rodrigo was also infamous for his unique style. The star’s hairstyles were particularly notable, including everything from long, curly and unruly to short and dyed in various crazy colours, including blue and red. His well-known look also included a myriad of signature faces and poses.

By 2000, Rodrigo’s popularity was at an all time high. In that year alone, he set a record by filling Luna Park to capacity thirteen times.

Then, on the 24^th June, tragedy struck. At 27 years old, Rodrigo was killed in a car crash on the way home from a gig at the Escándalo club in City Bell.

The singer’s death was mourned across the country. Over 100,000 fans attended his 18-hour wake.

This past Sunday marked the 12-year anniversary of the death of Rodrigo, killed on the same day that tango giant Carlos Gardel died in a plane crash in 1935.

Although more than a decade has passed since his death, El Potro continues to have a powerful presence in Argentina.

A look at one of El Potro’s many Facebook fan pages, for example, demonstrates this continued popularity; in a photo album “the Legend Continues”, Facebook users upload pictures of their tattoos mimicking Rodrigo’s colt design.

El Potro will soon have a 2.4metre tall statue of his own in the Gigante de Alberdi stadium, home to the Belgrano de Córdoba football team. The star was a notorious fan of his home city’s team. To help cover the estimated project cost of $290,000, the sculptor commissioned with designing the statue – artist Carlos Benavídez of Córdoba – made one hundred busts of Rodrigo to be sold to the public at $250 a piece.

To many fans, the star is remembered in a way that is nearly sanctified. In a interview with Canal Trece shortly after his death, his mother recalled “that which he had, he shared; and he suffered for the pain of others.”

This May, the television show ‘Gracias por Venir’ hosted a special remembering the musician, attended by his friends, family and other well-known musicians.

Over ten years after his death, El Potro clearly retains a place of importance in Argentine popular culture.

Genre: Cuarteto

Dates active: 1987 — 2000

In their own words: “I do not think that I am a good singer, but I tell stories. I make people participate in my songs. I don’t talk about banalities. I want to leave a message, to transmit the testimony of those whose stories I know. I am a very attentive person. I talk about taboo subjects and those subjects that no one wants to talk about.”

Most famous song: ‘Soy Cordobés’ and ‘Lo Mejor del Amor’

Best lyrics: Love overcomes every social difference/in the calendar, every day passes by/despite the doubts and what they may say, love can be more (from ‘Ocho Cuarenta’)

Famous for: Bringing cuarteto music to new Argentine audiences.

Best to listen to: When you feel like dancing!

Ligia Piro in concert at Teatro La Nacional in 2011 for 'Las Flores Buenas' (Photo courtesy of Ligia Piro)

Buenos Aires is an anomalous city that is fast-paced while also being laid-back. In the corners you can hear cumbia that gets your shoulders rolling and in the balcony milongas you hear the melancholy of tango. Amidst the confusion, an Argentine musician who plays a different kind of genre, jazz, is blossoming: Ligia Piro.

Ligia Piro is claimed to be nourishing the jazz scene in Buenos Airesas few people connote the city with a music style that is difficult to historically and geographically peg. Although jazzologia has entered the scene, this study wasn’t on the radar until 1984.

It shows that branching out as a jazz musician in Argentina is not necessarily easy, despite its rise in popularity in the past decades. The genre has experienced waves of repression within the country, but has been able to fight back to garner its rightful recognition.

Jazz is a musical force in Argentina that began in a time when smooth caramel sounds were the necessary sweet effects of the roaring 1920s. Buenos Aires was one of the only cities in Latin America to feel the economic boom alongside European and North American cities such as London, Paris and New York. Although it prided itself in tango and folklore music, jazz was a cultural aspect of the ‘boom’ for the newly created global city. The genre had such a large impact on the people and culture that it is now celebrated annually in a festival that draws thousands from all over the world.

It was not always this way for jazz. During the 1970s dictatorship, there was a movement inwards towards ultra-nationalism. It meant that the mainly the leaders rejected jazz as un-Argentina, seeing it as a threat to the cultural identity. The music needed to adapt to the conditions, find other places to be inspired from, incorporating elements of bossa, swing, soul, and funk. It began to spring up in coffee shops and these ‘café concerts’ became so popular that they are still celebrated today. It was turned into the kind of music that flourished like wild flowers.

In 1971 as the dictatorship was about to commence, Ligia Piro was born to tango singer Susana Rinaldi and bandoneonista Osvaldo Piro. Her name was chosen by her mother from a character in the Latin novel “Quo Vadis” (“Where are you going?”), and who was the daughter of a deceased king of barbarians. Ligia was held hostage by the people of Rome and eventually forgotten about by her own people. She was rumoured to be of great beauty.

The beauty transpired into the Argentine Ligia’s voice. From her earliest 2003 album, “LP”, classics in English (“Cry Me a River”) and Portuguese (“Anos Dourados”) show you, not only the velvety vocals, but her versatility in language as a jazz performer.

Within a decade, she has released five more albums and has played alongside her mother and father in concert. She has been acclaimed to have nourished the jazz music scene and to show that she can grow as a musician within the genre. Where the music struggles, the artist is bound to struggle, too.

“I come from a family of strong women, heavy, bosses of the house. Women that represent little fighters and that is something I want to pay homage to,” Ligia explained to Pagina/12.

From her latest album, “Buenas Flores” (2011), her ability to confront struggle resonates in the song, “Las Buenas Flores de Javier”, where it translates:

I promise you that your poetic flowers/ shadows, silence, pain/ cry even deeper to remember/ waging war with your good flowers

It’s smooth, it’s sad, it’s real. It’s real because of the pain and real without any flash. It is a genre that may not culturally symboliseArgentina, but relates on the human level of emotion.

Life is not always easy, as a musical genre, as a struggling artist or as a people that have experienced oppression. Perhaps that is the life of an artist, the weight that Ligia Piro carries on her shoulders: to interpret life’s struggles through a medium that struggles to thrive itself.

Active since: 2003 to Present

Genre: Jazz moving towards incorporating elements of tango

Most well-known song: ‘Barro tal vez’

Lisandro Aristimuño on stage (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

After being nominated for multiple awards on two of the four albums he has released, it is no surprise that people are talking about Lisandro Aristimuño.

Best known for a unique blend of Patagonian folklore rhythms and modern electronic music, he might easily be likened to the British act Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly – especially on songs like ‘Es todo lo que tengo y es todo lo que hay’.

The musician describes his instruments as “voice, guitar and computer,” but in reality there is a lot more to his music than that. His sound is complex but intricate. It’s calm, but at the right time he will introduce a trumpet, a violin or a cello, adding multiple layers. The huge variety of instruments creates an interesting plurality, often letting you forget that there is only one man behind all of the noise.

Aristimuño was born into a family of creativity. Son of a theatre director and an actress, he was raised in an artistic atmosphere. Growing up in Rio Negro, northern Patagonia, he was immersed in the sound of the traditional folklore of the region, played at home by his parents.

This influence can be heard particularly in the rhythm of his own music, and comes together seamlessly with the more modern element of electronic music. For the most part, his lyrics betray his birth place, talking of simple beauty and nature. The song ‘Agua’, for example, retains modernity through an electronic beat, while the lyrics recall traditional folklore, talking of the artist’s hometown.

When he was 14 years old, Aristimuño began composing and playing music. He joined a local band, Marca Registrada, and in 2001, he moved to Buenos Aires, taking these early compositions with him.

Moving to the capital Aristimuño discovered electro music, and here, along with influences such as Peter Gabriel, Genesis, the Beatles, Bob Marley and Queen, the hybrid between modern and traditional emerged in his music.

The albums he released further down the line were heavily influenced by his new life in Buenos Aires, notably his second album, ‘Ese asunto de la ventana’.

In 2004, his debut album ‘Azules turqueozas’ won huge critical acclaim, entering the ‘Top 50 Albums of the Year’ list in both Rolling Stone magazine and Argentine equivalent Los Inrockuptibles.

The album was nominated for a Carlos Gardel prize that year, and received great reviews in news magazine Veintitrés and Revista G7, among others.

‘Ese asunto de la ventana,’ released the following year, featured once again on Rolling Stone’s ‘Top 50 Albums of the Year’ list, and was nominated ‘Record of the Year’ by the daily newspaper La Nación.

Aristimuño’s popularity and success grew exponentially and, after an acoustic tour of Spain in 2006 and the release of a third album in 2007, he decided it was time to give back to independent music.

Since 2008, Aristimuño has had his own show on independent radio station La Tribu, promoting new Argentine artists. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine in 2011, he stated the show is his way to “give back to music what music has given to me.” He actively supports independent musicians by personally going to the shows of up and coming bands and buying a handful of their CDs.

For the last few years, he has been an advocate for independence and self-management in music. When he performed at Ciudad Cultural Konex, for example, he picked a few artists whose music he wanted to produce. Covering the production himself meant that tickets for the concert didn’t have to pay for it, so they could be super cheap; $40 for a mini festival.

2010 was a successful year. His most recent album, ‘Las crónicas del viento’, won the 2010 Carlos Gardel prize, and a performance at the Teatro Coliseo confirmed him an important figure in Argentine contemporary music.

Rio Negro remains an important place and, every two years, Aristimuño travels home to spend time with family and old friends. While changes in his life may have created new influences – for example, the city’s strong presence in his second album – the fundamental element of Patagonian folklore has always remained.

While it does so, Leandro Aristimuño stands out as a unique bridge between the rural and traditional culture of the south, and the fast-paced, lively atmosphere of the capital. And it is this rare combination that continues to make Aristimuño’s sound so popular and successful.

Genre: Electro-folk hybrid

Dates active: 2001-present

In their own words: “What I sing is how I really am. Sensitivity is the only thing that the system can’t grasp, and I think it’s important to talk about love. You have to show yourself as fragile, especially in these times.”

Most famous song: ‘Me hice cargo de tu luz’

Best lyrics: “I saw you leaving naked on the sea / I am the air in your glance.”

Famous for: Incorporating Patagonian traditional elements with modern electronic music.

Best to listen to: Sitting on a balcony watching the world go by

The Mahatma Dandys represent a quirky, unique style (Photo courtesy of the band)

Mahatma Dandy are on a mission from God: to claim back the most genuine, primitive wails of music dating back to olde world times where bands were playing with no cables, electricity or technologic-witchcraft whatsoever.

What they promote is folk music at its purest: a unique mix of rock and Latin alimented by the sole energy of people dancing. This is Mahatma Dandys in a nutshell.

In an interview with the Argentina Independent last June, band founder Pablo Gulis described them as “A band that could play in the street, here, in the Roxy, in a bar […] not just a rock band that plays once a month.”

This must be the reason why on YouTube it’s easier to find some amateur, slap-dash, low-quality video of the Mahatma crew jamming in the most random places, rather than official, polished, music videos of them.

Their deep love of the non-commercial circuit (together with a genuine passion for shoulder-to-shoulder contact with their fans) is one of the reasons why the band are still hitting the streets of Buenos Aires on weekly basis.

The band plays outdoors in Plaza Serrano (Photo courtesy of the band)

“We still play every weekend in Plaza Serrano in Palermo,” bongo player Juan Muller tells proudly over the telephone. “We want to raise money to independently produce our second studio album.”

And so it is, every Saturday at 6pm, the 13-member Mahatma family inflames the adamantine atmosphere of the Palermo neighbourhood with their boot stomping Latin rhythms.

A joyful mix of cumbia, rumba, reggae, folk, rock and jazz their music is clearly inspired by bands such as Gogol Bordello, Devotchka, Manu Chao or, to speak in Argentine terms, perhaps Onda Vaga or Babel Orkestra. Their rowdy and rambunctious songs feature the chaotic presence of accordion,  percussion, trombone and trumpet as well as the instruments ronroco, charango and güiro.

Mahatma Dandys are gypsy and nomadic, Balkan and South American, humorous and contagious. Emerging from an underground scene in 2009, their debut studio album,  ‘Las cosas son así’, was recorded and produced at the legendary ION studio, one of the first professional recording studios in Buenos Aires and home of high-caliber artists such as Charly García.

Their first producer, Max Scenna, who won a Latin Grammy Music Award in 2008 for his ‘Buenos Aires, dias y noches de tango’, helped the group blend together slower paced songs such as ‘Así, así, así’, classic cumbia tune ‘Marcela’ and the lumpy rock guitar riffs of ‘Las cosas son así’.

Photo courtesy of the band

Just like any young ensemble, the band like to boast their numbers. Pointing out that they have already played on more than 400 official (but mostly unofficial) occasions so far, they’ve had live dates in Montevideo and Costas de Rocha in Uruguay, as well as performances here in Buenos Aires’ Konex cultural centre, the José Tiburcio Borda psychiatric hospital or just the birthday of someone’s grandmother.

“We are trying to unite mundane daily life with the high and mystical,” said trumpet player Mati Linetzky. “We try to find the common ground of these two opposite poles: where souls are at one with bodies, hopes with reality, the galaxy with the earth… and then we appear, to deliver our Mahatma Dandys’ spirit.”

Recording for their second studio album is scheduled to start in May and Muller reveals: “We’ll try to keep the same style as the first album, singing all together as a unit; yet, the second one will be more pensive listening.”

“There’ll probably be less dancing and more listening,” he says hinting at the natural maturing of the band as a whole. “We’ll also try to travel to foreign countries, perhaps Europe, to promote it.”

Genre: Tropical rock/cumbia

Dates active: 2009 – Present

In their own words: Joy is the cure to every bad.

Most famous song: ‘Marcela’

Best lyrics: “Like that, like that, like that, like that, just like I like it. How beautiful it is to meet you and hold your hand so you can help me singing”.

Famous for: The song ‘Así, Así, Así’ was chosen as official soundtrack for Teleton Uruguay and slowly became a sort of national anthem of solidarity.

Best to listen to: When you’re dancing semi-naked around the room still a little unsure of what to do or where to go. The energetic sound of the Mahatma Dandys will lean you towards a live concert and make you head straight to the centre of the crowd. 

Michael Mike Band with their own brand of rap (Michael Mike press image)

If you’re someone who gets cranky when anyone besides the internet knows more about underground music than you, Michael Mike should already be on your playlist.

The Buenos Aires-based electro rock group is too obscure to even appear on Wikipedia, and its videos are suitably weird.

Along with an inescapable disco vibe, the band prides itself on experimenting with its own brand of rap. Back in 2008, band member Cuca de la Ley told Argentina’s Rolling Stone magazine that he was “embarrassed” by the rap his contemporaries were putting out.

“We want good national rap,” he said. “Latino rap usually copies the Yankees, with the backwards cap and all. For me, right now, the best rapper is Jay Z.”

True, rap is not necessarily what comes to a foreigner’s mind when listening to Michael Mike. Their most popular track, ‘A Bailar Horror’ (‘A Horror Dance’) from their second album ‘Ama Tu Ritmo’ (‘Love Your Rhythm’) does have more speaking than singing at times, but the pop / indie backdrop is more reminiscent of Vampire Weekend than of 50 Cent.

The trippy, kaleidoscope music video showing old movies also looks like production costs ran up to about $10, a far cry from buying even bottle of Crystal for a typical rap video.

In a U-turn from ‘A Bailar Horror’, the group took on a dramatic electro dance beat in the song ‘Lo Que A Vos El Amor’ (‘Whatever You Love’).

What makes this sound dance-worthy? Just ask the people in the video. A sultry lady in red begins a solo interpretive dance in the courtyard of an apartment complex, to the intrigue of who we can only guess are her neighbours. Soon, curiosity gets the best of them and, of course, in typical music video fashion, a full-on sexy dance party ensues.

Despite sounding like a one-man show, Michael Mike consists of six band members, each with fraternity-like nicknames: Tomás Justo, Big M (or, the “Black Lodge), Cuca De La Ley, Jean D’eon, Zeca and Andy Wildcat.

There are three songwriters among the sextet, which likely accounts for the band’s ability to skip across rhythms and genres and back again without breaking a sweat.

The band have released three albums to date and consider their third recording, ‘Nena o Neno’, their “best and most complete”.

Genre: Disco, electro, pop, rap

Dates Active: 2005-present

In their own words: “We wrote many of the songs in our adolescence. I wrote ‘The Platform’ and ‘Latin Love’ with my brother Augustine when he was 15 years old.”

Most famous song: ‘A Bailar Horror’

Best Lyric: “And I cannot escape this dream, I cannot escape. But I hear the music.”

Famous for: They’re still working on it

Best to listen to: When you’re around an annoying music fanatic or feel like starting a sexy dance party of your own.

Most Argentines don’t know who José Alberto Iglesias is. But mention his pseudonym – Tanguito – and eyes light up.

Considered one of the fathers of Argentine rock, Tanguito is one of the great names behind the Rock en Español movement.

Tanguito performing

Born in 1945 in Caseros, a northwestern suburb of Buenos Aires, the musical master flunked out of school. Despite his efforts in apprenticeships such as gardening, Tanguito was made for the guitar.

By the age of 17, he became a mainstay at dances in the neighbourhoods of Mataderos and Flores. There, Iglesias picked up his nickname, because he danced rock ‘n roll style in a zone filled with tango lovers.

In 1963, Tanguito became the singer of a group called Los Dukes and made his recording debut. He left the band after a suggestion that he should make a solo album for RCA, but the plan fell through.

After his time in the suburbs, Tanguito headed to the big city and started spending a lot of time at the Recoleta establishment La Cueva. Located at Av. Pueyrredón 1723, the venue came to be known as the birthplace of Argentine rock.

Tanguito and his group of bohemians also used to frequent La Perla del Once, a late-night dinner or breakfast joint. In their washroom, the rock legend penned his first popular song – ‘La Balsa’ – while his friend Litto Nebbia added musical elements.

Tanguito also went by another name: Ramses VII. He was fascinated by the Egyptian pharaoh Ramses II and was enchanted by chords with dominant sevenths.

And so, it was Ramses VII who wrote some of the first popular Spanish rock songs in Argentina – specifically ‘La Balsa’, ‘Amor de Primavera’ and ‘Natural’ – according to the name attached.

The man became a rising star as the co-writer of ‘La Balsa’, which became famous when the band Los Gatos sang it. He recorded a single in 1968, which slumped because of poor marketing, although several Argentine artists were covering his songs, like ‘Amor de Primavera’ during the same year.

Until this point, Tanguito was using marijuana and pills like many of his peers. In mid-1968, however, he took to injecting amphetamines.

In 1970, he agreed to do a record with the label Mandioca. After a few skipped sessions, he finally showed up and recorded his only solo album, which was received with critical praise.

Despite his role as one of Argentina’s great musicians, Tanguito spiralled out of the musical sphere and into addiction and mental illness during his final years.

By the end of 1970, he’d caught the attention of police and was arrested several times before being sent to prison in 1971. After being charged with leading a drug gang and being diagnosed as criminally insane, he was sent to the José T. Borda Neuropsychiatric Hospital. There, he was subjected to insulin shock and electroshock therapy for his addictions.

Rather than recover, his mental health deteriorated and, in May 1972, he was sent to Penitentiary Unit 13 of the same hospital – a unit for for criminal psychopaths.

At dawn on the 19th May 1972, he escaped from the hospital. Although he reached the Pacífico train and hoped to get to his parents home in Caseros, he did not make it: at 10:50am, the legend fell on the tracks and was hit by an oncoming train.

Despite the tragic end to his life, Tanguito’s legacy lives on in his music. His songs continue to be covered, and there are movies and shows about his life. As the magazine ‘La Bella Gente’ once said: “Tanguito managed here, possibly for the first time, to take all the drive, the authenticity and the feeling that is used to sing in the streets of Buenos Aires.”

Genre: Argentine rock

Dates active: 1962-1972

Famous for: Being one of the pioneers of Argentine rock

In his own words: “All of a sudden you’re in a place with a guitar, as I was. There are 20 people, in a group or not – but they are there. I never said the group was mine, and only now do I learn that.”

Most famous song: ‘La Balsa’ or ‘Amor de Primavera’, both of which were popularised by other bands covering them.

Best lyric: “I have to get a lot of wood / I have to get it, from anywhere / And when my raft is ready / to be leaving the madness / with my raft I will go to wreck.” – La Balsa

Best to listen to: On weekend afternoons when your roommates are taking a siesta and you’re sipping mate / When you want something to chill your spine, but keep your mind occupied.