LAMC Preview: Bajofondo, the Electro-Tango Supergroup

Thinking back to my favorite concert moments of the past decade,

Bajofondo, and their Electro-Tango take up two spots in my Top 10 of favorites.

Bajofondo Tango Club (as they were known before dropping the ‘Tango Club’) closed out the Gobi tent at Coachella in 2009 to a Gnarls Barkley capacity sized crowd. About two thirds of the gathering were die hard fans, the other third, had wandered into the area maybe drawn in by the energy, or the strange instruments on stage, but regardless they were quickly about to become fans.

Bajofondo’s stage presence is imposing. There is an extraordinary amount of musical talent amassed into one collective on one stage, it’s almost Broken Social Scene-esque. You’ve got producer savant, Gustavo Santaolalla, mastermind behind some of latin music’s biggest names (ie: Cafe Tacuba, Juanes, Julieta Venegas) leading an ensemble of musical masters like Juan Campodónico, Luciano Supervielle, Adrián Sosa, and Verónica Loza.

And they all rotate around the stage taking turns performing on a range of live instruments that include violins, violinophones, concertinas, upright bass, and turntables. It’s a sound so moving; it’s hard to believe this combination of acoustic tango with electronic music has not been a more prominently explored arrangement.

There have been others who have attempted to fuse the genres like, Federico Aubele & Gotan Project, but no one has made the combination sound as amazing or successful as this project uniquely representative of the Argentine-Uruguayan, Rio de Plata music scene.

Bajofondo will be headlining this year’s Celebrate Brooklyn outdoor concert, July 10 in Prospect Park as part of LAMC. It’s the perfect setting to throw a towel down and escape into the unique styling of electronic infused tango.