Gotan Project

All Music Guide:

Before they perfected the electronica-meets-tango sound of the Gotan Project, Paris musicians Philippe Cohen Solal and Christoph H. Mueller worked together in the Boys from Brazil and Stereo Action Unlimited as early as 1996. Releasing their music on Solal's Ya Basta label, the two quickly caught the ears of Jazzanova, Gilles Peterson, Mr. Scruff, and other electronica tastemakers, while Coca-Cola picked a Boys from Brazil track for a European television commercial. Despite all the success, the duo wanted a project that had a more consistent mood. Feeling that both tango and dub had a subdued and melancholic sound, they decided to combine the genres. With the addition of Eduardo Makaroff in 1999, they formed the Gotan Project and released their first of four 10"s on Ya Basta in February 2000. The band had drummed up quite a buzz in the U.K. and European press, and soon XL Recordings snagged the group. XL issued their full-length debut, La Revancha del Tango, in 2001, and the self-proclaimed "top Argentinian musicians exiled in Paris" toured to support the album, with guest musicians and a video backdrop by multimedia artist Prisca Lobjoy. Lunatico, from 2006, was named after tango legend Carlos Gardel's champion racehorse. Tango 3.0 appeared in 2010. In April of 2011, to celebrate the tenth anniversary of La Revancha del Tango, the Gotan Project enlisted the stars of the nueva cumbia scene to remix the album and retitled it La Revancha en Cumbia. It was expanded and released as a full-length on CD in October of that year.

Wikipedia:

Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris, consisting of musicians Philippe Cohen Solal (French), Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine), and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss, former member of Touch El Arab).

History

Gotan Project formed in 1999. Their first release was "Vuelvo Al Sur/El Capitalismo Foráneo" in 2000, followed by the album La Revancha del Tango in 2001. Their music involves tango, but also uses elements such as samples, beats, and breaks.

Live material was also broadcast on Gilles Peterson's world music show Worldwide on BBC Radio 1 in May 2004. Philippe Cohen Solal has also released a DJ set: Inspiración Espiración - A Gotan Project DJ Set Selected & Mixed by Philippe Cohen Solal (2004). This album is a compilation of classic tangos from the likes of Aníbal Troilo, Ástor Piazzolla and Gotan Project remixes. The album also includes a bonus CD with the track "La Cruz del Sur" - which was meant to be included on La Revancha del Tango, but did not make the cut in 2001.

Before Gotan Project, Müller and Cohen Solal formed a duo called Boyz from Brazil.

Tango 3.0 was released on April 19, 2010.

Band name

The name of the trio is a play on the name of a famous tango compilation album that featured several American classical musicians who came together to record a tango album, originally released in 1982. This album, called the Tango Project, includes a rendition of Carlos Gardel's and Alfredo Le Pera's "Por Una Cabeza" which had been featured in movies such as Schindler's List, Scent of a Woman and True Lies.

Following the renewed success of the "Tango Project" album, the modern trio then decided to give themselves a name that paid tribute to the "Tango Project", this time using a form of word play called "vesre" that is very common in Lunfardo, an argot of Rioplatense Spanish. This wordplay involves, in the simplest cases, moving the last syllable to the beginning of the word ("vesre" itself is "reves"—the Spanish word for "reverse"—with the second syllable in first). Thus, the word Tango becomes Gotan, the name the trio have chosen for their project in reference to the hugely-successful Tango Project album which helped popularize tango music once again.

Music

The song "Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre)" from the La Revancha del Tango album was featured as the music for the main dance sequence in the 2004 movie Shall We Dance?, with Jennifer Lopez and Richard Gere. American gymnast Alicia Sacramone used an excerpt of the piece for her floor routine in international competition, including the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, while teammate Samantha Peszek set her routine to their rendition of "Whatever Lola Wants". Their music has been featured in American television shows Nip/Tuck, Sex and the City, Brothers & Sisters and Chuck, as well as the 2003 Swedish documentary on consumerism, Surplus, and the 2004 documentary on worker-led factory occupation in Argentina, The Take. In 2004, they recorded a little-known Piazzolla piece with Brigitte Fontaine: "Rue Saint-louis-en-l'île." In late 2006 the track "Epoca" from the La Revancha del Tango album was featured in The Truth About Charlie and also UK television advertisements for Boots, directed by David LaChapelle. Epoca has also featured in commercials for Finish dishwashing detergent in the United States and Australia, and for the Portuguese Fox Broadcasting Company series commercials. Their music has also been featured on several episodes of the UK hit TV show, Top Gear. "Epoca" is currently used in the Finish Jet Dry dish detergent ad background.

In 2004, another track from the album "La Revancha del Tango" was featured in a motion picture, this time in the movie "Ocean's Twelve". The song "El Capitalismo Foraneo" starts playing at the end of the scene where Catherine Zeta-Jones' character interrogates "Matsui", played by Robbie Coltrane.

In 2010, "Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre)" was again featured in a motion picture: Knight and Day, an action comedy film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz.

In April 2012, the band appeared for the first time on US network television on Dancing With The Stars, taking part in the "Results Show".

Albums

Singles

† The CD edition of this title was released for promotional use only. †† This title was made available in digital download format as well at the time of its original release.

EPs

† This title was made available in digital download format only. †† This title was released for promotional use only.

Box Sets

Videos