Metrotango - Gardel Remixed [Sync Records, 2007, CD]
Due to a lot of specific cultural references, this translation is annotated for non-Venezuelan readers.
I've wanted this CD for seventeen years. In 2007, I remember that nearly every day on Éxitos 99.9 FM [Editor's note: one of the big four radio station circuits owned by the biggest radio consortium in Venezuela, Unión Radio], they would play at least one song from either Gardel Remixed, or Simón Díaz Remezclado. Both of these were excellent records that had a lot of buzz on the station due to the great departed hosts Iván Loscher and Pedro Penzini Fleury. The extensive amount of support that Mr. Loscher provided to this record, combined with the unusual mix of analog, traditional sound with modern electronic music made the idea of this record stuck in my head permanently despite the fact that the actual advertising campaign for the record on Éxitos 99.9 FM lasted perhaps a month or two. I tried to find it, surely, but I could find it neither in Recordland [Editor's note: Formerly the biggest record store chain in Venezuela] nor in Don Disco [Editor's note: famous specialty record store carrying rare records, located in Centro Comercial Chacaito], though perhaps at the time I didn't remember since I was often looking for Supetramp, Queen or Pink Floyd records instead - a symptom of youth in a third world country, of course. Nevertheless, the memory persisted, a memory of a sound so ancient and so modern at the same time. Every now and then I'd be reminded of it, or I'd look up the songs on YouTube, but I never thought of looking for the record itself until now. A record that I valued so much, found in a British DJ's shop for 4 pence. I felt colonized in that moment, just like when I'm browsing "world music" at a US record store and I see national treasures reduced to clearance prices. Nevertheless, I persisted, and now I can happily share this album with my readers.
As the title suggests, this album is a compilation of remixes of Carlos Gardel's famous tangos. While in Spanish he needs no introduction, I should take a little sidebar here to explain - Carlos Gardel is tango. The tangos he sung and composed are the bedrock upon which the entire concept of tango rests. Gardel is primal, and to many the origin (and to some the totality) of tango itself. He is a national hero, an icon, and a martyr due to his untimely death at age 44. There is scarcely a comparable figure so tied to a genre; the closest I can think of is performing an electronic remix to the compositions of Antônio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto, shaking the core of bossa nova itself. To perform such an undertaking without desecrating a near-sacred figure requires extreme respect, and looking at the tracklist that's what Metrotango did. Every classic is there: Caminito, La Cumparsita, Mi Buenos Aires Querido, Por Una Cabeza, Volver, El Día Que Me Quieras. All of these have been given a house-style electronic remix that preserves Gardel's original voice, combining synths, loops and new arranged live performances. The result is a new way of listening to foundational classics, respecting the originals while innovating, integrating the elements of modern tango while they're at it. I can write quite a good deal about what this record achieves, but the proof is in the pudding: listen for yourselves and you'll see why it is that I could never forget the unique sound of Gardel Remixed.
I thought that a record that had so much publicity, a concept that was so innovative (and imitated by albums like Simón Díaz Remezclado) and so well-executed, based on the work of one of the greatest South American singers of all time, would be easy to find any kind of background on. Yet, I found nothing on Metrotango. The web site on the back cover has been dead for so long that not even the Wayback machine has any archives. I've researched the members of Metrotango again and again, and I found nothing. I hope that with this post, I can find some kind of information so I can thank those that created this work of art for all the memories I've had fver the years. And if you, reader, are a member of Metrotango and want me to remove this record from my blog, I'll happily do so on the condition that you give me some form of contact to tell you in my own words what this record means to me.
Comic featuring the lyrics of "Anclao' en Paris", included with the record
Liner Notes
[Editor's note: the liner notes appear in English and Spanish. To see the Spanish version, use the link at the top of the post. Only English text will appear below, other than the lyrics to "Yira Yira".]
Revolutionary versions of Gardel's most beautiful classics. This is the joint effort of both traditional and modern "tangueros". Almost two years of research, experimenting, restoring, recording, mixing and remixing finally are comprised [sic] in this CD you are holding now in your hands. To obtain a balance between the unavoidable 20s and 30s lo-fi and the current hi-fi systems and methods might seem a hard task to achieve. However, the amazing voice of Carlos Gardel, ornamented [sic] with synths, loops and the human performance of present-day musicians, sounds changelessly [sic] current.
Produced by Metrotango (Quique Razzano & Jean-Auguste Vernet)
Metrotango is:
Quique Razzano Agüero: acoustic piano, programming
Ricardo Ulloa: guitars
Manuel Costa Andreotti: bandoneón
Jean-Auguste Vernet: programming, synths
Recorded and mixed between April 2006 and October 2006 at SyncStudio, Brussels [BE] and SyncStudio Baires, Buenos Aires [AR]
Cover design: Concepto Tango (Buenos Aires)
Contains samples of "Caminito", recorded by Carlos Gardel in 1926, "La Cumparsita", recorded by C. Gardel in 1927, "Milonga Sentimental", recorded by C. Gardel in 1933, "Mi Buenos Aires Querido", recorded by C. Gardel in 1934, "Anclao' en Paris", recorded by C. Gardel in 1931, "Volver", recorded by C. Gardel in 1935, "Bandoneón Arrabalero", recorded by C. Gardel in 1928, "Malevaje", recorded by C. Gardel in 1929, "Por una cabeza", recorded by C. Gardel in 1935, "Buenos Aires", recorded by C. Gardel in 1930, "El día que me quieras", recorded by C. Gardel [Editor's note: no date was given here, they appear to have run out of space.]
"Yira Yira"
Enrique Santos Discepolo (1930)
Originally recorded by Gardel, Aguilar, Barbieri and Riverol on 16-X-1930 [Editor's note: somehow they know the date but not the month]
Cuando la suerte qu' es grela,
fayando y fayando
te largue parao,
cuando estés bien en la vía,
sin rumbo desesperao;
cuando no tengas ni fe,
ni yerba de ayer
secándose al sol;
cuando rajés los tamangos
buscando ese mango
que te haga morfar...
la indiferencia del mundo
-que es sordo y es mudo-
recién sentirás.
Verás que todo el mentira,
verás que nada es amor,
que al mundo nada le importa...
¡Yira!... ¡Yira!...
Aunque te quiebre la vida,
aunque te muerda un dolor,
no esperes nunca una ayuda,
ni una mano, ni un favor.
Cuando estén secas las pilas
de todos los timbres
que vos apretás,
buscando un pecho fraterno
para morir abrazao...
Cuando te dejen tirao
después de cinchar
lo mismo que a mi.
Cuando manyés que a tu lado
se prueban la ropa
que vas a dejar...
Te acordarás de este otario
que un día, cansado,
¡se puso a ladrar!
Track List and Rip
This is a very special record to me. I hope that you all enjoy it, and that it sticks in your memory like it did to me, or perhaps that this post brings up those memories of hearing this record for the first time to the surface.
- Caminito [J. de Dios Filiberto, G. Coria Peñaluza]
- La Cumparsita [G. Matos Rodríguez / P. Contural / E. Maroni]
- Milonga Sentimental [S. Piana / H. Manzi]
- Mi Buenos Aires Querido [C. Gardel / A. Le Pera]
- Anclao' en Paris [G. Barbieri / E. Cadicamo]
- Volver [C. Gardel / A. Le Pera]
- Bandoneón Arrabalero [J. G. Deambroggio / P. Contursi]
- Malevaje [J. de Dios Filiberto / E. Santos Discepolo]
- Por una cabeza [C. Gardel / A. Le Pera]
- Buenos Aires [M. Joves / M. Romero]
- El día que me quieras [C. Gardel / A. Le Pera]
- Fauburg Sentimental (Anclao' Reprise) [Metrotango]
- Yira Yira [E. Santos Discepolo]
- Alma Criolla (Buenos Aires Reprise) [Metrotango]
Get the rip here!