Modern Tango World #4 (Bucharest, Romania)

Shortly after that, I went back to Buenos Aires, where
I formalized the project into its actual form together
with some Argentinean musicians. We began playing
at milongas. In 2004, our first album was produced.
In 2006, when the album was already pretty famous,
we did our first European tour in Germany, Holland,
Turkey, Greece and Poland. I can say that everything
started from there.
MTW: In your opinion, what are the aspects that
differentiate Otros Aires from the many other electrotango
bands?
Miguel Di Genova: I believe that Otros Aires explores
tango music from its origins to present day
more than every other electrotango band. Other
artists tend to move from Piazzolla’s tango nuevo
heritage, trying to bring it forth in many ways. I have
always liked traditional tango, instead. Since the beginning,
I have been interested in exploring all of
tango’s musical history, from Angel Villoldo to Astor
Piazzolla, as an extended basis for Otros Aires music.
MTW: In many occasions Otros Aires calls itself an
electronic-archaeological project at the service of tango.
Can you explain this definition?
Miguel Di Genova: This definition comes from
the history of the project and from its development
process. At the beginning I was very interested in discovering
and analyzing old recordings. Many of them
weren’t much used in milongas. I like to research the
tango music that was unknown to the general public,
and to select my favorite tunes among the tracks I
got to listen. In other words, I enjoyed listening to
music that could bring me to the Golden Age, as if I
was doing some sort of musical archaeology.
Using samples comes from this research, because
their function is to let the 21st-century listener feel
what it is like to connect him or herself with another
era, via the mere insertion of a sound, a word,
a sentence directly coming from that era. On the
other hand, I don’t usually write songs as if I am living
in the 1930’s.
I could play a song from the Golden Age of tango, but
writing a song like if it came from the 30’s would look
very odd to me. There are musicians who do that, but
I prefer to explore contemporary topics while connecting
them directly to tradition using samples. This
is clear when you listen or read my lyrics, in which I
tend to talk about today’s social matters.
MTW: Speaking of composition, how do you approach
songwriting for Otros Aires?
Miguel Di Genova: Some themes come from
pure improvisation. This happens when the band
gets together and looks for new musical inspiration
by simply playing around with chords and melodies.
We then proceed to develop themes from the most
interesting ideas. At other times, songs are developed
from an initial idea, like a fragment of music or lyric,
which pops up practically out of nowhere.
In both cases, it is clear that nobody knows how the
first idea will look like until the song takes its final
form. This is because in composing a song the will of
the song itself is as important as the will of the composer.
Music wants to become something, and it is
necessary for the composer to be able to listen to its
needs. The same applies to setting up an album: you
can have a general idea of how the flow of songs will
look like. But, the final product could be very different
from that first idea.
MTW: Otros Aires is very interested in dancing. It is
clear not only in the music, but also in the lyrics, in
the graphic art of the albums, and in your live performances
at milongas. How do you feel about dancing
to your music? What do think about the contemporary
neo-tango fusion dancing?
Miguel Di Genova: I am generally interested
in creation in all its possible forms. All art is alive
and moving. As it happens, people move and mix
together to create new dance with new and peculiar
traits, so it happens in art. I believe that music
should learn from any other kind of music. The
same applies for dancing.
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