December's chute: a memory of Cromañon

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December used to be a peak. A climb-up to the festive season. The spirit of reunion, joy, reciprocity and brotherhood transcends the specific religious meaning and calendar that gave rise to December's festivities and spreads, beyond creeds and cultures, over the Argentinean society as a whole. Children and youngsters enjoy the end of scholar duties. Many plan for vacation. Everybody takes a break in day-to-day urgencies and makes time to look at the essence, the noble part of our human condition ―which, as such, is divine.

But for the last five years December has turned into a chute. A drain that sucks down into the atrocious certainty of what happened then, and has no further remedy. Five years ago, the destiny of the kids that went to the rock concert at Cromañón, Buenos Aires, on December 30, 2004, also slid down a cruel slope. The difference is that they did not know what was coming. They thought they were raising themselves. They went to congregate at the summit, with the happiness and exciment of cellebration. They were surprised by a wicked ambush, laid by a collection of human miseries: greed, contempt for neighbour and for neighbor's life, corruption, collusion, negligency, ignorance, incompetence. To which, for the following five years, indiference, cowardice, complicity and betrayal were added.

Today, instead, those who have been hit by the tragedy (it should be all of us, shouldn't it?) do know in advance what comes across December, the fall down to the abyss, to the moment in which the memory of pain (or the pain of memory) materializes at it most heartbreaking intensity. The instant that will find, once again, relatives, survivors, friends and supporters gathered together in commemoration by Once Square's sanctuary, to pay silent but determined tribute to the victims. Justice for Cromañon is still pending.
Photo by Daniel Pessah picked from La Nación.

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Funk alchemy (11.27.2009)

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I've found a reason for the nostalgic fans of Willie Crook and the Funky Torinos to comfort themselves: there exists Reiband, who opened the Cool Funky Night on Friday 27th at Kimia, Buenos Aires. They funked wonderfully around the crispy groove of Nicolás Grillo's bass guitar and the drums of Nico Ortega, a remarkable tempo keeper who gives the exact intensity and timing to each one of his beats as well as to syncopation. In "Spirit", the starting song, Grillo shared the bright with the wind section: Kidory's trumpet and Juan Iraeta's saxo. He stood out as he transmitted the urgency of "Enjoy the funk" (and in the ending solo too), and when he sustained the groove solidly at "Waiting" (a piece with a characteristic, vibrant leit motiv). The keyboards of Mariano Gall played a prominent role in the rythm of "Like a devil", same as they did a little later, in conjunction with the trumpet, in the melody and atmospheres of "Lonely heart". The frontman Leo Ortega, singer, guitar player and author of both music and lyrics of the band's songs (most of them in English), transformed his usually quite and reflexive off-stage image and on stage he seemed to be on fire, and sang with his guts. At times, his electro-acoustic guitar and the keyboards snaked together across the rythmical pattern to paint atmospheres of sensitive beauty. Then they covered "Heroína", and it was the time to introduce the band. One by one, the players took the opportunity to show their skills. When introduced by Kidory, Leo provoked the audience ("¿are you ready for me?"), and the band exploded in the final segment of Sumo's song.

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Then it was the turn of Suprafónicos. From the very moment he jumped onto stage, the frontman and singer Felipe Herrera captured the audience with his charisma. The timbre, volume and cleanness of his voice made it neatly override  the sound of the instruments. He sings with nice musical sense, handles soul modulations well, and conveys the message in the lyrics (in Spanish) with clarity. His body dynamics, in the hyperactive and careless hip hop style, were a little constrained at Kimia's small and a bit too crowded stage. Band's line up includes keyboardist Nano Novello, bass guitar player Alan Ballan, guitar player Peter Akselrad and drummer Luis Burgio. They started with something like a hip-hop-biased Prince sound, became more latin in "Enciéndelo", turned to a white-soul-of-the-90s sound in "En el aire". Embroidered guitars with wah-wah, flangers, well assembled support vocals, keyboards that created integrating atmospheres or chopped to join the rythm base and, more than anything else, plenty of rythm: startled rythm, syncopated rythm, dancing rythm. Ingredients of an Argetinean funk that seduced the audience.

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The closing act was Pocketeers, with a selection of international  funk, disco, rock and pop songs. Armed with wireless mics, Hernán Albetoni, Carolina Rubiales and Valeria Nicali, the vocal trio of the band, stepped down from stage and wandered in front of and across the audience. This somewhat dizzy deployment did not mess the voices, which sounded full and perfectly assembled or alternated. The Poketeers covered "The power of love" (Celine Dion), "Superstition" (Wonder), "Long train Running" (Doobie Bros), "Born to be wild" (Bonfire... Stepenwolf's milestone), "Love rears its ugly head" (Living Colour), "Easy" (Faith no more) "I touch myself" plus "Like a virgin" (Steinberg-Kelly), "Hot Stuff" plus "Bad Girls" (Donna Summer), and "You shook me all night long" (AC/DC). On stage, Mauro Miguez took the center of the scene and made of the sound of his bass guitar the mainstream of the musical flood that the Pocketeers conveyed to the public. Drummer Krlos Stefanizzi was an engine who displayed techniques from different musical styles... even punky rolls and machine-guns. Pablo Valla's guitar was solvent all across the broad range of stylistic and functional resources the band's repertoir demanded from him. The keyboards provided orchestral breadth. Pocketeers finished with "Tri-funk". The closeness between audience and artists and the quality of the performers could overcome the uneasy acoustics of the place, and made it possible to complete a high impact, enjoyable show.
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Related links:
Reiband's website, myspace and facebook;
Suprafonicos's website, myspace and facebook;
Pocketeers's website, myspace and facebook.