Kristina Argentina

Fin de semana de recitales

The weekend of the 19th and 20th of November, was back to my old roots in Brooklyn: two nights of underground up and coming artists. Lucky for me, the first was seeing my good friends Jay and Luis Miguel play, and the others were with my good friend Mario, Estanislao and Brett. 

Jay and Luge have been in Buenos Aires studying jazz 3 and 1 year respectively. They both grew up in Queens, and loved hip hop. Recently, they started combining their love of both jazz and hip hop and formed a group called Exact Change. When I first got to BA, there were many days spent just hanging out in the park, listening to them write rap lyrics, and generate new ideas. Seeing them perform live for the first time was really exciting - especially because they also debuted a ton of new songs I had never heard. I can’t wait for when their cd is done!

Saturday, Mario took me to a concert with a band that his student’s brother was the ring leader (literally for). It was located in a neighborhood Fútbol Club in La Paternal, a few barrios away from the center of the city. The “smoking room” was the actual gym where they played soccer, and the back was a long dark room, with a stage that was about 7 feet high. The band playing first was called “La Marchanta Trio”, a group of three girls who used vocals and percussion to produce haunting, amazonian folk, yet at times oddly modern music. I would say that fans of tUnE-yArDs, as well as Lhasa and Lila Downs would like it. Let’s just say, it was so catchy, that Mario and I were struck dumb staring at it for about 10 minutes without saying anything (and no it wasn’t the fernet).

Afterwards, we took a walk to look at the club. While standing in the gym, three horns started playing a funeral dirge, as a man who would be best described as the ring master began to mime and beckon us in, pied piper style. What followed was a gypsy, hooligan, St. Patrick’s Day inspired explosion of sound and energy. Los Somáticos even got Mario dancing with his bad back. 

Finally, the night finished off with a 12 person, all female cumbia group -who were all dressed like California rasins or supremes with sparkly skirts. That was enough for me, but it was all very fun!