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).
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History
Gotan Project formed in 1999. Their first release was "Vuelvo Al Sur/El Capitalismo Foraneo" in 2000, followed by the album
La Revancha del Tango
in 2001. Their music is clearly
tango, but also uses electronic 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
Anibal 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.
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
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
wordplay 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. It was also featured in the tango sequence of
Take the Lead
in 2006. 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
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 was in the movie "Ocean's Twelve". The song "El Capitalismo Foraneo" starts playing right at the end of the scene where Catherine Zeta-Jones' character interrogates "Matsui", played by Robbie Coltrane.
Discography
- 2001 La Revancha del Tango
- 2004 Inspiración Espiración
- 2006 Lunático
- 2006 El Norte
- 2008 Gotan Project Live
Compilations / EPs / Live Albums
- 2008 Gotan Object
(also called Gotan Project Live
)
Videography
- 2005 La Revancha del Tango Live