Tuesday, May 06, 2003

CHUNGA'S REVENGE

Frank Zappa's "Chunga's Revenge" has been turned into a tango/breakbeat cross-over sensation by French collective the Gotan Project. We went to see them for the second time at the Barbican last night. Gotan, if you hadn't figured it out, is an anagram of tango. The brains behind the group are two DJ/mixers, Philip Cohen Solal and Christoph Muller. They bring together other musicians with a tango background to form this intriguing and hypnotic fusion of styles. Their stage shows are brilliantly conceived. The first half sees the musicians standing behind a semi-transparent screen onto which is projected collage like video footage evocative of tango and Argentina. The performance faithfully reproduced the music from the huge selling "La Revancha del Tango", including Zappa's immortal number. Last night we got a few new numbers - Sola, La Cruz del Sur and Notas - which attempt to prove this is not a one trick wonder. See for yourself on 29 May in Tallinn, Estonia (and elsehwere, check web site).

:: Posted by pete @ 13:08