Tanghetto: electrotango

Tanghetto is an argentine band led by Max Masri (synths and programming) and Diego S. Velázquez (guitars) formed in 2001. The name "Tanghetto" (the combination of the words "tango" and "ghetto") was inspired by the "little argentinas", the communities of exiled argentines living overseas.

In the mid 90s, Max Masri (one of the last disciples of the legendary tango composer Virgilio Expósito) went back to Buenos Aires from Germany after sharing interesting experiences with argentine emigrants and, because of that, brought the idea to create a new musical language, blending tango and modern sounds.

In late 1998 he started working with Diego S. Velázquez and they began recording and producing their first electrotango tracks. In 2001 this idea was revived, with a modern sound, their own compositions and, finally, a name for the project: Tanghetto

The current line-up includes Federico Vázquez (bandoneón), Matías Novelle (acoustic and electronic drums), Antonio Boyadjian (piano) and Chao Xu (violoncello and chinese bowed string instrument erhu).

Tanghetto's recent history

In December 2003 "Emigrante (electrotango)" (Tanghetto's debut album) was released in Argentina. The album achieved gold status by early 2005 and reached the top positions of many important charts of record chains.

In 2004 Tanghetto intensified its live activity, Some of the most important gigs since then were: II World Tango Championship, Tango Day, VII Buenos Aires Tango Festival (4.000 people), Avenida Corrientes Festival (in the Obelisco monument) in front of a crowd of over 15.000 people, Teatro ND Ateneo (sold out twice), Club del Vino, etc.

The year 2005 was also the year of the first european concerts. The band played many gigs in Italy and France between November and December. During 2006 the band continues touring abroad (USA, Italy, Poland, Germany, etc).

On July 14th, "Emigrante (electrotango)" was nominated for a Latin Grammy award in the "Best Instrumental Album" category.

On December 10th, 2004, many Tanghetto musicians, led by Max and Diego, released a side project called "Hybrid Tango", in which the fusion of modern tango music and electronica goes unprecedently beyond, adding a world music flavour with flamenco, latin rhythms and jazz elements. This record is been greatly received by music consumers, sharing the top positions of the rankings of alternative music sales with Tanghetto’s "Emigrante". Some of the tracks fo Hybrid Tango are part of Tanghetto's live repertoire. In August 23rd, 2005, this album was nominated for a Latin Grammy award in the "Best Tango Album" category.

In February 2005 the label Constitution Music released a compilation called Tangophobia Vol. 1, including, apart from tracks from various artists, several unreleased songs from Tanghetto and the "Hybrid Tango" project.

Tanghetto just released their first live DVD (titled "Live in Buenos Aires") and they are currently recording songs for their next studio album.

Official discography/videography