Gotan Project is a musical group based in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

(France), consisting of musicians

Eduardo Makaroff Eduardo Makaroff (born 4 April 1954) is an Argentinean musician, songwriter and producer. He is most known as one of the founders of Gotan Project , which has brought together the broad universe of tango with electronic music. Biography It w ...

(Argentine),

Philippe Cohen Solal Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris (France), consisting of musicians Eduardo Makaroff (Argentine), Philippe Cohen Solal (French) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss), a former member of Touch El Arab.Madlen Albrecht ''Le développemen ...

(French) and Christoph H. Müller (Swiss), a former member of Touch El Arab.Madlen Albrecht ''Le développement du Tango à partir de 1983'' 2009 -- Page 9 "3.3.4 « Gotan Project » Ce groupe a été fondé par trois hommes à Paris en 1998. Deux d'entre eux sont ... Il s'agit du Français Philippe Cohen Solal et du Suisse Christophe H. Mueller. ... Ils ont alors travaillé avec le guitariste Eduardo Makaroff en mélangeant des beats électroniques, des instruments en direct et de la voix."

History

Gotan Project formed in 1999. Their first release was "Vuelvo Al Sur/El Capitalismo Foráneo" in 2000, followed by the album ''

La Revancha del Tango ''La Revancha del Tango'' is the debut album by French musical group Gotan Project. It was released on 22 October 2001 on XL Recordings and ¡Ya Basta! Records. The album contains a cover of the title track from Frank Zappa's 1970 album ''Chunga ...

'' in 2001. Their music is based on Argentine tango, but also uses elements such as samples, beats, and breaks. Live material was also broadcast on Gilles Peterson's world music show Worldwide on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance ...

in May 2004. The band 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

Aníbal Troilo Aníbal Carmelo Troilo (11 July 1914 – 18 May 1975), also known as Pichuco, was an Argentine tango musician. Troilo was a bandoneon player, composer, arranger, and bandleader in Argentina. His orquesta típica was among the most popular with ...

Ástor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed '' nuevo tango'', incorporating elements fr ...

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. In 2006 they released a second studio album called ''

Lunático ''Lunático'' is the second album by Gotan Project. It was released in 2006 by the Paris-based ¡Ya Basta! records, run by Philippe Cohen Solal. The album is named ''Lunático'' after the racehorse of legendary tango master Carlos Gardel. The ...

'', and in 2010 '' Tango 3.0'', their last studio album to date.

Band name

The name of the trio is a form of

word play Word play or wordplay (also: play-on-words) is a literary technique and a form of wit in which words used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement. Examples of word play include puns, pho ...

called "al vesre" that is very common in Lunfardo, an

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

Rioplatense Spanish Rioplatense Spanish (), also known as Rioplatense Castilian, is a variety of Spanish spoken mainly in and around the Río de la Plata Basin of Argentina and Uruguay. It is also referred to as River Plate Spanish or Argentine Spanish. It is ...

. This wordplay involves, in the simplest cases, moving the last syllable to the beginning of the word ("vesre" itself is "revés" 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.

Use in popular culture

The song "Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre)" from the album ''La Revancha del Tango'' was featured as the music for the main dance sequence in the 2004 movie '' Shall We Dance?'', with

Jennifer Lopez Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series '' In Living Color'', where she re ...

and

Richard Gere Richard Tiffany Gere ( ; born August 31, 1949) is an American actor. He began in films in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in '' Looking for Mr. Goodbar'' (1977) and a starring role in ''Days of Heaven'' (1978). He came to prominence with ...

. American gymnast Alicia Sacramone used an excerpt of the piece for her floor routine in international competition, including the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nat ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), Chinese postal romanization, alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the Capital city, capital of the China, People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's Li ...

, while teammate

Samantha Peszek Samantha Nicole Peszek (born December 14, 1991) is an American former artistic gymnast. She was a member of the U.S. women's gymnastics team at the 2008 Summer Olympics, which won silver. Following her elite gymnastics career, Peszek competed fo ...

set her routine to their rendition of "Whatever Lola Wants". Their music has been featured in American television shows ''

Nip/Tuck ''Nip/Tuck'' is an American medical drama television series created by Ryan Murphy that aired on FX in the United States from July 22, 2003, to March 3, 2010. The series, which also incorporates elements of crime drama, black comedy, family dra ...

'', ''

Sex and the City ''Sex and the City'' is an American romantic comedy-drama television series created by Darren Star for HBO. An adaptation of Candace Bushnell's newspaper column and 1996 book anthology of the same name, the series premiered in the United Stat ...

'', '' Brothers & Sisters'' and '' Chuck'', as well as the 2003 Swedish documentary on consumerism, ''

Surplus Surplus may refer to: * Economic surplus, one of various supplementary values * Excess supply, a situation in which the quantity of a good or service supplied is more than the quantity demanded, and the price is above the equilibrium level determ ...

'', 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 Brigitte Fontaine, (born 24 June 1939) is a singer of avant-garde music. She has employed numerous unusual musical styles, melding rock and roll, folk, jazz, electronica, spoken word poetry, and world. She has collaborated with Stereolab, Mic ...

: "Rue Saint-louis-en-l'île". In late 2006, the track "Época" from the album of ''

'' was featured in '' The Truth About Charlie'' and also UK television advertisements for Boots, directed by David LaChapelle. Época has also featured in the Portuguese

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations ...

series commercials. Their music has also been featured on several episodes of the UK hit TV show, '' Top Gear''. "Época" has also been used as the background music for the Finish dishwasher detergent brand in much of the world (known as Calgonit in continental Europe), with the tagline 'The Diamond Standard'. In 2021, "Época" was used in the Netflix movie Red Notice. In 2004, another track from the album ''La Revancha del Tango'' was featured in a motion picture, this time in the movie ''

Ocean's Twelve ''Ocean's Twelve'' is a 2004 American heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by George Nolfi. The second installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy franchise and the sequel to ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001), the film features a ...

''. The song "El Capitalismo Foraneo" starts playing at the end of the scene where Catherine Zeta-Jones' character interrogates "Matsui", played by Robbie Coltrane. In 2010, "Santa Maria (del Buen Ayre)" was again featured in a motion picture: '' Knight and Day'', an action comedy film starring Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz. In this same movie, "Diferente" from their 2006 album ''Lunatico'' was also used in a scene where Roy & June (portrayed by Cruise & Diaz) are evading local police through city streets. In April 2012, the band appeared for the first time on US network television on ''

Dancing With The Stars ''Dancing with the Stars'' is the name of various international television series based on the format of the British TV series '' Strictly Come Dancing'', which is distributed by BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Currently the form ...

'', taking part in the "Results Show".

Discography

* ''

'' (2001) * ''

'' (2006) * '' Tango 3.0'' (2010)

References

External links

*
Facebook official
{{Authority control Tango music groups Musical groups from Paris