Née: Carla Branchini, Nati Gavazzo, Paula Maffia, Lu Martínez, Lucy Patané, Mel Muñíz & Rosario Baeza
Raíces: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Sounds Like: Monsieur Periné, Tonino Carotone, Pink Martini, and your grandpa’s dusty record collection
You should listen to Las Taradas because… who can resist a bunch of talented girls with alter-egos such as Cheetarah Rodríguez, Exaltación de la Cruz, and Encarnación de los Males?
Regardless of what the title of their debut album suggests, Las Taradas aren’t, nor do they pretend to be, taradas. I mean, you can’t be an actual tarada (i.e. stupid/damaged) and come out with such a genius concept for an all-girl band, can you?
The Buenos-Aires-based seven-piece orchestra takes us back down memory lane in a sort of musical archeology class that’s not fueled by retro irony or nostalgia, but more of a desire to recover and keep selected pieces of historical value alive for the new generations. Still, their respectful renditions of bygone era classics manage to be entertaining, and even funny, in a unique way.
Being from Argentina’s capital, it’s expected that they’ll cover popular songs brought over the Atlantic by their European grandparents (rumba flamenca, canzoneta italiana), but the digging doesn’t stop there. There’s also references to American soul and swing, Brazilian bossa nova (in delightful portuñol), and even a classic Colombian cumbia (one of the genre’s firsts to reach the continent’s southernmost extreme, way before cumbia became the default music of the slums).
Recorded in a live, acoustic manner that evokes the recordings from that era, their 2012 debut, Son y Se Hacen, is amongst the most promising ones released in recent years. Hopefully there will be more of these time-traveling master classes in the near future. Check them out live, doing one of their original compositions with surprise anachronistic guest, rapper/dancehall toaster Miss Bolivia.
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