Monthly Magazine has the answers. (Click links for more information) "/> Monthly Magazine has the answers. (Click links for more information) " />
Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

ENTERTAINMENT

Gothenburg club and concert tips: September 12 – 13

Where to go out in Gothenburg this weekend? Monthly Magazine has the answers. (Click links for more information)

Published: 11 September 2008 15:22 CEST

Kids

Get ready for a whole night of indie festivities when the club Kids kicks off on Friday! The organizers behind the event want to show the world what a great indie pop city Gothenburg truly is. So pimp up your finest indie look and enjoy an evening with local bands and DJs giving their best of the genre, both electric and acoustic.

New Romantic Festival

New romanticism was both a literary movement of the eighteenth century and a colourful part of the new wave music era in the late 70s and early 80s (think Culture Club). If you can’t get enough of Spandau Ballet and their ilk then there’s a New Romantic festival taking place at Pustervik this weekend. So what does a New Romantic festival entail? We don’t know but we heard there will be a lot of great live musicians each taking the term romantic to a new level. Playing live are: New Tango Orquesta (Gbg), Stockholm Strings with Oskar Schönning (Sthlm) and David Sperling Bolander.

Café Publik celebration

One of the best and maybe hippest bars in town, Café Publik is celebrating its eight year anniversary on Saturday. How? With a big party of course, both indoors and in the fantastic backyard. Be sure to get there early as the place tends to get packed with hipsters elbowing their way to the bar. DJs for the night are Johnny Too Bad and Dj Digga.

Saturn

If you just can’t get enough of panda makeup, pencil tight jeans and dotted dresses check out the pop club Saturn on Saturday. This is one of the oldest pop clubs in Gothenburg. It has been the hangout for emo and indie kids for the last decade. Tonight it’s bound to get even more crowded as the theme for the night is The Smiths… even though most of the people attending probably weren’t born when the Manchester outfit last released a record.

Backyard

During the summer you will find everyone (with a right sense of mind) at the backyard at Magnus & Magnus. As autumn is hitting us with a rapid speed it is time again to close one of the greatest outdoor venues in town. No need to be sad though, the organizers behind the club want to end the season with a great farewell party on Saturday. There are always interesting DJs who make sure to bring along the newest electronic sounds. So celebrate the last day of summer with a colourful cocktail under a blanket at Backyard.

MUSIC

Meet the Spanish rapper bringing flamenco and bossa nova into hip-hop

Spanish rapper C. Tangana was taking a big risk when he started mixing old-fashioned influences like flamenco and bossa nova into his hip-hop -- but it's this eclectic sound that has turned him into a phenomenon on both sides of the Atlantic.

Published: 23 May 2021 08:38 CEST
Meet the Spanish rapper bringing flamenco and bossa nova into hip-hop
Spanish rapper Anton Alvarez known as 'C. Tangana' poses in Madrid on April 29, 2021. Photo: Javier Soriano/AFP

The 30-year-old has emerged as one of the world’s biggest Spanish-language stars since his third album “El Madrileno” — the Madrilenian — came out in February. That ranks him alongside his superstar ex-girlfriend Rosalia, the Grammy-winning Catalan singer with whom he has co-written several hits.

C. Tangana, whose real name is Anton Alvarez Alfaro, has come a long way since a decade ago when he became known as a voice of disillusioned Spanish youth in the wake of the financial crisis.These days his rap is infused with everything from reggaeton and rumba to deeply traditional styles from Spain and Latin America, with a voice often digitised by autotune.

“It’s incredible that just when my music is at its most popular is exactly when I’m doing something a bit more complex, more experimental and less
trendy,” he told AFP in an interview.

And he is unashamed to be appealing to a wider audience than previously: his dream is now to make music “that a young person can enjoy in a club or someone older can enjoy at home while cooking”.

‘People are tired’

The rapper, who sports a severe semi-shaved haircut and a pencil moustache, has worked with Spanish flamenco greats including Nino De Elche, Antonio Carmona, Kiko Veneno, La Hungara and the Gipsy Kings.

In April he brought some of them together for a performance on NPR’s popular “Tiny Desk Concert” series, which has already drawn nearly six million
views on YouTube.

Shifting away from trap, one of rap’s most popular sub-genres, and venturing into a more traditional repertoire was a dangerous move — especially for someone with a young fanbase to whom rumba, bossa nova and bolero sound old-fashioned.

“I think people are tired. They’ve had enough of the predominant aesthetic values that have previously defined pop and urban music,” he said.

Parts of his latest album were recorded in Latin America with Cuban guitarist Eliades Ochoa of Buena Vista Social Club, Uruguayan
singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler, Mexican folk artist Ed Maverick and Brazil’s Toquinho, one of the bossa nova greats.

“What struck me most everywhere I went was the sense of tradition and the way people experienced the most popular music, and I don’t mean pop,” he said.

A new direction

C. Tangana started out in 2006 rapping under the name Crema. When the global economic crisis swept Spain a few years later, hard-hitting trap was
the perfect way to voice the angst of his generation. But after more than a decade of rapping, things changed.

“When I was heading for my 30s, I hit this crisis, I was a bit fed up with what I was doing… and decided to give voice to all these influences that I
never dared express as a rapper,” he said.

The shift began in 2018 with “Un veneno” (“A poison”) which came out a year after his big hit “Mala mujer” (“Bad woman”).

And there was a return to the sounds of his childhood when he used to listen to Spanish folk songs at home, raised by a mother who worked in
education and a journalist father who liked to play the guitar. The Latin American influences came later.

“It started when I was a teenager with reggaeton and with bachata which were played in the first clubs I went to, which were mostly Latin,” he said.

Studying philosophy at the time, he wrote his first raps between stints working in call centres or fast-food restaurants.

As to what comes next, he doesn’t know. But one thing he hopes to do is collaborate with Natalia Lafourcade, a Mexican singer who dabbles in folk, rock and pop — another jack of all musical trades.

SHOW COMMENTS