Biography
Long before the Gotan Project crystallized its electronica-meets-tango aesthetic, Paris-based musicians Philippe Cohen Solal and Christoph H. Mueller had already joined forces in Boys from Brazil and Stereo Action Unlimited, beginning in 1996. Their material surfaced on Solal’s Ya Basta label and quickly drew notice from Jazzanova, Gilles Peterson, Mr. Scruff, and other electronica tastemakers; a Boys from Brazil track was also licensed for a Coca-Cola television commercial across Europe. Seeking greater atmospheric unity than those earlier ventures supplied, the duo identified the restrained, melancholic character shared by tango and dub and resolved to fuse the two forms. Eduardo Makaroff’s arrival in 1999 completed the lineup, and the newly christened Gotan Project issued the first of four 10-inch singles on Ya Basta in February 2000. Buoyed by enthusiastic coverage in the U.K. and European press, the group was signed by XL Recordings, which released the full-length debut La Revancha del Tango in 2001. Describing themselves as the “top Argentinian musicians exiled in Paris,” the band toured with supporting players and projected visuals created by multimedia artist Prisca Lobjoy. Lunatico, issued in 2006, borrowed its title from tango legend Carlos Gardel’s champion racehorse. Tango 3.0 followed in 2010. In April 2011, to mark the tenth anniversary of La Revancha del Tango, the Gotan Project invited leading nueva cumbia artists to remix the album and retitled the project La Revancha en Cumbia; an expanded edition appeared on CD that October.