Rio de la Plata: A 10 day trip full of music

After all the years with great shows in Europe by bands like Panteón Rococó, Abuela Coca, Karamelo Santo, La Vela Puerca or No Te Va Gustar we decided it´s time to go overseas ourselves to visit them in their barrios. Try to understand where their music comes from, see the places they are singing about – simply get to know what life at Rio de la Plata is about. We planned a trip full of Rock, Punk, Ska, Reggae... With shows, festivals, known and unknown musicians, studio visits, interviews and last but not least a few parties.

Day 1 and 2:
The first two days of our trip take us to two shows by Abuela Coca in Montevideo.
Abuela Coca’s 15th birthday. There is no better location to celebrate their legacy than in two great events in an old stylish cinema with the charme of the 1970th.
Both evenings: full house. No time needed to warm up the people. The atmosphere is great. As we saw Abuela Coca playing in Europe the 14 musicians know how to talk to their fans and get them moving. But there is a difference: In Uruguay the fans literally know all the lyrics and they shout them out passionately.

But don´t be disappointed you've missed it. There’ll be a CD and DVD coming...

Day 3:
After a short night we take the bus at 6 a.m. to Colonia. From there we carry on by ferry and in an hours time we are in the Capital of Argentinia. Wow! Arriving in the harbour the skyline of Buenos Aires reminds us of New York. The same with the traffic. Crazy! But in the end we arrive at our apartment. Surprise a quiet place. Ideal for recovery.
But that's not what we want (Needing is a different story.) now. The only thing we have in mind is Pepsi Music. The place is (Buenos Aires wise) just around the corner. The festival’s on a sports compound not far from Rio de la Plata. A great atmosphere already outside: People cued up, the pubs and restaurants in the area are crowded (no food and alcohol inside) and there’s this sweet smell in the air everywhere.
We are all excited: first time at the biggest music festival in South America. And then the big bang that brings us back to reality: The passes (ordered and confirmed weeks in advance!) are not there. We have to get them in another place which is said to be around the corner. Two hours later we know what the other end of the city looks like and Buenos Aires has a really happy taxi-driver. Anyway, we are happy and back just in time for the show of No Te Va Gustar.
The band from Uruguay plays on the main-stage of the festival. Thousand of hands are up in the air. The people go nuts with the first drums of the latest single „Pensar“ and they don’t stop until Emiliano strikes his guitar for „No Era Cierto“ 45 minutes later. Everybody knows the lyrics. Emiliano doesn’t sing one word for the intro. Too bad that even the co-headliner of the day has to clear the stage after this. Very emotional. Arbol from Bs. As. enter the opposite stage right afterwards and the people rush on over. They beat a different drum. The people jump, sing and clap the entire show – the energy is very intense. The headliner of tonight is Café Tacuba from Mexico. They’ve seen it all. They’ve even won a Grammy. But that don’t keep the 18 year old band from putting on an amazing show. Routine: yes. But they are as enthusiastic as in the early 90s. Fantastic!

Day 4:
Exploring Buenos Aires. This city is incredible and that's for sure: there is a lot happening. Except for Internet connections. Most of the shops are closed on Sundays and the one we find has a connection with a maximum speed of 2 kB/sec. while the five of us try to check mails and soccer-results. Looking for another place we end up in a restaurant having excellent beef-filet and red wine. Now we know what is the second best to do in Argentina. The best you keep to the end:
Three girls from Buenos Aires give a life show in a little cosy Vegetarian restaurant. Yes, vegetarian. In the land of lomo and steaks. Musically, it’s also very special. They play Columbian and Bolivian folk music. You ask what they are singing about? Love, what else! What a beautiful and special experience.

Day 5:
The local Band Un Kuartito invites us on a city-trip. We start at a café where you can still sense the spirit of revolution. Nothing has changed here for the last 40 years and even Emiliano’s father has spent his childhood here. We’re probably the only tourists that have set a foot into this joint. We take the Metro (Subte) to their rehearsal room and walk around their neighbourhood. Of course we have to be a bit more careful here than in Montevideo and as we hop on a taxi we see why: a man jumps on a scooter from behind and beats the crap out of the driver... Let’s keep the video camera a bit more hidden from now on.
In the evening we meet with the band at a Sourcecode where Martín plays regularly with some friends. The place is basic. No schnick-schnack only soccer-essentials.
Afterwards we have a couple of beers outside on the street at an Italian takeaway. Again the place is very basic. That's not important. The people are great and we’re just having so much fun. What a difference compared to the evening before.

Day 6:
We decide to take some hours off and go shopping. And that´s all we tell: hours later we have full bags and empty pockets. The prices are almost the same as in Europe and considering the income of the average Argentinean we understand even better how heavy the economical crisis hit the country in 2001.
In the late afternoon we visit the famous cemetery „Ricoletta“ where you find the graves of Evita Peron, several former presidents, politicians, poets and economically important families. It is an amazing place and we understand why there is a saying that it costs less money to live in Bs As than be buried at Ricoletta. The graves are like houses, one next to each other. In away it is a bit scary. You don't even want to think about what this place is like during night.
In the evening we meet up with Andando Descalzo. Stupidity is a bliss so a little misunderstanding puts 2 of us up for 2 dinners that night. The first one in a classical workers restaurant downtown and the second one at the house of Andando. Wow, that’s a grill!! Too bad that we can’t really appreciate it... Sorry guys. They have their rehearsal room in the apartment. The whole band is a family thing. We taste a variety of Argentinean beers and herbs and take another one of the endless „just around the corner“ cab rides early in the morning.

Day 7:
Returning to Montevideo is more difficult than we thought. The Subte is on strike and everybody needs to use busses and cars. Damned! Our landlord gives us a ride to the Buquebus-port and on the way we even get the CD of „Bombon Assesinos“. That song was played by the fruit and vegetables guy who parked his remodeled coroner-van in front of our window every morning. That songs is stuck in our heads for good now. I’m not quite sure if that’s a good thing... The trip is getting towards the end so we use the ferry ride to plan the last two days with NTVG and Abuela Coca in Montevideo.

Day 8:
You wont believe it but Henning is invited to the biggest radiostation in Montevideo for an interview. He does a real good job in Spanish – live on air! The Uruguayans want to know how their bands perform in Europe. Well, you know the answer.

We meet with the producer of the Abuela Coca DVD to check out some of his material and to trade some of ours with him. The studio is a inspiration itself. Graffiti all over the walls and a second floor with a little recording studio of Abuela Coca's Cholé.

In the afternoon we meet with Nico. He’s a recognized Radio DJ and a real expert. He drives us around in his old VW 1200 and shows to us the places where for example No Te Va Gustar had their first great show. The venue Teatro Verano is right by the beach and the stage looks like a gigantic shell – it's a very nice place.
We wanted to film a brief questioning of what the kids at the Ramblas (boardwalk) thought of No Te Va Gustar and you won’t believe the result: they started singing 2 songs and almost everybody had some NTVG merchandise at hand... Wow!
In the evening NTVG invites us to a barbecue in their band house. The fantastic evening ends at a Reggae show where members Emiliano and percussionist Jappo play in a side project to NTVG. They love music, that’s for sure. We are surprised how many people come to a secret Reggae show in Montevideo. In Germany you couldn’t get half the people.

Day 9:
Today Abuela Coca takes us around Montevideo. Guitarist Cholé and singer Brown show us the places where they grew up. Now we know what they are singing about in „el Ritmo del Barrio“. Every now an than they hop out the car say „Hola“ to some people on the street and chat about old times. We see the club where Brown played soccer as a young boy. By the way: It's the same Rodriguez and Varela from Schalke 04 started to kick the ball around. It's not the nicest neighborhood anymore so we need to get going because our cameras have gotten some unwanted attention...
Again we find out: Montevideo is a village for musicians. The place where Abuela Coca was founded 15 years ago is not even 100 m away from the actual band house by NTVG.
At the end of the tour around the city Cholé and Brown sit on the grass with the view on Montevideo's Copacabana. Brown plays guitar and Chole sings. Wow! What a feeling. It is really hard to say goodbye.
But we don't have time to be sad. Another visit at NTVG's band house. The guys are full of excitement, a bit nervous. They are busy packing for the European Tour which is to start next week. So we only do some chatting and joking. It's easier to leave them because we'll see them in Germany in a couple of days.
The last evening is reserved for „lomo“ (grilled beef-filet) and red wine. We are looking back to excellent days in South-America where we met so many beautiful people, saw great shows, listened to superb music and doing planes for the next days and months. We keep you informed!

Day 10+11:
We'll spare you the details of the trip back because there's not much to tell but the usual travel stories about drunk passengers, tiny seats, long hours, stop overs etc. It was well worth every bit of tiredness though!

Thanks, Gracias y Danke Latinoamérica!!! We'll be back – that's for sure!

Übersee Records
Henning Stoppel
Noltestr. 12
30451 Hannover, Germany
www.uebersee-records.net
henning@uebersee-records.net

Übersee Records is a record label specialized in all kinds of music from Ska, to Punk, to Alternative, to Latin, to Rock from Latinamérica. Bands on our roster include: Panteón Rococó (Mex), Karamelo Santo (Arg), No Te Va Gustar (Urg), Abuela Coca (Urg), Attaque 77 (Arg), Los Kung-Fu Monkeys (Mex), Desorden Publico (Ven)...

And we've started to work with European bands as well: Wisecräcker (Ger), Smooth Lee (Bel), Les Caméléons (Fra).

Check out our different sites:
www.uebersee-records.net
www.last.fm/user/UeberseeRecords
www.myspace.com/ueberseerecords
www.youtube.com/ubersee

This release was published on openPR.