Almas Buenas - Drongomala -Lanzamiento 20th Oct 2010 (Español)

Blog in English

Almas Buenas (Good Souls) - Lanzamiento- 20th Oct 2010 - es el fruto de un mes de trabajo en Buenos Aires de Drongomala junto con algunos de los más exquisitos artistas del tango, el folclore y el jazz. El proyecto muestra al grupo tocando con nuevos arreglos latinos algunas canciones del catalogo de Drongomalaque abarca el material en la India, Grecia, Reino Unido y EE.UU..

Pre-Producción: El proyecto fue ambicioso desde el principio. Después de un viaje de 2 meses por América Latina Drongomala contaba con 11 canciones candidatas traducidas por la reconocida traductora argentina Paula Tizzano. Después de viajar por Brasil, Ecuador, Perú,Bolivia y Chile afinando sus oídos, el corazón y la mente a América Latina y a una cultura de habla española, Drongomala se estableció en el porteño barrio de Almagro en la Ciudad de Buenos Aires. La elección de Almagro tenía dos razones, el hecho de que esta parte de la ciudad ha sido y es aún la casa espiritual (Barrio) del tango y por otro lado que allì se encuentra un club de boxeo legendario. Drongomala empezó una rutina de entrenamiento en boxeo durante 2 horas cada mañana y comenzó la búsqueda de un equipo de músicos que colaboraran en este trabajo. Rápidamente al principio de su estadía fue presentado a Jorge Soldera quien después de una serie de reuniones se convirtió en el mentor integral del proyecto. Jorge se comprometió a la tarea de elegir los músicos y trabajar en las canciones durante la pre-producción para darle a los arreglos una influencia latina. Drongomala y Jorge trabajaron muy intensamente en el mes previo a la grabación.

Ensayos: Drongomala tuvo la suerte de contar con legendarios mùsicos de prestigio internacional del tango como Carlos Corrales y Juan Pablo Navarro, y luminarias estrellas en ascenso como Matías Chapiro (piano acústico), Víctor Piseta (guitarra española) y Jorge Savelon (percusión / batería) . Un arreglo especial para el tema "Exploto Mientras Trato Ser Alguien", fueescrito por Carlos Corrales e interpretado con Bandoneón.

Grabación + Mezcla: La grabación de este proyecto se realizó en vivo en la sala de uno de los estudios de grabación más prestigiosos de Argentina, el Estudio Moebius.

Moebius es reconocido en América Latina por su especialización en Tango y grabaciones acústicas. Las grabaciones fueron todas realizadas en toma directa durante un período de 3 días. La mayoría de las canciones fueron capturadas en las dos primeras tomas para lograr mantener una energía excitante. Una vez terminada la grabación se llevaron a cabo las mezclas por el experimentado ingeniero Oscar Margariños quien fue el diseñador técnico del proyecto.
Oscar Magariños es un reconocido ingeniero que comenzó su carrera en Argentina en la época de las grabaciones análogas en cinta.Trabajó en los estudios más importantes y es un gran especialistas en tomas acústicas. Entre los artistas más importantes que le confiaron sus grabaciones y mezclas podemos citar a: Rubén Rada ,Osvaldo Fatoruzo ,Estela Rsval, Los Nocheros, Miguel Abuelo, Oscar Kreimer y Mario Parmisano entre otros.

Sobre Moebio: Moebio es una de las mejores salas de estudio de grabación deArgentina especialmente diseñada por el ingeniero acústico Carlos Piriz, reconocida en toda América Latina como un ideal para la grabación de proyectos acústicos.

Por su sala han pasado los más grandes artístas de los últimos tiempos, entre ellos Mercedes Sosa, el guitarrista y compositor Juan Falú, el músico Luis Salinas, el violinista, compositor y director de orquesta Antonio Agri, Soda Stereo, Fito Paez, Luis Alberto Spinetta, La Camerata Bariloche, allí se grabó el histórico álbum “200 años de Música Argentina” de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Salta, y otras muchas orquestas, ya que la calidad de audio que se obtiene en este estudio es comentada por muchos como insuperable.

Arte de tapa: Yuxtaposicionando la naturaleza clásica de lainstrumentación Drongomala eligió un dibujante de cómics y novela gráfica en ascenso, Sergio Carrera, para realizar el trabajo de arte para el disco. Conoció a Sergio a través de una novela gráfica en iPhone titulada "La Ciudad Eterna", la cual cuenta la historia de un agente de la muerte que escolta fallecidos porteños (ciudadanos de Buenos Aires) hacia la otra vida. Drongomala ha dicho "Para mí Ciudad Eterna es una historia de amor a Buenos Aires por Sergio y arroja luz no sólo sobre los personajes de esta gran ciudad, sino que ofrece a la misma ciudad con un rostro propio mostrando los diferentes barrios, monumentos y edificios".

Musicos

• Drongomala - voz
• Carlos Corrales (bandoneón)
• Juan Pablo Navarro (contrabajo)
• Jorge Savelon (Percusión y batería)
• Matías Chapiro (Piano acústico)
• Victor Alejandro Piseta (Guitarra española)
• Guillermo Barbera (Trompeta)
• Jorge Soldera (coros)
• Oscar Margariño (Ingeniero de grabación)

• Productor - Drongomala
• Todas las canciones escritas y compuestas por Drongomala excepto "Exploto Mientras Trato De Ser Alguien" (Blowin´Up Tryin´To Be Someboday) - por Drongomala & Jorge Soldera, con arreglos de Carlos Corrales.
• Arreglos- Jorge Soldera & Drongomala
• Traducciones - Paula Tizzano (con traducciones/versiones adicionales de Jorge Soldera y Patricia Zaina)
  Grabado en Estudio Moebius , Buenos Aires, Argentina Mayo de 2010
  Arte de tapa por Sergio Carrera
• Copyright: © Copyright 2010 Flying Mountain Productions

Autumn, Ephedrine and Rolling Tape

Recording is complete for Almas Buenas. I know I am a lucky man to have had the idea grow over 5 months and for it to flower like this.

The idea for the record was simple: take songs from my back catalogue that lend themselves to different styles of Latin Arrangements, sing them in Spanish and record acoustic musicians live.

I wanted the recording for Almas Buenas to be completely live with a whole group playing in unison as it is a romantic and dangerous thing to do and if done right then this magic translates into what is recorded. Unless you have top quality musicians this approach can end in chaos and the truth is that most records are made using a sucession of overdubs because it is simply easier to do and runs less risk.

The studio, Moebio, is a mythical place not listed on many maps or findable on the internet due to the slightly eccentric nature of the owner but is a hidden home for acoustic recordings for those in the know. It is one of the finest studio rooms in Argentina specially designed by Carlos Piriz - an acoustic engineer recognized throughout Latin America as one of the best.

Some of the greatest artists of recent times have recorded in this room, including Mercedes Sosa, the guitarist and composer Juan Falu, the guitarist Luis Salinas, the violinist, composer and conductor Antonio Agri, Soda Stereo, Fito Paez, Luis Alberto Spinetta, Charly García, La Camerata Bariloche. The historic album "200 Years of Argentina Music" by the Salta Symphony Orchestra, was also undertaken in Moebio.

The change to Autumn in Buenos Aires caught me by surprise and three days before the recording and I foolishly left a window open at night in my bedroom which saw me waking up with a cold and lots of nose gunk. Thankfully Jorge had a special remedy including Ephedrine which instantly cleared my head but it was strong stuff.

Oscar Magariños, came recommeded as a recording sound engineer for the project, by Jorge, and it was Oscar that suggested Moebio Studios to record. Oscar had prepped the room before with layouts and microphones so when we arrived things were smooth and enginnering effort invisible to the performers which is the way it should be.

The musicians arrived and gelled very quickly. The double bass player had been changed at the last minute and was replaced by the legendary Juan Pablo Navarro who, until the sessions, hadn´t worked with any of the other musicians on the songs. Juan´s calibre was such that this didn´t matter and he anchored the rhythm and the music perfectly. Carlos Corrales on bandoneon proved to be a focal point for the group due to his outstanding musicality and charisma.

Jorge Soldera conducted the arrangements in the centre of the room and for separation I sang from the control booth.

Monday
We only had the bandoneon and piano player for one day but we managed to get all six songs they featured on recorded.

As some songs had many mid frequencies to deal with from bandoneon, guitar, piano, voice and percussion it was useful that the piano in the studio had been chosen especially to have a dark tonal quality allowing it so sit alongside some of the brighter instruments. It was a ´tango piano´. Matias Chapiro, a young pianist and composer, played extremely sensitively and framed the songs with an inspired touch.

The day was finished off with an eyeball to eyeball tango performance by Carlos and myself. Jorge and I had reworked the song Blowin´ Up Tryin´ 2B Somebody (Exploto Mientras Trato Ser Alguien) into a completely new tango variant and Carlos had written a new arrangement for it. It was a great honour for me to have Carlos undertake this arrangement as he is one of the most famous bandoneon players working in the world today with performances and credits across the world. The first time I heard the new arrangement was at the session and after a trial run we managed to get synchronicity with an explosive take. One of the tricks of tango is that it is not in strict time and the performers are expected to push and pull the timing to suit the mood. One final thing about Carlos - he used to box in the same club I have been going to in Almagro. Perfecto.

Sergio Carrera the graphic artist also came down to the session to do photo studies of the musicians for his album artwork composition.


Tuesday
Focus was on the guitar led tracks and with only two remaining we manged to get through them fine along with one or two percussion overdubs. The track Don´t Get All Stuck (No Te Dejes Atrapar) was electrifying. There are tonnes of words for this track and during preproduction we had to move the tempo down from 115bpm to 112bpm so I could blurt them all out successfully. However during the recording the flamenco style had the musicians excited and we did a version even higher than 115bpm. Victor Piseta, on spanish guitar, dazzled with his virtuoso playing inspired by Paco de Lucia and Astor Piazzolla. Victor´s current direction is primarily folklorico with Duo Matices although he has also toured with the trio, Guitarras de Fuego, and recorded as a solo guitar artist. There are big things to come for Victor.



Wednesday
Vocals. Ephedrine. Honey. Lemon. Spanish language Gods were looking down on me on this day.

Thursday
Trumpet track for Let the Credits Roll (Que Pasen los Créditos). This track needed a muted trumpet to give it a New Orleans funeral procession inkeeping with the sentiment of the song. I wrote this song a few years ago after my band The Good Hurt broke up.

Patricia Zania, a BsAs fashionista, took photos and video footage leading up to and during the recording. I hope to get some of it edited and translated back in London.

Thursday night was strange. My whole calendar had been focussed around this record and it was only after finishing at the studio that I realised I would be leaving in a week. The mixing will be done over the next few days and before I know it I´ll be back in London.

At least my girl and the sun will be there :)

Round 2 - Buenas Almas

Round 2 of pre-production for the record Almas Buenas (Good Souls) begins this week. All songs have been demo´d with new arrangements and given to the musicians. Jorge Soldera is the producer and co-arranger for this record and I couldn´t have been luckier in choosing him to mentor me through the project and music scene here. Jorge has extensive experience in most forms of Latin music and has worked with some of the big names in Argentina. Importantly, he has a big heart and great ear not to mention his list of contacts which he used to put together a great bunch of musicians which we will begin rehearsing with today. The record will be recorded live which makes the project more difficult but I hope it will give it the edge of drama I am looking for. We record on the 17th-20th of this month. Jorge is also coaching me on my singing in Spanish and his patience is the kind that people attribute to Saints. His lovely wife and family also look after me and feed me as I am never out of their place.


The artwork for Almas Buenas will be done by the rising comics star Sergio Martín Carrera who is most known for his graphic novel The Eternal City which is set in Buenos Aires. It is available on iTunes/Android and will soon be put out in a compendium print in Spanish. It is a story of a reluctant agent of Death who escorts expired Porteños (Buenos Aires folks) to the afterlife. For me Eternal City is a love story to Buenos Aires by Sergio and throws light on not only the characters of the grand city but provides the city with a face too showing the different districts, landmarks and buildings. I went out for drinks with him and his friends the other night and it was great fun and before I knew it I found myself p*ssed at 6am staggering into a cab in San Telmo. They were a smart bunch and gave me great insights and anecdotes about life in the city. The lead character in The Eternal City was based on one of Sergio´s friends who was also out drinking with us and it was odd to have a sense of accelearted familiarity with him as he talked, stood or sat in positions echoing the scenes in the novel - almost like meeting Peter Parker or Wolverine.

My boxing continues and after some rounds of anti-inflammatories my back has settled down meaning I can get through the sessions without agony in the last hour. I will miss the club when I go. Sparring exercises with people who don´t speak English always have the extra element of danger and I can see the look in their eyes saying ´Does he know what we are meant to do and is there is going to be an accident?´.

My house-disco song (When You Go You Take The) Garden With You will be complete by the end of this week and I am really happy with it. All final mixes for Garden With You have been done. There are two main mixes and two remixes. Track listing is :

1. Main Mix by UK´s Glen Nicholls who has worked with Prodigy, Bee Gees, Depeche Mode and a host of others.


2. Alternate Mix by Arimaka aka Manuel Jiminez from Los Angeles who has worked with the likes of Madonna.


3. Dub Mix by Emiliano Gomez from Argentina at the DubSalon - a rising star of dub.


4. Sleeping on the Couch Mix by Boofa. A dark electro mix by this NZ multi-media artist who is the other half of the 12000 Miles album.

The artwork is also underway which promises to be something special and hopefully a little risqué .




One singer that Jorge has inroduced me to is the legendary Argentinian singer Mercedes Sosa. Unfortunately she died last year but left a massive legacy behind. Some say that if the soil of Latin America could sing that it would have her voice and I tend to believe it. Her last album was a series of duets with some of the most famous musicians in Latin America and the record was called Cantora (a double album also featuring a documentary). The position she holds in Argentina is a little like the position that Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan holds in Pakistan which is of a statesman that helped give the country a musical, philosophical and cultural cornerstone. She was much feared by the repressive government in Argentina and many times had to flee for her life. I reccomend you check her out.