Daleduro

Daleduro is a Buenos Aires DJ/producer that I've been meaning to mention here for a while now. Known mostly for his work with dubstep and grime, what truly sets him apart is high-quality production work. In a city where most producers cobble together lo-fi tracks on junk PCs with pirated software, Daleduro's work always sounds good.

Although dubstep and grime are his calling card, Daleduro also dabbles in other genres, including cumbia. Here's his version of cumbia anthem "Bombon Asesino," one of the best "new cumbia" (or whatever you want to call it) tracks out there.

Daleduro - Bombon Asesino

Next week Daleduro is jumping into yet another genre with the opening of his new weekly party Break Da Rules. Happening every Tuesday at the newly reopened Cocoliche, Break Da Rules will be devoted to the world of breaks. Here's the first flyer:



I recently completed an interview and more in-depth look at Daleduro for the next issue of Wicked Buenos Aires, which should be available next week (in print, not sure if the article will be online).

And of course, there's always myspace.

www.myspace.com/daledur0

Bailando Se Entiende La Gente

In case you missed my previous post, Bailando Se Entiende La Gente is the name of the new album from Villa Diamante. I'm posting about it again because the Buenos Aires mash-up king has been kind enough to make the entire album available for free download on his website.

Any Diamante fanatics should also know that Ciudad.com ran a little article about him this week which includes some pics and video clips from the interview.

Falta de Cambio

That means "Lack of Change" for any non-Spanish speakers who happen to stumble across this.

Just for the record, I don't mean "lack of change" in a high-minded institutional sense. I mean that in Buenos Aires, it is nearly impossible to get change for your money. The situation is so bad that last year these posters started showing up in subway ticket windows:



Translation: "Help us resolve the lack of change. Use your coins, don't save them."

The message comes from the both the Subte and the Central Bank of Argentina, which happens to be the main provider of coinage for the subway system. Earlier this month, a Subte spokesperson admitted that passengers were sometimes being allowed to ride for free due to lack of change. This is not a new problem, as Clarín ran a similar story back in November. The more recent story included this telling quote:

"Una de las cosas que nos decía el Banco Central es que hay una cultura de guardar las monedas", aunque reconoció también que "no es que la gente no colabore, sino que falta el cambio".

Translation:

"One of the things the Central Bank told us is that there is a culture of keeping coins", although she also recognized that "it's not that people aren't cooperating, but that there is a lack of change."

Whether Argentinians are greedily holding on to their coins or the Central Bank is simply not putting enough in circulation, the fact remains that getting change is a serious problem. The change situation plagues expats and Argentinians alike, and is not just limited to the subway system.

For some reason ATM machines here give out $100 bills by default. Yet few day-to-day purchases cost anywhere near $100. That requires business to give back change with nearly every single transaction. As a result, many stores, cafes and kiosks are extremely reluctant to accept large bills. Even places like supermarkets and movie theaters will often request smaller bills before completing a purchase. When it comes to transportation, paying for a taxi with a large bill is nearly impossible while buses only accept coins.

To combat the problem, many locals withdraw odd amounts at the ATM, such as $390 or $590. Only by requesting these amounts will an ATM actually distribute $10, $20 or $50 bills, although $50 bills are only slightly easier to break than a $100.

Outside of the ATM trickery, the only other feasible tactic is to horde change. It seems ridiculous, but consumers and businesses are hopelessly locked into a battle for smaller denominations. People often attempt to pay for things with the largest bill possible in hopes of receiving change, while businesses respond by requesting the smallest bill possible. When that fails, businesses will often ask if the customer has enough coins to cover the coinage portion of the purchase amount. For both sides, the level of inconvenience is astounding.

In a place where many businesses do not accept credit cards and checks are practically non-existent, the demand for cash and change is constant. Factor in that hundreds of thousands of people utilize the coin-only bus system on a regular basis and Buenos Aires has perfected the recipe for a major headache.

At least when the subway runs out change they let passengers ride for free. Although there were also plenty of free rides last week when protesting subway workers simply opened the gates during peak hours, so maybe it's not so special after all.

I Made the Paper

Sorry to gloat, but it's not every day that one of the most popular newspapers in Latin America puts my name in print.

Just today, Clarín highlighted a DJ night where I'll be spinning tomorrow. I'm going to be huge! I'm going to be famous!

I'm going to be pretty much ignored because no one reads the newspaper for advice about club nights. Oh well. Here's the flyer:



Update: My specialness apparently knows no bounds. It turns out that Clarín actually mentioned me a second time, also listing my upcoming DJ appearance at Zizek next Wednesday.

Update #2: In the future I'll try to keep the self-congratulatory posts to a minimum.

Villa Diamante

This Wednesday night at Zizek, local DJ/producer/mash-up extraordinaire Villa Diamante will be celebrating the release of a new album, Bailando Se Entiende La Gente. The title more or less translates as "People Understand Each Other When They're Dancing," a hypothesis he probably formulated over the past few years while becoming one of Buenos Aires' hottest DJs. When taking into account the fact that Villa Diamante stays off the punchi punchi circuit, his rise in the club scene is all the more impressive.

To help celebrate the album, Diamante is inviting a slew of guests to join him on stage this week to create some live mash-ups. Plus, Fauna are coming in from Mendoza to close out the night with a live set of their cumbia/drum n' bass/hip-hop stylings.

Bailando Se Entiende La Gente is a collection of mash-ups, remixes and edits that often combines global pop, hip-hop and R & B hits with music from the Buenos Aires underground. The album will soon be available for download from his website, while hard copies can be snagged at his numerous DJ appearances.

In the meantime, here are a couple of sneak peeks.

Villa Diamante - El Remolón vs. Beyonce & Jay-Z
Villa Diamante - Gustavo Cerati vs. De La Soul

Don't Fall For It

This face belongs to Andy Rourke, the one-time bass player for legendary band The Smiths. His wrinkled mug has been plastered all over Buenos Aires this week because he's doing a special "Rockstar DJ Session" on Sunday night at the Roxy Club.

Who wants to see this? Andy Rourke is a withered rocker promising to play hits from the 70's and 80's, including songs by The Smiths, a band in which he was at best the third most talented person. Doesn't he think playing hits from his own band is just a wee bit...lame? Sad? Pathetic? To be fair, he also promises to mix in some newer stuff, because watching Andy Rourke spin a Klaxons or Arctic Monkeys song is sure to be a revelatory experience.

This is nothing but a blatant cash-in on nostalgia. Of course, Andy Rourke is doing a lot of that these days, both touring the world as a DJ and starting bands with other over-the-hill rockers.

Even worse, Andy Rourke is just the first in a whole series of "Rockstar DJ Sessions" at the Roxy Club. Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols is coming in June, followed by Daniel Ash from Bauhaus and Love and Rockets in July. Barf. These kinds of rockstar DJ tours (which seem to be increasingly common) are already gross in places like the U.S. and Europe. In South America, they're a little sad. Cities like Buenos Aires are particularly susceptible to these kind of events, as the number of relevant international acts that come to town (especially outside of the mega-festival circuit) is rather low.

In a town hungry for rock n' roll star power, even an Andy Rourke DJ Set can cook up some buzz. It's a safe bet that plenty of Porteños will make their way to the Roxy Club on Sunday night. But it's an even safer bet that I won't be among them.

Not the Best Week

Well, it has certainly been an action-packed week here in Argentina.

For several months President Kirchner's home province of Santa Cruz has been marred by striking teachers and municipal workers. Last week governor Carlos Sancho stepped down after 18 protesters and 5 police officers were injured in a particularly bad altercation. Hoping to lend some support to new interim governor Daniel Peralta, the president's sister Alicia Kirchner (who also happens to be the Minister of Social Development) came to Santa Cruz to help with the transition and negotiations.

Apparently the protesting workers didn't appreciate her visit, because on Saturday she was attacked by angry mob in the city of Río Gallegos as she left a restaurant where she had been having lunch with some friends. Here's some video.


The incident largely consisted of yelling, hair-pulling and the tossing of eggs and flour, which luckily left Ms. Kirchner relatively unharmed.

On Tuesday evening here in Buenos Aires, passengers rioted at the Constitución train station after a train broke down just outside the station, preventing other trains from leaving. Passengers threw rocks, lit ticket booths on fire and looted shops until riot police eventually restored order.



President Kirchner's unusual (but politically-savvy) response was to blame the train companies, promising to "kick them where it hurts."

Yesterday, Buenos Aires subway workers in search of higher salaries went on a one-day strike, snarling traffic throughout the city. Taxis were nearly impossible to catch and city buses were insanely overcrowded.



Apparently more than a million people were affected and the number of cars on the street increased by 30%.

Oh yes, workers from LAN Argentina were also on strike all week, resulting in scores of canceled flights and thousands of stranded airline passengers. Flights finally resumed this morning. The bad news? Buenos Aires airports still don't have radar. Yesterday two planes almost crashed in mid-air. Again.

With Buenos Aires mayoral elections in June and the October presidential election looming, it's a safe bet that politicians are hoping everything calms down in the week ahead.

Wendy!

Maybe You Shouldn't Come Visit

Earlier this week, two planes nearly crashed in mid-air near Ezeiza, the location of the Buenos Aires international airport. Whoops.

The good news is that Argentina avoided a scene like this one:



The bad news is that the near crash, or "quasi collison" was not really that big of surprise. In March the Buenos Aires radar system was struck by lightning and has been largely out of commission ever since. Both the Ezeiza (international) and Jorge Newberry (domestic) airports have suffered an exceedingly high number of delays, as takeoffs are now spaced at least 10 minutes apart. Just a few days prior to this incident, the president of the Argentinian Airline Pilots Association was quoted as saying:

“Ten minutes is a good safety measure, but this means departing and landing schedules will not necessarily be respected. Instead of 20 flights to the hour, we now have five, in good weather conditions; forget about it if there’s a storm”, he added.

In a country where many (if not most) flights are routed through Buenos Aires, this has been really bad news for travelers and pilots. The above quote was part of an article detailing a warning released last week by the International Federation of Airlines Pilots Associations, asking pilots to "exercise extreme vigilance and awareness" when flying in the Buenos Aires area.

Oddly enough, just prior to the disclosure of the near-collison, Argentinian defense minister Nilda Garré had publicly guaranteed that air travel is safe and dismissed the notion of an "imminent catastrophe". Garré also confirmed that the government would soon be receiving new radar equipment on loan from Spain. She went on to state that by the end of the year there would be nine radars and that total would increase to 16 by the year 2009.

Let's hope she's right. That would mean less of this:



And more of this:

Now We Can All Rest Easy

Argentinian soccer legend Maradona has been released from rehab! Isn't that exciting?



Look at this guy. After being hospitalized for alcoholism and hepatitis for more than a month, yesterday Maradona emerged from a Buenos Aries psychiatric facility clad in a Boca Juniors shirt like some kind of conquering hero.

What a tool.

This saga has been the biggest celebrity news story of 2007 in Argentina, where Maradona is worshiped by many as some sort of demigod. His hospitalization led to an absurd amount of press coverage and rumors of his imminent death. Of course, this story is nothing new, as Maradona has been battling cocaine and alcohol addiction for more than a decade.

Last night Maradona appeared on the program ShowMatch, claiming that the rumors of his impending death were untrue and claiming,

“Quiero ponerme bien, dejar el mal trago atrás, no soy un borracho”

That roughly translates, "I want to get better, leave the evil drink behind, I am not a drunk." It would be nice to believe him, but you can consider me firmly entrenched in the "skeptical" camp. I might be wrong, but this looks like a face that still wants a drink.

Zizek Podcasts

For those of you who haven't bought into my incessant chatter about the Buenos Aires cumbia scene and its unofficial clubhouse Zizek, there's now a little something extra online that might win you over.

In what will hopefully become a regular occurrence, the Zizek gang recorded a couple of live DJ sets in April and posted them as podcasts on their website. This first installment features DJ sets from local boys Villa Diamante and DJ Joven.

Enjoy.

There are poor people here, remember?

One of my biggest problems with the hype surrounding Buenos Aires is that most of the press coverage glosses over or completely ignores the fact that a significant portion of the local population remains mired in poverty.

Maybe the Washington Post feels bad about last year's puff piece about foreigners moving to Buenos Aires, because last Sunday they published a new article focusing on the city's growing shanty towns. According to the article, these shanty towns are experiencing the fastest population growth in the capital. I'm guessing that's not the growth the government has in mind as they continue to steer the country away from the depths of the 2001-02 economic crisis.

Living in Buenos Aires, it is no surprise that these shantytowns, locally known as villas, fly under the radar. Although everyone sees the cartoneros sifting through trash at night and children begging for money in the subte, the lower classes are rarely a focal point. Despite estimates that 300,000 - 500,000 people live in the villas, the shantytowns are often collectively ignored and dismissed as dangerous places best avoided at all times. Most are located on the outskirts of the city or inside semi-abandoned industrial areas (like Villa 31 near the Retiro train station), so this collective ignorance is fairly easy for everyone not living in poverty. It's especially easy for foreigners and tourists to experience Buenos Aires while avoiding the villas entirely, as they do not encroach on the Belgrano - Palermo - Recoleta - Micrcentro - San Telmo circuit where most extranjeros tend to operate. I've also been told more than once that even the police don't go in the villas. (That's actually not too surprising since most Buenos Aires officers seem to do little more than hang out in groups and chat amongst themselves. Police here really take laziness to a new level, but that's a whole different issue.)

The villas do get some attention whenever a horrific event takes place, like the February fire that wiped out the villa of El Cartón. (The Washington Post article also details the ramifications of the fire and includes an excellent photo gallery depicting the aftermath.)

Not surprisingly, there's also an abundance of coverage focusing on the crime that crept out of the villas and into Buenos Aires neighborhoods. A recent post on the often excellent GoodAirs blog mentioned (with some help from an article in the Guardian UK ) the ironic trend of villas popping up next door to gated communities (locally known as "countries") in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. Check the picture.



Whoops. Maybe all that open space wasn't such a good idea after all.

Southfest

This Saturday, May 5th another one of those mega-techno festivals is happening in Buenos Aires. This one is called Southfest and it's taking place at Costanera Sur with the usual regimen of gigantic stages and tents one finds at these things.

Although these events usually have all the intimacy (not to mention sound quality) of an airplane hangar, I can't say that I'm overly excited. Headliner and Oakenfold disciple Hernán Cattáneo may be one of Argentina's native sons, but that doesn't change that fact that his set will probably consist of some pretty bland progressive house/trance/whatever term these dudes are using to make their music sound respectable these days.

However, I am excited for some of the names further down the marquee. Acts like MSTRKRFT and Black Strobe are some of my favorites from the realm of electronic music. MSTRKRFT's Daft Punkish future disco and Black Strobe's death metal electro will both be welcome respites from a night sure to be dominated by the drone of the dreaded punchi punchi.

As for the rest of the lineup, there's plenty of locals, some other big name acts to avoid, plus a few that could be alright (Slam, Steve Lawler, Nathan Fake). There's sure to be throngs of drug-addled kids, overpriced drinks and...wait, why do people go to festivals again?

MSTRKRFT and Black Strobe had better be good.