Tremor is Buenos Aires’ homegrown expert at taking traditional indigenous rhythms of the Andes Mountain range and plugging them into the present.
I had the chance to sit down with the artist, Leo Martinelli, at his home in BA to hear about his latest adventures in musicology and showcasing his digital experiments live on Corrientes, BA’s Broadway.
When I was writing about electronic Latin folk music, I ended up on this obscure message board with an entry dated from 2005 that referenced you as the guy exploring the genre at the forefront. What led you to this place and what keeps it interesting?
I’ve worked for Argentina’s national Ministry of Culture for the last few years, visiting pueblos in the north of the country, near Jujuy and Salta, mostly, where older musicians still play traditional songs. When they play a show, it’s more of a community event than a concert. Playing the songs are intertwined in the spiritual life of a town. People look to the songs as a sort of recipe for their health – as a medicinal incantation. There are songs to bless a car when you pick it up from the mechanic. Folklore is a big part of the daily life of the community, drawing an entire town out to take communion of sorts while being entertained.
Has being around the music from Salta and Jujuy informed your own compositions?
Carnabalito music, coplas, and ritmo de saya are found in local religion, where music is sort of a nourishing element. I like to try to incorporate that element into Tremor songs, and try to create a sort of soundtrack for life.
How would you describe your live show?
Shows are a sort of ceremony meets revelry. We’re a trio of instrumentalists playing live along with the compositions laid out as a base. Using guitar, charango, bombo leguero, flutes, and a laptop we try to stay true to the old while bringing tradition up to date in a way. We have digital imagery projected as a backdrop. The images have a lot to say about the music.
On stage the music moves past the present in a futuristic blur of artistic invention. Massive visuals propel the avant-garde Latin sound to new heights, inspiring the audience toward shaman visions and into tribal dance.
What did you play before you got started on electro-folklorico?
I began studying classical music at a conservatory and played jazz, rock, and experimental music live in Buenos Aires. At school I became interested in “concrete” music, an avant-garde genre of the 1950s that uses daily objects for compositions. I experimented applying it to indigenous regional rhythms, using industrial sounds alongside tones drawn out of wood and animal hides. I put it all together, drawing on a mix of styles, popular rock and electronic music and with folk traditions. For the record “Landing” I started exploring Northern Argentina’s Andes region, quechuan vidalas and Andean chacareras played with layers of beats alongside digital imagery.
You play with two other live musicians and tracks, how do you make that work for the audience?
Both of the musicians I play with have a lot of experience playing folklorico as well as other genres. Camillo Carbajal brings the bombo leguero to the stage. Gerardo is a master of synth music, playing it analog – with live instruments, comes easy.
The bomba is Argentina’s signature drum, big and bass-y, it looks great on stage, made out of hide and wood and beaten with a large, knobbed drum stick.
On his last record, “Viajante,” Tremor executes folklore melody through a digital context. Layers of rhythm are fortified with modern synth loops and paired with timeless Andean flute, strings and drum samples for evocative hybrids. Glitch, IDM, and electronica reinvent classic rhythms for today’s listener. For a follow-up LP vinyl on ZZK Records/Crosstalk International Tremor tracks get remixed by Chancha via Circuito, King Coya, El Remolon and Nortec Collective retro-fitting Tremor’s ideas with each artist’s signature style for even fresher sounds.
For Martinelli, “creativity is a combination of two improbable parts.” He sees musical style as a puzzle or riddle, looking for the best way to put two opposing techniques together in one sound-scape.
Eve Hyman is a journalist based in Buenos Aires reporting on music and art for Time Out Buenos Aires and the Buenos Aires Herald. Publications include Latina.com, Museyon Guides and Guanabee.com.
