El Madrileño Is C. Tangana’s Most Ambitious And Comprehensive Musical Work
In Full Creative Bloom, C. Tangana Embarks On A Musical Journey, While Casting A Net Of Impressive Collaborators With Whom He Has Intimate Conversations
Just as there is a rich tradition of travel literature, there is music that takes us on a journey. And El Madrileño (The Madrid Native), is clearly a record about journeys. An album in which C. Tangana centers his protractor on Madrid, while drawing concentric circles that encompass countries such as Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, as well as Latin America in general. As with travel books, travel records give as much importance to the destination as to the origin as much importance to the traveler as to the people met during the adventure. As such, on El Madrileño we find that the ideas that C. Tangana has brought back from his two years of wandering in Latin America, starting with Cuba, are just as relevant as what he took with him from Madrid. This highly anticipated album has been heralded with No. 1 hits, unprecedented streaming popularity, and outstanding reviews. (All of the preview singles are here, including “Nunca Estoy” – produced by Nineteen85, one of Drake’s go-to producers - which ushered in his new musical era.) C. Tangana has made an effort to dialogue with the sounds of each country he spent time in. And dialoguing means making friends, gaining knowledge, and celebrating. It’s the difference between traveling and tourism. He is an explorer who delves into the virgin terrain that remains to be mapped between traditional genres sounds and modern pop. A perfect example is “Cuándo Olvidaré”, which brings together references to Argentine tango (“Nostalgias” by Enrique Cadicamo and Juan Carlos Cobián), Cuban guajira (“Al Vaivén De Mi Carreta” by Ñico Saquito), Spanish bulería (“Pasan Los Días” by La Tana), an American R&B vocal loop (“Slide” by H.E.R.) and a moving monologue by Pepe Blanco, the iconic Spanish singer of copla and pasodoble. Only a talented creator at the peak of his powers could craft a natural sound out of such apparently disparate elements. C. Tangana is joined in on production duties by the acclaimed producer Alizzz and newcomer Víctor Martínez, a multi-instrumentalist whose playing is sprinkled throughout. The artist and his team are well aware that the greater the risk, the more satisfying the reward. In addition to the creative production nucleus – Alizzz, Víctor and C. Tangana (who is affectionately known as Pucho) himself – the artist shares his vision and mission of what El Madrileño is about with a select group of collaborators who are far more than a list of names. They represent fruitful and fulfilling musical meetings of the minds and the souls from various latitudes of the globe. Their ways of understanding music may be different, but their understanding of artistic creation is the same, with romanticism as the starting point. C. Tangana shows his vast respect (and receives it in return) to legends such as the Cuban guitarist Elíades Ochoa; the multi-award-winning Uruguayan singer-songwriter Jorge Drexler; the rumba-pop pioneers Gipsy Kings; the Latino soul icon José Feliciano; the always-visionary Kiko Veneno and the charismatic Andrés Calamaro. On El Madrileño, C. Tangana does more than pay tribute to the generations who have come before and have inspired him. He also works with his fellow young talents with whom he feels affinity, while especially spotlighting Mexican artists, including the emerging Mexican American R&B vocalist Omar Apollo; the indie wonder Ed Maverick; and the folkloric-music standard-bearers Carín León and Adriel Favela. All of these songs with a guest artist (which also include recently released collaborations with Niño de Elche, La Hungara and Toquinho) are more than a collection of “featurings.” They represent a map of deeply personal artistic relationships that help illustrate the album’s general concept – the search for an ideal, timeless pan-American sound, with equal proportions of respect for tradition and drive for cutting-edge innovation – just as much past as future.
El Madrileño is an extraordinarily ambitious album whose reach measures up to its grasp. C. Tangana has matured creatively and has become even more well-rounded as a singer, producer, musician without limits and an artist who makes his homegrown urban scene overflow with creativity. Looking at himself in others, seeing himself in other contexts, he has found himself. This is a common thread in Spanish music, as exemplified by the ida y vuelta (round-trip) flamenco styles that incorporate Latin American rhythms in a completely seamless way, or the best pop music which has kept one foot in experimentation and the other in tradition. Pucho is more Pucho than ever. Now we know what we can expect from him: everything. It’s important to emphasize that there is one thing C. Tangana will not do as a complete artist: forget about the people who helped him get where he is. He remains surrounded by his longtime producer Alizzz, Víctor Martínez who’s been a key figure helping to expand his sound in the last couple years and creative director Santos Bacana, while his new collaborators seem to have been with him forever: for example, Iván Floro whose album-art oil paintings are eternally intertwined with C. Tangana’s visual concept; and the team of Little Spain, the idea platform founded by Pucho, Santos Bacana, and others, which was created in parallel with El Madrileño. Because in the end, this record is so titled because Pucho subscribes to an infallible maxim of artistic creation – be universal by being local.
El Madrileño - Tracklisting:
1) Demasiadas Mujeres 2) Tú Me Dejaste De Querer with Niño de Elche & La Húngara 3) Comerte Entera with Toquinho 4) Nunca Estoy 5) Párteme La Cara with Ed Maverick 6) Ingobernable with Gipsy Kings, Nicolas Reyes & Tonino Ballardo 7) Nominao with Jorge Drexler 8) Un Veneno (G-Mix) with José Feliciano & Niño de Elche 9) Te Olvidaste with Omar Apollo 10) Muriendo De Envidia with Eliades Ochoa 11) CAMBIA! with Carín León y Adriel Favela 12) Cuando Olvidaré with Pepe Blanco 13) Los Tontos with Kiko Veneno 14) Hong Kong with Andrés Calamaro
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