Tanghetto

Tanghetto is an Argentinian neo tango and electronic tango music project created and led by musician and producer Max Masri. Winner of the Gardel Award and three times nominated to the Latin Grammy Awards. It's based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
The style of Tanghetto is a blend of tango and electronic music. Their music is also influenced by world music and jazz. The experimentation in studio started in 2001, however Tanghetto was formed as a project in late 2002 and early 2003. Tanghetto's concept was developed by producer / composer / songwriter Max Masri as an open source project with many different line ups. The first lineup was Max with co-composer Diego Velázquez and virtual musician Jürgen Köchel. The most continuous line-up (8 years) was with Max Masri (synths) Federico Vazquez (bandoneon) Antonio Boyadjian (piano) Daniel Corrado (drums) and depending on availability Chao Xu on chelo Diego Velazquez on guitar and Aldo Di Paolo on piano. The band's current lineup includes bandoneon, violin, acoustic piano, electronic and acoustic drums, samplers, and synthesizers. The main feature of their music, apart from the balance of electronic and ethnic sounds, is the strong presence of melody and song structure. Most of the studio work was mainly composed and recorded by Masri with co-composer Velázquez, and later on with Di Paolo.
History and albums.
Tanghetto released their first album, "Emigrante (electrotango)" in 2003. It was inspired in the economic crisis that Argentina was facing back in 2001 and also in the feelings of distress generated by the massive exile of many young Argentines, that decided to flee from their country, in a desperate move to find a future. ¨Emigrante¨ was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards of 2004 in the category of "Best Instrumental", and later reached platinum status in Argentina in 2006 and double platinum in 2009. According to The Los Angeles Times, Tanghetto is the most seductive electrotango band that is based in Buenos Aires and the album "Emigrante" is "marked by its languid melodies, its smoky textures and the kind of delicate piano lines that would make Massive Attack proud". In late 2004 the group released an album from a side project called Hybrid Tango, in which a variety of world music styles are blended with their unique sound, including flamenco, candombe, and jazz. This album was also nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards of 2005 in the Traditional/ Best Tango Category.
In early 2005 a compilation of different electronic and neo-tango artists was released in Buenos Aires by the label Constitution Music, under the name Tangophobia Vol. 1 (which was later reissued on iTunes and several online music stores under the name "Electrotango Sessions"), including five unreleased tracks by Tanghetto.
In October 2005 a new album, Buenos Aires Remixed, was released. It's an album that contains 12 remixed versions of Tanghetto songs plus two cover songs (Enjoy the Silence, from Depeche Mode and New Order's Blue Monday). Their version of "Blue Monday" became an alternative radio hit in the USA, and a favorite on KCRW radio station in Los Angeles. Buenos Aires Remixed reached gold status in early 2007 and became their second platinum album later that year. In 2005 they released their first controversial video "Tangocrisis", with images of the Argentine economic crisis. Their second video from ¨Hybrid Tango¨, "Barrio Sur" was their first video with rotation on MTV. In July 2006 they released their first DVD, "Live in Buenos Aires".
After consistently touring through Europe and the Americas, the band recorded their next studio album, called El Miedo a la Libertad, named after Erich Fromm's classic essay, Fear of Freedom. The album was released on March the 1st, 2008 and in July 2009 it won a Gardel Award, the Argentine equivalent of the Grammy and reached gold status in 2011.
In late 2009 after their first big tour in Brazil, they released a new studio album called Más Allá del Sur which was also nominated for a Carlos Gardel Award, this time in 2010. In 2011 they released their album VIVO (live around the world) which was recorded during their last two tours. The album also includes a cover version of "7 Nation Army" from The White Stripes and an electrotango version of the song "Computer Love" by German electro pioneers Kraftwerk. There's a second volume for the "VIVO" album dubbed "VIVO 'Milonguero'" with 14 live tracks, including unplugged versions recorded during the 2007 BBC Sessions and some bonus tracks, such as Piazzolla's "Allegro Tangabile". This album features a notable live version of "Libertango" also by the great tango creator Astor Piazzolla. ¨VIVO Milonguero¨ won their second Gardel Award. In late 2012 a concept album called Incidental Tango was released, with the participation of guest arranger / pianist Aldo Di Paolo. For the ¨Incidental Tango¨ album, Masri envisioned the notion that music is always the soundtrack of everyone's life, and thus Tango in all of its forms is the 'incidental music' of life in Buenos Aires. Tanghetto toured all over Europe in 2013, playing in one of the most important venues in London, The O2 Arena, and toured Romania and Poland for the first time. They also toured in Latin America, in Mexico, Uruguay, Chile, Brazil, Argentina. In 2014 they released the follow up to their 2004 concept album ¨Hybrid Tango¨, named ¨Hybrid Tango II¨. The album consisted of new recorded material and some songs that were not used in other albums but were of excellent artistic quality and were kept for this project. In September 2014 Tanghetto was nominated for the third time to the Latin Grammy's with ¨Hybrid Tango II¨ competing with Ruben Blades who won. In 2015 they released the album "Progressive Tango" and got their 6th nomination to the Gardel Awards. ¨Progressive Tango¨, first promo single became the number one song played from Tanghetto in Spotify. With that tour they played in Europe, America and Asia. In 2016 they released the album "Desenchufado", it was also nominated to the Gardel Awards becoming their 7th nomination to the most prestigious awards in Argentina in 2017. In 2018 they released the album "Vivo en Buenos Aires" recorded at some of the most important music halls of Buenos Aires and it features two new songs. In july 2018 they played for the first time at the iconic Lincoln Center in New York City for 3,000 people. In 2019 they performed their most important show in Buenos Aires celebrating 15 years of the "Emigrante" Album, playing at the Ballena Azul Symphony Hall, with three argentine music legends as special guests: Pedro Aznar, Sandra Mihanovich and Nito Mestre. 
In early 2020 they played in Buenos Aires's iconic tango venues the Torcuato Tasso, La Viruta and Salon Canning, and after that (because of the Pandemic) they only did virtual or "from home" concerts and some tv specials.
Discography.
Albums
Singles (Promo or digital)
Awards.
Tanghetto was nominated to the Latin Grammy Awards for the first time in 2004 in the "Best Instrumental Album" category with their album "Emigrante (electrotango)", released in late 2003. The category was won by sixteen-time Grammy winner and violoncello virtuoso Yo-Yo Ma. The following year Tanghetto was again nominated for a Latin Grammy, this time in the "Best Tango Album" category with their album "Hybrid Tango". In 2009 they won their first Gardel Award with their album El Miedo a la Libertad. In 2010 (this time in the World Music category) Tanghetto was nominated again for the Gardel award with their album "Más Allá Del Sur". Both live albums "VIVO" and "VIVO" Milonguero, as well as 2013 studio album ¨Incidental Tango¨, were nominated for "Best alternative tango album" in 2011, 2012 and 2013 respectively for a Gardel award. VIVO Milonguero won the Gardel award in 2012. In 2014 Tanghetto was nominated to the Latin Grammy's for the third time with "Hybrid Tango II". Tanghetto got nominated again to the Gardel Awards in 2013, 2016 and 2017 combining seven Gardel award nominations.
In 2012, as producer and songwriter of Uruguayan tango singer Tabaré Leyton, Max Masri was nominated for two Graffiti awards, one Morosoli and one Iris award. The album "La Factoría del Tango" ultimately won one Graffiti (Best Tango Album), the Morosoli Bronze award and the Iris award (Best New Artist).
 In 2018 Max Masri won the Graffiti Music Award of Uruguay for the second time with "VIVO por el Tango" the third album by Tabare Leyton, where Max Composed, Produced, Mixed and Mastered.