La Fanfarria del Capitán: “The energy is renewed during the concerts”

Color and dance is what predominate in this Argentine ensemble of Latin and Balkan music that tour around the world and presents his fourth album, “La Giravida”, conceived between Buenos Aires and Macedonia, with more than 40 foreign and national guest musicians.

at Rock en Argentina  from Spanish by Tropical Diaspora

Original interview in Spanish here

We knew a lot of music in the trips that made us consolidate the Latin-Balkan style that defines us and also the album, on the other hand, when we´ve recorded along the route we had a part of production to capture all this magic of fellow musicians from outside. So in both the technical and the artistic aspect the tours were giving us tools for this record.

The former Captain Tifus and now renamed La Fanfarria del Capitan have traveled with their mestizo sound  all over the world, for a long list of countries that is the envy of any group: Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, England, Finland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Kosovo, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria, Ukraine, Russia, China and Japan.

We’ve been touring Europe and Asia for seven years,” the front woman recalls. It all started with an invitation to the Italian Botanique festival in 2011. There we made the decision to stay on tour to see what the European market was like. From there we decided to dedicate ourselves to full band and we started to tour more and more, up to five or seven months a year. It is all self-managed so the opportunity is generated by us from our work and the networks that we have been building over the years. All bands can do it if they put much much laburo y huevo.

What are the yearnings for a band that already got what all the musicians want, that is to travel?

Our greatest desire is to make music that we are proud of, that the public likes and do well to them. Most important of all are the songs. When we write songs that we like, it is the greatest gratification. Later, when other likes it, then is spectacular.

What was the weirdest concert they gave out of Argentina?

Once we played in China for a communist party celebration, which as there is “the ruling party” was a rather formal event. In a theater for 2 thousand people, like the Great Rex, with amphitheater-shaped seats, full of Chinese moving colored lights and red flags decorating the whole place. Just bizarre!

How chaotic was the recording of “La Giravida”? Is it the album that best defines the band?

The recording took two years in which we wanted to capture what it meant for us to live in the nomadic / juggler style. We invited several of our colleagues with whom we shared the route and went to Macedonia to record the Kocani Orkestar. We also invite many friends from Argentina to participate. Each song had more than 100 tracks to mix. The producer, Diego Blanco of Los Pericos, did not kill us because he it very cool.

How is the energy of the set after touring so much and producing an album?

Something that we realized during the trips is that the energy is renewed during the concerts. Traveling, carrying, sleeping anywhere, eating sandwiches daily, being away from home, with dirty clothes, are all things that weigh heavily over the months. In addition, living with eight people with whom you work and you have to agree on patterns and tasks is very draining and dangerous for human relations. All the roughness is eroded with the concerts, it is the moment in which we vibrate together and it makes sense all the effort. When we listen to the album it makes us proud because the truth was a hard job, but we believe that we gave the best of ourselves and it was quite cute.

Given that this material took a long time to be produced, are you already thinking about a fifth album?

Yes! We are about to start recording very soon! At the moment we are composing new songs because when we arrive in Holland in July, we are going to record with the Amsterdam Klezmer Band in their studios. It is one of the most important bands of the genre and that is why we are preparing to take full advantage of this opportunity. The album we are thinking is going to come out in early 2018 and the songs will have a lot more folklore but will also have their “balkan style” to not stop dancing.

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