Escuchar
1997 was a historic year for soul and funk. that year James Brown He debuted in Buenos Aires, in a boiling Obras Stadium; that year Jamiroquai He performed for the first time on Buenos Aires soil, in Ferro and in the heat of the first and definitive hits of his career. That year, furthermore, Willy Crook released the first album of the Funky Torinosthe best funk, soul and corresponding “neos” project that there was in Argentina… until now.
27 years passed and, as happened with hip hop, it was neither the first nor the second generation that was successful in commercial terms with this music that was difficult to play – very difficult – and difficult to transpolate. A group of musicians from here and there, some who had been connected for years and others who were called after seeing their art on YouTube or social networks, nurtured the dream of making the music they liked that, to top it off, nothing It had to do with trendy sounds.
Nafta shone at the Movistar Arena with a risky proposalNoelia Marcia Guevara/ AFV
Magamos called himself and calls himself the leader of this mega band that is a select group in itself, a group of notable and gifted musicians who stand out individually but shine like a diamond collectively. Let’s not go around any further: they are called Nafta and in two nights at the Movistar Arena they “broke it”, they took Argentine neo soul and neo funk to another level.
“Loquitos, loquitas, they sold out this in ten days,” he highlighted. Matías García Molinari (alias troubledformed with the first syllable of their names and their surname). “This” is not one but two functions at the Movistar Arena, with the field standing, it is worth clarifying. That is to say, nearly 30,000 people saw a band that the best thing it does is perform its music. Let’s review what his art is made of to better understand the phenomenon.
An Espil, one of the female voices of NaftaNoelia Marcia Guevara/ AFV
In Nafta there are few choruses, or what can be called chorus in their songs has nothing to do with the endlessly repetitive phrases with which pop usually crushes and leads algorithms. The bass and drums are exquisite, the guitar troubled It’s sober, the keyboards Simon Grunblatt They draw landscapes in the air and the voices of An Espil y April Oliverawhich accompany Magamo’s main voice, are not those of two backup singers: they are two superb singers, one with a more suburban register (Espil’s), another closer to R&B (Olivera’s). A sax player, another keyboard player and a percussionist also contribute.
After two albums and a handful of hits for the loyal public that has followed them for a long time and that, thanks to word of mouth, managed to become something serious, Nafta arrived at the Movistar Arena (they had already played at Luna Park) and They planned the dates as if the world would end later. An eleven-member string section (violins, violas, cellos…), two backup singers and the songs from their first two albums that talk about romantic breakups or… a call for attention so that “what you charge doesn’t get you lo delires” (“Without a peso”), completed this proposal that is unique in the Argentine music scene. A small miracle, one of those that happens every once in a while. To value it and enjoy it.
According to the criteria of
