Focus on Argentina: Federico Molinari

Focus on Argentina: Federico Molinari

14 December, 2010 | 3.32AM

• Written by: Beatportal
• Filed under: Music News: argentina, federico molinari, focus on, oslo

His name sounds Italian, he lives in Frankfurt, and his label is named after the capital of Norway. But Federico Molinari, head of the Oslo label (and its offshoot, Love Letters From Oslo) actually hails from Argentina. Molinari’s story is, in a sense, typical of his generation: coming up in the country’s fertile, fast-developing scene in the ‘90s before making the move to Europe, where he’s proven his mettle among more established musicians. Founded in 2007, Oslo played a crucial role in helping push dancefloors from minimal towards a deeper sound inspired by classic American house. When not concentrating on his own labels, Molinari can be found recording for the likes of Tsuba, Off, and Sascha Dive’s Deep Vibes.

We asked the South American expat to share his perspective on the Argentine scene.

Tell us a little bit about the scene in Argentina. What are the main clubs where you come from? What styles are popular? Which local DJs and producers should we know about? Where do the parties take place—clubs, underground venues, chiringuitos?

Since I am not living in Argentina any more, I go there once a year, I am not 100% involved in the scene over there… but of course I still have a good overview because I play almost every year there. I think the main clubs in Buenos Aires are Crobar, Pacha, Cocoliche and Barhein (Buenos Aires) and El Infierno (Cordoba), and there are also very nice parties from the Unlock people. The musical direction is the same as in Europe—a bit of house, a bit of techno, etc. Actually I feel very comfortable playing there. There is a bunch of good producers coming form Argentina right now, like Lionel Castillo, Barem, Franco Cinelli, Guti, etc., etc., etc. Buenos Aires is a very big city, so you have every kind of party in every kind of places.


How about the history of the scene? What was it like in the ‘90s, and who were the pioneering Argentine DJs?

We only had a few clubs (like Pacha) and a few afterhours (like Panteon) back then. Underground venues were very important for the development of the scene in the ‘90s. The music was very mixed, you had at the same party one trance DJ, one house DJ and one techno DJ, but everybody was happy with what we had, and many foreign DJs played in Argentina in the ‘90s, like Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin or Laurent Garnier to mention just a few. The pioneers in Argentina were Diego Ro-k, Dr. Trincado, Cristobal Paz, Carla Tintore and the guies from the Urban Groove; at least those are the ones I listened to.

Tell us a little bit about yourself: what’s your own music like? Where do you play? Do you have a residency or regular party? If so, what’s it like?

I think that my music goes from house to techno, something in between, I would say like the music on my own label Oslo. I play in many different clubs or parties here in Europe (Robert Johnson, Watergate, Fabric, Space, Loft, Goa, etc.). The residencies I have mean that I play there every year, but unfortunately not every month.

How did you discover electronic music, and how did you come to make/play it yourself?

I arrived at electronic music through ambient music and disco. From ambient I had the electronic part and from disco I had the rhythm. I was alwaies playing musical instruments, so when I discovered electronic music I wanted to be more involved than just being a listener, so the first step for me was buying records and the second was starting to produce my own music. I was too curious just to stand on one side of the DJ booth.

The economic collapse that we suffered 10 years ago was very important for the development of our electronic scene. I think at that point something new was born.

How connected is your city’s scene to other scenes in South America? Do DJs from Chile, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay etc. often visit, or are most out-of-town guests usually from Europe and North America? Do you travel much within South America?

The problem for the scene in South America is that the distances from one country to the other are really long. For example, if you go from Chile to Brazil you can fly four hours (you can fly all over Europe in four hours!) and the airplane tickets are very expensive in South America. Plane tickets are more expensive than in Europe, and the promoters (at least the small promoters) usually have fewer attendees than in Europe, so the situation is harder for traveling. But still, the DJs are moving a lot and you have often artists from neighboring countries. This year I was playing in Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and Peru; the scene is developing really fast over there, especially in Peru. And of course countries like Chile, Brazil or Argentina have been involved for a long time already. I see much future for electronic music in South America.

Argentina suffered a major economic crisis 10 years ago. What was its impact on the dance-music scene?

This is a very good topic! The economic collapse that we suffered 10 years ago was very important for the development of our electronic scene. I think at that point something new was born. The promoters couldn’t bring foreign artists any more, so they had to concentrate more on the locals. The local artists couldn’t afford vinyl anymore so they started to download music from net labels and some other platforms like Beatport, and on top of that a lot of people started to produce their on music to have more music to play in the DJ sets. At that time is when the new generation of DJ/producers from Argentina came out: Barem, Jorge Savoretti, Seph, Dilo, Gurtz, Violett, etc etc…

Obviously South America has one of the world’s richest musical traditions. How would you say that has affected Argentine dance music? Would you say your own music has a South American influence or identity?

I think that in electronic music everything is mixed, and even without knowing or hearing it, our music has a lot of [regional] influences in it. But, if I am honest, the Chilean artists (Ricardo Villalobos, Luciano, Pierre Bucci, Dandy Jack, etc.) were the pioneers in mixing music from South America with electronic music, they get all the credit! And the most important thing is that they did it in a very unique way, they didn’t put just some samples on their music.


Enough about music: tell us some destinations that visitors to Argentina should visit—and what we should eat when we’re there.

Argentina is a very big country; everything depends on what the person wants to see, although unless you have a lot of time it’s not really possible to see it all. I would definetly go to the south (Bariloche, Villa la Angostura, Glaciar Perito Moreno); I would also go to the north (Salta, Jujuy, the Waterfalls, etc.). If you like wine I would also go to Mendoza and of course at least a week to see Buenos Aires. The best beef in the world comes from Argentina, so don’t miss that! We also have very good pizza and pasta and wine; for dessert, dulce de leche pancakes!

Federico Molinari

Oslo

Love Letters from Oslo

• (0) Comments
• (1244) Views