South America Uncovered: Part 5: Uruguay

South America Uncovered: Part 5: Uruguay

20 September, 2007 | 12.15PM

• Written by: Felipe Javier
• Filed under: Music News:

Uruguay is a small country known for its great soccer players, its beautiful cities like Montevideo and Punta del Este - and of course, its music.

Uruguay is the land of Candombe, and home of some of the most unique artists in South America.

There is a beautiful mix of beaches and music in Uurguay, and a lot of the culture comes from the Rio de la Plata, which features music like the tango and the homemade Candombe.

The people from Uruguay have a very developed sense of identity that is translated through electronic music.

The Musical Brain.

Marcelo Castelli [right] is one of the most respected artists in Uruguay, who has been at it for more than 20 years.

Castelli owns six very successful record labels: South American House, South American Groove, Muzik x Press, Minimo Records, Soulman Music and Supermusic Records.

His first label was South American House [shown on the player], featuring Latin artists.

South American House records work with a variety of styles and sounds, but some of its best material is Progressive and electro house with a very marked Latin style.

Castelli, started like most old school artists who started as DJs: mixing at parties. Castelli was also a resident of the first electronic club on Montevideo called Kool Kat back on 1990.

Today, Castelli is considered one of the most important artists from Uruguay and South America.

“In Uruguay,” says Castelli, “the scene is small but consistent.

“Our top vacation spot, Punta del Este, has helped a lot to develop electronic music.

“The city of Montevideo also has great clubs like W Lounge and Key, whose styles vary from the mainstream electro house, progressive, tribal, minimal and techno.

Half of Castelli’s labels are distributed throughout the world on vinyl [South American House, South American Groove and Muzik x press].

“I had to wait until the right moment, and that was when I made the transition from vinyl and digital,” he tells Beatportal.

“If you buy music digitally, you can do it from anywhere in the world, at any time.

“There is a lot more variety, it’s more organized, it’s cheaper, faster - and it’s always in stock!”

Castelli’s [right] vision for South America and Uruguay is very clear.

“Production in South America has grown a lot and it’s still growing in an excellent way.

“In Uruguay, people have been working for over 15 years - artists like Gustavo Bravetti, Rolo Cieri and me, and newer artists like Ariel Perazzoli, Rocha & Lewinger, Fernando Picón, Gabriel Robella, Federico Epis, Juan Boero, Gabriel Marchisio, Pablo Barboza and Logistik Sounds…

“Today, DJs have to be a lot more informed and actualized, because there are a lot of new ways to play and to express oneself than ever before.

“There are also more styles - and much more music,” notes Castelli.

Castelli has just released a record with DJ Hardware called ‘Tribalism 2.0’.

He is also preparing new material to be released in October entitled ‘Just Be’, with remixes from Joy Marquez, Hugo Rizzo, Kemmit, Redkone, Deep N Soul and Ricardo Reyna.

House from a Latin heart.

Ariel Perazzoli [right] is a musician from Uruguay who is full of talent with several releases on various labels.

The passion of Latin and house music runs through his veins.

We asked him about the styles in South America and Uruguay.

“There are a lot of genres here,” says Perazzoli.

“Minimal and electro are the tendencies right now, but tendencies always change and it comes back to the roots.

“In South America, house and tribal will never die,” says the talented producer.

“In Uruguay, the market is very small, and house is what appeals to people most, specially if it has vocals.

“In clubs, I could play a lot of syles, but house will always be my music,” says Perazzoli.

He also adds some words that show the Latin house spirit in its form.

“It is not only talent that makes you good at what you do, but the love and effort that you put into it is very important.

“Yet the most important element is to be a good person.

“If you find somebody who is talented and a good person, too, that person deserves your help.”

Perazzoli explores new styles and has recently released an album called ‘The Best of Ariel Perazzoli’, which highlights some of his most popular material so far.

New Winds.

Between Brazil and Uruguay, Javiunder [right] learned about making electronic music.

He started with deep and club house, and then he traveled to harder styles like tech house and techno.

Javiunder has played in many places in South America.

He is working for a new label called Suit Records, along with Fabian Argomedo and other artists from South America, and is one of the new artists that is creating music from Uruguay.

“Uruguay is a very small country and the scene is very orientated to house on the mainstream and minimal on the more underground clubs.

“There are great artists with lots of success outside of Uruguay, like DJ Shoutman and Tania Vulcano [below right].”

Javiunder works and tours in South America.

He just returned from Brazil, and will be playing in Chile and is planning a mini-tour in October of Spain and Portugal. 

Pictures of Uruguay.

Artists like Ariel Perazolli and all his excellent music, Javiunder and his new label, Marcelo Castelli - and artists like Tania Vulcano and Fernando Picón are all a part of the scene in Uruguay.

These and all of the new artists from the small land of Uruguay are making the music scene big, very big.

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