Basta de Música

Context can be an important factor when it comes to music. Buscaglía's parents were part of a scene that helped reinvent Uruguay's popular music in the 70s, and his music plays with and innovates those traditions, as well as others from Argentinian rock and Spanish folk music. The result is a dizzying array of styles. There are touches of Eduardo Mateo and Charly García on the folky ‘Para Vencer’ and a stronger rock groove on ‘Los Barcos’, which, thanks to its percussive heft, carries a surprising hint of early Talk Talk. On ‘Chuza’ he chops up a Brazilian baile funk beat with primitive rap, and flute and horn samples, for something completely different. His best songs are those when he keeps it simple, the delicate melody of ‘Caballo’ flourishing with plucked harp and weightless harmonies, ‘Dos Patos’ being driven along by a jaunty piano motif, or even the Casio keyboard curio ‘Mirennos Bailer’. They let us see the clearly musically restless Buscaglía at his most elemental, whereas elsewhere the songs sometimes feel weighed down by the DNA of Southern Cone music, too focused on paradoxically paying homage to and reinventing tradition to allow the songs to take centre-stage.