- Title: ARGENTINA: One-woman orchestra Juana Molina performs in Buenos Aires
- Date: 18th June 2009
- Summary: VARIOUS OF MOLINA PERFORMING
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2009 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Argentina
- Country: Argentina
- Topics: Entertainment
- Reuters ID: LVADSJM7CXZBIASOBIKZZHU19USS
- Story Text: Argentina's one-woman orchestra Juana Molina performs in Buenos Aires after success of 'Rudo y Cursi' title track.
One-woman orchestra Juana Molina was in Buenos Aires this week, playing her distinctive brand of ethereal pop for hometown fans as her star continues to rise internationally.
After a string of acclaimed albums, Molina is now enjoying the success of the title track for the new movie 'Rudo y Cursi', an indie hit starring Mexican superstars Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna.
Molina is perhaps still more well-known in Argentina as a television comedian starring in the popular 'Juana and Her Sisters' in the early 1990s.
But while she has fought at home to shed her image as a comedian, the rest of the world has had no trouble welcoming her as a musician.
According to Molina, she was originally asked to cover a Mexican song for the soundtrack, but she felt too distant from the material and opted to write her own song.
The result is a strange oasis of Molina's trademark layered melodies and breathy lyrics amongst a soundtrack dominated wailing rancheras and hip covers of Mexican classics.
With a career marked by fierce independence, it's not surprising that Molina's song is vastly different from the rest of the music on the film.
"There's something weird about it. I think you'd need to know just a little bit about the culture or why that song is like that, with such a strong attitude that we don't even understand. We don't know where it comes from. It's something very cultural. So they asked if you would rather write a song for us. That's probably why it's so different," she said.
The video is a montage of images from the film and of Molina at her home outside Buenos Aires, where she spends time while not at her home in California or on tour.
Molina, whose 2004 'Tres Cosas' was named by The New York Times as one of the year's 10 best albums, greets the success of 'Rudo y Cursi' in a typically understated manner.
"I don't know very well why they called me. I'm very glad it worked and everybody's happy. It did work and everybody is happy," Molina said.
The daughter of renowned tango musician Horacio Molina, her distinctive style is rooted in the layering endless loops. With the help of a row of footpedals, she records samples on stage and plays them back, building a rich wall of sound.
She said her solitary symphony depends on a solid first track and then takes on its own life as she weaves new samples into two independent channels.
"The hardest thing is to record the first loop because that's going to be the main loop, so if you fail that you need to start again. Then if you fail the rest you can more or less accommodate it. And then the second channel is not synched to the first one so it doesn't work always but I use it like that anyway," she said.
Not a prolific live performer, Molina is scheduled to play in Los Angeles next month before heading to Japan and then playing Central Park's Summer Stage on July 8. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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