In 1995, future three-time Latin Grammy winners Aterciopelados did the unthinkable: make Argentine rockeros pay attention to Colombian rocanrol.
"Have you heard 'Bolero Falaz'?" two-time Oscar- and multi-Grammy-winning producer and composer Gustavo Santaolalla asked me around that time. "These guys are so special, check 'em out."
"Bolero Falaz" ("Fake Bolero"), an electrified bolero turned upside down by a female yelling "Te dije no más/y te cagaste de risa" — very roughly translated as "I told you 'No more' and you didn't give a shit" — benefitted from ample airplay in the Spanish-speaking world and heavy video rotation by MTV Latino. It was a fresh alternative to the Mexican roots movement embodied by Caifanes, Café Tacvba and Maldita Vecindad and the powerhouse Argentina heroes such as Luis Alberto Spinetta, Charly García, Soda Stereo and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs.
"We had one thing clear from the beginning: we wanted to be authentic, to be ourselves," Aterciopelados bassist Héctor Buitrago told the Current from Bogotá during a Zoom video chat.
Buitrago and Andrea Echeverri, guitar and vocals, are the two founding members of Aterciopelados, which has changed lineups throughout the years.
"We didn't want to sound like anything in English or Spanish," Buitrago added. "The very intense Mexican movement was rescuing its roots, and that inspired us, but we also had our musical traditions and decided to look for our own sound."
During a Friday, April 12, performance at Paper Tiger, Buitrago and Echeverri will be accompanied by the same band they've used for the past three years: guitarist Leonardo Castiblanco, keyboardist Paula Van Hissenhoven and drummer Jonathan Lacouture. The band's tour also takes it to El Paso, Austin, Dallas and Houston this month.
El Dorado is an album that not only touches on bolero but Colombian pride ("Colombia Conexión), Santana-esque percussion ("Candela"), Sex Pistols-meets-Andalusia ("No future") and spite ("La estaca"). The latter is a liberating #MeToo stream of insults that would make Paquita la del Barrio proud; look up "Rata de dos patas."
To date, the album has sold more than 600,000 copies. LA's Al Borde magazine ranked it No. 9 on a list of 250 Iberoamerican Albums in 2006, and in 2013, it landed at No. 13 on Radiónica's Colombian rock: 100 Albums, 50 Years list. In 2001, Time magazine chose Aterciopelados as one of the 10 Best World Bands.
"It was like utilizing our parents' music," Echeverri said. "What happened to [El Dorado] was the result of everything we heard on public transportation, in stores, mixed with our own personal tastes."
Up until El Dorado — named after the legend of Spanish gold diggers in the Americas and Colombian Indigenous people covering themselves with gold dust — few outside of Colombia had even heard of Aterciopelados. The punkish 1993 debut Con el corazón en la mano was sloppy and sounded like it was recorded inside a shoebox, but "Mujer gala," the group's first hit, allowed it to tour the country extensively and "properly record" their follow up, solidifying a growing underground rocanrol movement in Colombia.
"For the first album, we rehearsed at a bar Héctor used to own and recorded at a commercial jingles studio," Echeverri said. "[For El Dorado], we had more time and budget, a better studio, and the will to sound more like Aterciopelados and less like La Pestilencia [Buitrago's former punk band]."
After the COVID pandemic marred El Dorado's 25-year celebration tour, the band played the album in its entirety twice in 2023. By by the time they reach San Antonio, though, the tour will have taken a different form: there will be plenty of El Dorado, but hits from other albums as well.
"We started realizing too many people don't know El Dorado and they get sad if we don't play 'Baracunátana' or 'El album,'" Echeverri said. "So we decided to visit our whole history, including things from [2018's] Claroscura and [2021's] Tropiplop."
"We were always daring in our fusions and mixes of styles on our earlier albums, and I hope we're still making daring music," said Buitrago, who's much more open when it comes to embracing new musical trends. On the other hand, Echeverri assures us there is one thing we won't hear when the band comes to SA.
"I detest reggaetón with all my heart," she said. "[Buitrago] likes it, but he likes everything, even Enrique Iglesias. I think [reggaetón] is terrible, I can't stand it." (Thank you.)
Fresh off a March 15 release of El Dorado En Vivo (El Dorado Live), the band is recording a still-unnamed new album to be released this fall with illustrious guests including composer Santaolalla, Hilda Lizarazu (Man Ray, Charly García) and Richard Coleman (Fricción, Los 7 Delfines) — all Argentines — and Chilean singer-songwriter Camila Moreno.
The Paper Tiger show is the band's first San Antonio engagement since it shared the Aztec Theatre stage with Venezuela's Los Amigos Invisibles in 2019.
"San Antonio is the one with a river running through it right?" asked Echeverri. "Very pretty and amazing barbecue meat! [Buitrago] is vegetarian, but I heard there's a taco truck [nearby Paper Tiger] with veggie options, so I guess he'll be OK."
$31, 8 p.m. Friday, April 12, Paper Tiger, 2410 N. St. Mary's St., papertigersatx.com.
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