When fire tore through República Cromañón more than a decade ago, killing 194 people, it left a legacy etched into the face of the music scene. Live music venues were shut down across the city, and today bands in Buenos Aires struggle to find a place to play - let alone entertain thoughts of international success.
Despite - or perhaps because of - these unique challenges, Buenos Aires has spawned a massive, multifaceted music scene, full of inventive experimentation in sound, visual elements and processes of collaboration. If you know where you look, Buenos Aires is one of the coolest scenes on the planet - but knowing where to look is exactly the challenge faced! If you want to penetrate the cosmic awesomeness of the Buenos Aires scene, here's three things you may need to do...
1. Get Facebook.
Most of the underground shows that are promoted in Buenos Aires are promoted through Facebook. If you know some of the people holding events, they may well be open to a friend invite. Also, while many bands have band 'pages' you will generally find more people running band pages as actual 'people' who will usually accept friend requests.
Sometimes you will find that you need to request the address by messaging the author of the event [See also point 3] to get the address. This is for a few reasons, not least because some events are run from people's houses and to announce the location publicly, anecdotally, can lead to police harassment; so if you get the address by mail, don't be a moron and wave it around.
I run a Facebook page HERE, where I share public events from Portenos I have on my friend feed - but not every event is promoted as a public event. For those private events, you'll have to be in contact with a local.
2. Be flexible with time.
You may be someone who likes to be very organised with your time. If this is you, chill. Many events are announced a week out at most. More commonly, I see events promoted three, two or one day away.
There are two start times. There's the listed start time, and there's the time things start. There will probably be a discrepancy between the two, possibly of a few hours. If you are in contact with the host or the band, you may like to ask them when they expect to actually start playing.
Most events will be on a weekend.
3. Hablar Espanol.
Do not assume everyone speaks English, including the people you contact online. It's worth knowing at least a little basic Spanish, especially when reading details of events online which are often presented as images (and of course, cannot be easily auto translated). A Duolingo Spanish course gave me enough to struggle by, but be prepared for Argentine Spanish to sound VERY different to other forms, especially the 'sh' sound of the 'y'.
-While the BA scene is not the most accessible, it is one of the most friendly and exciting, and I cannot recommend enough that you give yourself a chance to see everything it has to offer.
Image: Sergey Kolesov of AstroSuka.
Despite - or perhaps because of - these unique challenges, Buenos Aires has spawned a massive, multifaceted music scene, full of inventive experimentation in sound, visual elements and processes of collaboration. If you know where you look, Buenos Aires is one of the coolest scenes on the planet - but knowing where to look is exactly the challenge faced! If you want to penetrate the cosmic awesomeness of the Buenos Aires scene, here's three things you may need to do...
1. Get Facebook.
Most of the underground shows that are promoted in Buenos Aires are promoted through Facebook. If you know some of the people holding events, they may well be open to a friend invite. Also, while many bands have band 'pages' you will generally find more people running band pages as actual 'people' who will usually accept friend requests.
Sometimes you will find that you need to request the address by messaging the author of the event [See also point 3] to get the address. This is for a few reasons, not least because some events are run from people's houses and to announce the location publicly, anecdotally, can lead to police harassment; so if you get the address by mail, don't be a moron and wave it around.
I run a Facebook page HERE, where I share public events from Portenos I have on my friend feed - but not every event is promoted as a public event. For those private events, you'll have to be in contact with a local.
2. Be flexible with time.
You may be someone who likes to be very organised with your time. If this is you, chill. Many events are announced a week out at most. More commonly, I see events promoted three, two or one day away.
There are two start times. There's the listed start time, and there's the time things start. There will probably be a discrepancy between the two, possibly of a few hours. If you are in contact with the host or the band, you may like to ask them when they expect to actually start playing.
Most events will be on a weekend.
3. Hablar Espanol.
Do not assume everyone speaks English, including the people you contact online. It's worth knowing at least a little basic Spanish, especially when reading details of events online which are often presented as images (and of course, cannot be easily auto translated). A Duolingo Spanish course gave me enough to struggle by, but be prepared for Argentine Spanish to sound VERY different to other forms, especially the 'sh' sound of the 'y'.
-While the BA scene is not the most accessible, it is one of the most friendly and exciting, and I cannot recommend enough that you give yourself a chance to see everything it has to offer.
Image: Sergey Kolesov of AstroSuka.
