Tangomotán

(FR)

From the very beginning, MED has been a festival that has always embraced music from beyond the vast Mediterranean basin. The fourth edition in 2007 closed with a performance by the Argentine group Bajofondo Tango Club, led by guru Gustavo Santaolalla.

Nineteen years on, MED welcomes a new electro-tango collective that evokes these and other fond memories, such as those of the Gotan Project.

Tangomotán is a Parisian quartet, formed in 2016, which reinvents tango as the music of today: a visceral fusion of Argentine tradition, classical European training and danceable electronic beats. It is augmented tango (and not electrotango), as they like to point out.

Comprising accomplished musicians with classical training from the conservatoires of Paris (CRR, CNSM) and Gennevilliers, such as Blanche Stromboni (double bass), Marion Chiron (bandoneon), Robin Apparailly (violin) and Leandro Lacapère (piano), this ensemble transforms the stage into a laboratory of living, accessible and electrifying tango.

Tangomotán’s sound blends traditional tango, featuring bandoneon, violin, piano and double bass, with electronic elements (such as loops and distortion). Building on traditional melodies, they amplify rhythms and improvisations, echoing the pioneers of electronic tango, yet with a working-class and humanistic touch, always centred on dance and the genre’s vibrant energy. The album Motán (2024) and the more recent L’Étreinte (2026) are the most complete demonstration of this alchemy: music that knows where it comes from and isn’t afraid of not knowing where it’s going.

Live, they dress the bleu de travail for a raw and authentic look, giving themselves over to visceral performances of improvisation and acoustic-electronic fusion. From intimate venues to major festivals, they mesmerise with infectious energy, transforming every concert into a modern, universal milonga.

For Tangomotán, tango is not a genre of the past, closed in on itself; it is a living language, capable of absorbing the present without losing its character.