Cumbia Villera:
the poorest they are the most likes "cumbia villera", so different from the columbian cumbia, their lyrics do the same function as the "rap" in the USA, they wish to reflect the problems and lifestyle they have.
It's true that Villera is Argentina's original 'guetto' music, whereas in the rest of Latin America US rap and reggaeton are huge with the lower classes. Rap in Argentina is a mostly underground, BA centered thing and not precicely guetto, and reggaeton has been big in Argentina in 2005 but I think that like with other 'latin music' fads (and yes, in Argentina we call music from other latin countries 'latin music', weird but that's how it is), it won't last that long.

Now, middle class 'white' argentine suburban kids do listen to Villera, and play it loud in their cars. IF you are from the US this might sound familiar...

Villera evolved from Argentine Tropical music, which evolved in the late 70s due to the increasing migration of people from the nortwest of Argentina to the big cities of central Argentina to find jobs, but especially in the 80s when Chileans, Peruvians, Bolivians and Paraguayans began immigrating in huge numbers. This trend increased through the 1990s, today it's estimated there are at least 2 million of these immigrants in Argentina and they are changing the image of a 'white' Argentina into a more multicultural country along with the increasing Asian immigration from Korea and China.

Now as these people brought their own music, in Cordoba a type of music called 'Cuarteto' evolved, from Italian and Polish dances. It's still big there to this day. Cuarteto was brought to Buenos Aires where it mixed with a music style from Corrientes called Bailanta. In the early 90s the mixture of cuarteto, bailanta, and immigrant dances like Cumbia from Bolivia, Peru and Colombia created the early tropical music of Buenos Aires's poorer neighborhoods. People would gather by the houndreds in local 'bailantas'.

In the mid 1990s, tropical music began splitting between those that still sang about love and those kind of themes (and became very succesfull commercially with 'middle class' Argentina), and those that did not like the new commercial ascendency of Tropical and thought it was not dealing with the harsh realities of guetto life in Argentina's big cities (called 'villas miserias'). So a new generation began forming tropical bands singing about drugs, theft, racism, etc. They became the blueprint of what would be the Cumbia Villera. Villera exploed around the turn of the millenium and has been big ever since. And just like rap in the US, it's found it's way into popular tv shows and the like.

Electronic Music:
dance electronic music. Chill out and House are listened by every nice club on the city and styles may vary. In fact there is a group called Bajo Fondo and others that remix tango and chill out. There are 3 or more radio stations specialized on electronic music.
In Electronica Buenos Aires is the capital of that music south of New York and London. OF course the trends of those cities is closely followed, tho BA has it's own 'BA house' style, a kind of progressive house tinged with latin elements. A nice album of this kind of BA house is Boeing's 'Beta'. Also electrotango is very big worldwide rightnow, with Buenos Aires being the center. Many electrotango bands like Ultratango, Tanguetto, Bajofondo, are showing up in adds, movies, and clubs around the world.
Hernan Cattaneo is one of the most recognized Argentinean DJ.

Rock:
Argentinean rock, has been very important during the 80's, in response to malvinas (falklands) war against UK, argentineans stopped importing UK hits and found local rock was possible. Anyway, The Rolling Stones are very popular in BA, so popular that they dress different and call themselves as "Rolingas". The 80's self made-non-imported-rock tendency also arrived to Chile, and made grow up local chilean rock bands.
Argentine rock has been going on since the early 60s. In fact, it is the longest lived continous rock scene in the world outside the US and the UK. It is very true that in the wake of the Falkland/Malvinas argentine rock became massive both at home and througout Latin America (igniting scenes in Chile, Spain, Colombia, Peru, and reviving the decayed Mexican scene from the Avandoro Festival scandal in the 70s). Argentine rock is the trend setter in Latin America, and has been for a long time. It's the biggest and by far most diverse rock scene in a non-English speaking country.
But many argentines will argue to death that the best argentine rock in fact was made in the 70s: Invisible, Rodolfo Medero, Sui Generis, Arco Iris, Alma y Vida, Maquina de Hacer Parajos, Crucis, Spinetta Jade, Pappo's Blues, Torax, Espiritu, etc, etc, etc...

Argentine rock has several sub-genres, just like US or UK rock: mainstream rock nacional (Divididos, Charly Garcia, Las Pelotas), ricoteros (bands that follow the Redonditos blueprint), the rolingas (bands that follow a rolling stone style sound: Ratones Paranoicos, Callejeros, Jovenes Pordioseros, Intoxicados), rock chabon or suburban rock (a mix between rolinga and indie: Los Piojos, Los Visitantes), subway or indie argentine rock (eclectic in their sounds: El Otro Yo, Arbol, Santos Inocentes, Super Ratones), sonic rock (bands that have a very stylish sound: Babasonicos, Turf, Miranda!), tropical rock (bands that mix rock with latin rythmsz: Bersuit, Fabulosos Cadillacs, Kapanga), punk (Attaque 77, Cadena Perpetua, Smitten), heavy (Almafuerte, ANIMAL, Carajo), and a new trend called Patagonian Doom (Natas, Lorihen).

There are great rivalries between all of these. Argentine teenagers tend to favor one over another, they are called 'tribus urbanas' (urban tribes).

Of course the tango it's very important and even popular through most of aged people. The tango have some AMAZING lyrics and sometimes it's singed in an own language / dialect (lunfardo), my favorites are "Yira,yira" remixed lately by "Los Piojos" and tells the story that if you ran out of money, nobody will help you at all, but on a very funny and at the same time sad way; "por una cabeza" the theme danced in a fancy restaurant in the movie "scent of a woman" that reffers to a guy who lost everything on the horses race tracks; and "cambaleche" by Disciepolo, in early XX century and incredible describes with like 100 years of anticipation the way we will live in the year 2K.

Tango of course is another famous argentine music. Tango today is split into several sub-genres:

1. The classic tango of the 'golden age', 1935 to 1952. Tango's golden age (when big orchestras and singers topped the charts), coincides almost exactly with the Big Band and Jazz golden age in the United States. Neat huh...
2. The contemporary tango post golden-age. Think Piazzolla, and like him many more...
3. Milonga, is perhaps the closest form of to the 'original' tango. Milonga is to Tango what Ragtime is to Jazz...
4. The electronic tango, which can be either lumped with Tango or with Electronica.

Then you have Folklore, which is a whole other essay to write. A major for of folklore that began in Argentina and spread around the world was Nueva Cancion. It started in the early 1950s, then spread to Chile were it became huge as a protest vehicle, and from there it spread around Latin America and even the US in the form of 60s protest music. Atahualpa Yupanqui, Mercedes Sosa, etc, etc.

If our mp3 collection it's not enough, you mite try to download some emblematic songs using a peer to peer program.
emblematic songs:
Argentina: Hernan Cattaneo (DJ), Charly Garcia (Rock), Bajo Fondo (Tango Remixes), Piazzolla (Tango), Soda Stereo (Rock), Cumbia Villera (genre) Pibes Chorros, Damas Gratis. Alma Fuerte (heavy metal with neat voices and lyrics). La Renga (rock).

Written by BARTS Team and The Rectifier (c) 2006