2023-12-10 02:55:00
Like Argentine democracy, Modern clicks This 2023 he turned forty years old. And both events were a turning point, a before and following. Of course, of different dimensions. Clics Modernos celebrated its forty years in an at least unexpected way: with the inauguration of a street in New York called Charly García. Yes, that’s how the corner where the graffiti was was named, which by the musician’s spontaneous decision became the cover of the album. Furthermore, instead of calling New rags–name that Charly had initially given him– was Modern clicks.
Modern Clicks –his second album as a soloist–was released on November 5, 1983, six days following Raúl Alfonsín won the elections. Despite four decades of him, Modern clicks It is one of those works that are transversal, That is to say, at some point in life, one or many of his songs come across almost all Argentines. And they continue to beat us down and above all The dinosaurs are classics that, through their lyrics, accompanied that return to democracy and also today in a scenario of extreme denialism. Sebastián Furman is a musician and popularizer, and with The Endless Song, a podcast dedicated to Charly García’s first three solo albums, and in every performance he stars in – since 2020 – he has witnessed the validity and enthusiasm generated by Clicsmodernos.
“Each song from Clics Modernos dialogues with the context of democratic transition.”
—What do you think is the importance of ‘Modern Clicks’ for national music?
—It was a very emblematic album, which brought international audio to Argentina. We were just coming out of the dictatorship and suddenly this album appears that has very modern sounds, lyrics with a lot of information regarding what had happened and what was coming. Also timing half right because it talked regarding the disappeared, the exiles and police repression and it just comes out a few days following the presidential elections are held, following seven years of not being able to vote.
—And does something similar happen for international music?
—I think that because it was a time when the Internet did not yet exist and the distribution of music was much more dependent on record companies, It didn’t have that much international relevance like the one I would have had today. In that sense, if you compare him with artists like Fito Páez with The love following Love –ten years later–, in an already much more globalized and connected world, he had much more impact, especially in Latin America, in Spanish-speaking countries.
-So?
—For international music it is a very important album because it is produced by Joe Blaney, and because it is made with the very high standards of international music. In addition to playing some instrumentalists who have also played on albums by international artists.
—What place does Charly occupy in Argentine music?
—One of the many pillars we have in Argentina who, through art and in difficult moments, said things that many others did not say. And he also has a very vast body of work in his few years of career: from ’72, ’73 to the mid-’90s, he would say, because then he stopped making albums so frequently. In those twenty years he went through many stages, he investigated a little what folklore, tango, jazz, academic music, progressive rock with the Bird Making Machineand had Seru Giran which, I think, was one of the best Argentine bands of all time.
—What did the naming of the corner in New York with his name generate in you?
—I wasn’t that excited, but it is a historical milestone. On top of that, the graffiti had been erased, so it would be nice to see it reconstructed and valued that way, especially in the United States, which doesn’t have much of an Argentine rock culture. For me the music he made has much more value than any of those decorations.
—What three songs would you choose from ‘Modern Clicks’?
—They keep hitting us down because it is the song that opens the album and because it has a super interesting polyrhythm: there is a mix between the drums and the rhythm machine; or a seven-beat riff that coexists with four, which are very interesting things. And all this in a topic that talks regarding police repression. Afterwards obviously The dinosaurswhich is an emblematic song in which Charly shows a little of his skill as a pianist and, finally, I’m not a stranger, which has a jazzy harmony, but is also a tango. I think there Charly captures his view from the outside, with a certain tango melancholy.
—Is ‘Modern Clicks’ your favorite Charly García album?
—No, my favorite is Going from the Bed to the Living Room that for me has something magical: It’s like an x-ray of that moment, so precise and melancholic… And it has an interesting investigation: it has symphonic music and at the same time, very minimalist things. It’s a bit of a mix of what Charly was and what he was going to be.
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