Cristobal Repetto | ja

No tango debut in recent years has been as intriguing and as magical as CRISTÓBAL REPETTO, the long-awaited eponymous album of a 24 year old kid who sings like the high-pitched, nasal masters of yesteryear. And the fact that his introduction to European audiences is in the expert hands of eDGe (in an ever-appropriate display of justice by the celestial music gods) is as appropriate as it is symbolic: according to the Uruguayan press, `Cristóbal Repetto swallowed a grammophone`. It wasn´t the first time Repetto was honored with such analogies. Grammy -and Latin Grammy- winning producer Gustavo Santaolalla once said that Repetto `sounds like those thick 78 r.p.m. records`. Also, Repetto sounds like Repetto, and nobody sings like him.

Born in 1979 on a July 9 (national holiday and the name of Buenos Aires´ greatest avenue, which is also the world´s widest and is often mentioned in tangos) in Maipú –a small town–, Repetto grew up surrounded by musicians, peñas (places where tango and folklore are played) and town festivities where he quickly found a way to get onstage and show his early vocal abilities.

The music bug was firmly rooted in him during a trip to the Argentine North: Salta, Tucumán, Jujuy, and that first, unforgettable vision of legendary Chango Nieto singing folklore with eyes closed while banging a bombo legüero. A five-year-old Repetto brought a bombo legüero from those travels, and he played the drum incessantly for years, until he literally broke it.

At age 13 he started the first of two music/talk radio shows in Maipú and two years later he formed two bands playing candombes by Uruguayans Jaime Roos and Rubén Rada and also some of his early originals. In 1996, he barely won the third price at the Buenos Aires Encounter of Young Tango Singers, chosen by a jury of heavyweight singers like Eladia Blásquez, Guillermo Fernández and Adriana Varela.

´Actually, Adriana was the one who really wanted me to get a prize´ Repetto says. ´It was hard to do, because I was seen more like a... transgressor´. You couldn’t blame them: Repetto was a curious specimen, a true original: a kid with long hair, tennis shoes and jeans, singing like early-century tangueros. But that third place, for the time being, would take him closer to tango. In 1996, his first big break took place in Balcarce when he appeared next to legend Mariano Mores, and that´s when everything began to roll.

´For some reason, the winner of that tournament couldn´t attend, and they invited me´, says Repetto. ´That was my first real contact with a real tanguero. My musicians, all from Maipú, had never played tango before. I was singing classics while wearing jeans, red tennis shoes and a purple shirt. I thought Mores was going to kill us all!´.

But he didn´t. Encouraged by the acceptance by the master and those who heard him sing, at age 18 Repetto decides to move to Buenos Aires to study music and journalism. He enrolled at the Belgrano Syndicate of Popular Musicians while taking vocal lessons from Liliana Vitale and Susana Rossi. In 2002 he took a composing course at the Rojas Cultural Center, learning closely from Ruben Goldín and Adrián Abonizio, two of the greatest symbols of the rock-leaning Rosario Trova rosarina generation of the ´80s.

The power of Repetto´s voice spread like a small wildfire in the Buenos Aires night. He is invited to the most prestigious meeting places of old-time tangueros, including La Boca´s Bar Roma and San Telmo´s La Cumparsita.

´My way of singing has a lot to do with what they heard´, says Repetto, ´but still, when I started, my legs were shaking. Their acceptance gave me confidence and I kept diving into these old songs´.

Rocker-turned-tanguero Daniel Melingo (formerly with Los Abuelos de la Nada, a seminal Argentine rock band Repetto liked), invites Repetto to his shows and even takes him on tour to Uruguay. "Everything started to happen very quickly after Melingo took me under his wing", says Repetto. "It was very generous of him to take me to Uruguay even though I wasn´t part of his band”.

Melingo produced one track of his first album (which was never released) but, just like Colombian pop-rock superstar Juanes, Repetto always dreamed of being produced by Gustavo Santaolalla. "I was waiting for him, because Gustavo´s vision was always very similar to mine", said Repetto. "He never saw barriers between rock and roots, he had that thing of being close to and paying respect to the old masters”. Santaolalla had seen Repetto on a Sólo Tango cable TV special, and immediately recruited him for his Bajofondo Tangoclub project.

"When he called, I was frozen", said Repetto. "He told me about a `tango/electronica` project and, even though at first I thought it was a little strange, it worked out pretty well". The album won a Latin Grammy as Best Instrumental Pop Album, and Argentina´s prestigious Premio Gardel as Best Electronica Album. Repetto sang in "Perfume" alongside Adriana Varela, appeared in the MTV Latin America award-nominated video clip and was part of the Bajofondo Tangoclub shows in Buenos Aires at the prestigious Opera and ND Ateneo theaters.

While his unusual vocal skills reminds us of early 20th century singers, he’s much more than just a curiosity. At times, Cristóbal Repetto appears to be what India´s Vedic literature call a Gandharva, a singer from the spiritual world, and his sole mission is to awaken the tanguero in all of us. And the material he chooses is as solid as his unique voice.

"The emotion I feel when I see rock kids appreciate tango, or tango old-timers appreciating what I do, is indescribable", says Repetto. "That´s the most amazing thing. True, I´m the singer, it is my voice... But it´s also about the songs, which go beyond tango and anybody can appreciate, despite its dark elements. In that sense, I agree with Adriana Varela: tango is the ultimate heavy metal".
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