Bajofondo

In the 1960s, Gustavo Santaolalla virtually invented Argentinean rock, so it's no surprise that a few decades later he'd have no qualms about helping to reinvent his country's native idiom, the tango. In 2002, he formed Bajofondo Tango Club, a group comprising seven or eight core musicians and a revolving cast of collaborators. The Club's 2003 self-titled debut immediately went platinum in Argentina, and they joined Gotan Project as premier exponents of the tango-electronica hybrid. But Santaolalla's project has always reached beyond simply mixing electronica and tango; his intention has been to create truly contemporary platense music -- music from Uruguay and Argentina, the two countries that border the River Plate. That has meant working with not just beat programmers but rappers and rock stars as well. After a long silence -- interrupted only by a remix album -- the group returned in 2008 with the masterful Mar Dulce, which featured contributions from Elvis Costello, Nelly Furtado and a host of Latin and Argentine stars, including Julieta Venegas, Mala Rodriguez and Gustavo Cerati.