“The great connection between the rock and the soul and the white blues comes from this movie that can change your life”, says the man who is now one of the great disseminators of black music in Argentina, and who is amazed when in the dialogue with this newspaper we assure him that during the papacy of Benedict XVI, the Vatican issued a formal statement stating that “The Blues Brothers” is a film with “authentic Catholic values, since the heroes organize a benefit concert for their church orphanage.”
Beyond the unthinkable but true Roman apostolic nuance of the Blues Brothers, the truth is that it is still one of Choco Mike’s favorite films, and it was the basis for him to study the music of all these performers, plus the style of cult labels such as Stax Records -creators of the Memphis Sound-, starting with their house band Booker T. & The MG’s, and all the Chicago blues with a detail that is an essential part of the shows of The Choco Mike Bandwith which he usually blows up the late-night performances of the Be Bop Club, and is the connection between white rock and black music.
“That’s why at shows I usually play songs by BB King and Sam Cooke but also by Stevie Winwood and Eric Clapton, such as “Can’t Find My Way Home” and by The Band, the band that played with Bob Dylan and whose concert Farewell was filmed by Martin Scorsese in “The Last Waltz” (“The last rock”, as it was called in Argentina), where “The Weight” appears together with the Staples Singers of Stax Records”. The cinema is important in the music that Choco makes, because just like “The Blues Brothers” he says that he cannot go more than a couple of months without seeing “The Last Waltz” again..
Choco recognizes that, except for Pappo’s Blues and a couple of classic bands, Argentine rock has never shared too much with soul, funk or blues, and that is why he multiplies himself in two other bands in addition to Choco Mike Bands to spread the music What do you like the most?
“Sometimes we play songs by Los Abuelos de la Nada, who had funky guitarists like Gustavo Bazterrica and Gringui Herrera, but the truth is that something very important is to continue paying homage to the Creole genius of funk, Willy Crook, which is why we started two weeks ago a tour in the AMBA that will soon continue in Salta and then along the entire Atlantic coast”.
There is another group in which Choco contributes his guitar and soulful voice, and it is Fundación del Funk. “It was the first band I played in when I came to Buenos Aires and it was led by Débora Dixon. Now she has left with a supergroup like Los Fundamentalistas del Aire Acondicionado (in which Indio Solari usually participates), but we musicians continue to play her repertoire like Fundación del Funk, and we put the emphasis on funky playing songs by more contemporary artists. , for example Bruno Mars. Our next presentation with the Foundation is this September 8 at the Matienzo Cultural Center.
This busy September for Choco starts at Be Bop Club on the 3rd, after midnight, with his Choco Mike Band and several surprise guests, in addition to his usual musicians, including Juan Pancino on guitar, Mal Moreno on drums, Nacho Porqueres on bass, and on keyboards Silvio R. Marzolini, son of the legendary Boca Juniors crack, who died two years ago, which shows that soul is a feeling.
Source: Ambito
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