Raices - B​.​O​.​V. Dombe (Remastered 2024) (2024) Hi Res

Sometimes Music is proud to begin its activity with the reissue of the debut album of the band Raíces on black vinyl. Recorded at the TAKE 1 studios in Buenos Aires in the winter of 1978, the album was produced by Mario Breuer, who has produced albums by the greatest Argentine and Latin American rock artists of the last half century.

The period that began in the late 70s and continued throughout the following decade was a time of unique creativity for Argentine rock. Early figures of the movement, such as Luis Alberto Spinetta and Charly García, gave their careers a new impulse and took their music in new directions, while a new generation of artists, including Virus and Los Violadores, incorporated new sounds and satirical and corrosive lyrics related to the emergence of punk and new wave, which had taken the international music scene by storm.

This renewal had many other nuances, and in this sense Raíces' proposal should be appreciated in its proper dimension. In the 21st century, nobody is surprised by the close ties between Argentinean and Uruguayan musicians on the Río de la Plata and the peculiar fusion of rock with folklore elements from both countries: candombe, murga, tango and milonga sound perfectly familiar to rock fans on both sides of the River Plate, the "lion-coloured river".

But every bold proposal has a beginning, and just as El Kinto, Tótem y Opa in Uruguay and Arco Iris in Argentina were pioneers in becoming aware of this folkloric heritage, thanks to visionaries such as Eduardo Mateo, Rubén Rada, the brothers Hugo and Osvaldo Fattorusso and Gustavo Santaolalla, the band Raíces, founded in 1977 by the Uruguayan bassist, guitarist, percussionist, composer and singer Luis Alberto "Beto" Satragni, was fundamental in the expansion of this fusion of rock and candombe.

In the first Raíces line-up, Beto Satragni recruited Alberto Bengolea on guitar and bass, Jimmy Santos - also Uruguayan - on percussion and vocals, Raúl Campana Cuadro on drums and a very young Andrés Calamaro on keyboards, who replaced Roberto Valencia - another founding member - when he left for Europe before Raíces had recorded. The first proof of Raíces' personal and unmistakable style was “B.O.V. Dombe”, originally released in 1978 on Auris, an imprint of the independent Fonema label. It is an album that was ahead of its time and still retains its freshness and dynamism.