Downtempo: New paths in music
Sr. Mandril at El Viejo Topo.

Concert Sr. Mandril Sat, Aug 11, 9pm El Viejo Topo Café-Teatro Stirling Dickinson 28, Plaza Pueblito Col. San Antonio, 154-8701

Today we are experiencing a universal musical movement open to influences from cultures around the world. One branch is called lounge music. This term originally refers to music played in the lounges and bars of hotels and casinos, or at stand-alone piano bars. Generally, the performers included a singer and one or two other musicians. The performers played or covered songs composed by others, especially pop standards, many deriving from the days of Tin Pan Alley.

While the performers were often minimally paid, many people who have attempted a musical career started as lounge musicians. For example, the Beatles performed first as a lounge act at a bar in Hamburg, Germany. Although he claims not to have worked for very long, Billy Joel worked as a lounge musician and penned the song “Piano Man” about his experiences.

Because of the reputation of lounge music as low-key background music, it is called downtempo (or downbeat) and is a laid-back electronic music style similar to ambience music. Downtempo music typically features a stronger emphasis on rhythm and beats than ambience music and downtempo encompasses a wider variety of styles.

Now downtempo music has become a trend. Well-known musicians experiment with electronic elements that they combine with their roots. Madredeus, a famous Portuguese ensemble, released Electronico a few years ago, exploring their style mixed with the downtempo beat and electronic flavors.

Mexico has its own representatives in this movement and one of them, a Nu-jazz/down-tempo/ethnic band, was considered during the 2006 International Jazz Festival as “the sound of Mexico right now.” Sr. Mandril mixes electronic elements with acoustic and electrical instruments such as guitars, bass, percussion, sax, trumpet and voice, creating colors, sounds and influences that go from jazz to ambience, from lounge to Latin. The international music journal La Tempestad said of Sr. Mandril in June 2005, “A happy incoherency between the wild name (Mr. Mandrill) and the light and clean sound. Without bigger instrumental postproduction paraphernalia, this is Mexican chill-out work with international overtones.” Sr. Mandril’s debut album was mentioned as one of the 10 best releases of 2005 by Rolling Stone Latin America.