The musical mystery of Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso

I first became aware of Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso through IG reels giving snippets of their NPR Tiny Desk performance. 

Although later on, as I looked for their music, I realized I had already encountered one of their videos and found their concept really strange. I do not listen to a lot of hip-hop, much less experimental trap, so it’s easy to say their sound is not in my wheelhouse.

But their Tiny Desk performance changed everything. They transformed their songs from electronica to more of an acoustic sound, displaying their understanding of more traditional genres like jazz, funk and salsa. It reminded me of another Argentinian duo from the 90s, Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas. In the end, it’s not that their experimentation had changed. It’s just that people who couldn’t grasp it in their more synthesized compositions are finally able to see that Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso love to play with sound, no matter which one. Their Tiny Desk concert has 31 million views on YouTube now. 

Their newest release “EL DÍA DEL AMIGO” continues with more jazz and funk as a continuation of their Tiny Desk success. And last week, they had their U.S. television debut on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. 

The single is part of their EP “Papota” which they released with a biting short film that takes on the public’s and media’s reaction to their Tiny Desk concert,  throwing shade at the music industry by exemplifying it with a blood sucking music executive called Gymbaland that promises them to win a “Latin Chaddy” which is clearly a reference to a Latin Grammy. 

What Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso display in their short film is that they are clearly not afraid to expose the music industry as well as the pressure to create award-worthy songs that will bring more fans, but in the end, they just want to show that they are ultimately making music as friends.

They have known each other since childhood and have said in interviews that they used to play in punk and rock bands, so clearly they have no issue playing any genre. For them it’s more about the experience rather than the result. Are they impostors, as in the title of one of their new songs from the EP? Are they musical geniuses? It’s a mystery, perhaps, even to them. But they are certainly having fun exploring. 

For their performance in the Tonight Show, they used the same upper muscle body suits from the short film, where Gymbaland makes them workout for their “Latin Chaddy” performance, which look comical atop their thin legs. 

So are Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso serious musicians or just entertainers? Maybe a bit of both.