Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: A group of internationally acclaimed rock artists are in Saint Paul this weekend for unique new music collaboration. They're coming to perform with Helado Negro, an electronic music group led by Roberto Carlos Lange. Euan Kerr has more.

EUAN KERR: Roberto Carlos Lange, a self-deprecating guy, likes to add layers.

ROBERTO CARLOS LANGE: I make things diff-- I think that's-- yeah, that's what I do. I make things difficult.

EUAN KERR: Yet when Lange performs, words like difficult disappear in a warm sonic bath.

[SINGING IN SPANISH]

EUAN KERR: Lange grew up in South Florida, the son of Ecuadorian parents. His musical interests grew from his Latin roots, but also hip-hop and new experimental electronic music. And so I just learned how to make music through taking samples, and taking apart samples, and building music like that.

[SINGING IN SPANISH]

ROBERTO CARLOS LANGE: And I never had a musical background in terms of reading or writing. But to form music and songs, I just figured it out on my own.

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

EUAN KERR: But Lange also had another valuable skill, an ability to collaborate. He quickly became much in demand as a musician and an innovative producer. For Lange, collaboration is vital.

ROBERTO CARLOS LANGE: Your collaborators aren't just musicians, they're people who are surrounding you all the time. So there's never like this isolated genius in a room. It's constantly collaborating.

EUAN KERR: This weekend's concert, sponsored by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra's Liquid Music series, brings together more than a dozen collaborators who have played on Helado Negro recordings.

KATE NORDSTROM: Instrumentalists on stage will be 18.

EUAN KERR: Liquid Music curator Kate Nordstrom commissioned the performance. Lange often does his shows alone, but Nordstrom saw potential for a much larger production.

KATE NORDSTROM: I knew it was something that if he was given the opportunity, if he was asked to scale up and given a platform to do that, he would be able to take that on in a really exciting way.

[SINGING IN SPANISH]

EUAN KERR: In addition to local musicians, a host of big names will join Lange on stage, on Saturday night, in the new Ordway Concert Hall. Singer Laetitia Sadier of Stereo Lab is coming in from Europe for the gig. Percussionist Jason Trammell of David Byrne's band will be there, so will keyboard player Mikael Jorgensen of Wilco. Jorgensen fondly remembers spending days with Roberto Lange, hooking together as many synthesizers as they could find to see what they could create.

MIKAEL JORGENSEN: He takes these simple ideas, and then juxtaposes them against several other simple ideas, but that are all very complimentary and very interesting, once they're layered on top of each other.

EUAN KERR: The speciose Liquid Music series is intended to explore the best of new music, and Mikael Jorgensen says that's what's happening with Helado Negro. He says tools and software developed over the last decade allow musical exploration, which stretches far beyond the pop and rock world.

MIKAEL JORGENSEN: That really enable the computer and the digital world to connect with the analog synthesizer world, and learning how to use all that as somebody would a guitar or a piano.

EUAN KERR: Liquid Music's Kate Nordstrom says she was actually frightened by the scope of the project when it launched. Now, she can't wait.

KATE NORDSTROM: This is the largest scale project that Liquid Music has been able to take on, so it shows what we can do.

[ELECTRONIC MUSIC]

EUAN KERR: Euan Kerr, Minnesota Public Radio News.