Catherine Ringer (from Rita Mitsouko) sings Müller & Makaroff (from Gotan Project) This is the story of two worlds sizing each other up, meeting and getting to know each other. On one side, the Argentinean Eduardo Makaroff and the Swiss Christoph H. Müller, the two pillars of Gotan Project, looking for extracurricular activities: to establish a bridge between tango and pop music, with original themes. To help them do this in style, a few female singers agreed to step out of their usual repertoire (rock? jazz? flamenco?). So they started to write for these singers and established a list of singular and prestigious vocalists outside of the world of tango. The Gotan pair brought her the lyrics and arrangements for two songs. She recorded the vocals. They were amazed by her ease. Christoph Müller called it "organically natural." Catherine loved the project, and has a penchant for all things Latin: remember "Marcia Baila," one of Rita Mitsouko's most emblematic songs, a tribute to Marcia Moretto, an Argeninean dancer based in Paris with whom Catherine had worked before starting Rita. She also sang in a musical by Argentinean director Alfredo Arias. And it's clear that "La Ringer" loves to perform and change styles, and with a soupcon of French accent, it's absolutely perfect. They asked her to sing -- in Argentinean Spanish, of course -- on the entire record. They called it Plaza Francia. According to Gustavo Beytelmann, the legendary Paris-based Argentinean tango arranger, who worked on Plaza Francia: "She has a tango personality, which is rare." This untraditional tango reaches out to pop music with a rhythm close to Catherine's musical past and with climatic effects in the orchestration. This is all ensconced in Beytelmann's silky setting of piano, bandoneon, and strings. It's more than tango, it's France meets Argentina, Piazzolla meets Santana. The lyrics speak the language of tango: heartbreak, drama, exile -- and love. This is no small event, for with this record, Catherine Ringer opens the doors to the Americas, opened one century before by another French lady, Edith Piaf. Deluxe gatefold double LP with printed innersleeves and a CD version featuring two bonus tracks.
