Juana Molina’s perfect weekend playlist
The story of Juana Molina is not the sort you come across every day. There’s a hint in her music, which happily happens upon seamless pop melodies via the most twisted musicology around, that she didn’t arrive at her spot as a folktronica hero the easy way. Mercurial yet easily manageable, the star from Buenos Aires is a delightful oddity, and her story follows suit.
Born in the Argentinian capital back in 1961, Molina was raised in a performative household. Her father was a tango singer, and her mother was an actor and model. The pair were also avid record collectors, meaning music from all over the globe was permanently spinning in their household. So, Molina got into writing music as early as five years old. Touchingly, her first track was a gift to her father.
Then, as political turmoil beset the country, her teenage years delivered a different disposition. Music was still her beloved strong suit, but the climate for artists was disastrous, and she wondered whether she could apply her creativity to a different vocation. In time, she auditioned for a TV show, she was cast, and the rest is history.
But it was a far different history to her luscious avant-garde folk we now here. In 1988, she was among the cast and writers on a comedy sketch show. Eventually, she ended up being perhaps the biggest comedian in Argentina, almost entirely inadvertently. This began to dawn at the height of her success.
So, in 1994, she cancelled her wildly popular show and decided to pursue music. She told the Todoshow: “There was a moment when I imagined myself watching MTV as a decrepit old woman, thinking ‘I could have done that.’ I pictured myself feeling an infinite grudge, hatred, envy.” Now, she approached music with a renewed sense of vigour, a burning desire to contribute something new and vital to the medium while also sustaining the love of fun that had endeared her to the public in the first place.
These tenets extend to the music she loves. When curating a playlist for Weekendfest, the South American, she championed the otherworldliness of the folk star Linda Perhacs, who was once almost lost to the dentistry trade. She also celebrated the off-kilter indie of Tune-Yards. And also, the brilliant John Lurie with his fake outsider artist character, Marvin Pontiac. Along with a whole lot of Eduardo Mateo.
This eclectic blend not only illuminates the influences that inspire Molina’s own unique, swirling sound but also makes for the perfect weekend playlist. So, without further ado, enjoy the tunes below, perhaps as you busy yourself with housework on a Saturday morning before the football kicks off.
Juana Molina’s perfect weekend playlist:
- ‘Niña’ – Eduardo Mateo
- ‘Voz de Diamantes’ – Eduardo Mateo & Jorge Trasante
- ‘Parallelograms’ – Linda Perhacs
- ‘Heaven’ – Micachu & The Shapes
- ‘Masculine Intuition’ – The Music Machine
- ‘Hombre’ – Verónica Indart & Eduardo Mateo
- ‘Riotriot’ – Tune-Yards
- ‘Guinevere’ – Crosby, Stills & Nash
- ‘Margaritas Rojas’ – Eduardo Mateo, Federico & Figares
- ‘No Kids’ – Marvin Pontiac
- ‘The Witch’ – Syndicate of Sound
