Who are we? We are French, English, American-Uruguayan and we play Post-Tango, not Argentinan tango, not rock, not jazz, a little Piazzolla, we play compositions written by Laurent Gehant (founding member of the Surnatural Orchestra) and also pieces by our Argentine friends (Geraldo Martinez Archibal, ex-composer for the l’Orquesta Tipica Imperial and Lalo Zinelli, the pianist of Gotan Project.) or previous tango composers (Carlos Gardel..). We are also influenced by Astillero, OT Fernandez Fierro, Altertango , Secret Chief 3, Mr Bungle, John Zorn, Jacques Brel, Vinicio Capossela, Ennio Morricone, Nino Rota, Carla Bley, Charlie Mingus, Surnatural Orchestra, Astor Piazzolla, Jerez Le Cam, Tom Zé. The story of the project: Serpientes began firstly, as a duo called Tangoleon, then in 2008 it became a quartet, or rather a double duo: piano-bass with their traditionally rhythmic role, upon which the accordion-harmonica duo laid their melodies, creating a strange sound which reminded one of the bandonon-violin pairing but with a quality not heard before. There are various winks to jazz, blues, sudden erupting improvisations, and “tango”retakes of French songs making a running theme of tango throughout it all. Where the quartet had lightness and humour in tango, this octet contains a more sombre rock energy. The addition of the drum kit and electric guitar give the orchestra a large sound which physically hits you, the rock side. The pianist and accordionist continue in this vein and enlarge their palette of sounds by adding a kaossilator (digital synthesizer) and keyboard which reinforce the rhythmic heart and pull the band towards the more electronic/electric sound. The arrival of the violin and cello, in contrast, add something soft, sweet and acoustic and intensify the melodies and counter-melodies. Finally the voice of Claude Whipple (franco-uruguayan-american) bring a feeling of New York style rap from the suburbs of Montevideo to Europe. So even more rock and tango fusing together…..