ATAJO over the years has managed to build a new benchmark for popular song, capable of provoking and annoying the operators of power, but also of encountering the most intimate and simple manifestations of society.
His songs not only evokes to reflection, the anger of an exclusive and colonial society, but also invites you to move. Hence, many young and not so young dance to the last consequences with the music of Atajo.
Marco Alberto Quispe Villca Bolivian journalist, cultural promoter and writer from El Alto - La Paz.
Atajo ventured into many types of music, including reggae, ska, salsa, blues rock, cumbia, festejo, candombe, tango, murga, son, guapango. But he has also known how to intertwine them with traditional rhythms of the Andes, Latin America and why not say the world, to give some Latin American examples we can recognize in many of the songs the traditional ones of the Andes these rhythms such as: huayño, saya, chacarera and others .
This gave a lot of diversity to the repertoire of their concerts, since when listening to Atajo it allows one to recognize oneself and find one of its roots and for this reason that any moment Atajo can surprise with a mixture of live rhythms.
The records of Atajo are in charge of showing how they have been able to achieve such a diversity of music from many cultures and tie them all through the texts of Panchi Maldonado that give it a personality that undoubtedly marks the way of making music of Atajo and without forgetting for no time in carrying in all its song, the heartbeat of the peoples.
Swedish Bolivian production in EP version, was presented in May 2020, a song to the rhythm of reggae and that tells the relationship between son and mother through minimal and very everyday stories.
Concert recorded live in 2017 at the NUNA La Paz Bolivia theater, Twenty songs sung by the best Bolivian rock vocalists and with the support of the Atajo band.
Disc recorded in 2016 at Pepitasroom-Studio where Atajo shows its potential in the diversity of rhythms it has, starting with reggae, blues, cumbia, jazz, rock, andean music and from other parts of the world. Participate as special guests:
Sargento García, Mauresca, El Callegúeso, Alguacil Dubkilla and Philip ¨Cityzen¨ Johnson
This Swedish Bolivian production in EP version, was presented in September 2020, a song to the rhythm of cumbia. It is a satire of what happens on social media and has a play on words that is currently used a lot in the cybernetic lexicon.
Lyrics and music by Panchi Maldonado
Published in September 2020
Sweden
Acoustic double CD, recorded live in 2011 and 2012 the 1st album titled Acusti-Kasi together with the disappeared group Kumana directed by
The 2nd album titled Acusti-Warmy, was performed by 15 female artists who sang the songs of Atajo in acoustic versions.
"Songs and other critters"
First edition, November 2011.
Editing and cover design: Luis A. Gómez &
The wild look
© Panchi Maldonado and all authors.
DVD The tenth anniversary concert of Atajo entitled "Atajo Hechos en Bolivia" performed at the Alberto Saavedra Pérez Theater in La Paz Bolivia in November 2006.
Atajo was born in 1996 in the city of La Paz Bolivia and has been working since then with his works and contributing to the history of music in Bolivia and Latin America.
Atajo was characterized by the social work that it always carried out in all these years, with children living on the streets, with the relatives of the dead and wounded from "the gas war" in the city of El Alto Bolivia, with the water coordinator in Cochabamba Bolivia and an infinity of projects almost all related in the social area.
Atajo to countless stages throughout Bolivia, Latin America and Europe, he has many works made between records, videos, soundtracks and even published a book.
He shared stages with international Latin American groups such as: Aterciopelados (Colombia), Manu Chao (France), Cultura Profética (Puerto Rico), Sargento García (France), Facundo Cabral (Argentina), Molotov (Mexico), Café Tacuva (Mexico), Sheriff Dub Killa (Colombia), Arturo Meza (Mexico), Nito Mestre (Argentina), David Lebón (Argentina), Philip ¨Citizen¨ (Senegal). El Callegüeso and la mambanegra (Colombia), Mauresca (France) and others.
Atajo is not a style of music, but a way of traveling the world making music and living it, ¨To reach people's hearts, touch their souls and ignite their minds¨.
DISCOGRAPHY
1998 Personajes Paceños.
1999 Calles Baldías Vol. I y II.
2003 Nunca Más.
2005 Sobre y Encima.
2007 Vivitos y Coleando Vol. I, II y III.
2009 Hechos en Bolivia DVD.
2011 Tierra de Locos.
2015 Acusti K´asi.
2015 Acusti Warmy.
2016 Quita penas.
2017 Atajo Chak´atau 20 años Vol. I y II.
2020 Quédate conmigo. EP
2020 La cumbia del Web-On. EP
2023 Echar raíces - EP
MUSICIANS
Panchi Maldonado - Voice & Guitar
Björn Wickenberg - Drums & backing vocals
Renzo Jaldín - Percussion & backing vocals
Mauricio Picasso - Bass & backing vocals
Dan Fridh - Lead Guitar
Two years ago, fate (and love) led Panchi Maldonado to Sweden, where he found not only a new home, but also a new world of Swedish musician friends and from other parts of the world: Mauricio Picasso, Dan Fridh, Renzo Jaldín and Blörn Wickenberg. Together they keep alive the treasure of the music legacy of Atajo and discover new rhythms and sounds of the world.
LEAD VOCAL & COMPOSER
Photo by Noah Friedman
Panchi Maldonado began his career away from schools and formalities, teaching himself how to make and play music and sing.
In 1996, with a guitar and harmonica, he started a band to play his own music: Atajo (Spanish for "Shortcut") would become a brand for a mix of traditional Andean music, rock, reggae, and blues.For more than two decades (since the release of the seminal album Characters Paceños), Panchi's songs have been a reflection of the (mostly indigenous) life of Bolivians; farmers, shoeshiners, ice cream vendors or beggars who found his voice in his lyrics.
The same could be said of his soundtrack for a documentary on the sacred coca plant (Inal Mama).
Twelve albums later, Panchi a musician who reinvents himself in new ways, talking to young people not just about life as it is, but about what life could be and the love we need to keep it going.
Atajo currently resides in Sweden and aims to conquer new hearts both in the Nordics and in the world, after a long tour of stages in many Latin American and European countries since 1996.
2019 is the year that work begins in the city of Lund-Sweden, Atajo works hard in preparing his new material and preparing for his next tours.
ATAJO. "Cumbita del rockerón"
A song that we share with an artist of great international experience such as: Sargento Garcia (France), Jacobo Velez director of the group El callegüeso y La Mambanegra (Colombia) and Manuel Gamboa Director of the group El Alguacil (Colombia)
ATAJO Productora 2016
ATAJO. "Oye mi hermano"
Hey my brother, it shows the Latin American diversity of language, but at the same time also the social problems that we live in around a globalized world but nothing equitable, which is sold to us as a promise of development and that at the same time only has history of war, lies, manipulation, hatred and inequality.
ATAJO Productora 2016
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