Duki in Lima: The return of the Argentine trap exponent in a night of unforeseen events

Before warming up the public’s spirits, it was the speakers that burned before the event. Last Thursday night, the start of the concert Duki At Costa 21, a venue on the seafront that keeps the public warm with music, the beginning of the Lima winter was felt, while attendees whistled and demanded the entry of one of the most important Argentine singers of South American trap.

After an hour of sound checks, the video clip of a spaceship traveling through the cosmos began the ADA Tour. It was enough to hear him rap “Ginvenchy” to forget the wait. Duki returned once again to Lima and the technical problems – or the drizzle – failed to stop the musical phenomenon that began 9 years ago in Parque Rivadavia during the El Quinto Escalón competition.

And when the rhymes come out of his mouth at incredible speeds, the audience can do nothing but jump, scream and place their horned hand on their forehead, in reference to the “devil mode”, a state of euphoria that surpasses any other sensation. and who is present when singing “Rockstar”, one of the most anticipated songs of the night.

At 27 years old, the singer can show off various hits such as “Goteo”, “Piensa en mí”, “Antes de vivirte” or “Harakiri” in his concerts. Several of them were collaborative songs or that had a remix with other artists, because if something was the law in Argentina eight years ago, it was that you needed to make a song with Duki to make your way in the music industry. Since it is now occupied by Bizarrap, with whom Duki also participated when both established themselves as international references, leaving songs like “Malbec” and a BZRP Session.

Among the most anticipated collaborations by an audience that does not exceed the age of 30 – not counting the parents who accompany their children – is the song made between Bad Bunny and Pablo Chill-E, “Hablamos Tomorrow”. The cameras rise to capture the moment and a Peruvian flag lands in the hands of the artist, who places it on a speaker and then wipes his neck with a towel and places the flag between his shoulders.

The drizzle increases and Duki does not waste the opportunity: “I’m out here like an unhappy person / Under the rain, but you don’t want to open / I thought he loved me, but I discovered / That now there is another besides me.” The lights go out once again to give a first pause, the continuation of the beginning video clip. The ship finds a planet and lands, finding life. The rest of the animation is a National Geographic-style review of the local fauna and flora.

If before the holy quartet of music was made up of a bassist, a guitarist, a drummer and a vocalist, now we add autotune to the mix. What seemed to be an unfair advantage in music is today another tool: support, support, combinations, or whatever the artist wants. For Duki, it is an extension of his voice. “I would love to sing like Charly García, know how to use a guitar masterfully, but those are the conditions I have in my life. If I had a voice so good that it hit all the notes, I wouldn’t have to use autotune”, the artist mentioned in an interview two years ago.

Other technical issues also present in the artist’s concerts are the need for the support of a team of musicians who play the common instruments of a rock band in concerts like this, since several of the sounds that appear in Duko’s songs cannot be be present live. Here lies the difference between concert and studio artists. Instead, performance is everything. Duki makes poses playing guitar, but does not play it; he beats imaginary drumsticks in the air, but he did not learn about time signatures beyond his empirical experience. And he doesn’t need to know it, because his name alone fills locations.

The show continues and all sounds are turned off. People chant his name, some shake their poles without realizing what follows. They remove the autotune, the musicians stop and the spotlights focus on Duki, who a capella starts the song “Lost Tape”, a song that refers to his time as a street freestyler, where he had his last major participation at the beginning of 2017 , in one of the most remembered and viewed events in the history of Argentine rap. After that would come the song “Loca” with Khea and Cazzu, which would launch his career internationally, marking the beginning of the rise of trap throughout the region.

A third pause appears disguised as the end of the event. The youngest leave wanting more, the parents stay because experience knows the tricks of artists. Duki returns once again to provide some songs that conclude with “Hello Cotto”. Halfway through the song, a man falls to the ground in the middle of the audience from a blow. Duki stops the song and asks to be helped up without knowing about the incident. The song begins once again and the people sing along with the ragpicker until the song ends. With a farewell gesture, he leaves, carrying the Peruvian flag on his shoulders, while a few meters away a father, dressed in an X-Men ’97 jacket, carries his son in the same way. Everyone finds happiness in their own way.