The name alludes to the river that separates Argentina and Uruguay politically but unites the area as a region, called Rio de la Plata.

[1] The music has been called “electrotango” or “electronic tango” but leader Gustavo Santaolalla does not believe that it sufficiently describes the group's sound, stating there is more than that.

[4] The idea of the group is to take these traditional styles and create something more contemporary,[2] with elements from rock, hip hop, jazz and electronic music, especially sampling.

[7] There are eight members, seven musicians and one VJ, who gives a theatrical aspect to live performances, by adding digital images in real time to the music.

[5][8] In addition, on most albums, the group has collaborated with other artists including Elvis Costello, Nelly Furtado, Julieta Venegas, La Mala Rodriguez, and Gustavo Cerati.

[2][5] Santaolalla had already been working with Juan Campodónico on other projects and together they began experimenting in the studio, trying out different sounds, sampling and playing instruments themselves along with participation from friends.

[8] The album introduced their new style along with the participations of guest artists such as Jorge Drexler, Adriana Varela, Cristóbal Repetto, Adrián Iaies, Didi Gutman, and Pablo Mainetti.

[5] In 2013, the Presente album has no guest vocals and strings play a more major role with eleven violins, four violas, three cellos and three stand-up basses.

Warner Cable used Pa’ bailar for a trailer for the series Nikita in 2011 and the Russian gymnastics team used several of their works for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Gustavo Santaolalla, cofounder of Bajofondo, is a singer, composer, producer and plays guitar, charange and ronroco and lives in Los Angeles.

His career began at age 16 with the band Arco Iris, a pioneer in fusing Latin American folk music and rock.

[3][8] In 1997 he cofounded the record label SURCO, whose first release was Mexican band Molotov, along with Bersuit, La Vela Puerca, Julieta Venega and more.

Born in France, Supervielle developed his music career in Uruguay, synthesizing hip hop, tango, rock and Uruguayan folk in a way that takes advantage of his abilities on keyboards and turntables.

[7] Martin Ferres is a bandoneon player who plays both traditional and avant garde music and his work is influenced by minimalism as well as tango classics.

[7] Gabriel Casacuberta plays upright bass and electric back, beginning his career as a session musician in Mexico but working with many Uruguayan artists.