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Thoughts by Santiago Vazquez - Co-Producer
For the first "Será una Noche" album (M052A), MA producer Todd Garfinkle and I discussed the concept of making an album in which tango coexisted with a fusion of other musical languages such as contemporary and ancient musics, Indian classical music, baroque music and free improvisation. It was to be fresh and, at the same time, traditional; sofisticated and perhaps even naive. Todd also suggested an instrumentation in which the bandoneon and violin (instruments very traditional to tango) would be complemented with harpsichord or indian sarod (instruments that have never been used in tango, and the players of which barely exist in Argentina). Everything would be recorded in a church, using only two omnidirectional microphones -the norm for MA - so the sound of the instruments would have to be balanced naturally by the musicians themselves, and in real time. meaning there would be no chance for later corrections.
For this project then, it would be necessary not only to find musicians with superb technical ability on their instruments, as well as the knowledge of the language of tango, but also musicians with great experience in other styles. Perhaps the most important, was an open mind and the wish to confront the challenge. The group as Todd had imagined it, was actually not possible, but we did however decide to go with the general idea and create a "unit" that could be "organic" with the concept, and of course with the music itself.
The result was an eclectic album in which there are instrumental and vocal pieces, original compositions and traditional pieces from very different periods of the development of tango. It was an "open minded", collective musical statement, attempting to freely expand the musical ideas, while trying neither to compromise, nor particularly develop any of them.
On this second album, "La Segunda" we took the concept from where we left off on the first record, but now trying to focus a bit more on some specific aspects. Most of the traditional pieces on this record were composed around the beginning of the 20th century, when tango was young, and in some compositions one can detect the influence of older musical styles that "came" with immigrants, blending and creating what we know as tango. Thus, on this record there are many milongas - rhythms with great african influence - and a habañera, as well as a vals criollo, and original music by members of the group inspired by other Argentinean folk rhythms, such as the baguala and zamba (not to be confused with the brazilian samba) from northwest Argentina, and the aire rivereno from the northeast.
As on the first Será una Noche record, the selection of the repertoire was made by the group members, as were the arrangements. We tried to find our own "musical space", via simple concepts, each of us playing naturally, while avoiding the usual excessiveness that comes when recreating a style. However, we did try not to avoid the characteristic gestures of the style that should come spontaneously.
In this sense, the result reveals a certain balance between the musical personalities of the performers and the needs of the music itself. The process of preparing for this project transported us into an experimental "realm" in which tango and other Argentinean musical forms not only led us to that "familiar territory", successfully tested many times by the masters of this music, but to a new dimension, where the compositions could be freshly "reborn", and become "ours" to the greatest extent possible.
Santiago Vazquez / May, 2003 / Buenos Aires, Argentina |
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Lidia Borda: voz / voice
Santiago Vazquez: percusión / percussion, mbira y / and efectos / effects
Marcelo Moguilevsky: clarinete / clarinet, clarinete bajo / bass clarinet, flautas dulces /
recorders, armónica / harmonica y / and silbido / whistling
Edgardo Cardozo: guitarra / guitar, requinto , guitarrón, tiple y / and voz / voice
Martin lannaccone: cello y / and voz / voice
Gabriel Rivano: bandoneón |
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