May Review of Piazzolla Videos

There were 489 videos of Piazzolla’s music posted on YouTube in the month of May, 2009 – virtually the same as the 490 videos found in the previous month. 374 (76%) of the videos were performance videos featuring live performances. The others were videos which used Piazzolla’s music as a sound track for photo or video montages.

Forty percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 26% in Nuevo tango, 18% in pop and 16% in jazz.

Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 26% of the total; the others follow in order):

1. Libertango
2. Oblivion
3. Adios Nonino
4. Verano Porteño
5. Milonga del Ángel
6. Otoño Porteño
7. Histoire du Tango – Nightclub 1960
8. Histoire du Tango – Bordel 1900
9. Histoire du Tango - Café 1930
10. Invierno Porteño

The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month.

The performance videos came from 56 different countries. As might be expected, Argentina posted the most videos: 64. Japan and Serbia appear on this list for the first time. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:

1. Argentina
2. Italy
3. USA
4. Spain
5. Russia
6. Brazil
7. France
8. Japan
9. Serbia
10. Ukraine

There were 11 videos posted which featured performances or interviews with Piazzolla. Three of these have not been posted before on YouTube although two are available on a commercial DVD. The new video was a clip from the short film, Quinteto.

Quality of performance varied from excellent to bizarre. In most months, the performance of Michelangelo 70 by the folk orchestra XXI Century would have won my choice as best of the month but, in truth, nothing can compete with a performance which includes three members from a Piazzolla quintet so my favorite of the month is the Gary Burton and friends concert performance of Escualo.

The choice for most bizarre this month was not difficult. What else can you call a video of a masked man playing Libertango on a musical saw but bizarre?

I have put a table with links to all 490 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the May link in my Piazzolla on Video website.

This blog hosted it's 1000th visitor earlier this week. I thank those of you who have take time to visit.