It may sound like music from the Río de la Plata but Tango Fuerte resides on the banks of the Vistula in Warsaw, Poland. They were formed in 2006 by students of the Fryderyk Chopin University of Music in Warsaw. Clearly, they are also students of the sound of Piazzolla's quintets and capture that sound very well in today's video of their performance of Michelangelo 70. Members of the group are Magdalena Kotowska on piano, Rafał Grząka on bandoneón, Maksymilian Grzesiak on violin, Mateusz Szemraj on guitar and Wojciech Gumiński on double bass. The piece they are playing was composed in 1969 and named to honor the San Telmo nightspot where Piazzolla's quintet frequently performed (although the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, indicates that Piazzolla told Tony Staveacre in 1989 that it was also a tribute to the great Michelangelo himself).
While this is the only video that Tango Fuerte has on YouTube, they have posted excerpts from their new CD on their MySpace page. I have listened to all of those excerpts and the authentic sound is there on every track. They are all excellent musicians but a special note of recognition needs to be made to violinist Grzesiak who could step into any nuevo tango quintet in the world today and be applauded by the other four musicians for his skills. He really feels this music, understands it and is able to communicate it flawlessly.
This is a wonderful group of young musicians. I hope we see more of them in the future.
If the video does not appear below, click here.
To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.
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