Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Milonga Loca - Tanguedia Quintet

Is it live, or is it Memorex? Apologies to those too young or too distant from American television of the 70's to remember that commercial but the Tanguedia Quintet is Memorex to Piazzolla's Quintet. Tanguedia provides a very authentic reconstruction of the sound of the original quintet, perhaps the most authentic available today. In today's featured video they perform Milonga Loca.

The group is from Finland, a country second only to Argentina in dedication to the tango. They were formed in 2007 and in 2008, won the annual Piazzolla competition in Lanciano, Italy. Members of the group are Henrik Sandås on bandoneón, Suvi Ainali on violin, Jani Kivelä on guitar, Iikka Kotaja on piano and Olli Rantala on double bass. Their first album, Tanguedia Quintet LIVE: The New Tango of Astor Piazzolla met critical success and they just recently released a new album, Tango Querido, in which they are joined by vocalist, Angelika Klas. Unfortunately, you may have to travel to Finland to buy those recordings - I don't find them anywhere on-line (memo to Tanguedia: iTunes).

Milonga Loca is one of three Piazzolla performances posted on YouTube this week by the Tanguedia Quintet - the other two are Yo soy Maria (which includes a superb vocal by Ms. Klas) and La muerte del angel. I picked Milonga Loca only because it is the least often heard of the three. Milonga Loca was originally composed as part of the soundtrack for the movie, El exilio de Gardel: Tangos, with the working title of Tanguedia II. By the time the sound track was issued as a recording in 1984, the new title had been chosen although, curiously, Tanguedia III from the same sound track never received a new title. Piazzolla recorded the piece only one other time: for the Kip Hanrahan produced album, Tango: Zero Hour. The version in today's video more closely resembles the latter which is a little crisper and a little more challenging to the listener than the original version.

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Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Piazzolla and Medvedev

Dmitry Medvedev, the current Russian President, is captured in today's video enjoying a performance of Piazzolla's Libertango by the Duet Sheridans. The occasion was a concert to celebrate Defender's Day which is celebrated every February 23rd across the former Soviet Union to honor their military forces.

The Duet Sheridans are Taisiya Panin and Svetlana Starostin, both classically trained violinists, who have chosen to pursue the ruble in the spirit of Bond - the English/Australian electric string quartet who combine good music with sex appeal. Today's video has incorporated clips from other Duet Sheridans' appearances which makes viewing a bit confusing but it does show the "real" Duet Sheridans. The actual concert contained only the dancers, the acrobats and the two military clad Sheridans. You can view the actual concert which includes Medvedev at the opening and closing of the video but without the added clips here.

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Friday, October 15, 2010

September, 2010 Review of Piazzolla Videos

There were 742 videos of Piazzolla’s music posted on YouTube in the month of September, 2010, an increase of 56% over September, 2009. 475 (64%) of the videos were performance videos featuring live performances. The others were videos which used Piazzolla’s music as a sound track for dancing or photo/video montages. I highlighted my journey through these many videos in this blog.

Forty-three percent of the performance videos were in the classical mode, 16% in jazz, 20% in nuevo tango and 21% in pop.

Here are the most frequently performed pieces this month (Libertango was the most frequently played – 33% of the total; the others follow in order):

1. Libertango
2. Oblivion
3. Adios Nonino
4. Verano Porteño
5. Invierno Porteño
6. La muerte del angel
7. Histoire du tango - Cafè 1930
8. Primavera Porteña
9. Milonga del angel
10. Histoire du tango - Bordel 1900

The top three on this list seem to be fairly stable month-to-month but the bottom seven change every month. Eighty-six different compositions were covered in the videos this month.

The performance videos came from 56 different countries. Argentina posted the most videos: 86. The top ten posting countries are listed in order here:

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

There were five Piazzolla original performances posted. All but one have been previously posted. The new video was a performance of Moderato tangabile.

Quality of performance varied from excellent to bizarre. My choice for best of the month is the performance by Piazzolla of Moderato tangabile. If that video does not appear below, click here.

The choice for most bizarre this month is a knife diver version of Libertango. If that video does not appear below, click here.

I have put a table with links to all 742 videos as well as some more information on the videos on the September, 2010 link in my Piazzolla on Video website.

Best video of the month:


Most bizarre video of the month:


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Thursday, October 14, 2010

Libertango - Astor Piazzolla

I believe today's video of Astor Piazzolla performing Libertango is new to YouTube. The video, which I assume comes from Italian television - probably from 1974, shows Piazzolla and six accompanying musicians performing the original version of Libertango. In fact, I believe the sound track in the video is exactly the same as in the initial Carusello LP while Piazzolla and the others are syncing a performance in the studio for the visual part of the broadcast. Since Libertango went on to become Piazzolla's most performed composition (roughly one third of all Piazzolla performances on YouTube are of Libertango), this video is an important part of the video history of Piazzolla's music.

Libertango was composed in 1974, as one of seven short instrumental pieces aimed at radio play and commercial success. According to the Azzi/Collier book, Le Grand Tango, Piazzolla once joked to his son, Daniel, that "inventing the titles ... was harder than writing the music." The other titles from that set are Meditango, Undertango, Violentango, Novitango, Amerlitango and Tristango. The pieces were recorded in a Milano studio with studio musicians - some of whom are probably in today's video. Based on notes from the CD reissue of the original album, the musicians in the video may be: Gianni Zioli on marimba, Hugo Heredia or Gianni Baiocco on flute, Giuseppe Prestipino on bass guitar, Filippo Dacco on guitar, Tulio de Piscopo or Andrea Poggi on percussion. The sixth musician appears to be playing a synthesizer and there is no synthesizer player listed on the album notes. That musician looks a bit like young Daniel Piazzolla to me. Could it be?

Note added 14 October, 2010 after initial publication: Sergio López, an active member of Piazzolla.org, has noted that the marimba/xylophone player is not Gianni Zioli but is actually Aldo Pagani - the producer of the original Libertango album. That is very curious.


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Sunday, October 10, 2010

Café 1930 - Bouchakour Brothers

Is there a path from Algiers to Carnegie Hall? If not, there should be and these two young musicians should be on it. Today's video features two brothers, Massine Bouchakour on flute and Walid Bouchakour on guitar. They provide an absolute classic version of Café 1930 from Piazzolla's Histoire du tango in the video.

The Histoire du tango series were composed in 1985 and dedicated to the Belgian flute player, Marc Grauwels, who premiered them. They represents some of the most often performed Piazzolla compositions. Café 1930 is the seventh most frequently performed Piazzolla composition. It has been played on a large variety of instrumental combinations but the Bouchakour's provide it here as Piazzolla composed it: for flute and guitar.

I can find very little information about the Bouchakours. I do not know if they have formal training or are just skilled natural musicians but I suspect the former. The format of the video is deceptively simple and the quality of the audio mix is very good given the surroundings but the reason this video is featured is just the sheer musicality of the presentation. The two play as one - synchronization is perfect. The vibrato on the flute is just right - it highlights the emotional content of the music and never intrudes on the music. The guitar work is amazingly done - excellent technique (note the glissando's) - each note stands on its own. And, wonderfully, these young men do not rush - they let the music flow in a way that does suggest a casual 1930's evening in a café in San Telmo.

I don't know if the Bouchakour brothers have been discovered or not but this is a brotherly talent similar to that of the Assad's and they deserve an equal amount of recognition and success. I hope to see them in Carnegie Hall soon.

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Thursday, October 7, 2010

Three Thousand Year Old Bandoneón

Really? A three thousand year old bandoneón? Well, no. But it is a modern version of the three thousand year old precursor to the bandoneón: the Chinese sheng. And since today's featured video of Libertango comes from Korea, the instrument might actually be a saenghwang, the Korean version of the sheng. Regular readers of this blog may recall an earlier posting which featured the saenghwang with an ensemble of traditional Korean instruments. Today's video places the instrument in a western, classical context.

This is a performance to watch and enjoy rather than to read about in this blog since there is very little information in the video and Google Translate does not do a very good job of converting the Korean to understandable English. I believe the performer is Hyo Kim and the performance is part of an Artists Festival held at the Goyang Aram Nuri Arts Complex. You can see the announcement of the performance here and if you read Korean, you can read a little about the performer in that announcement.

Unlike the earlier saenghwang video posting, you get a good view of the instrument in today's video. That view suggests that the instrument is a current version of the keyed sheng rather than a saenghwang. Such instruments are often cited as the precursor to the harmonica, the concertina, the bandoneón and the family of accordion-like instruments. While the sheng is roughly 3,000 years old, the bandoneón was "invented" in the mid nineteenth century so the evolutionary process was slow. The resemblance between the two instruments is limited to the fact that they both use free reeds (as opposed to a single or beating reed as found on clarinets or a double reed as found on an oboe) and that the air is collected in a chamber before it gets to the reed.

The version of Libertango is a straight forward, classically oriented performance with the backing of a fine, but unnamed, string quartet. The saenghwang/sheng does not really get a chance to show its full capability in the video. If you want to view a more virtuosic performance by Hyo Kim, I suggest you watch this video or some of the others posted on the StudioZin YouTube channel.

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Sunday, October 3, 2010

Tango Apasionado - Oblivion Quartet

May I introduce the best Piazzolla rock band in the world? Please meet the Oblivion Quartet from Fermo, Italy, playing Tango Apasionado in today's featured video. These guys are hardcore. Not hardcore rock - hardcore Piazzolla. It is not unusual to find a rock band slamming out a version of Libertango but the odds of such a band having ever heard of Tango Apasionado much less playing it is nil. Not only does this band play Tango Apasionado, their MySpace page indicates that they have a new CD on the way which contains ten Piazzolla compositions.

Tango Apasionado is the primary theme from the musical drama by that same title which Piazzolla created in 1987, around two short stories written by Jorge Luis Borges. Pablo Zinger was the musical director for the production which had a short but successful run in New York City. Unfortunately, unresolved disputes with the Borges estate and perhaps the loss of the original musical manuscripts have prevented the work from being revived. Fortunately, much of the instrumental music survives through the excellent Kip Hanrahan produced CD, The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night.

The Oblivion Quartet actually refer to themselves as a tango-rock-fusion band which is a better description than just rock. They play a lot better than they count because their quartet contains five members: Pablo Corradini on bandoneón, Ezio Testa and Daniele de Santis on guitar, Alberto Castagna on bass guitar and Roberto Marzialetti on drums. This is not a garage band; these are highly skilled, disciplined musicians working with a thoughtfully created arrangement of Tango Apasionado. They open in a foreboding mood - bandoneón on the theme, quiet guitar on counterpoint, a heartbeat from the drum - and build to a classic stadium rock conclusion with a heavily processed guitar shred solo wailing over the band. The Oblivion Quartet has brought something new and interesting to the world of Piazzolla and I am anxious to hear more.

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