Review Rootstime Magazine Belgium April 2022
https://rootstime.be/index.html?https://rootstime.be/CD%20REVIEUW/2022/APR1/CD110.html
"When you look at the name of this orchestra, you immediately think of Argentina, but in this case that is a bit misleading. It is true that the pivotal figure of the company (in Argentina a classical tango orchestra is called "orquesta tipica") is the Argentine guitarist and violinist Alfonso Pacin, but the other members of the orchestra come from all over the world. Originally, the group was formed as a result of a research project at the "Marbrerie de Montreuil", with the aim of examining whether and to what extent the classical tango orchestra would also be suitable as a vehicle for the many types of folk music that make up the gigantic Argentina hosts.
Where a classical tango company -tango is a typical music form of the larger cities- consists of piano, double bass, strings and bandoneon, this company added "typical" folk instruments such as the flute and the big bombo-drum, so that the boundaries of could be explored. In a country like Argentina, which is almost the size of all of Europe, quite a few different types of folk music are played, so the intention was to find out how all those genres influence and change each other.
The fine result of that research is therefore this album, on which you will find fifteen songs, written by various composers, who are sometimes purely folk, at other times very tango-oriented. Traditions we know from TV or the movies, such as wearing great carnival masks while dancing, or those of the handkerchief-waving dancers circling each other at the "zamba" may not be completely unknown, but they remain. the country itself and its music are enveloped in a haze of ysteria and it is to the credit of this record that she manages to create some clarity in that massive amount.
For example, the title track is connected with a ritual that takes place every year around Carnival in the mountains: a pit is dug from which the devil is allowed to escape and for the entire carnival, his spirit - in this case a positive spirit, which lives helps embrace- activated and at the end of the carnival time the devil is simply buried again. There is also a baguala, a song form that we still know from the great Atahualpa Yupanqui, there is "La Arenosa, which comes from the sandy squares, which villages are often there and there is a "Geografia del Vino", which is not should be surprising for a wine country like Argentina.
That points to a very large diversity in approach and, if you have listened to the record a few times, you will soon recognize the different rhythms and the different ways of approaching. That these folk tunes are skilfully converted or edited until they sound like melodies that could have been tango, says a lot about the skill of the musicians and about the seriousness with which they took their research assignment. The fact that they got help from a renowned bandoneonist like Milagros Caliva also helps, of course, but the result of this highly remarkable musical collaboration is simply nothing less than impressive. You don't have to be a folk expert or a tango adept to like this: the music takes you by the throat so quickly and thoroughly that there is no escape. The fact that something like this comes from our southern neighbours makes things even more impressive. This is strong, very strong music, which I hope we will be able to experience live."
(Dani Heyvaert)
"When you look at the name of this orchestra, you immediately think of Argentina, but in this case that is a bit misleading. It is true that the pivotal figure of the company (in Argentina a classical tango orchestra is called "orquesta tipica") is the Argentine guitarist and violinist Alfonso Pacin, but the other members of the orchestra come from all over the world. Originally, the group was formed as a result of a research project at the "Marbrerie de Montreuil", with the aim of examining whether and to what extent the classical tango orchestra would also be suitable as a vehicle for the many types of folk music that make up the gigantic Argentina hosts.
Where a classical tango company -tango is a typical music form of the larger cities- consists of piano, double bass, strings and bandoneon, this company added "typical" folk instruments such as the flute and the big bombo-drum, so that the boundaries of could be explored. In a country like Argentina, which is almost the size of all of Europe, quite a few different types of folk music are played, so the intention was to find out how all those genres influence and change each other.
The fine result of that research is therefore this album, on which you will find fifteen songs, written by various composers, who are sometimes purely folk, at other times very tango-oriented. Traditions we know from TV or the movies, such as wearing great carnival masks while dancing, or those of the handkerchief-waving dancers circling each other at the "zamba" may not be completely unknown, but they remain. the country itself and its music are enveloped in a haze of ysteria and it is to the credit of this record that she manages to create some clarity in that massive amount.
For example, the title track is connected with a ritual that takes place every year around Carnival in the mountains: a pit is dug from which the devil is allowed to escape and for the entire carnival, his spirit - in this case a positive spirit, which lives helps embrace- activated and at the end of the carnival time the devil is simply buried again. There is also a baguala, a song form that we still know from the great Atahualpa Yupanqui, there is "La Arenosa, which comes from the sandy squares, which villages are often there and there is a "Geografia del Vino", which is not should be surprising for a wine country like Argentina.
That points to a very large diversity in approach and, if you have listened to the record a few times, you will soon recognize the different rhythms and the different ways of approaching. That these folk tunes are skilfully converted or edited until they sound like melodies that could have been tango, says a lot about the skill of the musicians and about the seriousness with which they took their research assignment. The fact that they got help from a renowned bandoneonist like Milagros Caliva also helps, of course, but the result of this highly remarkable musical collaboration is simply nothing less than impressive. You don't have to be a folk expert or a tango adept to like this: the music takes you by the throat so quickly and thoroughly that there is no escape. The fact that something like this comes from our southern neighbours makes things even more impressive. This is strong, very strong music, which I hope we will be able to experience live."
(Dani Heyvaert)