|
|
|
The editor's morning musings
This morning I am listening to a recording of bandoneon and classical guitar titled Delta y Mar (Aparte Music). The recording opens with a flourish of guitar, and quickly evolves into a short, furious storm of free reeds and silk strings. Guitarist Vicente Bögeholz's composition, "El Puyuyuy" is a torrent of rhythms and notes worthy of a new nuevo tango, and he and bandoneon master Juanjo Mosalini play it to perfection and with passion.
But by the time the next few tracks had flown by, I was beginning to wonder if there is any hope of a new new tango. The nuevo tango championed by the late Astor Piazzolla and many others was born from the old guard of Gardel, but steeped in New York and Paris in the 30s and 40s and roared into life in Buenos Aires in the 50s and 60s. By the 1980s it had become the tango, the accepted art music, frozen in time and place by brilliant and historic recordings. In the last 30 years, many musicians have been serving up excellent new compositions that rarely dare to challenge the now established old guard, an old guard that includes mid- 20th century master Juan José Mosalini (Juanjo's father). In that time, there have been numerous and wonderful new recordings and compositions by a plethora of artists (and Delta y Mar certainly is in this category). There have been Argentine rock and jazz bands to challenge it with spirit and humor, but has there been any real reinvention of the form, itself? Now, to be fair, we can probably ask this of any other music or art form, and arrive at the same question. What locks things in place? Has the act of recording changed how we perceive change? Or have journalists just made a fetish of "the new?" And as you look through the virtual pages of RootsWorld, I am sure you will find many articles by our writers that would refute me, and offer you good a answer. And I will pass this recording along to someone to give a proper review to, so perhaps in a month or two, they will use this very recording as an answer. Meanwhile, I'm going to use this moment to invite you, dear reader, to respond to me. I'll post this on our Facebook page, and I encourage you to go online and offer your opinions and suggestions. Or feel free to send an e-mail and I'll pass it along for you. You'll find it here:
Thanks for rummaging through my brain with me today.
|
Share on Facebook
RootsWorld depends on your support. |
|
|
