Quadro Nuevo
Just caught this wonderful quartet on Arts Central on TV here. A truly talented group which ventures into tango, valse musette and film music. They sure got my whole body swinging and dancing to their tango rhythm. And I got to listen to their rendition of Angel Villoldo's famous El Choclo and learnt of the piece's history. Left a deep impression for Roland Dyens played that piece on his Nuages CD. To think that Angel Villoldo was a pianist in the red-light district of Buenos Aires and of course, the piece was inspired by what goes on there. I guess tango originates from the lower classes of the society, very much like flamenco. It's wonderful how much of that culture is brought out in their music.
Their guitarist, Robert Wolf, was formerly an accompanying guitarist on the tour with Paco de Lucia. Now, that does explain why his tone on the guitar is so thin and his technique is so flawlessly clean. To think that he played the whole solo piece with his eyes closed. That's total immersion into the music! Stunning!
Alright, if not for the fact that I'm practising an Argentinian Tango right now, I wouldn't even have thought of watching this quartet on TV. Now, their music sure led me into the world of swaying nightclubs in Argentina, old tarverns, passionate tango and overwhelming nostalgia. That's totally another genre apart from Baroque, Spanish romantic and flamenco music. But well, I guess my lifetime is too short for me to venture too deeply into such a mysterious and lovely culture...
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