Chamamé tradition
It is all about a project of Chango Spasiuk’s septet together with the Vera sisters (singers), the Nuñez (bandoneon and guitar), and Emiliano López (accordion) recreating the works of the main composers and writers of Chamamé.
The Project
Chamamé is not just a type of folk music played and danced to in the North-eastern
region of Argentina, it is also a sonorous language where 300 years of history
converge. A highly complex and mysterious world of sound in which many
elements merge: from the encounter between the Jesuits with the original Guarany
people, a vastly racially mixed region, creole, Afro, European immigrants and their
accordion.
Chamamé is a music which was defined as from 1900 onwards by great composers
such as Transito Cocomarola, Ernesto Montiel, Tarrago Ros, Isaco Abitbol among
others, and it is what today we know as the Chamamé tradition.
This is the language on which we stand, which we love and respect. It is the
language through which we express ourselves, and which expresses us. It is a
language of infinite faces; it possesses such overwhelming validity and an
inexhaustive oral transmission from each generation to the next. The Vera sisters
(Corrientes), The Nuñez (Misiones), Emiliano López (Buenos Aires) are the living
and fresh example of this tradition.
From the composer Igor Stravinsky: “A real tradition is not the relic of a past that
is irretrievably gone; it is a living force that animates and informs the present”.
Chango Spasiuk septet: Marcos Villalba (Cajón, percussion, guitar and voice), Diego Arolfo (guitar and lyrics), Pablo Farhat (violin), Heleng de Jong (cello), Juan Pablo Navarro (Bass).
The Vera sisters is the only female duo who play Folk and Chamamé music; and they have been doing so for over 46 years, with 28 records produced all over Latin America. Each year they go over the Chamamé circuit of festivals and parties around the country, spreading Chamamé music wherever they go. They are a registered trademark, an artistic phenomenon which is product of the popular warmth which names them: “Cantoras Populares” (popular singers). They have built their authenticity as artists based on the freshness, courage, and a commitment to the love and life of their roots, as the true owners of a grace given by a people rich in grace.
The Nuñez: Juan and Marcos, own a very distinctive sound within the music spectrum in the northeastern region of Argentina. The basic instruments chosen are the guitar and the bandoneon. They both produce a sound which easily blends in with the rhythm of the regional music. The Nuñez bring along the tradition of the Chamamé duets, born in the family, and that comes from playing together since they were kids. Thus coining the original sound which gives birth to this duo that gathers the different musical expressions of the region: Chamamé, schotis, Rasguido doble, and others, like the Brazilian influenced “Bahion”, or the “Galopa” from Paraguay.
Emiliano López: with barely 12 years of age, this kid, who comes from Lomas del Mirador (Buenos Aires province) and a student with Tilo Escobar, amazes the audiences with his surprising sound and way of playing the accordion.
Héctor Sánchez, from the Telam news agency: “Pure chamamé (or “from the backyard”, as it is also called), the same which was sang and danced for two generations is alive and kicking, loaded with a vibrant energy as can be found in the show given by Chango Spasiuk at the Centro Cultural Kirchner. Here he shows up side manned by his regular setup, and by luxury invited guests who add life to the party. The composer born in Apóstoles, Misiones, in this occasion, prepared classic tunes of his repertoire which best represent the music that relates him to the historic composers, plus strengthening his own formation by adding the presence of The Nuñez (former sidemen in his band) and the Vera sisters, an institution in the Chamamé vocal tradition.
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