 Immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay, Tango music, like many other genres, has developed from its original roots to the format known today and loved throughout the world. The word “tango,” some say, is derived from the Latin word “tangere,” which means “to touch.” In its early days, tango was the cultural expression of immigrants and societal outcasts in slums and the bordellos of Buenos Aires. This first generation of tango players from Buenos Aires was called “Guardia Vieja” (the Old Guard). It took time to move into wider circles, however, in the 1920’s, tango had become popular among the city’s larger society, moving to the barrios or middle-class neighbourhoods and then to the Argentine upper class. Over the years, tango has undergone a long stylistic journey from its roots to the Golden Age of the 1930’s and 40’s and through to Tango Nuevo championed by Astor Piazzolla in the 1950’s and 60’s. Today tango boasts a number of new styles that fuse elements of jazz and electronics while the tradition remains. This album, featuring three of today’s best-known proponents of the style, Horacio Romo, Pablo Agri and Emiliano Messiez, is a trio recording presenting a format that is somewhat unconventional in the tango world. The most famous setting for tango music is, of course, the “Orquestas Típicas” often including over a dozen performers however, smaller formats featuring four to six players are also popular. The typical trio format found in tango music consists of piano, bandoneon and double bass. Speaking about the line-up of this trio, pianist Emiliano Messiez said “It’s not that common to find a trio setting with piano, bandoneon and violin. When we first started to talk about this project, we were worried that the bass sound would be missing, however once we started playing, we realized that this is not really an issue.”
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