| 'I
am a man of Tango'.
In
Astor Piazzola's hands the vocobulary of tango was enriched beyond measure.
The harmonies, the dissonance, the constant shifts, the compositional slights
of hand and, above all, the passion and intensity bring it to a level of
artistry that makes his music equally at home in the barrios of its origins
and the great concert halls of the world. The bandoneon is a quite extraordinary
instrument. It is a free-reed instrument, like the accordion and concertina.
However, it is considered unbelievably difficult to learn, as the fingering
of the buttons appears to be totally illogical. As Astor Piazzolla himself
said, "... the instrument is a completely diabolic creation, you would
have to be mad to want to learn it."
Tango
music emerged from the ghettos of Buenos Aires in the late 1880s, a Creole
blend of African and European music. Like jazz, it started life in the
brothels and bars, growing from there to international recognition before
returning fully fledged to Argentina. Astor Piozzolla, though born just
south of Buenos Aires in 1921, passed his early years, from 1924 to 1936
in the Bronx, New York, where he learned to play the bandoneon. By the
time he was fifteen he was already accomplished enough to play with Carlos
Gardel, the most famous Argentinian composer of that time.
In
1937 Piazzolla returned to Argentina, where he joined the famous Tango
Orchestra of Troilo. In 1944 he formed his own orchestra, in which he managed
to combine the traditional Tango with classical interpretations of such
composers as De Ginestera. When he won a scholarship to attend the master
classes of the famous Nadia Boulanger he jumped at the chance to further
his classical education, by studying in Paris. It was Boulanger who persuaded
him not to deny his musical background but to find a symbiosis between
jazz, classical music and the traditional Tango. And so the "Tango Nuevo"
was born. When asked why he played Tangos to which it was practically impossible
to dance, Piazzolla declared, "For me, Tango is made for the ear rather
than the feet".
After
his Parisian adventure Piazzolla returned to Buenos Aires to form several
orchestras in quick succession, reworking his particular style of the Tango
into an increasingly progressive medium. This all took place in the period
between 1960 and 1975. During this time the most beautiful and most traditionally
based works first saw the light of day, including the lovely "Adios Nonino",
which Piazzolla dedicated to his children and the memory of his father.
From that time on his fame spread abroad and he played with many of the
jazz giants and stars of other musical genres.
Piazzolla
was not afraid of obscure combinations, as the album which he recorded
with baritone saxophonist Gerry Mulligan shows. He became accepted world-wide
as the ambassador of bandoneon and of the Tango Nuevo. In 1989 he formed
his last progressive group, "the New Tango Sex-tet". A formation with two
bandoneons. It was at this time that he also composed his last works, "Sex-tet"
and "Luna". Unfortunately he was not well enough to record them in the
studio and on August 5 1990 he suffered a stroke, after which he was no
longer able to play or compose. Although it was still speculated in Europe
that a partial recovery would enable Piazzolla to make a comeback, those
hopes were dashed when the grand master of the Argentinian Tango died on
July 4 1992. |
