Modern Tango World N° 4 (Bucharest, Romania) | Page 36

Tango Fusion: A Los Amigos
This chamber music quartet composed of Lothar Hensel (bandoneon), Dragan Radosavievich (violin), Ulf
Borgwardt (violoncello) and Oliver Potratz (double bass) play with their friends a selection of old, modern and new tangos. Apart from the
songs by Astor Piazzolla, Horacio
Salgan, José Luis Padula, Armando Pontier and Nestor Marconi,
this project’s mastermind Lothar
Hensel asked contemporary tango
composers to contribute characteristic songs. Miguel Varvello (bandoneon), Jorge Retamoza (baritone sax), Ramiro Gallo (violin),
Luis Borda (guitar), Saúl Cosentino
(piano), and Andrés Gavaida (vocals and guitar) agreed to provide
sheet music which formed the basis
for recording by the quartet. They
then invited these guest musicians
to perform these songs with them.
On Lothar Hensel´s song Freunde y
Amigos,, we hear the quartet together with Ramiro Gallo, Luis Borda,
Miguel Varvello and Jorge Retamoza. The musicians recorded their
seperate audio tracks independently
and send them to Berlin where they
were mixed. Modern life has changed
collaboration processes.
The listener should be prepared for
some surprises from this chamber music fusion quartet. with its fascinating facets of contemporary tango
music. Even the older songs are revived with new and colored clothes by arranger Lothar Hensel.
Several of the tracks are worth recommend:ing, such as Un amigo en Berlin by Jorge Retamoza with its
dynamic melodic and rhythmic complexity, baritone saxophone accents and cool groove right in the middle,
Lautatro by Ramiro Gallo with its sugar-sweet violin lines and a relaxed pulse of the double bass, Hoja Otoñal by Andrés Gavaida with its picked violin and guitar arrangement, and a wonderful chorus sung by the
composer with his warm and pleasant voice, Controversia by Miguel Varvello with atmospheric melodies
brought forward by the disputing bandoneon, violin and cello, Tango de los Muertos by Luis Borda with jazzy
guitar voicings and a fascinating melody progression, and Carismático by Saúl Cosentino with piano and
bandoneon solos and wonderful melodies by violin and cello which invite to dance.
For me, Tango Fúsion´s album is among the outstanding productions of this year: Dynamic virtuosity and
bitter-sweet passion.
Overall Scoring (1-5 stars): *****
Dancer´s pleasure < Listener´s pleasure
Duration: 53 min.
Artist´s website: http://www.tangofusion.net/

— 36 —

To Subscribe, Click here