Rating:
Genre:
Latin
Release Date: 07/05/2005
Of all the unlikely musical developments that could have taken place in the closing years of the 20th century, the avant-
tango movement is probably the second least likely (right after Christian
death metal). What
was predictable was that
Kip Hanrahan would find some way get his hands on it, and sure enough, here he is producing and arranging a strange and lovely album by Argentine singer
Silvana Deluigi, a woman who seems to have a powerfully ambivalent relationship to the
tango tradition. What gives
tango music its tremendous power is the sense of hot passion being kept, just barely, under tight control, and that feeling is what binds most of these songs together, even when they depart quite dramatically from the typical rhythmic and harmonic patterns that typify
tango.
"La Cumparsita" is the song that hews most closely to the party line -- it's slow, dark, and bittersweet, like good chocolate, and features some wonderful string writing.
"Cuesta Abajo" is more emotionally fraught, and the strings are more
classical in tone, as if to balance out the raw passion of the singing. On
"Tangologie" a strange sort of Broadway-esque exuberance creeps in, and the result feels awkward, but the spy-movie ambience of
"Maquillaje" fuses with the
tango flavor quite nicely. Throughout the album,
Deluigi's voice is a thing of dark and rich beauty, and her delivery is powerful but elegant. Highly recommended.
~Rick Anderson, All Music Guide
;)
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