Album: Tango: Zero Hour
Artist: Ástor Piazzolla
By the time Piazzolla released Tango: Zero Hour, considered by Piazzolla himself to be his best and most groundbreaking album, he was 65 years old. There's a great quote in the CD liner notes by writer Enrique Fernandez, saying, "Come hear the master as he unravels the wind inside the box, as he presses the growling tiger that threatens to embrace him and shapes the beast into a purring kitten. And tiger again. And kitten. It's all a game." This quote best sums up how the album shifts in mood, sometimes tense and dramatic and other times languid and romantic. A good example of this is the transition from Michelangelo '70 (with its dissonant sounds and sharp changes in tempo) to Contrabajissimo (one of my favourite tracks, especially the middle section with that lovely double bass accompaniment). Given the album works so well as a cohesive whole, it's hard to pick standout tracks, but perhaps my favourite is Milonga del Ángel (when used in the context of a song rather than a place, milonga mean lively tango music set to a 2/4 pace). Assisted by his Quinteto Tango Nuevo (including double bass, guitar, violin and piano), Piazzolla perfectly evokes that twilight time ("zero hour") between midnight and the break of dawn, when tango best captures the imagination.
Artist: Ástor Piazzolla
Born: Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires Province
Released: September 1986
Genre: Tango
Influenced: Kronos Quartet, Gotan Project, Calexico
I knew next to nothing about tango until I spent a few weeks in Buenos Aires in 2006. To say we loved the city would be an understatement. For me, it was like travelling back to the Golden Age of Paris, especially when visiting restaurants and cafés, where well-dressed waiters appeared through clouds of cigarette smoke to place your strong coffee on the starched white linen before you. On our first afternoon wandering through the city, we stopped to watch an impromptu tango performance in the streets, performed by a well-dressed guy in his later years and a young woman. The passion and drama of the music and dance combined really impressed me. Exploring the city, there were constant references to Carlos Gardel and milongas (tango evenings in late-night bars) and the clear sense that much of the Argentinian national psyche was immersed in the romance of tango. It's hard not to get wrapped up in it yourself and one of the tango records that really got my attention was Gotan Project's La Revancha del Tango, a contemporary reworking of the genre released in 2001. One of their main influences was Ástor Piazzolla, who upset the purists in the 70s by fusing tango with jazz and classical music to create what was called "nuevo tango". Tango music always had hybrid roots, a mix of European instruments (notably the bandoneon, a large button accordion) brought to Argentina by immigrants (mainly Italian), while tango dancing was inspired by an African dance style (candombe) exported to Uruguay. For Tango: Zero Hour, Piazzolla expanded the boundaries of the genre even further by bringing in elements of jazz and classical music, to create something entirely magical and original.
I knew next to nothing about tango until I spent a few weeks in Buenos Aires in 2006. To say we loved the city would be an understatement. For me, it was like travelling back to the Golden Age of Paris, especially when visiting restaurants and cafés, where well-dressed waiters appeared through clouds of cigarette smoke to place your strong coffee on the starched white linen before you. On our first afternoon wandering through the city, we stopped to watch an impromptu tango performance in the streets, performed by a well-dressed guy in his later years and a young woman. The passion and drama of the music and dance combined really impressed me. Exploring the city, there were constant references to Carlos Gardel and milongas (tango evenings in late-night bars) and the clear sense that much of the Argentinian national psyche was immersed in the romance of tango. It's hard not to get wrapped up in it yourself and one of the tango records that really got my attention was Gotan Project's La Revancha del Tango, a contemporary reworking of the genre released in 2001. One of their main influences was Ástor Piazzolla, who upset the purists in the 70s by fusing tango with jazz and classical music to create what was called "nuevo tango". Tango music always had hybrid roots, a mix of European instruments (notably the bandoneon, a large button accordion) brought to Argentina by immigrants (mainly Italian), while tango dancing was inspired by an African dance style (candombe) exported to Uruguay. For Tango: Zero Hour, Piazzolla expanded the boundaries of the genre even further by bringing in elements of jazz and classical music, to create something entirely magical and original.
By the time Piazzolla released Tango: Zero Hour, considered by Piazzolla himself to be his best and most groundbreaking album, he was 65 years old. There's a great quote in the CD liner notes by writer Enrique Fernandez, saying, "Come hear the master as he unravels the wind inside the box, as he presses the growling tiger that threatens to embrace him and shapes the beast into a purring kitten. And tiger again. And kitten. It's all a game." This quote best sums up how the album shifts in mood, sometimes tense and dramatic and other times languid and romantic. A good example of this is the transition from Michelangelo '70 (with its dissonant sounds and sharp changes in tempo) to Contrabajissimo (one of my favourite tracks, especially the middle section with that lovely double bass accompaniment). Given the album works so well as a cohesive whole, it's hard to pick standout tracks, but perhaps my favourite is Milonga del Ángel (when used in the context of a song rather than a place, milonga mean lively tango music set to a 2/4 pace). Assisted by his Quinteto Tango Nuevo (including double bass, guitar, violin and piano), Piazzolla perfectly evokes that twilight time ("zero hour") between midnight and the break of dawn, when tango best captures the imagination.
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