The tango, he explains via a helpful translator in the audience, is city music, but his is based on the chamamé country tradition of the Misiones, up in the north-eastern region of Argentina, bordering on Brazil.
But while his playing is quite different from the orquesta tipica which emanated from the Rioplatense working class urban areas of Buenos Aires in the first decade of the twentieth century, its rural origins don't mean it is unsophisticated. In fact, in its own terms, it is as innovative as the nuevo tango of the late bandéonista master,
Ástor Piazzolla.
His influences may be traced to his own cosmopolitan background, the Criollo and Guarani sounds of the border region where he was born, but especially the polkas he inherited from his Ukranian grandparents.
On stage he displays a charismatic persona, though never leaving his stool, his face lifted up in ecstasy and responding with infectious glee to the playing of his three equally virtuosic band-members. In his complete absorption in his music, he reminded me of no one so much as the rock guitarist, Carlos Santana.
Or, if you prefer, he radiates the power of an accordion-playing Che Guevara.
During a current US tour he is at Carnegie Hall, New York, on March 27.
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