La Camorra
Olivos, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Music
Press
I attended a concert back in September held in Long Beach at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center. I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be hearing, as I didn’t know much about the musical group I was about to enjoy; but I was elated to hear such a culmination of beautifully composed music with an interesting arrangement of instruments. I am a huge fan of traditional chamber music. This had an eclectic mix of both Argentinian, classical, and jazz influences. It was music to my ears and feet, appropriately suited for Tangoing. I liked it so much that immediately after the concert, I purchased their CD, La Camorra Tango 15 Years (a recorded live performance). I have since listened to and enjoyed its 13 tracks.
The arrangements on the CD consist of complex harmonies and dissonance not usually found in traditional tango. Their style resembles that of improvisational, yet not at all improvised. I pull from my own mentor, Chopin, who was known for his tonal and improvisational style of playing. Yet he literally wrote down every note, marking, glissando, etc. As I watched La Camorra, I never detected any member of their quintet “winging it.” La Camorra’s biggest musical influence, however, comes from Astor Piazzolla’s Tango music.
The instrumentation is as follows: piano, double bass, violin, bandoneón, and classical guitar. The double bass provides a consistent beat as well as enhancing the string chamber experience. The most unique things about some of their compositions are the stops and starts. In track 6, “Mirando Atras,” there is a heartbeat tempo and the cohesive arrangement featuring several soloing instruments at once with the bandoneón dominating as the most distinctive tone. But La Camorra’s range in styles is vast. Track 7, “Tangostinato,” screams of dissonance and atonality. You can almost hear a Schoenberg influence and cacophony with a touch of Bartók. Track 12’s opening, “Adios Nonino,” reminds me of 19th Century and Chopin but later breaks into a rendition of that recurring “Tango” theme.
La Camorra Tango deserves 5 out of 5 stars for its passion, precision, and its potpourri of compositional styles. - Kaylene Peoples - AgendaMag
La Camorra llegaba a Madrid avalado por opiniones autorizadas. Por ejemplo, la de Daniel Piazzolla, hijo del gran Astor, quien ha asegurado que el quinteto le causó la misma emoción que escuchar por primera vez a Agri, López, Ruiz y su propio padre.
Cierto. Aun contando con los ilustres intentos de Gidon Kremer, Yo Yo Ma, Daniel Baremboim y largo etc..., pocos han logrado entrar con tanta fidelidad sensible en la particular órbita expresiva de Astor Piazzolla. Las versiones de La Camorra de Verano Porteño, Milonga, Muerte y Resurrección del Angel o Adiós Nonino acertaron a traducir el estertor de muerte y balbuceo de vida nueva que comparten pan y techo en la escritura de esas piezas. En primer plano, el extraordinario Luciano Jungman hizo respirar muy hondo a su bandoneón para prolongar la amargura del lamento, y supo hacerlo explotar como un órgano de catedral en los pasajes de rebeldía impaciente. Muy pendientes de las partituras, los demás miembros del grupo (con mención especial para los magníficos Sebastián Prusak, violín, y HUgo Cesar Asrin, contrabajo) se amoldaron a la temperatura emocional con respeto casi temeroso. Hicieron sonar a Piazzolla como si estuvieran supervisados por el propio Piazzolla. - Diario El Pais - España - 2/11/2002
El grupo La Camorra toca en el Museo Renault antes de salir de gira por España.
Creado hace once años como trío, y actualmente convertido en quinteto, La Camorra se ha consolidado en el panorama del tango con sus presentaciones en vivo y sus cuatro discos (los dos últimos son "Tango, ciudad amada" editado el año pasado en España y "Resurrecioón del ángel" de este año).............. see web page for more. - Ambito Financiero - Argentina - 10/10/2003
Formaciones jóvenes: De puro grupo, el Cuarteto Almagro y La camorra se presentaron con éxito en la Biblioteca Nacional........ see web page for more details - Diario La Nación - Argentina - 4/8/1997
Discography
1993 - Escolazo
1999 - Abran Cancha
2002 - Tango, ciudad Amada - Lola Records
2003 - Resurrecion del Angel - EPSA Music
2006 - 12 Postales - MC Galileo
2008 - Que le estan haciendo al Tango? - Independent
Photos
Bio
La Camorra made their debut in 1993 while chosen to perform at "Cafe Homero" in Buenos Aires on a regular basis. From the very begging, the quintet has developed a repertoire based on its own arrangements of traditional tangos, Astor Piazzolla´s pieces and their own original compositions. In 1999, La Camorra won the second prize at the Chamber Music Competition in Buenos Aires, and from then on moved their music also into classic and jazz circles. After 15 years of trajectory, five albums and a sixth one coming, and many performances on local and world stages, La Camorra is still writing and playing its own contemporary tango, based on the quality of its musicians, their wide knowledge of tango style and the richness of their original compositions.
La camorra has won several awards: First Prize at the Astor Piazzolla Centers competition for performers of Piazzollas Works in 1997, the second prize in the Chamber Music Competition organized by Festivales Musicales in 1999 (they where the only tango group awarded such honor). For their Album Tango, Ciudad Amada La Camorra won the Best Off-Jazz Award. In 2003, with their fourth Album Resurreccion del Angel the group was nominated to the Clarin Awards (Argentinas largest media group) and won yet another prize at Festivales Musicales Chamber Music Competition. In 2007 La Camorra was nominated for the Gardel Awards for being the a revelation in the tango sector (this award is given by CAPIF, the local association of phonographic producers).
La Camorra has toured Argentina, Spain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Dominican Republic and Brazil performing in distinguished venues such as Palau de la Musica at the Barcelona Jazz Festival 2002, Centro Cultural de la Villa at the Madrid Jazz Festival 2006, Tropentheatre in Amsterdam and Castro Alvez Theatre in Bahia, Brazil amongst others. In the local scene, La camorra has played for the Festival de Tango de Buenos Aires, the Auditorio Belgrano, Teatro General San Martin, ND Ateneo and other prestigious venues around the country.
Links
