Today, more than a century later, the bandoneon reigns as the main voice in the tango, South America's soul music.
22nd Atlantic Jazz Festival opens with Argentina's Orquesta Tipica Imperial will open the TD Canada Trust Atlantic Jazz Festival on Friday night in the Mainstage Tent on Spring Garden Road.
FAMED ARGENTINIAN tango composer Astor Piazzolla called it a diabolical instrument. But it started its life in Buenos Aires as a portable organ imported from Germany to accompany hymns in church.
“Now it is used just for tango," said Matilde Vitullo over the phone from her Buenos Aires home last week. “Why it came to be used in folk and dance music is a mystery. In the beginning, tango was played with guitar and harp and flute, later the piano and the violin."
Vitullo is one of three bandoneon players in the fabled Orquesta Tipica Imperial. They will open the TD Canada Trust Atlantic Jazz Festival on Friday night in the Mainstage Tent on Spring Garden Road, following the e-stringz (electric string quartet with percussion and keyboards). The concert begins at 8 p.m.
The Orquesta Tipica Imperial has toured in Holland, Bulgaria and Spain. Halifax is its first stop in its first trip to North America, with multiple dates in New York and Chicago to come.
From Friday to the following Saturday, July 19, the 2008 TD Canada Trust Atlantic Jazz Festival will feature more than 70 ensembles. Headliners besides the Orquesta Tipica Imperial, include Chicago blues man Syl Johnson, Holly Cole, Duane Andrews, Algeria's Rachid Taha, Simon Shaheen, Michael Occhipinti, Salsa Picante and Afro Musica, all in the Mainstage Tent.
The Commons Room series in the Holiday Inn opens Saturday night at 9 p.m. with pianist John Taylor followed on successive nights by Erin Costello and ERA, Hilario Duran, David Virelles, Chris Tarry, Michel Donato and Pyeng Threadgill.
The Cathedral Concert Series in the Cathedral Church of All Saints begins with Sanctuary and V16 at 8 p.m. Sunday, and continues Tuesday through Friday with Sanctuary and Ken Shorley, Sanctuary and The Barriomatic Trust, a trio with Dinuk Wijeratne, Kinan Azmeh and Mayhookh Bhaumik, then Andrew Downing's Arts & Letters Ensemble, and ends Saturday night with Sheilah Jordan and the Cameron Brown Duo.
The all-ages venue at 1313 Hollis Street beginning 8 p.m. Sunday features the A Love Upstream series with Jeff Torbert, Dawn Hatfield, Matt Brubeck, Lukas Pearse and Lisle Ellis headlining on successive nights. A final concert on Friday night features Harris Eisenstadt's Toronto Quartet.
Late Night at Stayner's (11:30 p.m. to 3 a.m.) presents the Ted Quinlan Quartet on Friday and Saturday, a tribute to Dr. Music (Doug Riley) Sunday, and on the following nights the Laila Biali Trio, Dave Restivo with Tom Roach and Jamie Gatti, Michael Occhipinti's Sicilian Jazz Project, Roberto Occhipinti and David Virelles, and the Ensemble Remi-Jean LeBlanc. The series ends Saturday night with the Scotia Improv & Composer's Collective.
For more information contact All About Jazz.
