Behind the CD

SANDRA LUNA and "TANGO VARON"
By Saskia Bender
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"Tango Varon is a solid and quietly impressive debut" - FolkRoots jan/feb 2004

Producer Gustavo Pazos, born in Uruguay and living in the Netherlands since 20 years, talks about the production of this cd:

A couple of years ago I travelled to Buenos Aires for a project, a Tango-series I was programming for concert-halls in the Netherlands. I was trying to find a good Tango-singer, a woman, and that was not easy. In the present-day Argentina there are a few excellent lady singers, but they are already wellknown and therefore hard to contract. I was getting more and more frustrated, and eventually were even thinking about giving up. So far I had only invited a few Tango-ensembles, but these groups consisted of only men. Tango is still dominated by men, so my task was already a difficult one. Furthermore, my demands were considerable: I was looking for a high artistic level and - even more important - genuine expression. In music, to be real is most important, and something that cannot be learned in a conservatory. A musician has to be able to express the raw essence of life, and to evoke these emotions in the audience.

Unfortunately I had to return to the Netherlands empty-handed. However a close friend of mine, bass-player Horacio Cabarcos, tried to help me and mentioned Sandra Luna. After lenghty discussions he convinced me to invite her for a concert in Holland.
That concert was a revellation. Not only did she have a flawless technique, but she also had an enourmous strength and emotion. The required energy and melancholy that we expect in Tango-music were both present.
Sandra Luna achieved this level through 25 years of experience - despite her young age (she is 37). She started singing as a young girl and was performing in the adult world of Tango since her 7th birthday. She is well-respected in the music scene of Buenos Aires.

After the concert I felt a little unsatisfied; I thought that it was a pity that this was only a one-time event. I was listening to the recording we made of Sandra's performance, and felt that more people should have the oportunity to enjoy this wonderful music. Luckily I met the people of World Connection, in Essen during the Womex, and I played the tape for them. They were very enthousiastic, and a few months later I was in Buenos Aires to record Sandra Luna's first international cd.

The sessions were very intense, every song was recorded in one take. Some moments were unique, e.g. during the recording of 'Ché Bandoneon' (solo bandoneon and voice) with Julio Pane. After a short review of the piece, without any rehearsal or written arrangement, the couple recorded the song like they were the only two people on the planet, like this song was the centre of the universe. The connection they made was so strong that both felt 'empty' after the recording and I decided to send everyone home.

After the sessions in Buenos Aires, I felt that we needed to do some extra work on a few contributions of the musicians. Some imbalances were caused by the strength of Sandra Luna's presence during the recordings - it is very difficult to protect your own musical output when working with a powerful energy of this kind. A musician has to go beyond the limits of his or her technical abilities and let emotion take over; not every artist has this flexibility.

So we made some additional recordings in Paris and finished the cd. "Tango Varon" turned out to be a production with a lot of variety, where all the different sounds merge with the voice - as was my intention when we started. Whether Sandra was accompanied by guitar, bandoneon, drums or a triangle, her voice expresses the real soul of modern day Tango. Sandra Luna adds: "there are classic compositions from Carlos Gardel and new work by Eladia Blazquez. It is like going through a photo-album, starting with the old pictures, ending with the recent ones, and somewhere in between is the story of your life. "

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