I Went To See A Band...

[Ries]

Then, a couple of weeks later, on a beautiful warm night in Rosario, under a full moon, in the outdoor amphitheater at the Centro Cultural in Parque de Espanå, we saw Liliana Herreo play.
Ships glided by in the river behind her, silent behomoths.
A bit older than Melero (she is 76), she was quite political in her youth, and was arrested by the Military in the 70s.
In the 80s, she began to take music more seriously, and recorded two albums produced by Fito Paez, which they dubbed “supermodern folklore”. She also did cover versions of many other musicians songs, from Charly to Mercedes Sosa.
She is a vocalist who lives for a powerful and romantic lyric, for poetry and politics and love, and who tries to embody the living tradition of argentine folk and popular music.
She is generous and emotional and engaging, and she is in many ways the opposite of Melero.
She usually plays these days with an acoustic guitarist, and she can get the best to play with her, in this case Pedro Rossi, who is really good, and has quite a good singing voice as well.
She embodies the wise crone, the elder who paid attention to history, and she does it with grace and intimacy.
Here is a video from a few years ago, which, format-wise, is very similar to the show we saw- educated interplay with a guitarist, jokes, stories,history, commentary, and lots of singing.

 

[Ries]

I am generally more interested in the future than in the past.
I dont tend to listen to a lot of classical music.
I was lucky enough to be exposed to a lot of what they called, at the time, New Music, in the late 70s, which was basically classicly trained musicians composing music that wasnt reminescent of 200 year old european composers.
Thanks to a musician and curator named David Mahler, at and/or in Seattle, I got to see Meredith Monk,Charlamaigne Palestine, Blue Gene Tyranny, Stuart Dempster, Laurie Anderson, and various other composers in intimate live settings.
After that, I found Steve Reich and Phillip Glass, early work by JohnCale, Arthur Russell, Julius Eastman, and many more.
50 years later, I seem to be listening to a lot of what I would call post-classical cello, usually by women, which seems to be a thing these days.
I am quite fond of recent recordings by Lorie Goldston, Lucinda Chua, and Mabbi Fratti, who are from the US, UK, and Mexico, lately.
Here in Buenos Aires, I keep seeing the Serbian/Argentine Karmen Rencar, also a cellist. She plays in Cuarteto Divergente, with Luis Teran, and I have seen her in the string section with several other musicians in larger concerts.
She does a lot of studio work, plays with a variety of groups, and appears in a variety of contexts.
In November, we were lucky enough to see her play in her cello duo, Kapai Duo, at SuenaWashington, which is a secret gem here.
Its a private home, with a host and owner who is a musician and curator of music, a record label owner, and cook, who opens his home once in a while to a small audience, usually no more than 50, for amazing nights of music. Its hard to find, doesnt advertise, and you have to ask to attend. Its friendly and intimate and often you sit on the living room floor, after dining on tacos in his beautiful yard.

Karmen Rencar and Pablo De Nucci are both classically trained versatile musicians, but the music they play together is special.
No sheet music, its all either memorized or improvised, its eclectic and wonderful.
There are parts that are classical, parts that are jazz, parts that are experimental, but its all joyful and fun to watch.
I cant find any footage of the two of them except on instagram, so if you are interested, go to Kapai Duo on Instagram.
But here is an earlier collaboration she did with a couple of other great musicians,covering a Charly Garcia song.
I would recommend seeing her in any venue, she is always great.

 

[Ries]

Here is a piece written by the dueno of Suena Washington, who is playing piano, with Rencar on Cello.