Music Shop of Quadro Nuevo

Quadro Nuevo has always played tango.

But things are different now – the days in Buenos Aires changed everything. 

Inspired by Argentinian musicians, famous dancers and wonderful people, the nostalgic atmosphere of the dance halls and the zeitgeist of a 15-million metropolis can be heard in every note – this is pure tango.

Over the course of the past 19 years, the world music band has toured the globe and received the ECHO twice. Tango has always been part of their repertoire but now they wanted to know: what really is authentic Argentinian tango?

So in January they packed up their instruments:
no tour this time, but an extended expedition into the Buenos Aires summer.

They moved into an old villa in the city, rehearsing daily in the shimmering midday heat, then swarmed out in the evening, diving head over heels into the nocturnal scene, rubbing elbows with Argentinian musicians, accompanying dancers; they encountered famous tangueros and crazy street poets, talked until dawn and got drunk on heady wine and real tango fresh from the source.

culminating in the new Quadro Nuevo-Album „TANGO!“

This time there are five Quadro Nuevos:
Besides the traditional tango instruments bandoneon and double bass, the band is augmented by pianist Chris Gall. Added to the mix are an expressively singing saxophone and a spirited, vivacious concert harp.

Mulo Francel: Tenor sax, clarinet, bass clarinet, guitar
D.D. Lowka: Bass, Percussions
Andreas Hinterseher: Accordion, vibrandoneon
Evelyn Huber: Harp, hammered dulcimer
Chris Gall: Piano

The Album Quadro Nuevo: TANGO is available as CD and as double Vinyl

More about the time spent in Buenos Aires:

A concert every evening with at least one dance Milonga.

Most important: the encounters, the conversations, making music together.

The director whose film ‘El ultimo Aplauso’ is one of the most moving films about today’s tango.

Roberto Herrera and his companion Laura, masterful dancers who have devoted their lives to the tango and who “test danced” the music of Quadro Nuevo – a true tango experiment.

The emotional encounter in the Belle Epoque dance hall ‘Confiteria Ideal’ with Lily and Horacio, who danced the fevor of passion, the pain of love and the seductions of a lifetime with such intensity.

Sessions with musicians, famous and less famous, all possessed by tango in all of its different facets. And meeting the magnificent Sexteto Mayor.

A street poet who played guitar like one possessed, danced like a god and later, with a glass of wine and a cigarette, recited his poetry in the balmy late night air: El tiempo no existe – there is no such thing as time.

And always the search for traces of Astor Piazzola, the bandoneon virtuoso and grand master of tango. He was ridiculed, misunderstood and threatened for breaking with tradition, for seemingly robbing the people of their beloved tango and giving it back transformed. How can we approach his music without merely copying it? How can we let him inspire us?

And finally, the band’s personal highlight: the Quadro Nuevo concert in the 120 year-old tango club ‘Los Laureles’.

In 19 years of life on the road, Quadro Nuevo has been on a quest for the true soul of tango. And now it is found!

Prior to making this album, the band released an audio book about tango in Buenos Aires, Lieben Sie Tango? (Do you love Tango?) with actors Dominic Raacke und Caroline Ebner.

More about the tangos on the album TANGO:

Saxophonist Mulo France explains: “Our repertoire on TANGO is very diverse.
On the one hand there are tangos of the old guard: the song “La Cumparsita”, for example, is almost 100 years old and one of the most commonly played of all tangos. But the fun for us lies in finding ways to make it our own. Then there are the songs of legendary actor and singer Carlos Gardel from the 30s, songs that tell of simpler days long gone and of love by the harbour, such as Por una Cabeza or El Dia que me quieras, whose sweet melody we have turned into a modern duet arrangement for clarinet and piano. We took great care to feel our way into each song, interpreted the lyrics, listened to a lot of recordings and read many stories.
Added to the mix are some pieces from the golden era of tango in the 50s and 60s, such as the dashing Taquito Militar.”

Under the spell of tango’s epicenter, some original compositions emerged:
Buenos Aires Taxi Drive – a wild ride through the metropolis by bassist D.D. Lowka
Casa de los Suenos (House of Dreams) by Andreas Hinterseher who, for this album, completely set aside his accordion in favour of the bandoneon.
El Titiritero (The Puppeteer Tango) by Chris Gall
Garcia’s Tango (dedicated to a police inspector) and
Como la Vida cambia (How life changes) by Mulo Francel.

What the five musicians can’t conceal is their reverence for the great Astor Piazzolla, or Saint Astor, as they call him.
“Over the years we have always included one or two of his pieces in our programme. And of course our audiences always ask about him. But we didn’t want to make another „hey, look at how we play Piazzolla” album and so only two of the fifteen pieces are his:
Fuga y Misterio, which provides us with a great basis for improvisation, and Vuelvo al Sur from Sur, the Argentinian cult film that lays bare the horrors of the military dictatorship.

The album includes a 32-page booklet with numerous photos and information about the 15 Tangos.

More about Quadro Nuevo:

Quadro Nuevo is Europe’s answer to the Argentinian tango. Arabesques, Balkan swing, ballads, daredevil improvisations, the melodies of old Europe and the lightness of the Mediterranean merge into fabulous songs full of joyous colour.

These melodies tell of the vagabond life, of experiences and encounters on this great journey of life, of small coincidences and grand moments, of tenderness and wild temperament driven between the winds of east and west, caught between consuming yearning and joyful fulfillment – between the bitter and the sweet.

Quadro Nuevo has been touring worldwide since 1996, giving over 3000 concerts in places as far flung as Sidney, Montreal, Ottawa, Kuala Lumpur, Istanbul, New York, New Orleans, Mexico City, Peking, Seoul, Singapore, Tunis and Tel Aviv. From the tranquility of Upper Bavaria, the road has led them over the Alps to Porto, traversing Europe from Denmark to the Balkans and to the Ukraine.

In the course of their travels, the quartet has established its own form of melodic poetry beyond all genre pigeon holes, unmistakably shaped by the passionate love of their instruments and the joy of making music. The secret is their devotion: it is a rare experience to hear music performed with so much excitement, verve and an empathy with cultures not ones own.

The Quartet’s venues are as diverse as the roots of their music and are not confined to concert halls and festivals. Quadro Nuevo’s ardent virtuosi are just as much at home busking on the piazzas of southern Europe, enticing audiences to dance to their music as a night-time tango band, as they are in jazz clubs and locations as famous as New York’s Carnegie Hall.

Quadro Nuevo’s CD’s have received the German Jazz Award, climbed into the Top Ten of the Jazz and World Music charts and were awarded the coveted European Phono Award in Paris.

The Echo, the German Phono Academy’s highest distinction, was presented to Quadro Nuevo in the category “Jazz/World Music, Best Live Act” in both 2010 and 2011.
After an exciting and eventful trip to Buenos Aires in early 2014, Quadro Neuvo have turned their intense focus back to the tango.

History:
Quadro Nuevo was born on a grey January day in 1996 when four young musicians met for the first time on a parking lot near Salzburg.

The four, who had only vaguely heard of each other before then, had been commissioned to produce a movie score for the Austrian TV station ORF. The fee for the recording was subsequently blown in the local Casino and the film was never broadcast.

But on that day, one thing was clear:
a new quartet with an unmistakable sound had been born. From now on, there would only be Quadro Nuevo, the love of nostalgic acoustic music, traveling together from stage to stage, evening after evening. A dream became reality, the joyous exuberance audible in every note.

The quartet has now performed at many renowned festivals such as the Montreal Jazz Festival, the International Burghausen Jazz Weeks, the Rheingau Music Festival, Merano Music Weeks, Saalfelden Jazz Days, the Ollinkan Festival in Mexico City and the Quebec Festival.
Aside from their numerous CDs, the group has published the 224-page autobiographical road book Grand Voyage and audiobooks with Ulrich Tukur, Ulrike Kriener, Udo Wachtveitl and Michael Fitz.

More about Chris Gall on piano:

Quadro Nuevo plays many concerts and the musicians delight in their dynamic musical interaction.
In recent months there have been joint projects with the swing guitarist Stephan Joscho, with the brass instrumentalists Harmonic Brass and with the WDR and the NDR Orchestras.
A deep musical and personal friendship has grown from the numerous performances with pianist Chris Gall.
Quadro Nuevo: “We love his sparkling style. Each moment with him is like a party. With Chris, we are now a quartet of five!”
Chris Gall is a shining star in the skies of up-and-coming young pianists: classically trained, Berklee College of Music graduate and awe-inspiring in the fields of Contemporary Jazz and World music.
Chris has recorded two albums on the ACT label with the singer Enik.
His sensational solo piano album with GLM Music was released in January 2015.

More about the songs in detail:

1. Por una Cabeza 
[CARLOS GARDEL & ALFREDO LA PERA /ARR. MULO FRANCEL]
I placed all my bets on this woman. Just like at a horse race: everything on one horse. But all is lost. And only by a head. Now I’m nothing. Why keep on living? I have to leave. But if I see another beautiful mare at the starting gate next Sunday, I know I’ll bet everything on her once again!

2. Garcia’s Tango 
[MULO FRANCEL]
A tango for Alexander Garcia, police inspector and hero of author Julie Fellman’s crime novels, the audio books for some of which we provided the music. A big city hymn to all real he-men and champions of justice.

3. Canción de Ausencia
[ROBERTO PANSERA]
It is the theme of so many tangos: the absence of a loved one. A simple melody, carried by the hollow-sounding chords of the bandoneon, an otherworldly sound which no other instrument could equally convey. A short flight into the major – hope – then back to a melody of suffering. How beautiful melancholy can sometimes be!

4. La Cumparsita 
[GERARDO MATOS RODRíGUEZ / ARR.: ENRIQUE UGARTE & QUADRO NUEVO]
La Cumparsita isn’t from Argentina. It was composed by the Uruguayan musician Gerardo Matos Rodríguez (1897-1948) when he was a young student. Yes, we know: it is one of the most famous, oldest and most-played of all tangos. But still…

5. Buscándote 
[EDUARDO SCALISE]
Our friend, the Argentinian filmmaker German Kral, gave us a CD by Osvaldo Fresedo, who actually has a harp in his Orquesta Tipica. With this little arrangement, we would like express our thanks to the organisers of our concert in the delightful Tango Club Los Laureles!

6. Buenos Aires Taxi Drive 
[D.D. LOWKA]
It’s easy to believe that the traffic in Buenos Aires is made up solely of the bustling small black and yellow taxis that jostle for every gap and every inch of the road. Different characters grip the worn steering wheels and countless ever-changing wishes, concerns, plans and aspirations perch on the back seats during those breakneck rides through the city.

7. Casa de los Sueños 
[ANDREAS HINTERSEHER]
All we’ve ever said or done has, at some time, inhabited our dreams. But what really goes on in this mysterious house of dreams?

8. El Día que me quieras 
[CARLOS GARDEL & ALFREDO LA PERA / ARR. MULO FRANCEL & CHRIS GALL]
The day that you’ll love me …

9. Taquito Militar 
[MARIANO MORES / ARR. A. HINTERSEHER]
Often when we’re packing up after concerts, we listen to the music of the superb Sexteto Mayor. No-one ever wants to pull the plug, such is the pleasure of bathing in this wonderful musician’s sophisticated arrangements and sheer joy of playing. The dashing Milonga, Taquito Militar, still rings in our ears…

10. El Titiritero 
[CHRIS GALL]
Inspired by the main character in the art film “Being John Malkovich”. A puppeteer – more or less talented – takes refuge with his emotional ups and downs in the roles of his puppets. A surreal collage of melancholy, liveliness, naivety and fantasy – Quadro Nuevo and I have provided a wonderful soundtrack for the fluctuating emotions of the puppeteer!

11. Gallo Ciego 
[AGUSTIN BARDI / ARR. MULO FRANCEL]
The blind cockerel. Constantly gets off on the wrong foot, misbehaves and staggers, but always keeps his pride. A dance tango from days gone by.

12. Vuelvo al Sur 
[ASTOR PIAZZOLLA / ARR. M. FRANCEL]
The title song from the poignant movie Sur. Each time we play it, we remember Roberto Goyeneche (1926-1994), who also appeared in the film and who, for us, is the greatest of all singers of Tango.

13. Fuga y Misterio 
[ASTOR PIAZZOLLA / ARR. A.HINTERSEHER]
We’ve asked many Portenos about their great composer and bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla and have had just as many replies, ranging from adulatory worship to infinite contempt. Some call him the savior of the tango; others blame him for its destruction. Is Piazzolla really Tango? This question has no meaning for us – we love Piazzolla and the compelling logic, emotional strength and incredible depth of his music, somewhere between Bach, Stravinsky, Anibal Troilo and Miles Davis.

14. Como la Vida cambia
[MULO FRANCEL]
How life continues to change. Dedicated to all of those whose lives do not follow a straight path.

15. El Cielo 
[ANDREAS HINTERSEHER]
Above me the summer skies of Buenos Aires, below me the never-sleeping capital of Tango. Early morning creative idleness in my little room, perched like an eagle’s nest on the roof of an old townhouse. My thoughts on the infamous Milongas below and my gaze on the migrating birds above, the bandoneón next to me: that is how this little piece was created. Pensive, jaunty, wistful and even a little humorous.

recorded by Philipp Winter at Downhill Studio Munich in Spring & Summer 2014
mixed by Philipp Winter
mastered by Dieter Pimiskern
text editing by Quadro Nuevo & Julie Fellmann
english translation by Valerie McLeary
artwork Olaf Becker