The Bottom Line
Accordionist and composer Chango Spasiuk's Pynandi Los Descalzos is a masterful collection of compositions - many of them by Spasiuk himself - that paint a picture of the Argentine countryside via the rural music called 'chamame.' Bright and lyrical, the album evokes the Argentinean countryside using accordion and traditional instruments then transcends the rural with the addition of cello and violin.
Pros
- Rarely heard Argentinean 'chamame'
- Virtuoso accordion/compositions by Spasiuk
Cons
- None
Description
- 15 tracks of music from Argentina's rural folk tradition of chamame
- Produced by Bob Telson, engineered by Jorge Da Silva
- Released 2008 by World Village
Guide Review - Review: Chango Spasiuk - 'Pynandi Los Descalzos''
When I think of the music of Argentina, I usually think of the tango masters or Argentina’s innovative rock groups like Todos Tus Muertos. But after hearing Chango Spasiuk’s Pynandi Los Descalzos, my mental template of Argentina’s music will never be the same.
Chango Spasiuk is an Argentinean accordion player and composer. His love of accordion and the 6/8 polka tempo comes courtesy of his Ukranian heritage but it was an easy transition to the 6/8 tempo of one of Argentina’s folk genres, chamame. And while both the polka and chamame share accordion and tempo, that seems to end the list of similarities – no disrespect to the polka, which, when done with style, is hard to beat.
‘Pynandi’ means barefoot in Argentina’s native Guarani language; it also refers to Argentina’s rural population. The genre is sunny, lilting and filled with the exuberance of a warm day and a green field. But Pynandi also benefits from the studied and inspired compositions of Spasiuk himself, who wrote the majority of the album’s tracks.
The 6/8 tempo is not only used in polka; in Latin traditions it is the heart of the ‘caballo’ rhythm, a swift, sweeping tempo that simulates a horses hooves pounding along an unfettered plain. Pynandi is so full of this tempo, the backdrop of Spasiuk’s virtuoso accordion, that if you close your eyes you can easily imagine yourself a gaucho tearing across the Argentine pampas.
That said, this is not merely an album of rarely heard folk favorites. These are composed pieces that sometimes merely evoke the chamame tradition while offering a structured, almost classical style to the music with the addition of violin and cello to the native instrumentation.
If you’re looking for the new, unusual and exciting in the Latin music field, Pynandi Los Descalzos is an album not to be missed.
