Thirty-one bandoneon players from five countries—Argentina, France, Japan, Spain and Colombia—, constant visits to Buenos Aires, Paris, Tokyo, Madrid, Medellín and Córdoba and the participation of musicians from 22 to 90 years old.
This is what it took to make “Fueyerías”, a big album by Pablo Jaurena that is entirely dedicated to the bandoneon, the instrument that has given this musician international renown and three Latin Grammy nominations with previous works.
And although it is perhaps the most extensive and profound work dedicated to bandoneon of the recent generation, the truth is that Jaurena’s intention with this album of thirteen songs is not to make innovative or avant-garde music. Rather, it seeks to return to the past with respect and admiration to create something new in the future.
“In politics, in the history of people, everything is built by knowing very well the past, where we come from,” said Jaurena from his home in Córdoba, Argentina, “and from there create and project towards the future.”
The project of Jaurena, who graduated as a professor in musical composition from the National University of Córdoba, focused on a “rare” repertoire that is that of bandoneon ensembles, which have been recorded and exist but are only known by bandoneon players, musicologists or scholars of tango, the music that is played with this instrument.
“But the general public does not know this repertoire, which is bandoneon ensemble repertoire, which is rare,” he said.
When Jaurena began to investigate this concept, he discovered that there was a lot of material recorded in that format that was not known or that was unpublished and that had not been touched for many decades.
Many of these materials, he discovered, had been played at some point, but had never been put on a record. As he researched these pieces, he realized that many of the virtuoso musicians who had performed those pieces were still alive.
“So that’s what I in some way called ‘historical rescue’, because it was like going to look for this music that was a little hidden, forgotten, or little traveled, or unpublished,” he said. “These songs are great, they deserve to be known, and if there is someone who released these songs, who is still active, well, let’s try to play it with this person.”
Jaurena then contacted bandoneon greats such as Víctor Lavallén, a legendary musician who played in the Osvaldo Pugliese orchestra, arranger of that combo, who is currently 90 years old and still active. With him he recorded the traditional tango “Canaro en Paris”, a piece that was originally played in a concert in Japan and was recorded 60 years ago.
Just like this story, Jaurena has at least four or five more. Another is the song “Flores Negras”, which he recorded with a group of Japanese bandoneon players and with Horacio Cabarcos. This cut was performed in 2003 by musician Leopoldo Federico in Japan, and was recorded on video, but never on disc.
Then Jaurena traveled to Japan, contacted the bandoneon players of that time and they recorded the song more than twenty years later.
Other great Argentine names included in this materials area are Rodolfo Mederos, Néstor Marconi, Daniel Binelli and Lisandro Adrover. Contemporary figures also from that country who participated are Ramiro Boero, Camilo Ferrero, Juan Pablo Jofré, Daniel Ruggiero, Santiago Segret, Franco Bruschini, Sofía Calvet, Ayelén Pais, Leandro Pane, Damián Torres and Astor Cuquejo.
The rest are respected bandoneon players such as Juanjo Mosalini (France), Claudio Constantini (Spain) and the Japanese Ryota Komatsu, Satoshi Kitamura, Takatoki Suzuki, Jun Hayakawa and Natsuki Nishihara.
In addition to the album, Jaurena will release an extensive historical documentary that narrates the entire creation process of “Fueyerías.”
“All this makes a back-and-forth between the past and the present,” said Jaurena.
