The Bandoneon Band
A large, cold Victorian church: one of those cavernous places that are all uncomfortable pews, plaster angels and dignity.
Not, perhaps, the most immediately appropriate setting for a concert of any kind, unless it was to be Heavy-Handed Hymns Slowly Sung by Pompous People.
But there I was last night, to hear the fantastic Ninon Foiret and her superb group of musicians - they don't have a name as a group, which I feel should be remedied pronto - play a programme called Argentinian Landscapes and Mediterranean Soul. Tango music and music of heat and passion.
Key to the Argentinian music was the bandoneon , an accordion-like instrument invented in 1850 in Germany by a gentleman with a highly appropriate surname: Heinrich Band.
Where, however, the accordion or concertina are associated with jolly, folky seaside-fun music, the bandoneon has a much richer sound. Originally designed to be played in churches where there was no organ, it can indeed sound like a church organ - - or like people singing, or an orchestra playing - - it's a tremedously atmospheric instrument. In Argentina it is used to play tango music and perfectly captures the passion of the music.
Because it's so large - it rests on the player's lap - the person playing it has almost to dance along with the music in order to play.
The evening began with Ninon improvising music on the bandoneon - tapping, deep, resonant sounds, barely there sometimes - that led wonderfully into the music of Argentina. By the interval we had forgotten we were ever cold.
As we left there was the slight swishing of crinoline on stone floor as the Victorian ghosts began wistfully to dance the tango.
Oh, all right, there probably wasn't. But it was the best three quid's worth in West Yorkshire last night, no question.
Not, perhaps, the most immediately appropriate setting for a concert of any kind, unless it was to be Heavy-Handed Hymns Slowly Sung by Pompous People.
But there I was last night, to hear the fantastic Ninon Foiret and her superb group of musicians - they don't have a name as a group, which I feel should be remedied pronto - play a programme called Argentinian Landscapes and Mediterranean Soul. Tango music and music of heat and passion.
Key to the Argentinian music was the bandoneon , an accordion-like instrument invented in 1850 in Germany by a gentleman with a highly appropriate surname: Heinrich Band.
Where, however, the accordion or concertina are associated with jolly, folky seaside-fun music, the bandoneon has a much richer sound. Originally designed to be played in churches where there was no organ, it can indeed sound like a church organ - - or like people singing, or an orchestra playing - - it's a tremedously atmospheric instrument. In Argentina it is used to play tango music and perfectly captures the passion of the music.
Because it's so large - it rests on the player's lap - the person playing it has almost to dance along with the music in order to play.
The evening began with Ninon improvising music on the bandoneon - tapping, deep, resonant sounds, barely there sometimes - that led wonderfully into the music of Argentina. By the interval we had forgotten we were ever cold.
As we left there was the slight swishing of crinoline on stone floor as the Victorian ghosts began wistfully to dance the tango.
Oh, all right, there probably wasn't. But it was the best three quid's worth in West Yorkshire last night, no question.
posted by Daphne at 6:08 pm
1 Comments:
I have often worked with Tim Laycock, an excellent actor/musician who plays (amongst other instruments) the accordion and concertina. He can make his concertina sound like church bells and is frequently requested to play a tune called The Bells of Saint Mary's which requires him standing up and whirling his concertina in huge arcs and circles - it's physically exhausting (and that's just watching him do it!) but the sound is beautiful and exactly like a peal of church bells not at all jolly, folksy seaside-fun music (although he can play that to!).
Post a Comment
<< Home