Argentina at 200
All week from Monday 24 May 2010, The Strand will broadcast a special week of programming exploring 'Argentina at 200 – beyond the tango'.
Throughout the week, the 91Èȱ¬'s Danny Aeberhard will speak to Argentinian musicians about their music and how it links to aspects of their national identity. He discovers that there is much more to the country’s musical heritage than the tango.
Monday 24 May: Buenos Aires – Argentina’s urban heart
Photo: Danny Aeberhand
Guided by two citizens – or ±è´Ç°ù³Ù±ðñ´Ç²õ – Danny embarks on a mini audio-tour of this vibrant and complex city, offering glimpses of the city’s past and present through its buildings and public spaces, as well as insights into ±è´Ç°ù³Ù±ðñ´Ç life. The tour is enriched by music, inspired in situ by places such as the birthplace of tango maestro, Carlos Gardel.
Tuesday 25 May: A life of protest, a life of song: Horacio Guarany
Photo: Danny Aeberhand
Horacio Guarany, the gravel-voiced godfather of traditional Argentinian music speaks to Danny in his first ever interview with the 91Èȱ¬. Now 85 years old, Horacio has spent a lifetime singing about the poor and dispossessed. He describes living in exile in the 1970s and explains that he thinks of his songs as testimonials, rather than protests. Horacio tells the programme that he does not feel excited about the bicentenary.
Wednesday 26 May: Argentina’s other “guitar”: Jaime Torres and the art of the charango
Photo: Danny Aeberhand
Jaime Torres, Argentina’s master of the charango, takes Danny through the rhythms of the Andean northwest of the country – an area that shares much of its musical heritage with places like Bolivia or Peru. He reminds Danny that Argentina’s musical roots date back many years before the bicentenary.
Thursday 27 May: Sister at the mic! Argentina meets Jamaica
Photo: Danny Aeberhand
Young, streetwise and independent, emerging reggae star Alika shows Danny around one of the villas – or slums – on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Shespeaks about life for urban Argentines on the other side of the economic divide and Danny explores why there are so few women in Argentine music outside the world of tango, folklore and classical.
Friday 28 May: The tango of the northeast?
Photo: Danny Aeberhand
Danny speaks with accordionist Chango Spasiuk, who is part of the new wave of Argentine traditional music and a prime exponent of ³¦³ó²¹³¾²¹³¾Ã©, a lilting, often haunting form of rural dance music from the subtropical northeast of the country.