Tananai Tango

France’s Gotan Project has seen their recordings sell over two million copies worldwide to date , and has had their songs used in television commercials, radio ads, feature and documentary films – and more than a few corporate business presentations. Founding members Philippe Cohen Solal, Christoph H. Muller, and Eduardo Makaroff have an uncanny track record for melding Argentinian tango to virtually any music they choose…

Pianist and composer Håkon Skogstad releases his new album, 8 Concepts of Tango, the sequel to Norwegian Grammy-awarded Visions of Tango from 2021. The album is the third installment of Skogstad’s tango trilogy, where the aim has been to develop a new musical style in the wake of Astor Piazzolla. On 8 Concepts of Tango, Skogstad performs in the company of seven hand-picked musicians - all experts in the Argentine tango/classical music segment.

Inspired by a general love of the tango, and more specifically the tango of Astor Piazzolla, on the part of Yo-Yo Ma, the Soul of the Tango album is a masterful work of the nuevo tango, played by Ma's cello and many of Piazzolla's former associates. Piazzolla's old guitarists Sergio and Odair Assad even showed up to work on a pair of tracks arranged by Sergio: the Tango Suite (consisting of Andante and Allegro). The sheer beauty of one of Piazzolla's tangos is generally enough to warrant the purchase of an album involving them. An album such as this one, where all of the songs (save one: Tango Remembrances, where Ma plays along with outtakes from Piazzolla's recording of The Rough Dancer and the Cyclical Night album) are compositions by Piazzolla is even better. Add to this the masterful playing of Ma, and the surprising facility in which the cello fits into the tango, and you've got what could become a classic album, if only it weren't on the classical label from Sony.