This week’s Tango Mahi “Tanda of the Week” is a milonga tanda by “Trio Garufa”
2009 “Silueta Portena”
2004 “Patio de Antano”
2008 “Reliquias Portenas”
Trio Garufa is a San Francisco-based trio led by Argentinian guitarist and tango dance teacher Guillermo Garcia. Guillermo and the trio’s Swiss bandoneon and bayan player and a Californian double bass player record, perform and tour as a trio, but sometimes expand the line-up to include other guest musicians. They have a huge repertoire of traditional and nuevo tango music and for the last 20 years have been performed regularly in Buenos Aires and at tango festivals around the world.
I particularly like their musicianship and energy, the openness of their trio arrangements (which makes it easier than usual to hear the interaction between the individual instruments), and the way they use their three instruments to generate the melodies and harmonies more commonly played by the pianists and violinists of orquestas tipicas.
An example of some highly imaginative musical improvised social dancing to Trio Garufa’s “Silueta Portena” by Horacio Godoy and Cecilia Garcia at La Varuta in Buenos Aires:
