Maria Volonté: Portrait – review
(Network/Harmonia Mundi)
By Robin Denselow
The Guardian (UK) – 9 December 2010
Maria Volonté is an intriguingly versatile and original Argentinian singer and songwriter who has been nominated for a Latin Grammy but is little known in Britain, largely, it seems, because no one has bothered to promote her here until now. Born just outside Buenos Aires, and based for a while in California, she has enjoyed a 30-year career in which she has recorded seven albums covering folk styles, Latin rock and (most notably) tango. Her first European release shows what we have been missing. It’s a compilation of songs from all her albums, along with new material recorded this year in San Francisco. It demonstrates how she can mix an intimate treatment of tango classics by the great Astor Piazzolla with songs from Chile and Brazil, along with echoes of late-night jazz and Latin-blues fusion. She has a cool, emotional style, plays impressive acoustic guitar, and is willing to experiment. The best tracks include her own composition 9 Vidas, with its mix of bluesy harmonica riff and Latin dance, a gently passionate treatment of Violeta Parra’s Qué He Sacado Con Quererte?, and the powerful Vidala Para Mi Sombra, in which she is backed only by her own frame drum percussion.
Why haven’t we heard her before?
Hi, we just started a new blog on tango history…each day we post an event that
happened that day in tango history…it can be the birth of a famous singer,
composer of poet, the debut of a film or the recording of a famous tango song…
you can even search tango principles according to their sun sign
Can you help spread the word by letting your students know about it or placing
a link on your blog…there is no advertising or money involved…we’re
not selling anything, we simply love tango and in particular tango history…we
welcome any suggestions…..
If you come to Rome, please let us know…we would be glad to welcome you
and show you around; my wife and I love meeting and being with people…thanks, have a
nice day…well here is the link http://todayintango.wordpress.com/
Oscar Wright and Maria Teresa Ruocco
66 via ovidio
00195 Rome, italy
I like Maria Volonte a lot and try to see her anytime she’s around and am looking forward to her next appearance in the San Francisco Bay Area. But I don’t know when that is. She has not send a schedule recently. Please give her and Kevin my regards the next time you see them.
I wish you the best of luck in maintaing a tango blog. It seems almost too late to compile a genuinely accurate history of tango since so many of the older players are gone. I think Maria can turn you on to knowledgeable people still living in Buenos Aires. You will have to investigate many existing books and many out of print ones as well as talking to as many old musicians in Buenos Aires and living abroad as you can find as well as old record store owners, etc. The “Tango Buenos Aires” group were in Berkeley last Friday night. Good luck.
I find your site extremely hard to read since it is in a small grey font. A computer screen is not white and grey is very bad choice. I know it is part of how the site is set up but Gutenberg printed in black and white for a reason.
Sincerely Armand Caputi