While Argentina is easily best known for its tangos musically (and culturally, for that matter), there's a wealth of folk styles available as well. The Instituto el Cimarron exists for the preservation of those folk styles (as well as tango) and performance of such. On their debut album with ARC, they put together a long program that covers the music of Buenos Aires itself, the music of the pampas, and the music of the Andean region at large. Each format provides different gains and losses for the group. The tangos in particular, chosen from some of the best compositions of
Piazzolla and
Troilo, come out as tinkling, delicate little tunes, rather than the grandiose and sweeping pieces that were originally written. Similarly for the Andean music (a bit of a rarity in Argentinean collections), the group tinkles along, emulating the Andean harp with its guitars to the point of cuteness -- it works for a few tracks, but falls apart on the more majestic compositions, such as Daniel Robles' "El Condor Pasa." It's in the folk styles associated with rural Argentina that the group shines. As the musicians move through the local adaptations of waltzes and polkas, the real talent of the group starts to come out. Their playing can be intricate (as an incredible solo on the neck of the guitar in "Pajaro Campana"), or it can muse gently (as a more careful moment in "El Quebradeño"). The group has a lot of musical ability, but often comes across as rather lightweight in the face of the tango and milonga masters. ~ Adam Greenberg