Lunfardia, the five-piece folk ensemble, is flexing its musical muscle with a new album that pushes into
new terrain, writes
Siobhán Long
SOMETIMES, FAR from breeding contempt, familiarity can breed something more elusive: an intuitive understanding that requires no words. Ariel Hernandez may be the chief cook and bottle- washer of Lunfardia, his five-piece folk ensemble, but judging by the fluidity of their second album, Acollarados, it appears that this quintet has charted a highly sophisticated collective course that elevates their music to another level.
Lunfardia's first album, Picada Pa' Cinco, released just two years ago, was a lovable rogue of a debut. It tickled the listener's appetite for the music of Hernandez' home place, Argentina. Chacareras, milongas and tangos cosied up alongside a Romanian "Peasant Dance", which might have been a border crossing too many were it not for the presence of the band's virtuoso Romanian- Irish violinist, Ioana Petcu-Colan. Two years on, and Hernandez acknowledges that "the cogs are turning more smoothly". This time out, Lunfardia is flexing its musical muscle, and drawing on the classical backgrounds of its members to push them into uncharted terrain. And while the musicians engage in a formidable workout, their music is likely to challenge and stir their audience every bit as much, anchored by the band's belief that music that's sweet and immediately hummable isn't always up for the long haul.
The album's title track is aptly chosen. An acollaradasis an Argentinian device used to yoke together two horses of opposing characteristics with the intention that they modify each other's behaviour. So too, with the music: disparate musical forms vie with one another to find a point of mutual assent. In the title track, for example, the zamba and chacarera, two native Argentinian folk rhythms, cross-cut the tune with acrobatic agility.
“The zamba is exactly half of the speed of the chacarera,” Ariel Hernandez explains, “and sometimes you can use the same melody in both styles, although it’s not something that’s done normally in Argentinean folk at all. You have a zamba and a chacarera, and you don’t mix them. The title came to me in the middle of the composition, as I imagined the violin part as two horses running: one docile and one wild. As a title for the album, it represents all of our musical ideas. The way we push and pull, always for the good of the music.”
A veteran of the Irish Chamber Orchestra and a founding member of Crash Ensemble, Malachy Robinson's double bass steps into the limelight on Acollorados, tracing steep arcs through a repertoire that embraces the music of tango master Astor Piazzolla, Brazilian composer Pixinguinha and a quartet of tunes written by Ariel Hernandez. The closing track, Dos Hogares es Ninguno, a divinely melancholic rhythm from the west of Argentina, sees him trace the entire melody on his double bass with the precision of a silversmith.
“For me, Lunfardia felt immensely personal, right from the start,” Robinson says. “It felt like something for which I was prepared, even though I didn’t know I was.” Having acquainted himself with the minutiae of Astor Piazzolla’s work with Lunfardia’s accordionist Dermot Dunne in the Nuevo Tango Quartet, Malachy found himself utterly at home with this South American music. This time around, each track was arranged by Hernandez with the specific skills of Lunfardia’s members in mind. “Instead of simply writing for violin or accordion or double bass, I am writing with Ioana, Dermot and Malachy in the arrangement,” Ariel admits. Anxious to home in on what’s changed since their last studio visit, Malachy says: “The arrangements are more sophisticated, less conventional. The previous album was a bit closer to folk tunes, closer to their roots, whereas this album is stretching the group further. The arrangements are very clever, and the textures created are very rewarding.” And guess what? Ariel Hernandez figures they’ve just got a whole lot better at what they do.
“The traditional rhythms are more sophisticated,” he says, and then smiles “and the chacareras are a lot better now.”
Lunfardia launch Acollaradosat 8pm tonight in the John Field Room at the National Concert Hall and play St Thomas' Church, Achill Island on Friday
“The previous album was a bit closer to folk tunes, closer to their roots, whereas this album is stretching the group further. The arrangements are very clever, and the textures created are very rewarding
Other crossovers to catch
- Lebanese guitarist and composer Sami Moukaddem with saxophonist Brendan Doyle, bassist Jose Carlos and percussionist Robbie Harris, augmented by the group's latest recruit, vocalist Riona Hartman, samimoukaddem.com,
- Italian pianist, Francesco Turrisi's Tarab Ensemble, francescoturrisi.com.
