Tango Tinto: Camino Esquivo

The quartet Tango Tinto describes themselves as a “traditional quartet specialized in Argentinian Tango”. Their musicians are Gerardo Agnese (bandoneón), Bárbara Varassi Pega (piano), Virgilio Monti (double-bass), Vincenzo Albini (violin), and as singer Rubén Peloni. 

While their repertoire usually includes traditional composers (Pugliese, Troilo, Arolas, Plaza, D’Arienzo, Canaro, De Caro, Piazzolla etc.) to please the dancers at milongas and festivals, they increasingly add their own songs. For their 3^rd album Camino Esquivo seven tracks were written by themselves, i.e., four by bandoneonista Agnese, two by pianist Varassi Pega and one by their singer Peloni. The others are the 1949´s tango “El último organito” by Acho Manzi, the 1932´s tango “La casita de mis viejos” by Juan Carlos Cobián, Ricardo Brignolo´s “Chiqué”, Luis Brighenti´s “Ensueños”, and “Inspiración” by P. Paulos. They even arranged the old tangos a bit ‘nuevo’ to make them fit to their musical preferences.

While music like this can easily be somewhat boring, particularly when musicians intend to impress their audience with their skills, Tango Tinto do not make this mistake. They have the necessary verve and passion, they change tempi and atmosphere even within a song to attract their followers - and they have their singer Rubén Peloni with his warm timbre. He balances the vibes the ensemble creates with pure emotions.

Gerardo Agnese´s song “Voy a volver” is one of the wonderful moments of this album: The piano opens with discrete melodic and harmonic progressions, Peloni sings the beautiful melody with relaxed passion, violin and bandoneon respond with elegant melodic phrases, and the double-bass gives clear structure. For me, one of the album´s highlights. Further, Rubén Peloni´s “El rioba de la ex” comes along as a lively milonga-candombe and has the necessary elements to convince the dancers. Other songs need their time to unfold, i.e., the bittersweet “Sin tu manos” by Tango Tinto´s bandoneonista (Piazzolla surely would have been pleased about this reference).