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Sliding over the borders of style

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Review by Barry Healy

Take a musician out of Chile (fleeing political oppression), couple him with an Australian, locate them in NSW's Southern Highlands and what results?: this sophisticated blend of Latin-American rhythms and jazz, which happily slides all over the borders of tradition and style.

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Tigramuna is the vehicle for Carlos Villanueva, Wendy Upjohn and friends to explore the edges of tradition and innovation. Villanueva is passionate about Latin-American music; in conversation, he can reel off loving descriptions of the minutest details of each national rhythmic variation.

This independent recording is a product of five years' work with Tigramuna (the word means “to return” in the Andean Quechua language). It amalgamates well-known styles such as the bossa nova and various Cuban and Afro-Peruvian styles with jazz improvisation.

The opening track, Desde La Frontera (“From the Border”), establishes the feel. An impossibly deep Andean pipe quietly leads into a swinging Afro-Latin workout, with improvisations winding their way all over the place. Yet the balance of the interplay never descends into chaos. This is innovative, but not avant-avant-garde.

Other tracks use Brazilian carnival beats, Cuban songo style, Bolivian takirari rhythm and many more. There is tight discipline in the unison playing and wonderful freedom in the improvisation. The six musicians use more than 20 wind, string and percussion instruments from traditional panpipes and bamboo flutes through to modern jazz instruments.

This is a remarkably professional creation from a band with no major company behind them.