Diego el Cigala unites flamenco cante and Argentinean tango on his new album ‘Cigala & Tango’

The album ‘Cigala & Tango’ was recorded live at the Gran Rex in Buenos Aires

Flamenco-world.com, July 2010

Diego el Cigala unites flamenco and tango. Following his successful venture into the bolero world with ‘Lágrimas negras’, the Madrilenian cantaor has moved his cante to Buenos Aires in order to make ‘Cigala & Tango’. The album is the result of a concert recorded live at the Gran Rex in Buenos Aires on April 29th. The disc includes eleven tango classics, among them, ‘El día que me quieras’, ‘Alfonsina y el mar’ and ‘Nostalgias’. Musicians from both shores such as Andrés Calamaro, Diego del Morao, Yelsy Heredia, Néstor Marconi and Pablo Agri take part in the recording. According to the company, the release of the album will be followed by a DVD which will come out late in the year as well as a documentary film directed by Claudio Divella.

Diego el Cigala in Buenos Aires

Diego el Cigala says he discovered tango when he was a little boy through his uncle Rafael Farina’s voice. And now that he has delved into its classical repertoire in order to make the album ‘Cigala & Tango’, he admits that “tango and flamenco deal with the same thing, with little human tragedies that happen in the night”. That might be why it’s a genre which has been tackled by jondo voices from several generations, from Manuel Vallejo to El Cabrero, including most recently by Pepe de Lucía and Miguel Poveda.

When tackling this alliance, Diego el Cigala knew that he had to unite the artistic drive of both shores. To that end, the lineup he has forged ‘Cigala & Tango’ with is sustained by his most faithful musicians from ‘Lágrimas negras’, ‘Picasso en mis ojos’ and ‘Dos lágrimas’: guitarist Diego del Morao, Cuban contrabass player Yelsy Heredia, pianist Jaime Calabuig ‘Jumitus’ and percussionist Sabú Porrina. All of them are joined by a selection of performers of traditional River Plate music like Juanjo Domínguez on Creole guitar, Néstor Marconi on bandoneon and violinist Pablo Agri.

Before recording, El Cigala invested months rehearsing dozens of tango classics until he found the ones which best adapted to his voice and to firm criteria: “To choose only those songs which hurt”, in his words. And those were the ones which he performed at the Gran Rex in the Argentinean capital on the night of April 29th, 2010. According to Andrés Calamaro, who collaborates on the album performing Atahualpa Yupanqui’s ‘Los hermanos’ with Cigala, that evening was “a moment which transcends the history of music”.

During summer 2010, Diego el Cigala and his group are presenting the repertoire of ‘Cigala & Tango’ live at forums like Madrid’s Veranos de la Villa, Huelva’s Noches del Foro and Barcelona’s Teatre Liceu. And an international tour is now being scheduled which includes, besides Spain, other stages in Europe, America and Asia.

Diego el Cigala in Buenos Aires

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