Valentina and tango

My name is Valentina Montoya. I have been singing tango with Mr McFall’s Chamber almost from the birth of the group. I remember when we were recording Revolucionario that Robert mentioned to me that he was thinking of making a future production of María de Buenos Aires. He also asked me if I would be interested in singing the part of María. I was thrilled and honoured to be asked. I thought if any group has the capacity to do this it is Mr McFall’s Chamber. A project for the future, he said. Well, that future is here!love María de Buenos Aires for many reasons. I am a singer of folk and tango songs and I love the stories they tell. And what a story this is and what a way to tell it! Horacio Ferrer, the great Uruguayan lyricist, spun a tale that is told in a surreal way with a distinct Argentine flavour. He used Lunfardo, the local slang of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, to underpin it and conjured up a world full of magical realism and a spectacular female lead. María is a heroine, a fighter with an outstanding capacity for reflection. She is born and dies in the first part of the work to be born again in the second part as a shadow destined to roam the streets of Buenos Aires. Here she is given fecundity and gives birth to a girl, which could be herself or the city which seduced, engulfed and killed her. It is resurrection on a major scale! María was written in the sixties and very much mirrors the Latin American social context which saw its conception, a continent flourishing with social change and artistic creation. Piazzolla pulled apart the old tango and reassembled it adding even electric guitars to it! Is it any wonder he ruffled a few feathers! He challenged tradition and created a spectacularly revolutionary work. It is not the old tango, but it is tango nevertheless – powerful, dark, seductive, mournful, at times colourful and imbued with a spirit of rebirth. You can purchase the CD on the Delphian Records Website.
*My original post can be found here