July 28

I am very happy about the fact that here, in Rio Grande do Sul, the accordion, or gaita, is one of the most popular instruments. It appears practically in every true gaúcho band. The level of playing, needless to say, is really high, as I get the confirmation of it every Tuesday, listening to Samuca.
Today he sent me a few mp3's of his favorite classics. Here is "O que mais tu qué" written by Samuca and Arthur Bonilla - I found the video of this performance, beautiful and a bit scary...



I am thinking of accordion today also because tonight I'm going to the Teatro Renascença to hear two great gaita players - Chango Spasiuk from Argentina and the star of this discipline here, Renato Borghetti.

Here is the Borghetti playing "Milonga para as missões" by Gilberto Monteiro. No video, just the great, straight forward sound of milonga from Borghetti's first album in 1984.



And here is Chango Spasiuk and the band (well mostly a great guitar player) playing the famous chamamé tune "Kilómetro 11"