iiiiiiiiiiiiiipuuuuuuuuu (onomatopeya del sonido de un sapucay)

Todo un orgullo: firmar una nota sobre el Chango Spasiuk en uno de los diarios más leídos en inglés en Estados Unidos.

Ojalá hubiera tenido más espacio para poner todo lo que quería poner, ya que hablar de Misiones, la tierra roja (esa parte me la cortaron), el chamamé, es hablar de mí mismo también.

Nada de eso, la escribí como si fuera un observador imparcial... :-S ... porque obviamente a mis lectores más les importa de qué va el festival este que si yo crecí en Misiones o en Chubut... o en Oaxaca o en Temuco.

(Mañana se publica la versión en español en Hora Hispana, más extendida y más sobre el Chango. La original en inglés está acá).

Tango plus Chango
By Diego Graglia - Wednesday, October 3rd 2007, 4:00 AM

Tango has grown remarkably in the city in recent times, both as a spectacle and as a discipline. This weekend, the N.Y. Tango Festival will offer aficionados a bacchanal of the Argentinean music they love — plus a healthy dose of a genre they likely know nothing about.

Ensconced among dozens of tango classes, social dances and shows where the square-shaped squeezebox known as bandoneón will reign supreme, there’ll be a furtive appearance by its big cousin, the accordion, the key instrument in a little-known Argentine music genre, chamamé.

Livelier and warmer than its distant relative from the big city, chamamé is the soundtrack of the Argentine Northeast.

“[Chamamé] is a rural music, not an urban one,” accordionist Horacio (Chango) Spasiuk says on the phone from Los Angeles, by way of an introduction.

At 39, he’s considered one of the genre’s biggest innovators, to the point that some call him “the Piazzolla of chamamé,” likening him to the great tango revolutionary Astor Piazzolla.

Spasiuk comes from Misiones, a province more than 600 miles north of Buenos Aires, “a place of big rivers, high temperatures, jungle.”

Chamamé springs from the mix of Guaraníes, Creoles and Europeans in that far corner of Argentina. Its six-beat rhythm also shows some African influence, Spasiuk says.

The Chango Spasiuk Quinteto will perform Sunday at Symphony Space, Broadway at 95th St., one of three shows at the festival presented by the World Music Institute. The series also features the Tango Connection music and dance ensemble tomorrow and Friday at 8 p.m., and Fontango with singer Roxana Fontán Saturday at 8 p.m.

But starting tomorrow and through Sunday, there’s a lot more for the tango-loving crowd at the festival.

There will be classes for beginner, intermediate and advanced dancers; conferences on singer Carlos Gardel and other maestros, and nightly milongas, or social dances, some with live music. (For more information, visit nytangofestival.com.)

Spasiuk — who will also perform Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Americas Society (Park Ave. at 68th St.) — arrives in New York on his first U.S. tour, part of a longtime effort to bring his music to new audiences.

The Latin Grammys took notice when Spasiuk’s latest album, “Tarefero de Mis Pagos,” was nominated in the folk category in 2006. The BBC gave him the 2005 World Music Newcomer award.

As a rural music with popular roots, chamamé has rarely found a broad audience outside its home region.

“When you play live, it’s one more small step you take,” Spasiuk says. “It’s been years of an artisanal work, and not only outside Argentina, but also inside the country.”