Well, ARC has done it again: they've provided a competent midline CD with such minimal liner notes that one cannot even tell who is playing which instrument. The instruments are violin, piano, guitar, vocals, bass, and bandoneon, but there are only three musicians listed on the cover, although admittedly not every instrument appears on every track. The recording is a selection from four years of performances at a festival in Granada, Spain, a town which has taken tango to its heart, even though the form originated in the New World . The song list is not doctrinaire: it opens with a number by Astor Piazzola, the quintessential modern, but the second number is so traditional that you might have seen Gomez and Morticia dance to it on The Addams Family. And the hits keep on coming. The third number is "Por una Cabeza," familiar to millions as the tango piece from Scent of a Woman. This version is different from that by the Tango Project, in that this version features crusty vocals. Another song, "Pa'que Bailen los Muchachos" has a smoother, more attractive male vocalist; the bandoneon decorates the singing with great character. What is presumably going on with this disc is that there are several groups on it. Too bad they can't be identified. For a live recording, the sound quality is good. Recommended for fans of anonymous tango. ~ Kurt Keefner
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