Biography
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Years Active
1973 – present (51 years)
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Founded In
Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Members
- Eduardo Walczak
- Enrique "Kicho" Díaz
- José Libertella (1973 – 2004)
- Luis Stazo (1973 – 2005)
- Mario Abramovich (1973 – 2014)
Sexteto Mayor is an Argentine tango sextet, founded in 1973 by Luis Stazo and José Libertella. Still considered the best tango orchestra in the world, it has made more than 20 recordings and received numerous awards, among others, the Latin Grammy Award.
Directed by bandoneon players and arrangers José Libertella and Luiz Stazo, the basis lineup of bandoneon, twin fiddle, bass, and piano remained consistent. Founding pianist Juan Mazzadi was replaced by Armando Cupo, who in turn was replaced by Oscar Palermo, while original bassist Omar Murtagh handed his position to Kicho Diaz and then Eduardo Aulicano. Violinists Mario Abromovich and Eduardo Walczak were preceded by Mauricio Mise, Fernando Suarez Paz, Reynaldo Nichele, and Hugo Baralis. The death of Libertella (2004) and the leaving the group by Luis Stazo (died in 2016) in the same year (he emigrated to Berlin) did not result in a break with the past. Abramovich and Walczak, who had represented the string fraction at Sexteto Mayor for years, took the reins and carefully expanded the range.
When six senior citizens, who just happen to be the six most accomplished soloists in Buenos Aires, decide to sit down together and roll up their sleeves – something’s in the wind. And in this case, their sparkling, up-beat arrangements of classical tango pieces stemming from the first three decades of this century are anything but nostalgic. Bandoneon and violin dominate the foreground to trace the powerful and rhythmic outline of one exceptionally sexy dance! Their music downplays the abrupt and studied movements we’ve come to associate with its contemporary performance – to trickle down to the hot and steamy roots of tango as it flourished in the urbane and hectic capital, Buenos Aires, at the turn of the century.
Like jazz, tango was born in the witches’ brew of brothels and bars at the end of the 19th century. It took root in the teeming port town of Buenos Aires, especially the outlying districts, where a frenetic strudel of French, Italian, Spanish and German immigrants had gathered to try their luck at the turn of the century. Tango was an expression of what they got – and didn’t get. A passionate and passive, visceral and anti-intellectual, lascivious and utterly sensual – "a wistful thought one can dance to."
"Sexteto Mayor is, without a doubt, the best tango ensemble in Buenos Aires. The six soloists play like poets, letting their instruments sing". Le Monde
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