(By Romina Grosso) The musicians Tomi Lebrero and Segundo Bercetche will present tomorrow at 8:00 p.m. in Chela “Eternal Procession: a mythical journey through the history of the bandoneon”, an audiovisual performance that will be performed with free admission and investigates the origins of the instrument that It started in Germany and reached Argentina.
“From musical episodes, with images of our trips and based on our investigations, we review the history of the bandoneon, we talk about and reject this urban myth that is very much established here, which says that it had been a portable organ to accompany religious processions”, the bandoneon player, singer and composer Tomi Lebrero told Télam.
“Eternal Procession” will take place at the Latin American Experimental Hypermedia Center (Iguazú 451), in the Parque Patricios neighborhood of Buenos Aires, where Tomi will sing and play the bandoneon and Segundo will use synthesizers and will be in charge of the visual aspect of the performance.
In addition, there will be interviews and documentary records with which the duo will share with the public their trip through German lands, where the instrument was created.
With the help of the Goethe-Institut International Co-Production Fund, in 2022 Lebrero, Bercetche and the German filmmaker Karsten Krause traveled to the province of Saxony, in Germany, where the first bandoneons were forged, and also toured the city of Krefeld, where Heinrich Band, creator of the instrument, was born.
At the end of the 19th century, the instrument was brought to Buenos Aires and ended up being used in brothels and cabarets, giving rise to what is known today as the tango.
Two hundred years after the birth of Band and one hundred after that of Piazzolla, Lebrero, Bercetche and Krause traveled to record material from different bandoneonists, luthiers and factories, delving into the origins, present and possible future of the bandoneon: and they shared a rehearsal with the Bandonion Freunde from Essen, one of the last bandoneon clubs in Germany.
“It was exciting to go and understand how things evolved; at the end of the Second World War, the bandoneon was a popular instrument, people gathered in clubs to play the bandoneon and all of that disappeared”, stated the prolific musician, who has released 15 albums, about the experience.
“The bandoneons fell into disuse, where the instrument flourished was here in Argentina. It was interesting to be in the place where all the grandchildren of those people who had worked in bandoneon factories were. It completes the mosaic of love for the instrument, it gives you more elements, there is something there, in the history of the objects that is interesting”, continued the musician who at the age of 18 began to play the instrument attracted by the music of Astor Piazzolla ( confessed that throughout his adolescence he was a “maniac Piazzolla”).
In tomorrow’s presentation the DJ Natalia Fures will also be a guest receiving the public with tangos, and there will be a live communication via Zoom from Germany on a giant screen with the musicologist Jeanine Kruger.
Asked about what it is like to work together with Segundo, Lebrero assured that he felt they were “complementary”: “He comes more from the palo of electronic music and the visual; He studied cinema, he is very artistic, it is a guarantee that there will be a criterion in what is done, we are quite comfortable, he is a good partner ”.
Bercetche also spoke with this agency about this shared work: “Somehow we have been working for more than 15 years; everything started in 2007 with a Siamese creature that could sing and play the bandoneon at the same time”, commented Segundo, who since 2004 has released 10 albums as a singer-songwriter under the name Siro Bercetche, toured Europe several times and since 2015 is part of Lujo Asiático, a trio with which he makes “electronic music” without machines or computers: only with drums, synthesizers and samplers.
“Since then we have composed songs together very naturally and a bit of this is reflected in the performance –among which will be the beautiful ‘Night in the Pampa’; It is always a pleasure to work with someone with whom you do not have to explain or define anything. So the projects flow by themselves ”, he concluded.
Source: Ambito
I am an author and journalist who has worked in the entertainment industry for over a decade. I currently work as a news editor at a major news website, and my focus is on covering the latest trends in entertainment. I also write occasional pieces for other outlets, and have authored two books about the entertainment industry.
