As happened to many of the great innovators, Astor Piazzolla also paid a heavy price for his desire to change tradition to the point of being called "the killer of the Tango" by those who could not accept a way of understanding this extraordinary musical universe that wasn't Gardel's.
Today, celebrating the centenary of his birth (11 March 1921, Mar del Plata, Argentina), the genius of the musician of Italian origin, as Italian are the roots of Tango, is universally celebrated, but his path is not so much towards the glory, because appreciation on the international level has never been lacking, but towards that homeland recognition of his value as a composer tout court and of innovative genius has been long and bumpy.
Just to coincide with the centenary, a documentary by Daniel Rosenfeld is proposed that closely tells a very complex character, a virtuoso of the bandoneon who, probably influenced by the fact that he lived up to 16 years in New York, has found a point of reference for his experiments that have generated undisputed masterpieces.
Who knows if its roots are at the basis of this situation, but it is certain that Italy was a second home for Piazzolla also on a musical level, the ideal place to lay the foundations of the Nuevo Tango, using electric instruments, drums, singers like Mina, Milva, Iva Zanicchi.
Precisely in Italy, and with Italian musicians, he recorded one of the most famous titles of an endless discography, that "Libertango" that never fails in homages to the master.
And always in Italy, and always with Italian musicians, including Bruno De Filippi and especially bassist Pino Presti and drummer Tullio De Piscopo, who were among Piazzolla's favorites, he recorded the historic album with Gerry Mulligano, thus celebrating his vocation to marriage between jazz and Tango.
Of course today no one discusses the genius of Astor Piazzolla anymore, it does not happen in Argentina where his compositions, from works for orchestra, to famous pieces such as "Ballada par un loco" or "Adios Nonino" (dedicated to his father) are now part of the culture of the country.
But the most powerful demonstration of his genius comes from the very rich catalog of tributes given by musicians of all backgrounds, such as the great violin virtuoso Gidon Kremer, who in his "Hommage a Piazzolla" performs one of the most beautiful versions of "Oblivion", a of Astor Piazzolla's masterpieces, a sort of musical essay on melancholy that contains the most authentic spirit of Tango.
(HANDLE).