Los Gauchos de Roldán – “Como Mi Suegra” (Like My Mother-in-Law)
Button Accordion and Bandoneón Music from Northern Uruguay
Yesterday, Smithsonian Folkways released an album by Los Gauchos de Roldán entitled Button Accordion and Bandoneón Music from Northern Uruguay. Accordions and guitars have brightened the social life of cattle-herding gaucho families of northern Uruguay since the mid 1800s. The rhythms the group play were popularized through urban dance salons and musical theater in the 19th century.
“We were just a few that kept up the struggle for people not to forget that the two-row button accordion is part of our roots. That the majority of our grandparents and their relatives met at dances where the two-row button accordion was played, there they fell in love, and got married. That’s the way it was, and we keep up the fight.” – Walter Roldán
Walter Roldán is the most respected traditional button accordionist in Uruguay. He pumps out time-honored polcas and chotis, Brazilian-tinged maxixas, and more on his button accordion as Chichí Vidiella adds the lush warmth of the bandoneón. Bernardo Sanguinetti’s guitar and Richardo Cunha’s percussive, deep-pitched guitarrón immerse the melodies in a rich nest of rhythms and harmonies, which formerly-exiled singer-songwriter Numa Moraes treats us to five gems of his repertoire. Read more about this amazing group in the Smithsonian Folkways Magazine’s Fall 2011 issue. In the meantime, have a listen to “Como Mi Suegra” (Like My Mother-in-Law) above to hear the incredible sound this group produces.
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