Caraguatá is the first solo album by guitarist Gustavo Pazos Conde. It is a very personal record reflecting his Uruguayan roots, but above all it showcases his talents as a musician as well as a composer.
Several years have passed since Gustavo Pazos released his first instrumental cd Papas Calientes (Hot Potatoes, 1998), a duet together with the Dutch guitarist Esther Steenbergen.
The quote which Gustavo uses for his new cd, a phrase from ‘Song for my guitar’ by the Uruguayan musical poet Osiris Rodriguez Castillo, is still the same as the one he used for Papas Calientes The very words ‘secret guitar that evokes the image of my land’ are still as relevant to Gustavo as they were in 1998.
Caraguatá is Pazos’ first solo album and contains thirteen instrumental compositions. Nine are written by Pazos himself. He recorded two works by the modern Uruguayan composer Sergio Fernandez Cabrera, a milonga by Anibal Arias and an estilo by the guitarist/composer Walter Heinze.
On this cd he incorporates some of the gaucho traditions, such as the milonga, the estilo, the chamarrita or more urban forms like the waltz and the tango. The signature sound of Montevideo is the candombe, the Afro-Uruguayan form of musical expression, and it is present on this album as well. Here the recent and the distant past converge with the present and possible futures.
Gustavo Pazos is not set on a faithful reflection of the Río de la Plata musical traditions, but plays his own interpretation of the musical sources important to him as a Uruguayan. These sources are very divers: the gaucho master Osiris Rodriguez Castillo, Atahualpa Yupanqui, the anonymous street drummers of Montevideo, the bandoneón landscapes of Dino Saluzzi, but J. S. Bach too, to mention just a few.
It is a very personal record, breathing Pazos’ deeply felt love for the music and the culture of his homeland. Listening to this cd is a very intense and rewarding experience, not in the least because of his skills and musical talent.
International reviews
Quietly intense, rippling with fragile minor chords and unafraid of silence.’ (Songlines ***)
Dutch reviews
‘De veelal eigen composities klinken persoonlijk, intens en even puur als de muziek in de concerten die hij wel organiseerde. In een enkel sneller nummer, zoals La Sarabanda is Pazos’ virtuositeit te horen.’ (Dagblad van het Noorden, ****)
‘Pazos Conde zingt en mijmert op zijn gitaar over de pampa’s, de schitteringen van de zee, de gauchomuziek in de verte, de veelkleurige processies van Montevideo. Geen technische zee gaat hem te hoog, geen gedachte te diep. Pazos Conde is een dichter en een meester inéén.’ (Parool, ****)
‘Meer klassiek klinkend dan specifiek Latijns-Amerikaans doet Conde zich op Caraguata gelden als een uitermate sensitieve gitarist, meer op zoek naar de emotie in zijn muziek dan naar het etaleren van zijn fabuleuze techniek.’ (Heaven, ****)
‘Zijn composities zijn mijmeringen over de pampa’s en de gaucho’s gedragen door vormen en ritmes als de milonga, de estilo en de chamarrita die hun wortels die in de volksmuziek hebben. (…) Het is aangename luistermuziek in de traditie van gitaristen-componisten als Atahualpa Yupanqui en Augustin Barrios Mangore.’ (Luister, ***)