Jorge Drexler flooded Buenos Aires with candombe this Friday during the presentation of his latest work, ‘Taracá’, with which the Uruguayan singer-songwriter returns to the roots, in a concert full of details and complicity with the public.
From beginning to end, the artist built bridges between his two worlds: Spain -where he lives- and Rio de la Plata -where he was born-, with expressions of affection for the Argentine capital, memories of his native Montevideo and tributes to Joaquín Sabina and Enrique Morente.
The 10,000 people gathered at the Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires enjoyed a harmonious concert, without special or digital effects, sober, but very innovative and enormously creative on a stage with a black background.
In his return to the roots, Jorge Drexler decided to focus on candombe, although during the almost two and a half hours of concert there were also flamenco airs, milonga and many of his classics, among them ‘Todo se transforma’, ‘Al otro lado del río’, ‘Guitarra y vos’ and ‘Sea’.
“Thank you Buenos Aires for giving me back much more than I give”. With these words he started a litany of good songs. Some of the new songs from ‘Taracá’ were already known to the public, despite the fact that this work has been released very recently.
Drexler explained the reason for ‘Taracá’, he said that it comes from the Uruguayan root, from the return home, it is the sound of the small drum of candombe: “ta” (a blow of the hand) and “ra-ca” (two blows of the stick). At the same time it was demonstrated live by Uruguayan percussionist Julio Sanrizz with his own hands.
He then commented that this onomatopoeia is also “being here”, a nod to his enthusiasts who broke into applause and cheers.
The communion with the audience came when the Uruguayan came down from the stage, walked around the enclosure and at the end of an aisle of people on each side he got on a stage and there he offered a good part of his repertoire. Those in the first rows had to turn around, look back, and watch Drexler get lost in the crowd. And there he sang a capella.
The Argentinian Mateo Sujatovich, leader of the musical project ‘Conociento Rusia’, then took the stage and performed ‘Desastres fabulosos’ with Drexler. The Uruguayan acknowledged that his guest is his favorite singer-songwriter, highlighting the sublime nature of his songs.
“While the value of oil goes up, the value of life goes down,” Drexler reflected in another moment of the concert, just before singing ‘Polvo de estrellas’.
And so it went to the end, each time with more rhythm and dancing with one hand on the heart and the other on the microphone. When the presentation ended, the audience had been standing for a long time, everyone forgot that they had paid for a seat.
Jorge Drexler performed with a band formed by four women and three men, most of them Spanish. The Uruguayans were the maestro Julio Sanrizz and Florencia Gamba (backing vocals, guitar and keyboards).
Myriam Latrece (backing vocals), Ale López (double bass), Eva Catalá (percussion), Vicente Huma (guitar) and Marc Finyol (percussion), originally from Madrid, Valencia and Catalonia, completed an impeccable band.
The Uruguayan singer-songwriter, who made his first presentation of Taracá a week ago in the Argentine city of Mendoza, has continued his tour in Buenos Aires, where he will perform again this Saturday, reported Agencia EFE, before continuing his tour of the rest of Latin America and Spain.
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