Chamame - Music Of The Parana

though Argentina's most well known cultural export is probably the tango, it is by no means the country's only booming dance and music form. Hailing from that northern Argentinean region that is hemmed in by the borders of Uruguay, Brazil, and Paraguay, is another popular song and dance genre: the chamame. It is in this region, amid "Argentina Mesopotamia's" lush and swampy lowlands, that the insouciant chamame thrives. On Argentine: Chamame - Musique du Parana the vocal, guitar, and accordion duo of Rudy Flores and Nini Flores knock out 19 enchanting songs. The fraternal Flores duo sings about political parties, card games, exotic birds, and unmarried lovers turn fire serpents with buoyancy and good cheer. The detailed booklet that accompanies the CD credits 16th century Spanish music with the chamame's 6/8 rhythm, the Italian canzioneta with its melodic contours, and the Amerindian Guarani people with its name (in the Guarani language "chamame" refers to something done "lightheartedly, in a rather disorganized fashion"). With a birth that extend back to a ground breaking 1930s recording in a Buenos Aires studio, the chamame has established itself as a vital and ever evolving art form. With Argentine: Chamame - Musique du Parana the Flores brothers help to push the evolving and lighthearted sound of the chamame out of the shadow of the tango and into the ears of audiences around the world. ~ John Vallier|