Written by Iñaki Durán
inakiduran.wordpress.com
Through the years and through many generations, Jazz and Argentina have had a tacit bond, and intangible relationship that can be explained through the immigrant’s suffering and nostalgia, and through having to build culture and identity in a different part of the world, where we feel foreign but that we adopted as our own.
When you sit down and listen to “Santa Fe” those feelings will permeate not only your mind but also your soul because it is impossible not to feel captivated by the expressiveness of this beautiful piece of work, which narrates Agustin Uriburu’s experience and journey away from his home country, the melancholy and vent of emotions that he doesn’t express through words but through music and through his instruments: cello and guitar.
From a totally unprejudiced standpoint, he invents and reinvents ways of interacting with the strings and the sound of wood to generate textures and settings that vary in intensity and tone, that also take you to different places and situations of his life, but also of ours. That’s the power of Jazz, that’s the power of freedom, there are no words because they would simply limit us and wouldn’t let us connect with our true SELF.
All of this intimate world that Agustin shares with us, is completed with elements that also take us to that Argentinean and European root, where folklore, tango, and classical music blend with Jazz to leave us with an intermittent halo of world music but also local music which is clearer at moments, and blurrier at others. A conversation between the person he was, the one he is now, and the one he wants to be, an artist that never loses faith in this path and in what he wants from life.
He shares this process of self-discovery and improvement not only with his audience but also with the musicians that take part in this album, they identify with him and elevate the songs to let the music fly, becoming involved, reinterpreting him and adding their personal experience which touches not only the author but also us.
That’s why, the work of Gabriel Chakarji, Daniele Germani, Juan Chiavassa, and sound engineer Daniel Alba, is key in adding a special tone to an already great piece of art.
In the digital and ultra-processed era, “Santa Fe” is a sonic oasis that forces us to pay attention, to feel the music and let it in, a freeing and healing experience that deals with identity, values, feelings, melancholy, and happiness, and evolution without saying a single word.
Written by Iñaki Durán
inakiduran.wordpress.com