The Edge of Tango

SONICO was founded in Brussels (Belgium) in 2015. It is the only group in the world dedicated to the music of Eduardo Rovira, an Argentine composer often mistakenly known as ‘the other Astor Piazzolla’. Despite a wide range of highly personal compositions rich in ideas, Rovira fell into oblivion after his death in 1980.

Piazzolla and Rovira are usually considered the two founders of modern tango. It is sometimes claimed that there was a certain rivalry between the two, and they were often the subject of debate about which of them was the first to innovate tango. This controversy has not yet produced a clear winner, but it is nevertheless a good starting point for understanding why SONICO went in search of the roots of modern tango!
This concert brings together for the first time the music of the two most important groups that were at the cradle of modern tango: the Octeto Buenos Aires (Piazzolla) and the Octeto La Plata (Rovira). With these ensembles, Rovira and Piazzolla sought to explore the boundaries (“the edge”) of tango. The programme includes not only music from recordings thought to be lost (Piazzolla burned the scores, Rovira’s original manuscripts were destroyed in a flood) but also four previously unpublished pieces.