Sexteto Mayor | en

When six senior citizens, who just happen to be the six most accomplished soloists in Buenos Aires, decide to sit down together and roll up their sleeves – something’s in the wind. And in this case, their sparkling, up-beat arrangements of classical tango pieces stemming from the first three decades of this century are anything but nostalgic. Bandoneon and violin dominate the foreground to trace the powerful and rhythmic outline of one exceptionally sexy dance! Their music downplays the abrupt and studied movements we’ve come to associate with its contemporary performance – to trickle down to the hot and steamy roots of tango as it flourished in the urbane and hectic capital, Buenos Aires, at the turn of the century.

Like jazz, tango was born in the witches’ brew of brothels and bars at the end of the 19th century. It took root in the teeming port town of Buenos Aires, especially the outlying districts, where a frenetic strudel of French, Italian, Spanish and German immigrants had gathered to try their luck at the turn of the century. Tango was an expression of what they got – and didn’t get. A passionate and passive, visceral and anti-intellectual, lascivious and utterly sensual – "a wistful thought one can dance to."

"Sexteto Mayor is, without a doubt, the best tango ensemble in Buenos Aires. The six soloists play like poets, letting their instruments sing". Le Monde

Sexteto Mayor

Sexteto Mayor is one of the most important and nice contemporary orchestras, having been the original orchestra for the hit show Tango Argentino.

(http://www.totaltango.com/acatalog/tango_sexteto_mayor_28.html) .