"Avellaneda Blues" is a song by the
Argentine
Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
blues rock band
Manal
Manal was an Argentine rock group. Together with Almendra and Los Gatos, they are considered founders of Argentine rock.[Avellaneda
Avellaneda (, ) is a port city in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the seat of the Avellaneda Partido, whose population was 342,677 as per the . Avellaneda is located within the Greater Buenos Aires metropolitan area, and is connected ...]
, a port and
industrial suburb
An industrial suburb is a community, near a large city, with an industrial economy. These communities may be established as tax havens or as places where zoning promotes industry, or they may be industrial towns that become suburbs by urban spra ...
of
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
.
Composition
The composition began when Claudio Gabis and Luis Gambolini were walking along the tracks of Avellaneda and Gerli. Inspired by the walk, Gabis composed a harmonic sequence and an initial draft of the lyrics. A few days later, in a party organized by Piri Lugones where the group met its producers and Pedro Pujo, Gabis showed the chords and the draft to , who composed the final lyrics.
[''Elepé''. Canal 7 TV Publica. 2009. 60 min.] The group sang this song to Álvarez, who became convinced that he had to be their producer.
[Manales]
Dos Potencias. Consultado el 25 de Marzo de 2017. The song is a form of blues, with a resolution that substitutes the
dominant chord
In music, the dominant is the fifth scale degree () of the diatonic scale. It is called the ''dominant'' because it is second in importance to the first scale degree, the tonic. In the movable do solfège system, the dominant note is sung as "So ...
for a cadence that descends towards the tonic (chords bIII / II-7 / I), and a coda that is repeated at the end of each verse (chords I / II-7). The harmony and arrangement are similar to jazz. Sergio Pujol comments in his book ''Canciones Argentinas'': "The melody of 'Avellaneda Blues' practically does not exist, it is just a musical channel conceived by Martinez while reading aloud its own letter."
Recording
Like the other songs on ''Manal'', "Avellaneda Blues" was recorded in 1970 at TNT Studios. The recording technician was Tim Croatto, former member of The TNT.
[ The musicians were Javier Martínez on drums and vocal, Claudius Gabis on electric guitar and piano, and Alejandro Medina on electric bass. Jorge Álvarez and Pedro Pujo were the producers, with Salvador and Tim Croatto as the recording technicians.
]
Publications
"Avellaneda Blues" was released on the acclaimed ''Manal'' album of 1970. Shortly after, it appeared as the opening song of the double compilation album ''Manal'' of 1973. Being a classic live performance, it was recorded several times. The first was ''Manal en Obras'' in 1982, then ''Manal en vivo'' in 1994 and ''En vivo en el Roxy'' in 1995, but the latter version without Claudio Gabis, and in ''Vivo en Red House'' of 2016, recorded in 2014.
Reviews
In the list of the "100 best songs of the Argentine rock" by rock.com.ar website, "Avellaneda Blues" was ranked at No. 18.[&nbs]
The 100 of the 40
Rock.com.ar
References
External links
Postales argentinas en blanco y negro: el primer Blues Patrio
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1970 songs
Blues songs