''Tangos'' is a studio album by

Panamanian Panamanians (Spanish: ''Panameños'') are people identified with Panama, a transcontinental country in Central America (a region within North America) and South America, whose connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For m ...

musician

Rubén Blades Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna (born July 16, 1948), known professionally as Rubén Blades (, but in Panama and within the family), is a Panamanian musician, singer, composer, actor, activist, and politician, performing musically most often in th ...

, it was released on June 24, 2014, through

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label established by François Zalacain in 1982 initially to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed beginning a sequence of release ...

. The album consists of eleven new versions of compositions by Blades in the style of

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

, it features produccion and arrangements by Argentine musician

Carlos Franzetti Carlos Alberto Franzetti (born June 3, 1948) is a composer and arranger from Buenos Aires, Argentina. Early life Franzetti was born on June 3, 1948 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to Carlos Osvaldo Franzetti and Beatriz Julia Elena DeGiacomo de Fran ...

and the participation of

Leopoldo Federico Leopoldo Federico (12 January 1927 – 28 December 2014) was an Argentine bandoneon player, arranger, director and composer. Life Born in the district of Once in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Federico was one of the most outstanding band ...

's orquestra and the

Prague Symphony Orchestra The Prague Symphony Orchestra (Prague, Czech Republic, cs, Symfonický orchestr hlavního města Prahy ''FOK'') is a Czech orchestra based in Prague. The orchestra has traditionally been known by the acronym 'FOK', standing for 'Film-Opera-Koncert' ...

. At the 15th Annual Latin Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Album of the Year and won Best Tango Album. Also, the album won Best Latin Pop Album at the

57th Annual Grammy Awards The 57th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 8, 2015, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California. The show was broadcast live by CBS at 5:00 p.m. PST ( UTC−8). Rapper LL Cool J hosted the show for the fourth consecutive time ...

Background

The idea of releaseing tango versions of

salsa Salsa most often refers to: * Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments * Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music * Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music Salsa or SALSA may also refer to: ...

songs began almost ten years prior to the album's release but the recording of it started at the 2010 World Tango Dance Tournament in

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 ...

, where Blades performed some of the songs of the album with

. Five of the songs from the project were recorded in

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

alongside the orchestra of Argentine bandoneon player

while the other six songs were recorded in New York with the

. About the decision of making the album, Blades said "I always considered that the atmosphere posed by tango, the way in which you have to phrase the songs and their instrumentation were going to give the lyrics from my songs a much more complete dimension than obtained by presenting them in the Afro-Cuban music format, in the genre that is commercially known as salsa".

Track listing

All tracks were produced by

Credits

– vocals *

– production, arreglos, piano eléctrico (6-11) *

– bandoneon (1-5) * Carlos Corrales – bandoneon (1-5) * Federico Pereiro – bandoneon (1-5) * Lautaro Greco – bandoneon (1-5) * Damian Bolotin – violin (1-5) * Pablo Agri – violin (1-5) * Miguel Angel Bertero – violin (1-5) * Brigita Danko – violin (1-5) * Mauricio Svidovsky – violin (1-5) * Benjamin Bru – viola (1-5) * Diego Sánchez – cello (1-5) * Nicolás Ledesma – piano (1-5) * Horario Cabarcos – bass (1-5) * Daniel Binelli – bandoneon (6-11) * Leonardo Suarez Paz – violin (6-11) * Francisco "Pancho" Navarro – guitar (6-11) * Pedro Giraudo – bass (6-11)

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tangos (Ruben Blades album) 2014 albums Rubén Blades albums Spanish-language albums Grammy Award for Best Latin Pop Album Tango albums