Tangaria

French accordionist Richard Galliano knocks out an album or two every year and tours widely as a sort of ambassador for the entente tangoale that exists between Paris and Buenos Aires. This latest album is apparently all his favourite tracks, the ones he peddles when performing live. Oddly, they are delivered here in studio versions, which undermines the project since we can't hear how Galliano and his regular four-piece segue from song to song, surprise the crowd, and play off against each other. Eight of the 16 songs are Galliano compositions, which possess some of the astringency and tonal range of Piazzolla's work but none of the spiky angularity nor daring deviations. The other tracks are mostly his own arrangements. A rendering of Piazzolla's shark-themed ‘Escualo’ is a fine homage, full of tension and understated fear. The accordion has the requisite lungs and lilting melancholy of the bandoneón but lacks its rhythmic vitality. It also French-ifies tango, which will appeal to café-owners in need of a backing track, but perhaps less so to purists and dancers.