Tamarugo - Tan Lejos del Mar (1979)

Conseguimos el disco en lossless y ya forma parte de la Biblioteca Sonora. Recién lo conocía y ni sabía que existía, pero gracias al p{ublico cabezón lo conseguimos en la mejor calidad. Un LP que salió únicamente en Francia y es muy difícil de conseguir de unos chilenos exiliados en la dictadura de Pinochet, muy buena banda rock canterburiano a la chilena, una versión más jazzera del típico grupo de folk-rock andino, mas jazzeros que Los Jaivas y más rockeros que Congreso.

Artista: Tamarugo

Álbum: Tan Lejos del Mar
Año: 1979
Género: Prog Folk / Jazz fusión
Nacionalidad: Chile

Lista de Temas:
01. La confusion total
02. El todo en un saco
03. El retorno
04. Perro que ladra no muerde
05. Tan lejos del mar
06. Colombes 77
07. Plenilunio
08. Santiago

Alineación:
- Matias Pizarro: Piano, voz, arreglos de cuerdas.
Alejandro Rivera:Guitarra, quena, siku, charango, voz
Pablo Texier: bajo, guitarra, voz
Invitados;
Gustavo Mujica: letras
Patricio Villarroel: Bateria, tablas, percusion.
Jeff Terrier: Saxo soprano
Gilles Mahaud: Corno francés

Tamarugo fue una excelente agrupación de folk jazz fusión, y corresponde a una de las tantas bandas de calidad que ha producido Chile: Jaivas, Congreso, Blops, Amankay, Agua, Ortiga, Skúas, Inti Illimani, Amerindios, etc. No voy a comentar demasiado de la obra porque no la conocía hasta hace un momento, la descubrí, la escuché, la busqué, y como no la encuentro en buena calidad la difundo entre ustedes a ver si aparece alguien que la comparta en lossless.

Tamarugo, en su única placa "Tan Lejos del Mar" (1978), tuvo influencias folkloricas abundantes y diversas, sólo que aquí aparecen expresadas en una forma, inédita. Se presiente una atmósfera que nos retrotrae al particular estilo Canterburiano. Eran mas jazzeros que Los Jaivas y más rockeros que Congreso.

Wikipedia

Aquí pondremos a prueba la capacidad de respuesta de la comunidad cabezona. Veremos si el disquito, ya una rareza para coleccionistas, aparece por algún lado.
Vamos con alguna información sobre el disco:

"Matias Pizarro y uno de sus incansables proyectos que vio la luz en París en 1978, junto a Alejandro Rivera y Pablo Texier y el percusionista Patricio Villarroel. En algunos foros europeos se lo califica como música de fusión y que cuenta con mucha admiración por su calidad. Una joya invaluable desconocida hasta en Chile..."

No voy a reseñar un disco que recién estoy conociendo, pero lo peuden escuchar ustedes mismos. Si lo conseguimos en lossless hacemos capote :)

Este es el único album del trío Tamarugo, formado por exiliados chilenos en Francia. El grupo estaba integrado por el tecladista Matías Pizarro (principal compositor), el guitarrista Alejandro Rivera y el bajista Pablo Texier. Los ocho temas de este LP recorren una gran variedad de géneros. Sin ser un especialista en estas cuestiones, puedo sintetizar diciendo que se trata de una mezcla de folklore, jazz y rock o, como dijo Sean Trane en su reseña para progarchives, 'una versión más jazzera del típico grupo de folk-rock andino'.
Al parecer este disco, que sólo fuera editado en vinilo en Francia en 1979, es muy difícil de conseguir. Por este motivo, la disponibilidad de ripeos en la web es escasa. Hasta donde sé, existirían sólo dos rips: uno en MP3 de 320kbps al cual le faltaban dos temas, y presentaba otros defectos menores, y otro en una calidad muy baja, pero completo. Por eso tuve que completar los temas faltantes en el rip de 320 con los archivos del rip de calidad inferior. Otros cambios: los temas fueron ordenados según el orden correcto, edición con MPtrim en varios temas (eliminación de fragmento de audio que no correspondía al album, eliminación de algunos silencios largos), tags añadidos, arte de tapa incluido.

p0l

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Aquí, algunos comentarios en inglés, para condimentar un poco más el post.

Lively, tuneful prog album by the Chilean band that garnered its only official release in France. The mood is generally light-hearted, with a lot of playful instrumental interplay; in fact this one oddly reminds me of some Diethelm / Famulari works, albeit on a latin folk base rather than classical. You'd wish it was an entirely instrumental affair as the skills on display here are nothing short of fabulous, but the weaker vocals creep in every now and then - fortunately, they are too few and far between to spoil the impression. Overall, a fascinating listen! Levgan

Lisa Sinder

Sole album from these Chilean refugees (Pinochet's regime) in France and obviously their homeland missed them tremendously, not only musically, but lyrically as well. This trio obviously rode the wave created by Congresso and Los Javais, and their sole album was probably more aimed at the French and Spanish markets, because reading the texts, I doubt the Pinochet clique would've allowed this political album (its title means so far away from the sea and talks of jails and gaols) to circulate the Santiago or Valparaiso streets. The trio was lead by keyboardist Pizzaro , the main songwriter although he shared a lot with guitarist Rivera, with the excellent Bassist writing just one, but excellent tune. The album gets an introduction from Gustavo Mujica who also wrote two song's lyrics.
Opening on heavily Latino folk Confusion Total, an up-tempo almost bossa nova piano-lead track (you could believe this was Caravan's Sinclair on bass), but Todo en Un Saco (everything in one bag) speaks loads of the will of change back home, and the queno (small Andean flute) is highly emotional. The following El Retorno is no less eloquent, but with a Fender Rhodes as foundation. The 9-minutes Perro Que Ladra No Merde (barking dogs don't bite) is a fantastic trip down Emotion Lane, with its bossa bass, its queno and both types of piano around, and an excellent sax around the end. Clearly the last track is the highlight of the album, but do listen to the more conventional songs, a proghead should find many twists, especially early Caravan fans).
The flipside is a bit built the similar as the A-side (3 short tracks and finishing on an mini-epic), but holds two instrumentals. The opening title track refers to freedom restrictions (how can the sea be so far away in a country 100 miles as its widest??) and is a lovely piece getting a string quartet arrangements. Most likely, Colombes 77 is probably about the Parisian suburbs where they landed in 77. This is a very tricky and complex pure fusion instrumental that could rival with RTF or Brand X. The following Full Moon is the most Andean folky and is another poignant wish for freedom and a close walk to the sea. The flute and piano exchanges bring much chills down your spine. The closing almost 10- mins Santiago starts slowly again on the flute, and cymbals, before the Fender Rhodes and bass pick up the track, turn it into superb up-tempo bossa, where you could dream of Nine Feet Above Ground, or even Hunting We Shall go, because the string quartet returns to much affect and emotions. Splendid flipside giving this group a real winner.
Certainly a jazzier version of the "usual" Andean folk-rock group; Tamarugo is an excellent entry point to Austral Southern American music, especially if you fear a bit the cheesiness of some of the Jaivas or Congreso tracks. Too bad these guys never made another album, but given the music industry and the date of this release, maybe it's best that way.

Sean Trane

Although not strictly prog, the songs in this album have a far more interesting combination of harmony and instrumentation than most prog folk bands, and prog bands in general. While many bands have great instrumentation (acoustic or electric), a lot of the harmonies in the prog world can become repetitive, either with the worn-out baroque harmonies or commonplace rock harmonies. Jazz-rock bands venture a bit more, but they are usually very heavy and electric, so what does someone who want ambitious harmonies with folk instrumentation? Well, for someone open minded, Brazilian folk-jazz is a great source of this kind of music (especially the musicians involved with the Clube da Esquina, Egberto Gismonti, Dori Caymmi, etc), but if you want to explore it even further, outside of that world, with other rhythms and languages, Tamarugo has a lot to offer with this album. Unfortunately this is their only one. Strongly recommended! People who like this might also enjoy ETERNIDAD, ANACRUSA.

Raphael Gimenes

A Chilean trio that released one sole album on a French label, TAMARUGO named themselves after a very helpful edible shrub growing in deserted pampas. Obviously the group benefited from a lot of sympathy towards fleeing countrymen (and by now French refugees) LOS JAIVAS and CONGRESSO whom both had much success with their Andean Folk music, a bit like other second wave Argentinean group Horizonte.
TAMARUGO’s music was certainly much jazzier than the other three aforementioned groups, using much bossa nova and sometimes even sounding like CARAVAN, but they managed to remain distinctly Andean folk sounding, despite some tremendous instrumental forays in jazz-rock. Their sole album was released on the French label Escargot in February 79, and the songs are sung in Spanish, the lyrics were written bilingual, showing how this was more of a French products than it was in its Pinochet-dominated homeland. This was to be their sole album though, and I don’t think the album received a legitimate Cd reissue, which is a damn shame by Hugues Chantraibe.

return to the underground

Sole album from these Chilean refugees (Pinochet’s regime) in France and obviously their homeland missed them tremendously, not only musically, but lyrically as well. This trio obviously rode the wave created by Congresso and Los Javais, and their sole album was probably more aimed at the French and Spanish markets, because reading the texts, I doubt the Pinochet clique would’ve allowed this political album (its title means so far away from the sea and talks of jails and gaols) to circulate the Santiago or Valparaiso streets. The trio was lead by keyboardist Pizzaro , the main songwriter although he shared a lot with guitarist Rivera, with the excellent Bassist writing just one, but excellent tune. The album gets an introduction from Gustavo Mujica who also wrote two song’s lyrics.
Opening on heavily Latino folk Confusion Total, an up-tempo almost bossa nova piano-lead track (you could believe this was Caravan’s Sinclair on bass), but Todo en Un Saco (everything in one bag) speaks loads of the will of change back home, and the queno (small Andean flute) is highly emotional. The following El Retorno is no less eloquent, but with a Fender Rhodes as foundation. The 9-minutes Perro Que Ladra No Merde (barking dogs don’t bite) is a fantastic trip down Emotion Lane, with its bossa bass, its queno and both types of piano around, and an excellent sax around the end. Clearly the last track is the highlight of the album, but do listen to the more conventional songs, a proghead should find many twists, especially early Caravan fans).
The flipside is a bit built the similar as the A-side (3 short tracks and finishing on an mini-epic), but holds two instrumentals. The opening title track refers to freedom restrictions (how can the sea be so far away in a country 100 miles as its widest??) and is a lovely piece getting a string quartet arrangements. Most likely, Colombes 77 is probably about the Parisian suburbs where they landed in 77. This is a very tricky and complex pure fusion instrumental that could rival with RTF or Brand X. The following Full Moon is the most Andean folky and is another poignant wish for freedom and a close walk to the sea. The flute and piano exchanges bring much chills down your spine. The closing almost 10-mins Santiago starts slowly again on the flute, and cymbals, before the Fender Rhodes and bass pick up the track, turn it into superb up-tempo bossa, where you could dream of Nine Feet Above Ground, or even Hunting We Shall go, because the string quartet returns to much affect and emotions. Splendid flipside giving this group a real winner.
Certainly a jazzier version of the “usual” Andean folk-rock group; Tamarugo is an excellent entry point to Austral Southern American music, especially if you fear a bit the cheesiness of some of the Jaivas or Congreso tracks. Too bad these guys never made another album, but given the music industry and the date of this release, maybe it’s best that way.

CoolTrane

Espero les guste y que pronto lo tengamos en la Biblioteca Sonora... como se merece.