A young musician from Venezuela with Italian and Spanish roots, Silvano Pagliuca-Mena has released a single titled “La Tarabita.” That caught my eye because a tarabita is a suspended gondola, and I last went on one across a deep valley in the Amazon – and back!
It was a scary and memorable experience to see the canopies of 200-foot-high trees below with nothing but wire mesh between yourself and oblivion. I am glad the title attracted my attention because the music is a delightful box of tricks.
Pagliuca-Mena’s brother Angelo composed “La Tarabita,” and he plays drums on the release. Elvis Martinez, the bass player, tutored Silvano and the brothers met Pepe Carmona who is on guitar, while they worked with a music school. When the brothers moved to Madrid in 2018, they met Jorge Pardo through the Flamenco percussionist Guillermo “El Guille” Garcia.
Pardo played with Chick Corea, Paco de Lucia and more, and the brothers had admired his work for years. So when Angelo showed his composition to Pardo and he agreed to record the flute part for them, Pagliuca-Mena says it felt like a dream come true. The various parts came together over a period of nine years, from 2014 to 2023, and were recorded in separate places. Amazingly, by the wonder of modern editing and blending, the track sounds like an ensemble.
It is a tango dedicated to the Pagliuca-Mena brothers’ mother, Anna Mena, a performer who dances to Spanish music. From the outset, with the piano heralding the tango rhythm in a series of delicate phrases that set out the musical promise, that premise is fulfilled when the guitar joins with a joyful theme, under which the drums create the sensual sway of the tango.
Jorge Pardo’s flute adds the final flourishes across the top and the piece journeys through several versions of the tango rhythm, with each instrument contributing its voice. The flute is pinpoint accurate and stunning but what’s going on in the accompaniment on bass and guitar is also pretty impressive. The piece has been carefully produced to a high standard.
It is definitely tango, yet infused with Silvano Pagliuca-Mena additions, intricacies, and interpretation. There is a stand-still section with bass over delicate thrummed guitar and gentle percussion before the piano adds its solo voice. Simply wonderful Latin-infused jazz – a stand-out release.
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