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The Argentinian accordionist, whose reputation seems to grow weekly, has a completely acoustic approach to his homeland’s heat-drenched music.

I’m following my own personal quest through this music, trying to express what is inside me, and this is just in there and comes out, regardless of the travels and the experiences

He took time out on his recent visit to England accepting a world music award and playing at the Gateshead’s Sage to talk to Fly: “There is a tendency today to define development by adding complexity to everything. I don’t see why development could not be towards simplicity just as well. Playing acoustically allows my music to be heard clearly, uncluttered by additional, often unnecessary layers. I prefer it this way because this way the music and my expression of it come across loud and clear, undiluted by anything superficial and artificial added on top of it.”

Spasiuk, although known predominantly for his polkas early on in his career, is an exponent of chamamé, the rural folk music of Northeast Argentina which grew out of the meeting and mixing of influences there over the centuries: the music of the indigenous Guarani Indians, African rhythms that came down from Peru via the slave routes, the Spanish Jesuit monks who arrived in the seventeenth century with their baroque music and instruments — which they taught to the Guarani — and finally, the Eastern European immigrants, including Spasiuk’s family, who arrived around 1900 bringing with them the accordion, the last element to shape the chamamé into its current form.

These disparate elements lend the music its unique qualities and its distinctive 6/8 beat with undertones of baroque and the folk dances of Eastern Europe. Spasiuk has received plaudits from many recently, including recently a Radio 3 award for world music and, although he won the newcomer award at the ceremony, he had previously released six albums in Argentina. Some of these were made available internationally, so newcomer is not something he could really be accused of being, and as he told me, his musical journey started long before that:

“I grew up with this music played around me all the time and I wanted to play the accordion and be a musician from a very early age. I learned to play as other people learn to ride a bicycle, naturally, without any intellectual effort, just by listening and playing what I was picking up around me, from the music my father and uncle played, from music heard at fiestas and weddings, and from the radio.”

I asked Spasiuk what he feels he in particular brings to the chamamé style. “Travelling obviously widens the horizons of experience, both as a human and as a musician, and I am very happy that I can make the chamamé heard in new places, new contexts and to new audiences. At the same time, however, I’m following my own personal quest through this music, trying to express what is inside me, and this is just in there and comes out, regardless of the travels and the experiences. So you could say that this is a two-way exchange: the chamamé is using me, to spread in the world, and I’m using the chamamé to express my personal journey as an artist and human being.”

His latest album, Tarefero de mis Pagos, subtitled Songs from the Red Land, pulls together some of the best from his last three albums along with some traditional tunes (incidentally, well worth getting your hands on). The album conjures up effectively the image of ‘the red land’ of Spasiuk’s home, or at least it painted a picture of what I imagined it to be like, and I asked him to give his description of the setting that gave birth to this earthy, rural music:

“The region of Missiones — where I come from — is a land of tropical temperatures, deep jungles, big rivers and vibrant red earth. It is the land of the maté tea farmers and chamamé is their music. Although maté is very widely consumed throughout Argentina, few people are aware of the land and the people from where the tea comes from, they don’t know anything about the daily life of the farmers, about their lives, their hopes and their enjoyments. This is why I have paid homage to the tea farmers, the ‘tareferos’ in the title of my new album.”

Spasiuk ended the interview talking of his drive to continue creating, “My music is my own quest for beauty and truth so it is a very personal thing to me. There is still a lot inside me that needs to come out, and this happens without the need of any outside stimulation or influence. It makes me happy to see how other people, new places and new audiences open up to my music and allow the experience of new forms of beauty.”

www.changospasiuk.com.ar
Chango Profile on BBC’s World Music site

• Wed 9 Nov 8pm LONDON The Spitz / 020 7392 9032 www.spitz.co.uk
• Sat 12 Nov 8.30pm KENDAL The Brewery / 01539 725133 www.breweryarts.com
• Tue 15 Nov 8.30pm CHICHESTER Minerva Theatre / 01243 781312 www.cft.org.uk
• Thu 17 Nov 9pm BRISTOL St Georges / 0845 4024001 www.stgeorgesbristol.co.uk
• Sun 20 Nov 9pm BRIGHTON Komedia / 01273 647100 www.komedia.co.uk
• Tue 22 Nov 8pm CARDIFF Chapter Arts Centre / 029 2030 4400 www.chapter.org
• Wed 23 Nov 8.30pm NEWCASTLE The Sage Gateshead / 0191 443 4661 www.thesagegateshead.org
• Sun 13 Mar 7.30pm TUNBRIDGE WELLS Trinity Theatre / 01892 678 678 www.trinity.net