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Capturing the spirit of tango and vibrato

Juan Sebastian Delgado, cello
Published: 17 October 2017

Excerpt from CBC Radio Ideas with Paul Kennedy.

"There's a purity to music. It takes us into its own world, far removed from frustrations and challenges of daily life. But hidden within those innocent-sounding musical flourishes, there often lies a history of passionate disagreement.

In this episode of Ideas from the Trenches, we feature two musicians from the Schulich School of Music at McGill University who are deeply immersed in investigating the evolution of their art forms and the conflicts within. Flutist and PhD student Hannah Darroch takes us into a controversy known as 'the Vibrato Wars', centring on an all-important 'wobble' in the note that either expresses the human spirit or is "worse than cholera," depending on whom you ask. And cellist Juan Sebastian Delgado is a recent PhD graduate who searches out the essence of tango in today's challenging 'nuevo tango' music."

Click here to read the complete article and listen to the episode.

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