COMPOSERS: Donato,Zerillo
LABELS: Edge music
WORKS: Cristobal Repetto
PERFORMER: Cristóbal Repetto (vocals); with Gustavo Santaolalla (backing vocals), Daniel Yaría, Javier Amoretti, Martín Creixell (guitar), Javiere Casalla (violín corneta), Federico Siciliano (accordion), Don Angel Feliciano Mele, Federico Callejas (Maipú guitars)
CATALOGUE NO: 477 5121
Every once in a while, a new voice comes along that knocks you sideways. Tango singer Cristóbal Reppeto is the owner of just such a voice. Famously described by one Uruguayan critic as sounding like he’s ‘swallowed a gramophone’, this 25-year-old Argentinean’s style really is like nobody else – instantly recognisable and addictive.
Fittingly, for one with such peculiar vocal chords, his debut album is as ‘old school’ as it gets, made up of vintage but little known tangos (and one thrilling ‘rural milonga’) from the late 1920s and early ’30s. Repetto’s stunning pipes are usually accompanied by three crisp acoustic guitars – though on a couple of numbers, just one – an accordion, and occasional bouts of the rustic ‘violín corneto’ popular during this period.
Credit must go to producer Gustavo Santaolalla (of Bajofondo Tangoclub, with whom Repetto has guested) for keeping it simple, like a knowing masterchef confident in the quality of his ingredients. Utterly sublime. Jon Lusk