Now for some spicy improv from the Latin American realms. Violeta García has been causing a rumble in Argentina with her untamed cello work, and Ricardo Arias had been dreaming of a musical encounter with this jaguar for quite a few years.
During a 2020 visit to Bogota, they performed a venue called matik-matik – a small but thriving hub which has been serving Columbia as a “musical, cultural and experimental laboratory” since 2008. On the cassette Añagazas, Estratagemas, Jugarretas Y Tretas (PUBLIC EYESORE EH?124), we hear the strange anguished tones emanating from García’s unique approach to the cello, combined with the “rubbed elastic membranes” as vibrated by Arias using his bass balloon kit. Home-made unconventional sounds from objects plus a musical instrument seems like a typical Public Eyesore recipe for success, likewise the near-ugly surfaces of the sounds they make, suggesting shapes that writhe rather than dance.
Not since Polly Bradfield (who appeared on Eugene Chadbourne’s Parachute label) have we heard such dedication to wood-grain scrapery and tendon damage, for which Violeta García wins this month’s “golden sinew” award. See her website for an incredible photo of this powerhouse in action – the arm and hand she uses for fingering transformed into a mighty reptilian wing with the force of her playing. She’d make a good pterodactyl. Next thing you know (this was March of that fateful year), the pandemic struck and scattered everyone in confusion. But, in the words of Yma Sumac, at least they had their Xtabay. (15/07/2024)