TangoMundo is a performance project begun in 2001 in Buenos Aires by Argentine writer/musician Guillermo Anad (Music Director, violin, viola) and Australian cabaret veteran Faye Bendrups (spoken word, piano, voice).
TangoMundo has produced concerts, music-theatre shows, scholarly research, popular press articles, lecture-demonstrations, taught scores of students the history and sociology of the Argentine Tango, and entertained hundreds of listeners at music venues and festivals.
They have been joined at various times by other leading Australian and international musicians and performers. Now, acclaimed accordionist and jazz master Anthony Schulz joins to make an unforgettable trio.
All TangoMundo repertoire is arranged by Guillermo Anad, who is an Académico Correspondiente for the Argentine National Academy of Tango and a specialist in the life and music of Astor Piazzolla. TangoMundo play an extensive range of his compositions, many rarely heard.
Piazzolla’s music flourished in one of the greatest urban centres of the 20th century: Buenos Aires. This is music that rises from the turmoil of the metropolis, crossing paths with classical music forms and reinvented street tango. His music evokes both dingy cabarets and classy concert halls, mixed up in the rhythms of the city in the run-down barrios where poets and musicians rule.
This is Piazzolla and TangoMundo: sounds of the city, sounds of people, passion, power, despair, drama, romance, regret; traversing Bach fugal influences, improvisation, Latin jazz, and the re-invention of the tango form.
TangoMundo’s latest CD Piazzolla Unleashed: Reclaiming the Edge is available on Bandcamp: https://tangomundo.bandcamp.com/album/piazzolla-unleashed-reclaiming-the-edge.
“The great achievement of TangoMundo is to mix classical and popular nuances of my father’s music using an unexpected combination of only three instruments: viola, accordion and piano. This is a novel and entirely Piazzollean approach.”
Performances
Photo by Lawrie Conole
Anthony Schulz
Accordion
An individual voice in Australian contemporary music, Anthony Schulz has developed a sound world that strives to dispel preconceptions of the piano accordion. It is through a lens of seemingly disparate musical forms that Anthony continues to focus his ongoing exploration and presentation of the accordion as an instrument capable of nuance and complexity. Projects including the internationally renowned Aria award winning world music ensemble Zulya and the Children of the Underground, The Bach Project with Rachel Scott (cello), Ball Hanlon Schulz (Eugene Ball – trumpet and Ben Hanlon – double bass), and the French Musette Ensemble Langue de Chat, all form part of the rich tapestry that is Anthony’s sound world.
Photo by Lawrie Conole
Kaira Hachefa
Vocals
Kaira Hachefa is a Naarm/Melbourne based and French-born performing artist, puppeteer, singer, Butoh dancer and theatre maker. In 2009, she created Compagnie articulate, a puppet theatre company and in 2016, after having toured schools for many years, Kaira’s focus shifted to Butoh and puppetry combined performances for broader audiences.
Kaira has performed nationally and internationally at festivals such as the renowned Festival de la Marionette in Charleville-Mézières in France. She’s performed across Asia, USA, and Europe, solo or as part of ensembles. In Australia, she has performed with numerous collectives and companies, including the Victorian Opera, Blackhole Theatre, Barking Spider Visual Theatre, and the Environmental Performance Authority.
Photo by Lawrie Conole
Jack Pantazis
Guitar
Jack is one of a rare breed; an in-demand professional musician for the past 40 years and a much sought after educator with over 30 years experience. It’s very difficult to find musicians who are able to comfortably fit the dual rolls of performance and education and maintain both success and love for the two sides of the same coin. Jack does this with integrity and boundless energy.
Jack is fundamentally a jazz musician whose highly refined skills and artistry cross over into other styles such as pop, rock, fusion, latin and classical music.
Jack's consummate playing skills have led to performances with ensembles that include The Daryl McKenzie Jazz Orchestra , and the Grammy nominated Tim Davies Big Band, to smaller outfits such as his own groups The Jack Pantazis Group, Synchronicity, and the Wes Montgomery tribute group, as well as backing artists such as Mike Stern (ex-Miles Davis guitarist), Bill Watrous and James Morrison.
Photo by Lawrie Conole
Anton Schulz
Double Bass
Hailing from Melbourne, Anton Schulz is creating a stir as the up and coming double bassist to catch at top jazz clubs around the country. Anton relocated to Mount Gambier in South Australia in 2019 to complete a Bachelor of Music under the tutelage of some of Australia’s finest jazz musicians. Anton’s trajectory has continued since his return to his hometown as reflected by performances with musicians including Tony Gould, Carl Mackey, Julien Wilson and Scott Tinkler.
In 2022 Anton had the honor of performing Toshi's Clinch's production of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts at St Pauls Cathedral featuring Michelle Nicole. Anton continues to explore and develop a personal approach to the double bass by performing across a variety of genres - from jazz and contemporary to Klezmer and French Musette.