Why Clarinet?

In its prime, as the Europeans brought the things into Argentina along with their little accordions and whatever else made a fun noise, clarinets fit right into tango. Why wouldn’t they? Lyrical, articulable, and packable! It’s fun to hear them in the old recordings. Sadly, clarinet is NOT an easy instrument to record (it has an unusual sound wave that until recently was hard to get right), so they usually sound like some guy with no teeth is honking away. (Which is also why, to date, I have no recordings on this site: I haven’t been interested in investing the time and money for the recording setup I need to get a true representation of my sound. I will eventually, but honestly, I just want to spread the joy live at this point.)

In the last decade or so, a handful of modern clarinetists have been recording, and you go, my friends! I’ve heard some great klezmer versions, and some beautiful virtuositic work.

For me, I’m drawn to three main elements of tango. The first two are unique to the sound and style of the bandoneon. Bandoneon is a reed instrument (I just looked up a diagram for you, but for God’s sake, Teri, not everyone is that much of a nerd) and as such, has a very similar sound to other reed instruments like clarinet and organ. But the bando has added the performance style of staccato into its bag (bellows?) of tricks, and THAT is like waving candy in front of a toddler for me. So it has the sound of a clarinet with the nuance of articulation.

The third element of tango is certainly used by the bandoneons, but also the violins and vocalists, and that is the deep, rich melodic lines. The songs of love, the songs of despair, the songs of the Porteño. Baby, we can sing too! Clarinet ranges three and a half octaves, and I can sing of despair from bottom to top.