Fraser Fifield / Walther E Castro / Quique Sinesi / Mono Hurtado: In Buenos Aires

Tanar Records

This intriguing and at times magical album is the result of piper and whistle player Fraser Fifield’s Creative Scotland-funded visit to Argentina, where he collaborated with Walther E Castro, exponent of the Argentinian accordion – the bandoneon – guitarist Quique Sinesi and double-bassist Mono Hurtado. The results are fascinating and frequently lusciously toned. Fifield’s whistle playing is as peerlessly avian as ever, as in South Atlantic Seven or in three beguiling but frustratingly brief improvisatory fragments. Throughout the album, the bandoneon, guitar and Hurtado’s bass contrast nicely with Fifield’s playing. Accordion and whistle sound over stealthy guitar and bass in Remembrance, while Border pipes shrill over rippling guitar in

Gaita y Bandoneon and pick up tempo in the increasingly animated Cordoba

Canntaireachd. At times, though, some of these improvisations sound a bit tentative.

Jim Gilchrist