Joaquín Alem played his instrument for around three decades before he got to know it all over again from the inside out. During the pandemic, he bought a bandoneon that was around 100 years old and in need of repair. Without further ado, he got himself a cheap instrument as a demonstration piece and dismantled it into its individual parts. "I basically destroyed it completely," he recalls.
He was able to transfer this knowledge of the inner workings - as well as the skills he had learnt in special courses - to the historical instrument, which he already knew very well from playing it, and make it sound good again.
The musician and composer has been a lecturer at the University of Oldenburg since 2016 and has been something of a bandoneon ambassador ever since. Although this instrument was invented in Germany and named after the instrument dealer Heinrich Band, who developed it significantly in the 19th century, it is much more popular in Argentina.
Two keyboards with a bellows in between - Germans are more familiar with this structure from the accordion. "But there are very few technical and no cultural similarities to the bandoneon," emphasises Alem. Sometimes the bandoneon sounds passionate, as in a fiery tango, sometimes infinitely sustained and - when played in a very specific way - its sound is even reminiscent of a church organ.
Private reasons brought Alem to Germany in 2015. Just a few months later, the musician, who is also a guitarist and, above all, a composer, had an interview at the University of Oldenburg. After 15 years of teaching at a music academy in Buenos Aires, it was important to him to find a comparable position in Germany. "I knew that I had a good education, but I am still very grateful that I was given this opportunity so quickly."
"Fun, beautiful and very supportive"
Alem initially led the Ensemble for Latin American Music and in 2020 was the first to offer a bandoneon seminar for students at a German university - with special challenges. "The seminar took place during the pandemic and the students didn't have their own instruments," he explains. So between the joint online events, they passed a bandoneon he had provided to each other so that everyone could practise on it. "It was fun, nice and very supportive," recalls Alem.
The programme will be offered again next semester - this time in person. Alem has also taken over the composition seminar from Prof Violeta Dinescu in 2021. Of course, students will have the opportunity to compose bandoneon pieces alongside pieces for strings and guitar. Alem will also be teaching a traditional tango ensemble made up of students for the first time in the coming semester.
Bringing the soul of Argentinian music closer to the mostly German students is a special attraction for him. "They have to learn this music like a new language. It is more than what is written in the grades. My impression is that the students are grateful that it's not just about theory, but also about feeling," he says.
Emotion is also at the centre of a composition with which Alem has made a name for himself as a composer in the recent past: the suite "Romeo y Julieta". With funding from GEMA and the German Music Council, he translated the famous Shakespearean story into tango nuevo, a musical style characterised by jazz and new music, among other things, which originated in Argentina in the 1950s. Together with four professional musicians from the Oldenburg State Theatre, Alem founded the "Joaquín Alem New Tango Group" and recorded the first part of the suite in the Lambertus Hall of St. Lambert's Church for a CD production.
Positive reviews of the publication followed. "A highly dramatic and emotional border crosser that combines the essence of Argentinian dance with the colours of classical and contemporary music and jazz," wrote the Journal Frankfurt, for example, which gave the CD first place in its charts in one issue. Alem is particularly proud of several nominations in various categories of the Opus Klassik award. "It was a great honour for me to be nominated alongside greats such as Steve Reich, Daniel Barenboim and Anne-Sophie Mutter," he says.
The New Tango Group presented the second part of "Romeo y Julieta" in mid-October in the Old State Parliament in Oldenburg. Although, or perhaps precisely because, the New Tango project has attracted so much attention since the publication of the CD in summer 2022, Alem sees himself as a versatile artist who is by no means committed to a single style. "Tango is only a small part of my artistic activity," he emphasises.
A glance at his diary shows this: three concerts are scheduled in North Rhine-Westphalia in October and November. There, Alem will be on stage alone with his bandoneon, performing pieces that he composed inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach. That's quite unusual, he says, playing the bandoneon all alone on a big stage. Is he nervous? "Sí! But I'm prepared." Just like any good ambassador.
