CD 9155-2

Orientaction Orient Meets Tango! Roman Bunka (oud); Luis Borda (guitar); Jost Hecker (cello) 1. For Luis by Roman Bunka (5:25) 2. La Cumparsita by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez (4:06) 3. Milonga de Alejandría by Luis Borda (4:50) 4. Longa B. by Roman Bunka (6:54) 5. . Misses K.C. by Jost Hecker (7:42) 6. Retrato de Anselmo Lira by Luis Borda (4:50) 7. La Cachila by Eduardo Arolas (3:20) 8. Siwa by Roman Bunka (8:23) 9. For Luis - Fast by Roman Bunka (5:42) 10. Estampa del Norte by Luis Borda (7:43)

Roman Bunka´s biography may be considered a chapter in contemporary German music history. Working with the pioneering German avant-garde / rock / jazz and world-music group Embryo,Trilok Gurtu,Okay Temiz , Dissidenten, Hamid Baroudi, Tomatito, The Karnataka College of Percussion, Blixa Bargeld (Einstürtzende Neubauten), Charlie Mariano and many others. With the immensely popular Nubian singer Mohamed Mounir he extensivley toured in Germay, France, Spain and the Arab world.Bunka´s award-winning work also includes the live recording of his project "Color Me Cairo" featuring Malachi Favors from the legendary "Art Ensemble of Chicago". It appeared on the ENJA label and received the German Record Critics Prize. ("Color me Cairo", ENJA rec.)
Luis Borda ist one of the most prestigious musicians in the current "World of Tango" and new Argentine music. He studied harmony and composition with Osvaldo Lupi and Alberto Coronato. Since founding his own ensemble in 1982 he mainly plays his own compositions and managed to become one of the most important representatives and innovators of Tango Nuevo. His music is infectious, rhythmic and lively and always played with masterful skill.
He recorded a lot of his work with some of the most respected and famous Argentinean musicians, some of which includes Rodolfo Mederos, Dino Saluzzi, Leon Gieco, Lito Vitale, Juan Falú, Emilio del Guercio. He regularly tours South America and Europe and composes and arranges scores for theatre, dance and film productions.

Roman Bunka describes the birth of "orientacion" : "For me the bandoneon was the voice of Tango, It was a real surprise when Luis introduced me to the world of Argentinian guitar music. His harmonic refinement and radical approach counterbalances the modal and rhythmic playing styles on the oud."
The first Arabic tinged Tango melodies were quite an occasion and they began to compose for this instrumental line-up. With Jost Hecker (Modern String Quartet,Charly Mariano etc), whose cello playing binds all together very colourfully, they found an ideal third man.
It is a brave undertaking to attempt the connection between Eastern music, improvisation and Tango Argentino, as there has so far been none. This is precisely the attraction of "Orientación". Just as, in reality, cultures mix and thereby broaden their horizons, so the Tango warms itself here under the Mediterranean sun, and the starry night over the San Telmo quarter in Buenos Aires mingles with the stars over the Sahara.
But "Orientacion" is also the meeting of two familiar instruments:The Oud became first a lute, then a guitar through the addition of frets, travelled abroad and eventually spread across the whole world. The Arabs and their Ouds were driven out of Spain, and until the last century, were forgotten in Europe. The andalusian towns of Córdoba, in which the legendary Zyriab taught the Oud in the eighth century, and Almería, in which, a few centuries later, Torres built the first modern guitar, are just a few hours apart.