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Pygmalion: Helado Negro with Bandoneon Massacre
Gallery Art Bar
119 W Main St.
Urbana, Illinois 61801
Category
Hours
View Website
Bandeon Massacre 9:30-10:30pm
Helado Negro 11pm-12am
Born in South Florida in 1980 to Ecuadorian immigrant parents, the world-building multi-instrumentalist Roberto Carlos Lange stitches together memories, impressions, and atmospheres to make detailed dreamscapes as Helado Negro. He produces, engineers, and mixes his own songs, literally creating and populating his own sonic world. Lange has a degree in Computer Art and Animation from Savannah College of Art and Design and works extensively with video, sculpture, sound, and performance. He brings that toolbox to whatever he makes, and there’s a seeming effortlessness to the complexity. His songs are awash with vibrant melodies, sharp lyrical vignettes, and subtle, even whispered hooks. Since his 2009 debut, Awe Owe, across multiple projects and collaborations, through his breakthrough records, 2016’s Private Energy and 2019’s This Is How You Smile, and to 2021’s Far In, Lange’s work continues to move past easy genre assignments. Showcasing that interest in open-ended multidisciplinarity, in 2022, he and his wife, the artist Kristi Sword, created the multidisciplinary exhibition, Kite Symphony, with Ballroom Marfa—it was a collection of impressionistic installations, drawings and sound pieces that encourages listeners to “open their ears to the sky, the sound of cacti, and the feeling of the wind on their skin.” Lange’s ninth studio record, Phasor, picks up on that interest in the natural world but in the form of pop music. Deep, atmospheric, and meticulously executed, it’s Lange’s tightest collection to date. Lange has been awarded a United States Artist fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts grant. He lives in Asheville, NC.
Bandoneon Massacre is a tango orquesta based in Champaign-Urbana, IL. The ensemble was founded in 2011 by tango dancer, dance instructor, and bandoneonist Joe Grohens as part of a group of tango dance enthusiasts who wanted to dive deep into the world of tango music and learn how to play it.
While its members have varied, the love for tango has been consistent. Over 40 professional and amateur musicians have been a part of the group, including members of the Champaign-Urbana tango dance community, local musicians, and university students.
The group has primarily studied tango dance music from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s alongside selections from contemporary tango music composers and arrangers. Bandoneon Massacre has performed in a wide variety of events and venues, bringing the joy and passion of tango music for dancing and for listening to milongas (tango social dances), schools, community events, bars and breweries, and more.