Chicago’s Swing Gitan
The legacy of Django Reinhardt is indeed live and well in the world, and Chicago is a very lucky place to be. The city is famous for its wide variety of ethnic neighborhoods, with their own culinary and musical traditions, making for a fascinating foray into culture with every visit. For those who live here, its a kind of constant feast that eventually becomes so everyday that they become accustomed to virtuosity. For visitors, it’s always a series of stunning displays. In Chicago, one can start to hear how good the music can sound in formal and informal settings.
But there’s always room for something even better, and every generation reinvents the things that they loved from the past. Of course, it’s likely that no one will ever be able to top what Reinhardt did, and his very tumultuous life, growing up in gypsy encampments and running from the nazis, made for a particularly soulful sound that no one could reproduce. On some nights, however, there are moments when Swing Gitan seems to be touching the source of the music. Led by the masterful guitar of Alfonso Ponticelli , Swing Gitan has been entertaining Chicago with a new Gypsy sound since 2001.
He studied the folk music for 10 years, and has also taught in the Django style. Behind the student and the teacher, however, there is a fantastic artist, and it’s worth going out of one’s way to get to hear them play live.
With its immense offerings of such a wide selection of foods and performance traditions, and a great selection of four star hotels, Chicago is a wonderful place to check in on the news of the world in terms of the cultural productions of today. Gypsy music might be a splendid introduction, or a superb endnote, or everything else in between as well.
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