This is a family affair, recorded in the first part of last year in Buenos Aires: the great bandeonist Dino Saluzzi is accompanied by his brother Felix (sax and clarinet), son José Maria (guitar) and nephew Matias (bass). As Leopoldo ‘Teuco’ Castilla says in his liner note: ‘The music captures the natural world of its origins: North Argentina, ablaze with mourning, despairing with joy.’ Various popular dances – zamba, carnavalito, chacarera – underpin the group's musical explorations, although don't let that give you the impression that this is any kind of throw-your-hands-in-the-air-like-you-just-don't-care set – the label is ECM, after all. The mood is often gently sombre, although Felix ‘Cuchara’ Saluzzi's reeds work has a wild urgency about it in places (e.g. on ‘Urkupiña, Part I – Salida del Templo’), a bit like Clarence Clemons firing up his sax on Bruce Springsteen's ‘Jungleland’. The detailing is vivid and the musical colouring gorgeous, reaching an expressive climax on the five-part suite ‘La Fiesta Popular’.