Alejandro Brittes

Alejandro Brittes (born July 5, 1976) is an Argentine composer, accordionist and researcher of the music of the littoral region of Argentina. He has been residing in Porto Alegre, Brazil since 2010. He was the first accordionist of the genre to perform at the Library of Congress in the United States . Considered by The Boston Globe as one of the greatest exponents of contemporary chamamé, the complexity of his works is reminiscent of Astor Piazzolla .

Career A son of parents from the province of Corrientes, at 12 years old, Alejandro began to study accordion with Nini Flores. When he was 15 years old, he formed his first musical group, and recorded his first album "Por la Senda Chamamecera".

In 1989, he went to study music at the Juan Pedro Esnaola School, later continuing his career as a musician.

In 1996, he won the Cosquín de Oro award, for Best Instrumentalist with his national debut at the Próspero Molina plaza in the Festival Nacional de Folklore de Cosquín, Córdoba, Argentina. In the same year, Alejandro was invited by the rock group Los Piojos to record on the album "3er arco" playing accordion on the songs "Todo Pasa" and "Don't say tomorrow", and performing in the album release at Estadio Obras Sanitarias and in the Micro Estadio de Ferro, in Buenos Aires. He also recorded with the group on the songs "Vals Inicial" and "Y quemás" on their album "Azul".

In 2005, he created and produced the ensemble Cuarteto típico de Chamamé with Jorge Toloza and Luiz Santa Cruz, and recorded the album Herencia chamacera in 2007.

Already residing in Brazil, in 2011 he was invited to represent Brazil and Argentina at the Festival Internacional de Acordeón Vallenato, in Colombia.

In 2012, Brittes received an invitation from the Cámara de Comercio Brazil-Argentina in São Paulo, to present a concert at the Memorial da América Latina in São Paulo, Brazil, sharing the stage with vocalist Luiza Possi and Orquesta Heartbreakers.

Also in 2012, he went on his first tour of Europe accompanied by André Ely and Lucas Rocha, performing 9 concerts with the Portuguese accordionist João Gentil in Lisbon and Praia da Tocha, Portugal. Later, he began his second European tour in France, accompanied by André Ely, Lucas Rocha and Miguel Castilhos, performing at the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, the Maison de L’Argentine and also at Café El Sur.

In 2013, he invited the folk music group Plzenský Pepící from the Czech Republic to tour 10 cities in Brazil. In January of the same year, he recorded his seventh album "El Viento y las hojas", financed by the Ministry of Culture of Brazil, performing album release events at the "Sociale" Theatre, part of the Itinerari Folk Festival in Italy, and at the Kulturní dům Peklo Theatre in Czech Republic.

In 2014, together with her producer Magali de Rossi and the producer of the singer-songwriter Teresa Parodi, María Elvira Grillo Cevey, they created the "Caravana Chamamecera" Project, inviting the artists Elton Saldanha and "Os Fagundes", conforming a cultural integration project between Brazil and Argentina, performing more than 150 concerts in Brazil and abroad.

In 2019, Brittes produced and participated in the tour "80 años" of Argentine accordionist Raúl Barboza in the Brazilian states of Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina and Paraná, Brazil.

In 2021, he was invited as a soloist by the "Orquestra Sinfônica de Campo Grande", Mato Grosso do Sul, to perform in the concert "100 años de Ástor Piazzola" of the "Encontro com a Música Clássica", Brazil. That same year he published his first book: "A origen do Chamamé – Uma historia para ser contada", in both Portuguese and Spanish, consisting of results of an anthropological research project about the Chamamé rhythm, carried out by him and producer Magali de Rossi.

In July 2022 he realized the project "Ponto e Pianada – Ponto de Encontro", together with Argentine accordionist Chango Spasiuk, in 8 performances in Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina. The main performance took place at the Theatro São Pedro in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

In September 2022, he released his ninth album, a double album titled "(L)ESTE". The "A" disc was arranged and adapted by the conductor and harpsichordist Fernando Cordella, with the participation of a Baroque chamber orchestra; the "B" disc is composed of traditional chamamés.

In 2023 he became the first Chamamé accordionist to play at the Library Of Congress in the United States of America.

In 2023 he went on an extensive tour across the United States of America with support from the Ibermusicas and Mid Atlantic Arts program, playing in 30 venues such as: Library Of Congress, Embassy Of Argentina, Georgetown University and Queens Theatre.

In 2024, he performed over 50 shows on the West Coast of the United States. Playing at venues such as San Jose Jazz Festival, CA, Cotati Accordion Festival, CA and Richard Nixon Library & Museum, CA.

Brittes is considered to be one of the representative artists of the chamamé genre, together with Raúl Barboza and Chango Spasiuk.

Alejandro Brittes is a voting member of the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences – Latin Grammy (2023)

Discography

Albums Por La senda Chamamecera (1991) A la Luz del Candil (1992) Ganadores de Oro de Pre Cosquin (1996) Pal' Taconeo (1998) Por la misma senda (2006) Herencia Chamamecera (2008) Puro chamamé (2010) El Viento y las Hojas (2013) (L)ESTE (2022)

Singles

"Raíces del Alma" featuring Raúl Barboza (2019) "Laberintos" (2022) "La colorada" (2022) "Un Mate y la distancia" (2022) "Ala Ancha" (2022) "Maga" (2023) "Terracota" (2023) "15 de Mayo" (2023) "Agreste Bermejo" (2023) "El Carau" (2024)

Compilation albums

Puro Chamamé (2010)

Collaborations Shared discography La Cantora, Luisa Calcumil (2008) Sencillo "Caravana Chamamecera", Os Fagundes and Elton Saldanha (2015)

Miscellaneous "Todo Pasa" and "Don't say tomorrow" 3er arco, Los Piojos (1996) "Vals inicial" and "Y quemás", Azul, Los Piojos (1998) "El Alma del Chaco", Andres Zito, production and direction Antonio Tarragó Ros (1999) "El macho del siglo", Música maestro, Antonio Ríos (2001) "Lejos", La Chicana (2006) "Qué Será..." Satán Bemol, Pol Neiman (2006) "El Anhelo de tu pañuelo", Íntimamente, Julia Verdi, arrangements and production by Nicolás "Colacho" Brizuela (2009) "Garzas Viajeras", Cosecha de Luz, Alejandra Noya (2016) "Coração de Chamamé y “Recorrendo", Motivos de Campo, Jorge Freitas (2009) "Chamamé", varios músicos (2010) "Querencia de Gauchada", Jari Terres (2010) "Te conto porque volto", Comparsa Musiqueira, various musicians (2010) "Estrela do coração" and "Amanhecer" Nossa Terra, Nossa Gente, Antônio Gringo (2011) "Alma Costeira" and "Verdulera", Canto e Cordeona, Robison Boeira (2014) "De Don Chico a Don Brittes", Lida Campeira, Eduardo Vargas (2017) "El Sembrador", Coração de minha gente, Diego Muller y Érlon Péricles, Vol 2 (2020)

Audiovisual production DVD "Encontro Internacional de Chamameceros", produced by Magali de Rossi, various musicians (2008) "Pindo Hovy", music video with Raul Barboza and Nardo Gonzales, the Elo Sul project (2020) WebDoc (L)ESTE (2022) Music videos of three compositions: "Vientos del Este", "Caiboaté" and "El Viento y las hojas" for the Americas Society, New York City – US, distributed by AS/COA (2023). Video of the Alejandro Brittes Quartet: Masters of Chamamé concert at the Library Of Congress in the United States produced by the American Folklife center on September 21, 2023.