MARTY FRIEDMAN Performs With Tango-Jazz Act ESCALANDRUM In Buenos Aires; Fan-Filmed Video Posted

The clip below features former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman performing with tango-jazz act Escalandrum out of Argentina. The show took – which took place on April 9th Usina del Arte’s Sala Sinfónica in Buenos Aires – was a tribute to Argentine tango composer and arranger Ástor Piazzolla. 

Prior to the gig, Friedman spoke with Lorenzo Miquel at the Buenos Aires Herald about how the show came about:

“It’s all very coincidental because just when I started listening to his music I got a call from my friend Rodrigo (from the Mexican guitar-duo Rodrigo y Gabriela) and he said, ‘Dude, let’s do a Piazzolla song together’ and I was like, ‘You’re kidding, I just heard about him and he is so fantastic!’ Shortly after, I was invited to play with Escalandrum during my stay in Buenos Aires (he originally came to give a guitar workshop) and that just blew me away. I’m still new to Piazzolla’s music because I don’t really favour older music, I’m very much into the current Japanese pop music scene.” 

 “I believe Piazzolla’s music has shameless pop melodies in it, something I can really relate to. If you think about it, the main theme on Adiós Nonino could be turned into a Britney Spears hit song. Yet, at the same time, the song features chaotic textures and complex arrangements that make the pop stuff sound so much more beautiful. I feel very close to him in that sense, people usually wonder angrily why am I so into pop music but if they could take the time to listen to my work with J-Pop bands they would see there’s a method to all the madness. Not that I’m even close to putting myself on the same league as Piazzolla, but I truly feel a relation.”

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On January 27th, former Megadeth guitarist Marty Friedman held a guitar clinic at the Musicians Institute in Los Angeles, CA for students and alumni. During the clinic a GoPro camera was mounted on the neck of Friedman’s guitar, allowing for a live feed of his playing. Check out the footage below:

Friedman spoke with Lecture on the same night Land about his development as a guitar player. An excerpt from the interview is below followed by clips from the clinic shot by Lecture Land.

LL: When did you consciously start to develop your own unique voice, tone and playing style? It has really set you apart from the pack.

Marty: “It wasn’t that I was necessarily moving away from the pack, but like I said in the clinic today, when you reach a certain point of skill on the guitar, a lot of guys go into jazz fusion or classical or some kind of adult music, start getting good and they cut their hair. So I wasn’t into that and I found that analyzing foreign music and particularly the vocals of Japanese traditional music was very stimulating and that’s when I found that I was doing something different from everybody else.”

LL: On Rust In Peace (Megadeth), did you guys know that you were working on such a classic? Were you surprised by the response from fans?

Marty: “Well, we knew we liked it, but I was very surprised that such a cool album like that would do as well as it did. Because I thought it was really cool, it was a great album, really aggressive and heavy, it was killer! But I had no idea that people liked that kind of stuff, so i was like ‘Wow, I can’t believe people are buying this, this is something that I love, why does everybody else like it?'”

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