Between June and July 2025, Argentine accordionist Alejandro Brittes toured the United States for the third time, bringing the vibrant tradition of Chamamé to American audiences with his trio featuring Alejandro Brittes on accordion, André Ely on 7-string guitar and Carlos de Césaro on bass. Over the course of the tour, they performed 21 concerts across the states, including Minnesota, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Illinois, and Texas.
Alejandro introduced North American listeners to the deep cultural and historical roots of Chamamé, highlighting its origins in the traditions of the Guarani indigenous peoples and its connection to the baroque music taught in the 30 Missionary Settlements of southern South America.
A composer, accordionist and researcher based in Brazil, Alejandro Brittes is one of the leading exponents of contemporary Chamamé, recognized by The Boston Globe (USA) as a global reference in the genre.
His work unveils the deep origins of Chamamé — born from the encounter between Guarani cosmology and the baroque music of the Jesuit Missions — rooted in a broad cultural region that connects Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
His work unveils the deep origins of Chamamé — born from the encounter between Guarani cosmology and the baroque music of the Jesuit Missions — rooted in a broad cultural region that connects Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.
With over 30 years of artistic trajectory, Brittes has released innovative albums such as (L)ESTE, which fuses Chamamé and baroque music, and the book The Origin of Chamamé, the result of extensive anthropological research. His international tours have taken him to more than ten countries, including historic performances at the Library of Congress (USA).
His compositions are journeys between worlds: popular and classical, ancestral and contemporary, visible and invisible.
A standout moment of the tour was the collaboration with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra and the Havana String Quartet in Minneapolis, where the ensemble presented “(L)ESTE”, an innovative performance blending Chamamé with baroque-inspired arrangements. These concerts created unforgettable experiences for the trio of Alejandro Brittes, André Ely, and Carlos de Césaro.
The tour concluded with a special concert alongside Ensamble Ibérica at the Kansas City Museum of Arts, closing the season to a full house and enthusiastic reception, reaffirming the expressive power of the accordion as a concert instrument and showcasing Chamamé as a dynamic, evolving art form.
