Ernesto Snajer, Palle Windfeldt

Guitarreros is the first album by the guitar duo of the Argentine Ernesto Snajer and the Dane Palle Windfeldt, released in 1999 on Carmo, the label of Egberto Gismonti. Most of its sixteen pieces were written by Snajer, and they draw on Argentine dance forms as much as on Brazilian rhythm. Gismonti's influence is audible throughout, and the album ends with one of his best-known tunes.

The two guitarists had been playing together since 1990. Snajer had been a member of Lito Vitale's group Los Argentinos from 1994 to 1997, and he played with Pedro Aznar on tributes to Gardel, Troilo and Piazzolla. They recorded the album at Sound Lab Studio in Copenhagen in 1998 with the engineer P.H. Juul. The duo shared the musical direction, and Gismonti was executive producer. Snajer plays ten-string, six-string and twelve-string guitars and the charango, and Windfeldt six-string and western guitars. Three Danish guests appear on single tracks: Kristian Jørgensen on violin, Flemming Nilsson on udu, congas, caxixi and chimes, and Kaare Munkholm on vibraphone and marimba.

The opener Algaby sets the tone, with the two guitars trading fast patterns that circle back on themselves. Windfeldt's Abispa is a tune in the manner of Django Reinhardt, lifted by Jørgensen's violin. His Chinese Chacarera takes the Argentine dance rhythm into pentatonic territory, with Munkholm adding marimba and vibraphone. Snajer switches to charango for El Cañuflete and Viento Rojo, and to twelve-string guitar for the dreamlike Éramos Inocentes. On the title track Nilsson's udu, congas and caxixi give the two guitars a light percussive frame. Recuerdo comes from the Danish fusion group Bagdad Dagblad, while the closing Maracatú is their version of Gismonti's piece.

Writing on ECM Reviews in 2020, Tyran Grillo heard Gismonti's grace notes and fluttering fingerwork in both players. He called Recuerdo "an achingly lyrical song without words", and he heard a light, almost effervescent quality in Snajer's playing. He picked Qué Hacé, Pescau!! and Viento Rojo as the best meetings of Snajer's writing and playing. He described the title track, written by both guitarists, as a blend of their strengths.

CD, catalogue number CARMO/12, released on 21 June 1999 by Carmo and distributed by ECM.