Research has led me to Rodolfo Mederos, the illustrious Argentine bandoneonist who plays a fictional version of himself in filmmaker Hugo Santiago's "The Sidewalks of Saturn." Much has been made of lonely men playing the saxophone –– Gene Hackman in "The Conversation" or Dennis Hopper in "Backtrack" –– but no ink has been spilled on the distinct ennui of the lone South American bandoneonist who must play and compose in exile. Hundreds of thousands of South Americans were exiled while the U.S. played its dirty games in the aftermath of WWII. This is what cries while Mederos strums throughout "The Sidewalks of Saturn," a soulful whirring which is also present throughout his 1977 album "De Todas Maneras."
