Guillermo Bordarampe, producer of Fiesta Argentina, grew up in Argentina with one foot in popular culture and another in Argentinean folklore. He was part of the pioneering rock band Arco Iris (Guillermo and Arco Iris bandmate Ara Tokatlian will be playing together during the show for the first time since 1982). In the video and interview below you get a taste of the Fiesta and Guillermo's Argentina.

What are your most memorable Argentinean folk music experiences?

With Arco Iris we participated in several Folklore music festivals in different provinces and cities throughout Argentina. It was the first time that a rock band was being hired to participate in these festivals that before us were strictly dedicated to traditional Argentine Folk music acts. In various tours we performed alongside some of the biggest acts and names in Argentine folk music, Mercedes Sosa, Horacio Guarani, etc.

Is there a particular instrument at the heart of Argentinean folk music?

The main instruments in Argentine folk music are the Spanish guitar (nylon string guitar) and the bombo (a drum made out of the hollowed trunk of a tree and covered with animal skins on both sides). In the Argentine northwest area you also find flutes (quena and pincullo) and panpipes (sikus) that are popular in Andean music, as well as the charango (the small 10 string instrument originally made out of the shell of the armadillo).

What is the relationship of the Pampas to the folk music the audience will hear at the Fiesta?

The Pampas are a vast, very fertile area that cover the provinces of Buenos Aires and Santa Fe and a little bit of La Pampa. That's the area where the traditional gauchos worked with cattle and agriculture. Suni Paz is going to perform some songs from this area, rhythms such as zamba (not to be confused with the Brazilian samba) and gato. I'll accompany her on bass, along with Carlos Velasco on guitar, Hector Courtois on bombo, Rodrigo Rodriguez on charango, Ara Tokatlian on woodwinds and Julio Montero on harp.

When you go home to Argentina for a visit what are your favorite things to do?

My youngest sister lives in Salliquello, in the southwest area of the province of Buenos Aires. With my wife Joyce and our daughter Cecilia, we love going there and spending a few days with them. The pace of life is very relaxing and things are the way they were in my town of Ciudad Jardin when I was a kid. You can still leave your door unlocked at night and all the windows open and nothing happens. Plus my sister is a great cook. 

Fiesta Argentina 2011: Tango & Folklore, Women's Contribution takes place August 20.