Grandes Exitos Del Tango

There are people who are passionate about hearing, playing or performing music who strive for an authenticity. Before passing judgment on whether a piece/ensemble/artist passes mustard in achieving this, a distinction should be made. Is it music which merely (loosely) incorporates elements of a genre or does it have loftier ambition of being part of a style's family tree, a blood relative? 

Music rich in improvisation such as jazz or tango now posses a canon but also a dichotomy in how aficionados regard new elements. Jazz and tango from their earliest days were ever in flux, the new things which were added being sometimes considered false or shocking, yet each generation of the old guard had at one point been the young lions, bringing their own components to the art form. With all music available worldwide to anyone who cares to listen, a type of music started in one place but passionately taken up somewhere else is no less authentic, but merely another link in the sonic chain.  

A good case in point is the Finnish ensemble, Tango Republic. Their oeuvre is Finnish and Argentinean tango that organically mix to create a mélange where the two seemingly diverse wellsprings seem indiscernible from each other.  For those only familiar with the music from dance scenes in movies or television, real tango is never merely background music. Real tango is a rich tapestry woven of improvisation, tradition and the intellectual souvenir of an emotional landscape traversed at any given moment during a piece's performance, location of said performance or point of origin for the musicians being completely irrelevant.   

History and Characteristics of Tango

The word “tango” itself refers both to the music and dance; some would say the lifestyle, too, something it shares with its equally alluring cousin, flamenco. Tango often has been said to have started in bordellos. This overly simplified origin is to some extent, inaccurate. The folk dances such as “La Contre Dance”(France), “La Zarzuela” (Spanish) and “Di Tarantella” (Italy) were all dances and musical styles which often were done at festivals and celebrations in which people of all classes could participate. All possessed elements and aspects of forbidden emotions and intent, forbidden, yet temporarily allowed at these specific musical moments. Like these musical counterparts, tango provided a soundtrack for moments of permissible eroticism and longing. It offered the lower classes a fleeting distraction from life's monotony and hardships.  

Originally tango was sometimes referred to as Criollo Tango. Argentine tango is the one most directly descended from the first, original tango form.  As a coherent art form, tango's birth can be traced back to around the 1890s and the working class neighborhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. In the early days of tango, most of the instruments were portable and played in smaller ensembles than what was to come. The readily available aspect combined with the music's celebratory festival characteristics which, over time, has morphed into the simplified bordello origin. Like jazz today, there are now many subgenres, each with its own rules and rituals. 

The exact measure of each of tango's base elements is not easy to define. Within are components of European classical, South American Milonga and African poly-rhythms. These combined with even more infectious rhythms and some aspects of salon chamber music. Once tango again applied a thin veneer of respectability over its more revelry origins, there came an established instrumental line up. Most commonly it was a sextet of violins, double bass and two bandoneons. Occasionally there would be flutes and guitars. The complete portability began to disappear as indoor concerts and dances adopted this new music. 

One of the key sounds associated with Tango is that of the bandoneon. This instrument, which looks like an accordion, is actually a free reed instrument utilizing buttons instead of keys, invented in Germany by Heinrich Band (1821-1860). Initially it was meant to be used in lieu of an organ for religious ceremonies by German settlers. In the early part of the 20th century it was brought to Argentina.  

Tango and its various styles are said to have had several “ages.” La Guardia Vieja (The Old Guard 1900-1920) included sung and instrumental songs. The bands were of the earlier instrumental configurations, few of them utilizing the bandoneon. The first tango recording was made in 1920, played by Angel Villoldo in Paris. Argentina at this time had no proper recording studio. Worldwide, tango was introduced this same year that silent film star Rudolph Valentino danced it in one of his films, tantalizing the rest of the world with its poetic portrayal of desire as executed by both music and dance steps. 

La Guardia Nueva (The New Guard 1920-1940) first established formal dance moves with the poetics of both desire and passion. Instrumental pieces were pushed to the forefront of popularity. Composers and musicians began to split into two main camps flouting the importance of Traditionalism or Evolutionism. The artistic evolutionist sought to add a more current vernacular to the art, and Astor Piazzolla was one of their main proponents. 

La Post-Guardia Nueva (The New Post Guard 1940-1960), sometimes referred to as “The Generation of 40's,”  is the tango most often heard today. This is where many of the standards entered tango's lexicon.  El Nuevo Tango (The New Tango 1960-present) is tango as it absorbs more outside influences besides those already diverse ingredients that initially contributed to its make up. 

Twice in its history, tango largely disappeared, and both times it was due to a Depression combined with political upheaval. In 1929 a Depression hit along with a regime change from then-leader Hipolito Yrigoyen (1852-1933). Then again in the 1950s another Depression and a post-Peron government banned tango as providng a too-easy a way for the working class to congregate. Tango did not start its second cultural comeback until the 1980s. 

The different ages and instrumental line-ups may seem overwhelming to someone interested in delving into the world of tango. Really, it is no different than becoming a jazz fan. Jazz has all its many genres and subgenres and jazz is far more fluid, each of its schools or movements lasting for far less time than the various ages of  the tango. Like jazz, too, there are recordings from the art's start. The music is interesting, shows where the music had been and in some cases offers up compelling moments, but much like listening to Satchmo's Hot Fives recordings, there is a degree of separation between artist and audience. The music has its moments, but very much sounds and feels like it is coming to us from another time and thus another world. Early tango recordings can possess similar properties. 

Astor Piazzolla

Astor Piazzolla was born in Mardel Plata, Argentina, in 1921 and died in 1992. As a child he moved to the Bronx, New York. At 15 he was asked by Carlos Gardel, known as “The Song Bird of Buenos Aires,” to appear in a film with him playing bandoneon. It worked out so well that he then asked Astor to tour South America with him, which Astor declined. On that tour, the plane carrying Carlos crashed, killing all aboard. Astor returned to his native land. He played with various bands there until 1939 when he joined Anibal “Pichuco “Troilo's (1914-1975) orchestra. He was one of the arrangers for this band, and his work was considered “too advanced,” always being altered to allow people to dance. 

Piazzolla left Pichuco and played for two years with a singer. He then had his own ensemble but shortly broke up that band, as he was obsessed with creating a new sound to go with the nascent ideas of a mélange made up of extended suite-like pieces, tango and 20th century classical.  In his quest, he contemplated forsaking the bandoneon and devoured jazz records and those of Stravinsky. His three-piece symphonic work “Buenos Aires” was performed and won a prize, part of which was a scholarship to formally study in France with Nadia Boulanger. Her encouragement allowed him to finally find his way, merging the tango with all that he had been absorbing, in an organic way. 

This was the start of a life-long aesthetic. From here on, Astor would mix all that excited him, always making it his own. He would write symphonies, tone poems, tangos and even an opera. Over the course of his career he would collaborate with singers, poets and jazz musicians (Gerry Mulligan, Chick Corea, Gary Burton). To mirror his varied output he would change the make-up of his many ensembles, using various configurations that embraced traditional instrumentation with newer possibilities, such as electric guitar. 

Astor Piazzolla is probably the best-known composer/musician now associated with the tango. Besides talent and a varied catalog, he benefited from being around at the time of quicker, easier travel and also the age of multi-media. His works still sound new, not just because of their artistic complexity, but because many were written and recorded well into our lifetime.  

Tango Republic's Grandes Exitos Del Tango

In direct line of artistic descent from Astor is Tango Republic, both in drawing upon influences outside of the “proper” schools of tango with its limitations, which come from putting an art form under museum glass for purity's sake, and their execution, which is top notch yet never devoid of emotion. Grandes Exitos Del Tango (2009, Blue Music Group) is the latest offering from Tango Republic and is available through the ensemble's label website, BlueMusicGroup.com It is not a theme or programmatic album but does convey an overall feel of musical unity. The album is comprised of compositions by both an Argentinian and Finnish composers. Upon a first listen, without the album notes before me, I did not notice a difference in the compositions' emotional impact between those by the Finnish composers (represented here by Unto Mononen and Toivo Karki) and Argentinian Astor Pizzolla.   

Unto Mononen (1930-1968) wrote the opening track, considered a standard “Satumaa” (Wonderland). It starts with a percussive snap of snares and light cymbal work, which serve as a sort of meeting ground for the rich woody throat of the clarinet and the tarter buzz of violin as they trade off lead lines on the song's theme. The piece makes one want to dance but is just as satisfying when listened to from a stationary position. “A Lilly Flower” by Toivo has a wistful clarinet. Tango is the music of poetry and some of the best slower pieces contain strong elements of a melancholic romanticism, here beautifully executed. In lieu of bandoneon is a piano (although Piazzolla would sometimes incorporate both). The piano break starts with a dramatic swell which then offers up some blues by way of a salon Chopin might have found himself playing in. All the musicians in this ensemble are possessed of great skill but opt for emotion and subtlety to further shade the colorings. Despite working with other ensembles and leading their own groups, there is seamless interplay among all the musicians.  

“Oblivion” by Astor Piazzolla commences with the bowing of the strings over which the clarinet laments in deep-toned reverie. The violin changes its cadence and is all sweetness of tears for a lost love. The melody is played after the intro in unison. This is a slower paced piece that shows a profound understanding of the genre, managing to honor the past while simultaneously keeping it alive and relevant.  “Verano Porteno,” also by Piazzolla, is one of my favorites on the album. The piano starts it all imitating the steps of dancers, the drums, the thing which had initially called them to the floor. The start of the song with the deeper tones of the piano has a sort of eroticism tinged with menace that Piazzolla was so fond of occasionally portraying--a dance hall full of beautiful women in the worst section of town. The song's tempo increases over the course of its execution, piano and violin winding down to then present meditative lines with the gradual introduction of underpinnings by clarinet, whose voice signals the start of several more tempo changes, all tightly interwoven and sustaining the overall tension. This is a mini suite of Buenos Aires reverie. 

The CD has pristine sound and at 24 minutes leaves you wanting more. It is rather inexpensive and, although I initially felt out of sorts downloading the album as opposed to buying an actual CD, doing so was problem free. It is a great way for one to discover new labels and artists. A great companion piece to Grandes Exitos Del Tango and longer album is Leivonen Lumimyrskyssa (A Lark in the Snowstorm, 2006), which is the compositions of Toivo Karki. The ensemble here is enlarged to include male and female voice, brass, guitar, percussion, expanded string section and reeds. This album rapidly shifts genres and emotional gears and is somewhat reminiscent of Astor Piazzolla's Maria De Buenos Aires (1968), not necessarily in any thematic or narrative attempt but just all the various musical forms which come and go. Like some of the best albums, too, I found new things upon each listen. Both albums are available online through the label's website and show that the tango is alive, well and continuing to grow. 

Tango Republic, personnel: Felipe Salles, clarinets; Laura Arpiainen, violin; Mika Pohjola, piano; David Ambrosio, bass; Bertram Lehmann, drums. More information at: http://music.bluemusicgroup.com 

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