|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
ARTS WEEKLY/MUSIC-ARGENTINA:
New Generations
Lead Tango Renaissance
Marcela Valente
BUENOS AIRES, (IPS) - Alejandro
Schaikis is a violinist with
Argentina's National Symphonic
Orchestra, with the expected
classical training. But since
being bitten by the tango bug a
few years back, he now says the
mating of the two genres is
giving birth to ”a new form of
Argentine music”.
”Even though my training is not
in tango, I feel more confident
playing tango than Beethoven in
Germany,” said Schaikis, who for
the last two years has been
playing and touring with Color
Tango, a group directed by
Roberto Alvarez, who is
considered a master of the
bandoneon (which resembles a
small accordion and is one of
the core instruments of this
musical style).
The 41-year-old violinist noted
that the formal training given
to musicians starting out today
is much more wide-ranging than
his own was, because it includes
traditional Argentine genres,
and this will undoubtedly have
an impact on music as a whole.
”We are witnessing the creation
of a new Argentine music,” he
told IPS.
Schaikis has been amazed by the
European public's enthusiastic
response to tango, and says the
entire experience has helped him
to learn more about his culture
than he ever did at the
conservatory. ”I never listened
to tango, but it was obviously
there in my subconscious,” he
said.
When Schaikis was starting out
in music 20 years ago, tango was
primarily the domain of people
over 50, who viewed any attempt
at the further evolution of the
genre as sacrilege. As a result,
tango seemed to be on the verge
of becoming a mere ghost of
Buenos Aires' past, and its
practitioners doomed to
endangered species status.
Fortunately, however, the past
few years have seen new life
breathed into this old genre by
newer generations. First came
the dance craze, with thousands
of young Argentines learning at
the feet of the old masters who
had faithfully kept it alive.
From there they went on to
embrace the music, the lyrics,
the old movies, and everything
else connected to ”tango
culture”.
The newest generation of
”tangophiles” have begun to
leave their own mark on the
musical style, experimenting
with hybrid strains that
encompass rock, jazz and even
electronica.
Singer Horacio Molina was
ostracised by the classical
tango community for his pop
ballad background, but today,
after devoting 35 years to the
genre, he is a revered figure
among younger fans.
”There was a period when the
borders of tango were closed off
to an exaggerated degree, and
now they are opening up in an
equally exaggerated way,” he
told IPS.
For Molina, tango is not a
folkloric genre, and as such,
further evolution is perfectly
acceptable ”as long as its
origins are clearly recognisable”
in every new work.
The singer believes that not
everything called ”tango”
genuinely incorporates the
structure of this musical style,
and he attributes this
mislabelling to ignorance of its
foundations.
”In order to attempt a further
evolution of tango, you have to
have a deep knowledge of its
origins,” he said, adding that
not everyone does.
Molina pointed to the growing
trend among rock musicians of
including tangos in their
repertoires. ”Some of them do it
well, others don't, but what's
most important is that they all
serve as a bridge that can bring
young people to the roots of
tango,” he said.
These new developments within
the genre have lent a unique
touch to this year's 7th Buenos
Aires Tango Festival, taking
place Feb. 25 to Mar. 6, with
dance performances,
public-participation dance
events and concerts in 37 venues
throughout the city, as well as
tango classes and a variety of
exhibitions.
The festival has been organised
annually by the City of Buenos
Aires Secretariat of Culture
since 1998. This year, however,
particular emphasis was placed
on incorporating the widest
possible range of musicians
associated with the genre,
including rock and electronica
performers.
”Tango has opened up more, and
has once again become the music
of young people, like it was a
century ago,” singer Walter
Laborde, who is deeply involved
in the festival, told IPS.
”There has been an evolution
within the genre, and there are
a huge number of new performers,
including a lot of women, which
was quite rare a few years ago,”
he added.
Laborde attributes this
renaissance to the fact that ”a
lot of dinosaurs are
disappearing,” and along with
them, the staunch orthodoxy that
censured musicians like the late
Astor Piazzolla, the
groundbreaking founder of the
New Tango school who was looked
down upon by the genre's old
guard for challenging -- and
successfully surpassing -- the
rigid limits of the genre.
Born in the 1970s, Laborde
claims that he sang tangos until
the age of seven, when his
attention turned to rock music.
He started out his musical
career as a rock singer, but
roughly a decade ago, he felt ”a
tremendous emptiness” and the
need to return to the
traditional music he had heard
in his home ”from back in the
cradle.”
Today he is one of the rising
stars of tango's new generation.
”Globalisation changed a lot of
things, but on a personal level,
it's crucial to get back in
touch with what is truly ours,”
he said.
The festival kicked off an a
more traditional note with an
outdoor concert by celebrated
pianist and composer Mariano
Mores, 87.
The closing will feature another
classic of the genre, bandoneon
player Leopoldo Federico, 77.
For many years, Federico and his
band played with Julio Sosa, the
legendary Uruguayan tango singer
killed in a car accident in the
early 1960s.
The festival is also paying
special tribute to yet another
tango icon, the late pianist,
composer and bandleader Osvaldo
Pugliese, who would have turned
100 this year.
But this year's programming far
transcends the traditional
limits, with concerts by
tango-influenced rock artists
like Javier Calamaro and jazz
and electronica groups that
experiment with this musical
style, as well as dance
performances ranging from the
most classical to the most
modern interpretations.
Festival-goers can also take in
photo exhibits, visit museums
like the one set up in the
former home of tango legend
Carlos Gardel, or attend a
mini-festival of tango-related
films.
The movies include a range from
classics made in the 1930s and
1940s to new productions from
young directors, like ”Blue
Tango in Buenos Aires” and ”I
Don't Know What Your Eyes Have
Done to Me”, a documentary on
the life of tango singer Ada
Falcón.
Filmmakers Sergio Wolf and
Lorena Muñoz say they were
intrigued by the ”unfinished”
story of this rising musical
star who suddenly retired in
1942 and was never heard from
again. They followed her trail
until finally tracking her down
just a few years ago, locked
away in a convent under a
different name, with almost no
memory left of the past.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
