An intimate and informative encounter of the Magic of Tango
William Ashley Cooper | Allentown, Pa United States | 01/16/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The popularity of the Tango's cultural and social
intimacy and diversity throughout the world today
has opened this national Passion of Argentina to
just about every listening and dancing audience
ready to soak up the sounds and sights that captivate
the heart and heat of it's allure. VIVIANA GUZMAN
and her marvelous quartet, "Performers of the World",
offer a downright tantilizing audio/visual excursion
into this wonderful world of Tango 101. The selection
of pieces in this live performance recorded on August 17th,
2001 at the Old First Church in San Francisco is a compelling
study of the art form that reaches into historic roots to
give the listner a greater appreciation of the many styles
and evolved development the tango has traveled. Interestingly,
the highly popular theater work, FOREVER TANGO, had it's beginnings in San Francisco and later became a both a Broadway and International showcase hit that deals with the historical
ramifications of the tango. Thus, a live ensemble such as the
Performers of the World have a sure-fire hit to showcase their
own virtuoso musicianship and dancing allure in bringing the
Tango and all its roots to audiences eager for the experience
they offer.
The opening piece on the album is the ever popular well known
Tango of tangos, "La Cumparsita" This piece offers the most
classical sounding tango beat that most people are familiar
with. The 2/4 meter here has the heavy accent on the last
16th note in the measure preceeding the next and gives it
that all pace setting drive that is both aurally and visually
dramatic in the tango as dance form.This is by no way the
only type of accented beat in Tango. What happens next on the
album/concert is a set of three "Milongas" in the typical
lively and peppery rhythm that this predesssor of the Tango
is noted for. Now we are being taken into Tango 101 and most
won't even realize it.
The Milonga, which very basicaly means, "word" evolved with
the Guachos on the Argentine Pampas. It was a dueling word-
song usually performed by two gauchos who would try to compete
with each other in their creative duos of separate words with
guitar playing. As the imigration movement began to see various
cultural groups migrate to Argentina these peoples would bring
their own musical roots to the country and the urbanization around the ever expanding Buenos Aires metropolitan areas
found the cultural and native elements begin to mix. This
created what was to become the "urban milonga" where the
gaucho origins became ingrained into such diverse mediums
as, the waltz, polka, and Cuban "habanera". The Tango evolved
out of these mixes and was first heard as the music and dance
found in the bordellos of the vast expanses of the poor. This
lead to the new definition of milonga as, "poor man's habanera".
The three milongas on the album are absolute delights to hear
and I would surely say, "see"! I loved the third one, "El Esquinzo" so much that I played it over and over and found myself tapping out the response to the opening measures of melody with (De/Da/Da/Da!_) that the performers tap on their
instruments and with their feet.
The next piece is a waltz and slowed down tempo that still
has a wonderful tango influenced flow to it and lets you
realize that there are both fast and slower forms of tango.
Now the real art form of Tango comes into play with several
works by the masters of Argentina's revival Tango movement
called, "neuvo tango". The two composer/performers here
are, ASTOR PIAZZOLLA and MAXIMO DIEGO PUJOL. Astor Piazzolla
is Agrentina's national treasure both as the inspirational
composer of the tango in the new forms he evolved and as
performer who created a fantastic quintet of musicians that
would shake the foundations of tango music and give the
world what today is the whole drive into the high power
craving for the tango as a communicative whole of music,dance
and art of sexual dynamic domination and discipline inherent
in tango. Maximo Pujol is one of the leading performers,
composers, and educators of the art of tango. He has written
many works for solo and ensemble players such as the delightful
"Suite Buenos Aries" on this album.
Sadly Astor Piazzolla passed away in the early 1990's but his works such as the lovely suite, "Histoire du Tango" give us
a brief taste of the style evolvement of tango that he is nowloved for by musicians and audiences all over the world. It
is well worth the time to try and hear his music in all the
forms he created from the large symphonic works to chamber and
solo compositions. The lovely piece on this album, "La Ultima
Pena" is so provocative and filled with haunting melody typical
of his creative invention that in conjours up the vision of a
tango between tangos; the soft glow of candelight, great wine
and two inspired lovers taking a momment's breath to touch each
others hearts in the warmth and intimacy of love aspiring.
Finally the concluding piece is a crowd pleaser for sure and the
tempo in now picked up with the raptured drive of Rumba as
Viviana and the quartet get the audience totally involved in
the foot stomping, hand clapping bravura, "Cartagenera".
You just have to want to dance and shout and wish you could have
been there so much that you will want to check the performance
schedule to see when Viviana and Performers of the World are
going to be putting on a live concert somewhere near you;
like why not in your own living room? Well play the CD lots
of times till that day you can dance ,clap, and stomp your
feet and tell Vivina in person what a wonderful moving
experience she provides in the beauty and dynamic of her
soul moving performances with Performers of the World.
Forever Tango! TANGO FOREVER!!!"
Track Listings (13) - Disc #1
