Autumn Tango
I'm inviting you to travel and dance through time with me... not to waltz, but to rediscover the legendary tango.
November 1965. It's springtime in Buenos Aires, we are in calle Florida, one of city main streets where, by the end of the afternoon, swarms of tourists and regulars of those"tango bars" where people use to sing and dance on this baroque music, the rhythmic style of which is a two-four time bars, the Tango, part of the Argentine's soul.
Attracted by familar harmonics, I push the door of a café-concert and find a rotund atypical musician, wonderfully playing chromatic harmonica, named Hugo Diaz and then...I forgot about it for a long time. It's only 25 years later that, by chance, I discovered his world reputation, on a double CD purchased in a record shop in Tokyo.
1971, Paris, De Lappe street, in "Balajo", a dancing place where I'm coming to say hello to my cousin, Henry Blancher, bandoneon virtuoso. And on that evening, he invites me to share a few bars of "La Cumparsita". Memories, memories...
November 2007, Tango evening in Saint Mandé (a Paris suburb). Girls who have just left their jobs are going in haste to the "Chalet du Lac", a concert place, clutching their handbags in which are their "escarpins", essential accessories to the tango ritual, that they put on just before entering the dance floor.
Joe Powers, the dynamic Americano/Argentine chromatic player, guest of this evening, plays and presents this tango night. Joe will do it again in Tokyo, Paris and many other places all over the world.
October 4, 2011, Paris, "Le Lien" café-concert. During the France Harmonica monthly meeting, Bernard Dubos (chromatic) plays "Libertango", a composition of Astor Piazzola and I invite a young lady to dance a dance she loves : a tango...
I'm not here to talk about the eternal problems between generations, but clearly, once again, our instrument demonstrates its timeless and popular talent here linked to the tango eternal legend.
I like dancing... This Libertango will surely not be my " Last tango in Paris ".
Jean Labre
Published October 9th 2011 |
