Bona Fide Tango - Misterio del Angel

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992)

1. Escualo 3:27

2. Introducción al Ángel 5:25

3. Muerte del Ángel 3:24

4. Milonga del Ángel 6:15

5. Resurrección del Ángel 6:44

6. Julián Plaza - Danzarín 4:40

7. Horatio Cuccaro - Silueta portena 2:50

8. Pedro Laurenz - Milonga de mis amores 3:10

Astor Piazzolla

9. Libertango 3:30

10. Oblivion 3:50

11. Otono porteno 6:04

Total time 50:05

Bona Fide Tango

Petr Grau - flute, Jakub Janský - violin, Jaroslav Novák - guitar, Ladislav Horák - accordion, Petr Dvorský - bass

The tango is a phenomenon. From its rawest form in the dives and houses of ill repute of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where it was born, to the virtuoso yet pure style of the ew tango' of Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992), it has undergone dizzying change. In its victorious campaign the tango has conquered not only the world of musicians and dancers, but has also become the inspiration of artists from diff erent fi elds, and has boldly crossed the boundaries within the arts. For devotees, the tango is a way of life, a philosophy, a state of mind. It momentarily reveals human depths, passions, and weaknesses - and with an elegant gesture again veils them in a refi ned fabric of rhythm and tense hesitant tones and movements.

The tango emerged in the late nineteenth century out of a mixture of cultural traditions of indigenous peoples and European immigrants. It has at its disposal an extravagantly wide range of forms. In its traditional form, however, it unites the diversity of its roots with the characteristic rhythmic sound of the bandoneon. For the poorest social classes, the tango - sung, played, and danced - was the only escape from the harsh world of the Río de la Plata region. In bars and brothels, on the streets, it spread everywhere and gained in strength. Today it is perceived mainly as a sensual, erotic dance, but in its early days the tango was danced by two men. It was rare to find a female partner in a milieu where men went after work, and the first female dancers were recruited from houses of ill repute. It was perhaps at that time that the tango acquired the tinge of something rough, dangerous, suggestive of courage but also cowardice, refl ecting the gleam of a quickly drawn knife.

Masculinity and femininity come to a head in a tense, quiet duel. Melancholy and languor, vitality and strength. Such honesty of emotions and attitudes could not remain unnoticed long, and the tango went from being the exclusive property of the underclass to being an expression of freedom and defiance to the hypocritical morality of the upper classes of Argentine society. It, also became fashionable in the old world, where it had travelled together with people returning from their search for a better life across the ocean. The enthusiastic reception it was given in Europe facilitated its entry into etter homes' in its native land too. The European variant of the tango abandoned the original animal sensuality and intimacy, and gave preference to its showy, theatrical features.

(Studio Matouš 2009)