APPLAUSE
Hello. Good evening, everyone!
Hello, I'm Katie Derham, and tonight
we're celebrating some of the
most seductive,
poignant and passionate music on the planet. Welcome to the Tango Prom!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
This evening, a cluster of stars from around the world are tracing
tango's history, from its origins at the end of the 19th century,
right up to contemporary versions inspired by jazz.
And we'll be travelling across continents as well as through time.
From the dance halls of Buenos Aires, tango quickly spread
across the globe, finding new fans wherever it landed.
But nowhere did the tango phenomenon strike harder than in Finland.
Now, Buenos Aires and Helsinki, I know,
they might be separated by 8,000 miles,
an ocean, several degrees Celsius and many hours of daylight, but
tango rhythms beat through Finnish and Argentinian hearts alike.
And we're going to hear those different forms of tango
side-by-side this evening - it is going to be a real feast.
We are launching proceedings with Argentinian tango classics
from the first half of the 20th century.
Our orchestra, Britten Sinfonia,
is here and ready to plunge us into the sultry Buenos Aires night.
APPLAUSE
So, please join me in welcoming to the stage tonight's conductor
Clark Rundell and singer Nahuel di Pierro.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
MUSIC: Sur by Anibal Troilo
APPLAUSE
# San Juan y Boedo antiguo
# Y todo el cielo
# Pompeya y mas alla la inundacion
# Tu melena de novia en el recuerdo
# Y tu nombre florando en el adios
# La esquina del herrero barro y pampa
# Tu casa, tu vereda y el zanjon
# Y un perfume de yuyos y de alfalfa
# Que me llena de nuevo el corazon
# Sur Paredon y despues
# Sur Una luz de almacen
# Ya nunca me veras como me vieras
# Recostado en la vidriera esperandote
# Ya nunca alumbrare con las estrellas
# Nuestra marcha sin querellas
# Por las tardes de Pompeya
# Las calles y la luna suburbana
# Y mi amor y tu ventana
# Todo ha muerto, ya lo se
# San Juan y Boedo antiguo
# Cielo perdido
# Pompeya y mas alla al terraplen
# Tus veinte anos temblando de carino
# Bajo el beso que entonces te robe
# Nostalgia de las cosas que han pasado
# Arena que la vida se llevo
# Pesadumbre de barrios que han cambiado
# Y amargura del sueno que murio
# Sur Paredon y despues
# Sur Una luz de almacen
# Ya nunca me veras como me vieras
# Recostado en la vidriera esperandote
# Ya nunca alumbrare con las estrellas
# Nuestra marcha sin querellas por las tardes de Pompeya
# Las calles y la luna suburbana
# Y mi amor y tu ventana
# Todo ha muerto
# Ya lo se. #
APPLAUSE
MUSIC: Mano a Mano by Carlos Gardel
# Rechiflao en mi tristeza Hoy te evoco y veo que has sido
# En mi pobre vida paria solo una buena mujer
# Tu presencia de bacana puso calor en mi nido
# Fuiste buena, consecuente y yo se que me has querido
# Como no quisiste a nadie Como no podras querer
# Se dio el juego de remanye cuando vos, pobre percanta
# Gambeteabas la pobreza en la casa de pension
# Hoy sos toda una bacana La vida te rie y canta
# Los morlacos de ese otario
# Los tiras a la marchanta
# Como juega el gato maula con el misero raton
# Hoy tenes el mate lleno de infelices ilusiones
# Te engrupieron los otarios
# Las amigas, el gavion
# La milonga entre magnates con sus locas tentaciones
# Donde triunfan y claudican milongueras pretensiones
# Te ha entrado bien adentro en el pobre corazon
# Nada debo agradecerte Mano a mano hemos quedado
# No me importa lo que has hecho Lo que haces ni lo que haras
# Los favores recibidos creo habertelos pagado
# Y si alguna deuda chica sin querer se me ha olvidado
# En la cuenta del otario que tenes
# Se la cargas
# Mientras tanto que tus triunfos Pobres triunfos pasajeros
# Sean una larga fila de riquezas y placer
# Que el bacan que te acamala tenga pesos duraderos
# Que te abras en las paradas con cafishios milongueros
# Y que digan los muchachos
# Es una buena mujer
# Y manana cuando seas descolado mueble viejo
# Y no tengas esperanzas en el pobre corazon
# Si precisas una ayuda
# Si te hace falta un consejo
# Acordate de este amigo que ha de jugarse el pellejo
# Pa' ayudarte en lo que pueda
# Cuando llegue la ocasion. #
APPLAUSE
Thank you.
Muchas, muchas gracias.
It's an honour to me to be singing the music of my country,
the tango, here in this wonderful place,
with such a wonderful audience. Thank you very much.
APPLAUSE
We just did Mano a Mano from Carlos Gardel and
Celedonio Flores,
and before we did Sur from Anibal Troilo and Homero Manzi.
It's, of course, also a pleasure to me to be sharing
the stage with the Britten Sinfonia orchestra,
and these two fellows that I have here with me,
Matias Gonzalez and Lysandre Donoso,
playing the bandoneon.
APPLAUSE
For the next song, I would like to invite some friends to dance,
what do you think?
CHEERING
Please, welcome to Vincent and Flavia.
CHEERING
MUSIC: El Motivo by Juan Carlos Cobian
# Pobre paica que ayer fuera
# La mas papa milonguera
# Y en esas noches tangueras fue la reina del festin
# Ya no tiene pa' ponerse
# Ni zapatos ni vestidos
# Anda enferma y el amigo
# Ya no va para el bulin
# Ya no tienen sus ojazos
# Esos lindos resplandores
# Y en su cara los colores se le ven palidecer
# Anda enferma, sufre y llora
# Y manya con sentimiento
# De que asi, enferma y sin vento
# Mas naides la va a querer
# Y cuando de los bandoneones
# Se oye el sonar de un tango
# Pobre papusa de fango
# Siente en su alma vibrar
# Los recuerdos de otros dias
# De placeres y de amores
# Hoy solo son sinsabores
# Que la invitan a llorar
# Y al pensar en tantas cosas
# De aquellos tiempos pasados
# Siente latir destrozado
# Su cansado corazon. #
MUSIC: Barrio de Tango by Anibal Troilo
# Un pedazo de barrio
# Alla en Pompeya
# Durmiendose al costado del terraplen
# Un farol balanceando en la barrera
# Y el misterio de adios que siembra el tren
# Un ladrido de perros a la luna
# El amor escondido en un porton
# Y los sapos chapoteando en la laguna
# Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneon
# Barrio de tango, luna y misterio
# Calles lejanas, como estaran
# Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo
# Que se habran hecho?
# Adonde andaran?
# Barrio de tango que fue de aquella
# Juana la rubia que tanto ame?
# Sabra que sufro pensando en ella
# Desde la tarde que la deje?
# Barrio de tango, luna y misterio
# Desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver
# Un coro de silbidos alla en la esquina
# El codillo llenando el almacen
# Y el dramon de la palida vecina
# Que ya nunca salio a mirar el tren
# Asi evoco tus noches barrio de tango
# Con las chatas entrando al corralon
# Y la luna chapaleando sobre el fango
# Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneon
# Barrio de tango, luna y misterio
# Calles lejanas, como estaran
# Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo
# Que se habran hecho? Adonde andaran?
# Barrio de tango que fue de aquella
# Juana la rubia que tanto ame?
# Sabra que sufro pensando en ella
# Desde la tarde que la deje?
# Barrio de tango, luna y misterio
# Desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver. #
APPLAUSE
MUSIC: Un Momento by Hector Stamponi
# Adios, que raro fue tu adios
# De pina y de jazmin
# Como una cruz, una caricia
# Tal vez no comprendi ni presenti
# Que las estrellas tienen que morir con los rayos del sol
# Yo fui un pajaro cantor
# Y tu una mariposa que busco quemar sus alas
# Despues, la realidad, la soledad
# La noche negra y cruel que me envolvio fatal
# Y otra vez junto al rio muy juntos
# Tu boca, mi boca Tu pelo y mi pelo
# Y la luna, tu luna, mi luna
# Que ayer nos vestia hoy tiende su velo
# Yo no quiero la historia de un dia
# Tus manos no tiemblan no saben mentir
# Yo no quiero la historia de siempre
# Vivir un momento y luego morir
# Yo no quiero la historia de un dia
# Tus manos no tiemblan no saben mentir
# Yo no quiero la historia de siempre
# Vivir un momento y luego morir
# Yo no quiero la historia de siempre
# Vivir un momento y luego morir. #
APPLAUSE
Well, transporting us to Buenos Aires, Nahuel di Pierro,
with bandoneon players Matias Gonzalez and Lysandre Donoso.
A breathtaking performance of Argentinian tango, favourites
by legends including Anibal Troilo and Juan Carlos Cobian.
Britten Sinfonia and conductor Clark Rundell bringing plenty of
Argentinian heat into the Royal Albert Hall tonight, with just a
little help from the fabulous dancers
Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone.
APPLAUSE
Next up is our first taste of the composer who transformed
tango in the middle of the 20th century - what it sounded like,
who performed it, and how it was played -
the Argentinian bandoneon player,
composer and all-round maverick Astor Piazzolla.
Now, to begin with, traditionalists loathed his revolutionary
approach but the rest of the world fell in love with it and he
turned tango into a global phenomenon
and we're about to hear why.
This is Piazzolla's La Mufa, arranged for orchestra by the
American composer John Adams.
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Now, tango has fans all over the world
and nowhere more so outside Latin America than in Finland.
Tango first made waves there around 1913, when Finns became transfixed
at cabaret and variety shows by this new dance from the New World.
But what started as a craze was soon a national obsession.
It might have a population of just five and a half million people,
but, today, Finland has hundreds of tango venues and stages a
four-day festival devoted to this music every year,
and it has its own distinctive sound.
Love and longing, the essential ingredients of tango,
are given a mesmerising, melancholic new flavour by our northern cousins.
So, to take us to the fiery heart of the frozen North,
Finnish musicians Veli Kujala, Seppo Kantonen, Lauri Porra, Anssi Nykanen
and soprano Helena Juntunen.
APPLAUSE
SHE SINGS IN FINNISH
APPLAUSE
Greetings from Finland!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
We are here to bring you over 100 years of Finnish tango tradition.
There are lots of similarities compared to our
Argentinian big brother...
..like passion.
We are also very passionate in Finland...
LAUGHTER
..we just don't show it.
LAUGHTER
The thing we like to show...
..is the stiffness...
..of this, we are very proud,
that and the seriousness of tango.
SHE SINGS IN FINNISH
Shhh.
APPLAUSE
Thank you.
We also love to dance our tango.
It's weird that even if in EU we have the most space
per capita, we like to keep our tango
in a very small...box.
Very small. Maestro.
SHE SINGS IN FINNISH
APPLAUSE
We have over 180,000 lakes...
..in Finland.
By every lake, there are ten accordion players.
LAUGHTER
We took one...with us tonight.
APPLAUSE
But here's the catch...
..Veli plays a quarter-tone...
..accordion.
What it means?
You know that there are the black keys and the white keys
in the piano...
Veli's accordion has this grey zone
in-between those.
For those who are inaugurated into contemporary classical music,
you can now enjoy the amazing colours and nuances of this
extraordinary quarter-tone instrument.
For the rest of us,
let me assure you, there's nothing wrong with the instrument
and Veli is not drunk!
LAUGHTER
SHE SINGS IN FINNISH
APPLAUSE
CHEERING
There are only three instruments like this in the whole world.
That means that, you know, having a Stradivarius... I mean,
anybody can have one of those, right?
LAUGHTER
SHE SINGS
APPLAUSE
SHE SINGS LIFE ON MARS IN FINNISH
# It's a godawful small affair
# To the girl with the mousey hair
# But her mummy is yelling no
# And her daddy has told her to go
# But her friend is nowhere to be seen
# Now she walks through her sunken dream
# To the seat with the clearest view
# And she's hooked to the silver screen
# But the film is a saddening bore
# For she's lived it ten times or more
# She can spit in the eyes of fools
# As they ask her to focus on sailors
# Fighting in the dance hall
# Oh, man Look at those cavemen go
# It's the freakiest show
# Take a look at the lawman
# Beating up the wrong guy
# Oh, man
# Wonder if he'll ever know
# He's in the best-selling show
# Is there life on Mars? #
But is there a Finnish tango on Mars?
ALL: YES!
APPLAUSE
Wasn't that amazing?
David Bowie as you've never heard him before.
And our dancers tonight - Vincent and Flavia - incredible!
Well, as we catch our breath backstage here before the second
half of tonight's Prom, take a look at this, because a few days ago,
I caught up with Vincent and Flavia in rehearsal to watch them at work.
The tango's probably one of the most passionate of dances.
Most of the lyrics are about sadness, sorrow, love lost,
so I think that's what gives tango its depth.
A lot of what you're doing with your footwork is what we associate
with the Argentine tango - the kicks and the flicks.
Where did that all come from?
When the tango was being developed and people were dancing,
a lot of the time actually it was men and men dancing together,
and it was them almost practising moves with each other
so that then, when they danced with a woman, they would impress them.
The men... Those times would be dodgy times.
The men used to dance with the ladies of the night,
and when they used to go into these clubs, the ladies,
all they were looking for is money.
So one of the best moves for them to know is they used to go up
and down and check... To see if there was any jingle!
..the man's pockets and see how much money, yeah, they had.
Flavia does it all the time. I never knew that!
# Y cuando de los bandoneones
# Se oyen las notas de un tango... #
If me and Flavia dance to a tango music and another couple
dance to the same tango music,
we're going to look completely different, because we're going to be
hearing what we feel the most, like, you know, the piano at some
point or the violin, and you perform to that instrument.
# Los recuerdos de otros dias
# De placeres... #
And do the musicians ever follow you? No. No, they just play.
The music tells a story,
and most of it is quite sad and kind of emotional.
And a lot of the well-known composers, like d'Arienzo,
they're actually a descendant of Italian immigrant families, so
I think that's probably one of the reasons why we're very connected.
I'm related to him. Did I ever say that to you?
But that's why we feel very connected, I think, to tango music.
# Y al pensar en tantas cosas
# De aquellos tiempos pasados
# Siente latir destrozado
# Su cansado corazon. #
Flavia Cacace and Vincent Simone, and they're off again for
Astor Piazzolla's iconic Libertango.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
Well, ladies and gentlemen, what a way to open the second half
of tonight's tango fiesta, Astor Piazzolla's iconic Libertango,
which just rippled with energy and emotion in
the hands of Britten Sinfonia and tonight's conductor, Clark Rundell,
and of course our amazing dancers, Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace.
I mean, it was like watching the most epic and passionate love
story, wasn't it, only with infinitely better footwork?
Just tremendous!
Now, we're going to bring our musical adventure right up to
date now with one of today's tango superstars, Pablo Ziegler.
Now, Pablo was sought out by Piazzolla himself to play in
his band in the 1970s.
He was looking for a classical piano genius with an open mind and
a talent for improvisation, and Pablo was his man.
For his part, Pablo says joining the band was like joining the
Argentinian national football team.
Since then, Pablo Ziegler has pushed the boundaries of what tango
means, innovating and expanding Piazzolla's ideas of nuevo tango
to create a tantalising fusion of tango and jazz.
He's joined tonight by members of his band,
and we have here on stage Hector Del Curto, one of Argentina's
finest bandoneon players, the master guitarist Claudio Ragazzi alongside
double bassist Pedro Giraudo and the percussionist Franco Pinna.
So, to perform a selection of his own works and show what tango
means today, please join me in welcoming Pablo Ziegler to
the Proms with tonight's conductor, Clark Rundell.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
One, two!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
APPLAUSE
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
What a dazzling set from Pablo Ziegler, showing tango's
future and its heritage are in very safe and skilful hands.
Well, sadly we are almost at the end of the concert,
but what an evening it's been.
We've covered a century of tango and crossed the world in the process.
Our finale this evening is going to be La Cumparsita,
the 1917 tango classic from Uruguay,
arranged by Pablo Ziegler and Iain Farrington.
It might be the most famous tango number in the world.
Written by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez when he was still a teenager,
it was an instant hit, and its popularity has only grown over time.
A museum dedicated to tango now stands on the site of the bar
where it was first performed in Montevideo, and trust me,
you will know it when you hear it.
It is traditionally played as the final song at tango nights,
milongas, to signal the end of the evening,
and tonight is no different.
So please put your hands together for all of tonight's soloists
returning to the stage for
a very special performance of La Cumparsita!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Si supieras
# Que aun dentro de mi alma
# Conservo aquel carino
# Que tuve para ti
# Quien sabe si supieras
# Que nunca te he olvidado
# Volviendo a tu pasado
# Te acordaras de mi
# Hiljaa yossa
# Nyt savel kaikaa Tahtein
# Vyossa on kummaa taikaa
# Mielta kiehtoo taa rytmi
# Kuuma # Quien sabe si supieras
# Que nunca te he olvidado
# Volviendo a tu pasado
BOTH: # Te acordaras de mi!
THEY VOCALISE
APPLAUSE
# Si supieras
# Que aun dentro de mi alma
# Conservo aquel carino
# Que tuve para ti
# Quien sabe si supieras
# Que nunca te he olvidado
# Volviendo a tu pasado
# Te acordaras de mi
# La cumparsita La cumparsita
# La cumparsita!
# La cumparsita! #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
# Por las noches, cara sucia
# De angelito con bluyin
# Vende rosas por las mesas
# Del boliche de Bachin
# Si la luna brilla
# Sobre la parrilla
# Come luna y pan de hollin
# Cada dia en su tristeza
# Que no quiere amanecer
# Lo madruga un seis de enero
# Con la estrella del reves
# Y tres reyes gatos
# Roban sus zapatos
# Uno izquierdo y el otro tambien
# Chiquilin
# Dame un ramo de voz
# Asi salgo a vender
# Mis verguenzas en flor
# Baleame con tres rosas
# Que duelan a cuenta
# Del hambre que no te entendi
# Chiquilin
# Cuando el sol pone a los pibes
# Delantales de aprender
# El aprende cuanto cero
# Le quedaba por saber
# Y a su madre mira
# Yira que te yira
# Pero no la quiere ver
# Cada aurora, en la basura
# Con un pan y un tallarin
# Se fabrica un barrilete
# Para irse y sigue aqui
# Es un hombre extrano
# Nino de mil anos
# Que por dentro le enreda el piolin
# Chiquilin
# Dame un ramo de voz
# Asi salgo a vender
# Mis verguenzas en flor
# Baleame con tres rosas
# Que duelan a cuenta
# Del hambre que no te entendi
# Chiquilin. #
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
What a show! Absolutely unbelievable from start to finish.
But don't go away, because coming up at 11 o'clock here on BBC Four,
there's a Prom given by the Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour.
And of course tomorrow, it's The Last Night Of The Proms,
so get your flags ready to wave.
I'll be there. I hope to see you soon. Goodnight!
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE