The Official Story is about a right wing family that adopted the child of one of the ''disappeared''. The mother does not know of her adopted daughter's origin, the father does. This is the story of a family exploding; the story of one aspect of Argentine history told through the lives of a family, Marta [Tim's friend] told me: ''this film is très forte, très, très forte, very difficult''.
Never were truer words spoken, I am moved simply writing about it now.
I have watched it once, as with many of the films from Argentina, I cannot watch them often because they are indeed ''très forte''.

Tim Allen, Blue Hill, ME

No tango in this movie, but plenty of Buenos Aires reality of the early 2000s, as experienced by the group of teens. The economic collapse in Argentina effected many, especially the teenagers who lacked the skills to get "real jobs". My teenage daughter and I watched this gritty, sad movie quite a few times.

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The account of a little rebellion of Peronistas in a small town, and the decent into viciousness that follows. The humour makes this film work on our emotion and leaves one with a difficult impression of life in that small place that is unshakeable, also ''très forte'',

Tim Allen, Blue Hill, ME

La Cienaga is another to look for, not about revolutions, rather about contemporary life and the corruptions and failures of family, not a pretty picture.

The story of a woman who gave birth to a son while she was a political prisoner. The newborn son is taken from her. She returns to visit family after a long exile in Europe and is caught up in a maze of emotional events that tell us the real story of her life and her crippled or destroyed emotional life.

Tim Allen, Blue Hill, ME

This movie is clearly Robert Duvall's homage to Argentine tango. Duvall has been dancing tango well before it has become a new world-wide rage.

The movie has a format of political thriller: the American assassin (Duvall) is hired to fly to Buenos Aires and to kill one of the retired military top-brass involved in the repressions of the 1970s.

While working round the dangerous obstacles to his assignment, he befriended the young professional tango dancer (played by Duvall's current wife). The young lady introduced the assassin to  the world of Argentine tango.

One of the gems of this move is the scene with legendary Maria Nieves and  her semi-autobiographical story of the Buenos Aires milongas of the 1940s. This scene is well worth watching.

There are a number of other famous old and new stars of Argentine tango in this movie. For instance, Pablo Veron with a great partner dances at the end of the movie.

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Directed by Sally Potter, a British movie producer.

The plot is simple - a female movie producer fell in love

 with a tango dancer (Pablo Veron) and decided to learn tango. The movie has a first-rate soundtrack, excellent dancing scenes (social and stage) and great philosophical lines for tango dancers. My favorite is by Veron's character: "Less is more".

Si Sos Brujos is about the musicians, but it will be of a great value to everybody interested in Argentine tango.

IIt is the documentary about the cultural preservation, namely, about the project of reviving the glorious traditions of the old tango orchestras.

Two main characters are Ignacio Varchausky, a young tango bassist, and Emilio Balcarce, one of the few tango maestros still alive.

Varchausky came up with the idea of organizing the training tango orchestra, where the old masters (so few of them left now!) will play side-by-side with the young musicians and teach them the old tricks of the trade, almost lost during the decades of 60s-80s.

One can admire the tenacity with which Ignacio Varchausky pursued his plan. There were huge problems with everything - funding the project and convincing the old, skeptical maestros to participate.

Si Sos Brujos does an excellent job portraying a one of those maestros, who agreed to come out of his retirement and to work - Emilio Balcarce (the composer of beautiful La Bordona). Don Emilio is nearing 90, but full of energy, his mind is razor-sharp and his enthusiasm and generosity are contagious. Well, a rolling rock never grows moss.

The documentary has a slight melancholic note to it - the generational divide. The maestros are in their eighties, the understudies are barely thirty. It seems like both parties got along very well, but the difference of 5 decades sometimes was palpable.

My only discontent with Si Sos Brujos is the failure to explain why the training orchestra was necessary. What happened to the music of Argentine tango after the Golden Age of the 1940s-1950s? Why there is a break in tango tradition? If the authors took a few minutes to explain, the documentary would have had the appeal to the wider audience, beyond the fans of Argentine tango.

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Pedro "Tete" Rusconi is a class of his own. He belongs to that - alas! - dying breed of the milongueros who started dancing at the end of the tango's Golden Age.

He is also one of those few lucky people who did in his life what he wanted to do, regardless of the opinions and circumstances.

This documentary, shot by one of Tete's students, Daniel Tonelli, will be eventually priceless. It captured Tete performing, teaching and talking about himself and the tango.

Spanish with English and French subtitles.

To order contact Daniel Tonelli or Silvia Ceriani

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"...she possessed the strength of knowing what she wanted. Hers was a naked and raw desire that moved  mountains, and it had nothing to do with nostalgia and tango. Eva was not prone to the longing for some other time that was characteristically Argentinean. She wanted the here, the now, the immediate."

-- from Eva Peron: A Biography

I thought that more than half of Santa Evita, a novel by Tomas Eloy Martinez, was Latin American "magic realism", because the story was so... crazy. But as the old saying goes, the truth is stranger than fiction.

Eva Peron's short life (she died at the age of 33) was stranger than fiction. If not for the audacity, courage, passion and fine political instincts of this woman, the whole concept of Peronism would not have existed. Domingo Peron would have been yet another boring, self-obsessed, sleek political operator in the Argentine history.

Eva's rise to power was phenomenal. She was an illegitimate daughter of a poor provincial woman. She had neither good education, nor talent for the chosen profession (acting). Nor she had the looks & the health. But she made it all the way to the top.

I liked this biography because the author made a great effort to be objective towards Eva Peron. She gave Eva due praise, when it was deserved, but did not skim over the unsavory traits and deeds of her subject, like the disdain for the intellectuals, dirty extortion tactics towards business people, the Nazi leanings (there is a fascinating, but a bit confusing chapter on harboring Nazi criminals & their loot in Argentina after the WWII).

In sum, it was a well-chosen read on my part. Plenty of tango lyrics quoted, by the way.

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We are what we eat. And we dance what we are.

In order to understand why Argentine tango is the way it is, you have to know something about its birthplace - Argentina.

If you are short on time and/or money, this anthology will do an excellent job on educating you about Argentina.

It consists of thoughtfully selected songs, articles, comic strips, scholarly essays, poems and short stories. Some of the translated pieces can not be found anywhere else.
Diverse topics represented - from Spanish Conquistadors to soccer & tango.
Great commentaries from the best Latin American scholars (written in the language suitable for the mere mortals).
I use this book to prepare my shows. A LOT. 

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Thompson (Yale professor) did a lot of research on African roots of the Latin American music.

In essence, this book is largely the continuation of his studies, because a lot of attention in Tango: The Art History of Love, is dedicated to the African influences of tango and the the prominent role of the Afro-Argentines in the beginning of tango history.

At a times, the book might be a difficult read for the tangueros, who do not want to dive into the topic of tango origins "too deep". The good news that the book is well-structured and allows the reader to choose the chapters of interest.

I found it very, very, very informative about every aspect of tango - music, poetry and dance.

My biggest gripe regarding this book is the absence of audio-visual companion CDs. It is hard to talk about music without hearing it, and about the dance without seeing the visual illustrations.

Read the interview with Robert Farris Thompson.

Read an excerpt from the book Tango.

Hear Robert Farris Thompson on Afropop Worldwide podcast(audio)

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This book is an illustrative case when you should not judge the book by its cover. The cover design is cheesy and the format is of a coffee table variety, which might suggest a certain fluffiness of the material. But it is just a cover.

For a long time I was hesitant about buying this book via Amazon, but when I looked through it at my friend's house, I decided that it is absolutely a keeper.

The book is well-written, superbly illustrated with the historic drawings/photos and - not a small feat! - well-organized.

The authors are prominent dance and tango historians (Azzi is the author of Piazzolla's biography Le Grand Tango)

A little bit of everything about the history of Argentine tango - dance AND music. A must to have for every serious tanguero, who can not read Spanish.

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Do-not-put-it-down traveloque about Argentina and its tango.

I highly recommend this book to those who would like to know about Argentine history and culture beyond the tango, but have no desire or  time to read the academic works on this subject.

Originally Brian Winter's book was conceived as an account of Argentina's worst economic crisis, which broke out right when Brian arrived into the country in 2000. But it became - in equal parts - the intertwined history of Argentina and tango, told from the perspective of Yanqui, who is very much in love with Argentina, its enigmas and its tango.

Brian Winter spent in Argentina 4 years working as a financial reporter for Reuters and dancing tango obsessively.

Listen to the interview with Brian Winter.

The serious barrier to this book's popularity is its very academic language. After reading it, I could not understand what audience it was intended for. (Maybe, the author did not know it herself?..)

But a few critical notes aside, the dedicated tangueros will be richly awarded if they can deal with the complex linguistic constructs.

The book has a wealth of historical references & quotes, the explanation of tango lyrics in context of the social & historical conditions of the times. Especially handy for those who do not read Spanish fluently.

Here is the brief synopsis:

Chapter 1: Introductions

Methods of the research. What is tango? Why the notion of colonization and de-colonization is applicable to it? The author's personal attitude towards Argentine tango as a part of her personal cultural heritage.

Chapter 2: Tango as a Spectacle of Sex, Race, and Class

Perhaps, the most interesting chapter in the book, because it gives the historical perspective on how the music, song and dance evolved. The author tries "to disturb the stereotype of an exclusively sexual/erotisized image of tango by introducing class and race into the erotic game". I particularly enjoyed reading an essay Tango and the "Macho" Cult.

Chapter 3: Tango and the Colonizing Gaze

Tango, an exotic dance, goes to France and England and becomes the marketable commodity, affecting social scene, fashion, show business.

Chapter 4: Scandalizing National Identity

Tango goes back home and ignites the controversy. On one hand, it is appoved & cleaned by Paris, on another hand, it is "summarizes the choreography of the brothels".

Of all chapters, I found this one as the most informative, with plenty of hillarious quotes by the Argentine & European intellectuals of those times.

Chapter 5: Exotic Encounters

Both tangos - original Argentine and highly stylized European - conquer Japan.

Chapter 6: From Exoticism to Decolonization

Also one of my favorite chapters in this book, consisting of "a series of tango in prose - confessions, protests, laments, and desires." The chapter opens with the highly personal essay about Don Beto, Marta Savigliano's gradndfather, a small-time shady dealer, womanizer and milonguero, who taught her the first tango steps.

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Sonia Abadi lives and dances in Buenos Aires. She is a physician and psychoanalyst by day. (By the way, do you know that Buenos Aires has the largest concentration of psychoanalysts per capita among all cities in the world?!...).

Aside from dancing and singing Argentine tango, she writes about the milongas. The essays included into this book appeared in Reportango magazine, published in New York. They were also translated into many European languages.

The most valuable quality of this book: it disabuses a starry-eyed foreign tanguero from his/her delusion that the Argentine tango is all about passion, connection, musicality, etc, etc - in sum, about all those feely-touchy things which well-meaning Argentine tango maestros "forget" to talk about during their lessons outside Argentina.

With a great humor, Sonia Abadi brings out a slightly different image of the Argentine tango: dancing at milongas is THE game, with its unspoken rules, strategies and tactics. Those who are oblivious to this fact, loose (a.k.a. sit through milongas). Readers, please, take a careful notice.

My favorite quote from Tango Scene:

"The human race, especially the breed that frequents the milongas, struggles between two equally terrifying fears: the fear of loneliness and the fear of commitment."

The book contains many other gems like this one, applicable, with a little adjustment for the local culture, to any tango milieu in the world.

My only big (really, really big) gripe about this book is the quality of its translation and editing. It is very...eh... home-made. I struggled to understand some passages. Mightily.

To sum it up: regardless of its technical shortcomings, Tango Scene was a true delight to read. It taught me quite a bit about my local tango scene.

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The charming collection of tango anecdotes from the veteran milonguero Jorge Lindman (who is also a sociologist, a traveler and a journalist to boot) .

Perhaps, it is not as lyrical and biting, as Sonia Abadi's milonga observations (see above), but still the stories present an interesting insight into the lives and psyche of the milonga inhabitants in Buenos Aires.

One of the greatest values of this edition: it is bilingual, therefore, handy for a would-be traveler to Buenos Aires who wants to brush up his/her "Argentine tango-specific" Spanish. Each short story is accompanied by several lines of tango lyrics - to add an extra-flavor to each story told.

My biggest criticism, just like in case of Tango Scene, Swing In, is the quality of translation and editing. The publisher has to do quite a lot of improvement in this department.

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The Adventures of a Cello is not about Argentine tango, however, I thought this book deserves to be listed here:

1. Carlos Prieto, a world-class cellist from Mexico, was the first to record Piazzolla's Le Grand Tango with pianist Edison Quintana.

Le Grand Tango is the only tango written specifically for cello. The book has an excellent section on history of Argentine tango, Piazzolla & the history of Le Grand Tango.

2. The book is a very informative, well-organized, well-written compendium of essays on classical and modern music and composers.

The adventures of a Cello is partially Prieto's memoirs, partially the biography of his beloved Piatti (1720 cello made by Stradivari) and partially the serious survey of classical music and string instruments (yes, there is an chapter on violin-making in it!).

The most wonderful quality of this book is that you can read the part which is currently of interest to you - eventually you read them all. Your understanding of the world music (not only classical!) will be so much richer.

There is one more thing to tell about this book. The author wisely accompanied the book with a great CD From Bach to Piazzolla. The above mentioned Le Grand Tango is on it, as well as another Piazzolla's piece and the composition by Piazzolla's teacher Alberto Ginastera.

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(Slightly) fictionalized biography of Eva Maria Duarte Peron, a semi-mythic personality in the history of 20th century Argentina.

On surface, Santa Evita is a story of Eva Peron's corpse, but in reality it is the great portrait of the person with the finest political instincts and the courage to pursue her goal.

The personal story of Mr. Martinez is woven into the narration and adds a flavor of individual perspective on what Eva Peron meant to the Argentines.
Download and listen the novel excerpts from Evita radio show page. The show itself was inspired by the novel.

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Bruno, an American graduate student, wrote a Master's thesis on Jorge Luis Borges. Although  - in his opinion - there was no need to go to Buenos Aires, he went anyway (thanks to a Fullbright scholarship) to see Borges' city with his own eyes.

The scholarly nature of his trip was soon forgotten. Bruno became obsessed by the mythical, elusive tango singer Martel. Martel's voice was rumored to be superior to Carlos Gardel's.

 It was not easy to hear Martel: the seriously ill singer gave only short recitals in the seemingly random public places. Bruno tried to figure out Martel's logic behind the selection of the places. In the end he did: Martel chose the locations connected to the tragic history of Argentina and Buenos Aires.

In spite of its somewhat fantastic plot, the novel has very little of the famous Latin American "magic realism". It is very realistic. All historical, literary and musical vignettes are true.

Martinez' historic fiction is superb. The style of writing is always succinct and engaging. No wonder: he was one of the best Argentine journalists before being forced into an exile in the early 1980s.

To sum it up: The Tango Singer is a great literary tour of Buenos Aires and its famous tango songs. The novel seduces you into visiting the Buenos Ares landmarks (other than milongas) better than the best tourist guide books.

I liked it so much that I made it into the radio show Literary Tour...

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Heartbreak Tango has very little tango per se, but it is full of references to the pop culture (tango lyrics, movies, radio serials) of the Golden Age of tango (30s-40s).

In fact, the novel is called a serial (and chapters are called episodes), in commemoration of the radio soaps which Puig heard growing up in the provincial Argentine town.

In essence, Puig's serial is an anti-soap opera: its young characters conduct their love affairs in rather ... unsavory way. There no saccharine sweetness, it is a pure camp & kitch.

Puig's writing style is experimental, it has a cinematic quality to it (the author worked in Italian cinema for many years).  It is fun to read, but sometimes Puig gets so carried away with his clever constructs and styling, that a reader is left behind, pining for a better editing job and some clarifying commentary.

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My friend, a physical therapist involved in the dance-based rehabilitation program for war veterans, has a very high opinion this book. I agree with her.

Dance: Mind & Soul is a very thin volume - a hundred or so pages, - but it has THE meat of the dance movement theory and practice. The exercises are easy and the most do not require any special dance expertise.

The tango seminars teach you the specifics of the dance. But those ganchos, volcadas, cadenas, etc, etc are very, very hard to learn if you are not aware of the dance basics - mental & physical.

Go back to basics - read this book. Practice the principles. You will be a better tango dancer.

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