For the first time ever it will be possible to follow Tangomarkkinat, the oldest Tango Festival in the world from Seinäjoki, Finland, live over the internet.
Tune in to soak up the as the atmosphere backstage, party with the revelers in the city streets, and root for your favourite competitors, be it the singers or dancers – all conveniently from your computer anywhere in the world. The first live broadcast takes place June 19, 2010, starting at 12.10 p.m. (EST) until 2.00 p.m. Just follow the link to the Finnish Public Broadcasting Corporation web site Satumaa (unfortunately in Finnish only).
This year’s festival is expecting 100 000 visitors, a huge leap from the 18 000 people who attended the first edition in 1985. Since music knows no boundaries, there are many visitors fom far-flung corners of the world in addition to quite a few from European countries.
The festival has been springboard to many a career with its competitions for best singers, composers and dancers. The main event is the crowning of the Tango Queen and King, who hold on to their title for one year. The royal perks include a tour and recording contract, which translates into instant stardom, sometimes the lasting kind.
Aficionados of the Argentinian tango may find its Northern cousin staid and reserved, but it is tuned into the Finnish sensibilities. The Finns unabashedly love their version and rightly so. According to tango fusion specialist, Klaus Petritsch in Cairns, Australia, "There are as many tangoes as there are people". The importance of tango to the Finns is reflected in the large number and popularity of tango artists, and its survival in the face of the onslaught from countless waves of new popular music.
The Finnish version is a cosmopolitan hybrid of the dance, influenced by the foxtrot, habanera, and even jazz and blues. Often set to melancholy tunes, it is still the feel good music firing Finnish passions - just ask as fan. The Finnish tango also serves as an inspiration reaching into other fields of intellectual activity. Probably the most unusual to-date is a computer-generated tango, with lyrics, dating from 1967. The composition relied on the most often occurring features in popular tangoes and created its ‘masterpiece’ based on the law of averages. The scientists did not make it to the top of the charts, although their tango did have a modicum of success, proving that the human element is still the secret ingredient of tango everywhere.
Text: Sebastian Snickars and Laura McSwiggan
Updated 6/22/2010