Tango Music

The first time Sarah Kawahara choreographed programs for Chinese pair skaters Pang Qing and Tong Jian, she was instantly drawn to Tong's fluid movements and strong personality. Pang was the silent partner, apparently content to follow Tong's lead. But Kawahara sensed both had unexplored depths. "I thought I could do something to help develop them," said Kawahara, an Emmy-award-winning choreographer who lives in Westlake Village.

The first time Sarah Kawahara choreographed programs for Chinese pair skaters Pang Qing and Tong Jian, she was instantly drawn to Tong's fluid movements and strong personality. Pang was the silent partner, apparently content to follow Tong's lead. But Kawahara sensed both had unexplored depths. "I thought I could do something to help develop them," said Kawahara, an Emmy-award-winning choreographer who lives in Westlake Village.

Yo-Yo Ma is an admirable superstar. Willing to try almost anything, and always eager to please, the cellist has also become a diplomat like no other in the world. Only Ma, for instance, could have pulled off a year like this one. John Williams wrote a prominent solo cello role for him in the soundtrack to "Seven Years in Tibet." Yet as much as that film may have angered the Chinese government, Ma was invited to the state dinner for Chinese President Jiang Zemin at the White House recently.

Over his long, wandering career, accordionist Dino Saluzzi, 71, has often reached across genre lines in search of creative expression. For him, the idea of blending Argentine folk and tango music with European classical tradition comes naturally. So Saluzzi is a perfect fit for the Skirball Cultural Center's series "Compressing the World," which reaches its apex tonight when the lyrical master of the tango accordion, the bandoneon, appears with cellist Anja Lechner.

Tango music is the voice of Argentina, as intimately identified with the national character as jazz is for the United States. And there are similarities between both types of music: Each is the musical manifestation of melting-pot societies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, simmering up from a social netherworld to emerge as rich, complex cultural expressions.

Over his long, wandering career, accordionist Dino Saluzzi, 71, has often reached across genre lines in search of creative expression. For him, the idea of blending Argentine folk and tango music with European classical tradition comes naturally. So Saluzzi is a perfect fit for the Skirball Cultural Center's series "Compressing the World," which reaches its apex tonight when the lyrical master of the tango accordion, the bandoneon, appears with cellist Anja Lechner.

Orchestral playing that managed to be urgent in attack and sumptuous in tone distinguished the Los Angeles Philharmonic's program "The Passion of Tango" on Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl. However, conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya needs to update his notions of tango choreography.

It's opening night at Club Social de Avellaneda, a new tango dance hall in a gritty Buenos Aires blue-collar neighborhood reminiscent of deep Brooklyn. Bronze busts of Juan and Evita Peron grace the entrance of the building. Inside, a giant mural above the dance floor depicts local stevedores, meatpackers and factory workers of a half-century ago.

Two musics, from two different parts of the world, come together with enticing compatibility in this eminently listenable new album. Is there really a common bond linking jazz and tango--two seemingly disparate forms of music? Absolutely. Both are urban musics, simmered in a melting pot of different ethnic and racial elements; both were associated, early on, with the bordello world; and both are founded upon surging rhythms and improvisation.

Beneath the midnight sun of Finland's brief but brilliant summer, thousands of couples find romance in the nation's adopted dance--the Finnish tango. At the annual Tango Fair in July, more than 50,000 people danced till the early hours in the small western town of Seinajoki. Almost a quarter of Finland's 5 million population stayed glued to their televisions as 10 top tango singers battled to be crowned tango king and queen of 1991. "It was the first hot weekend of the summer and we had 1.

ARGENTINE singer Sandra Luna is a hard-core tanguero's delight. Her voice -- strong, passionate, manly -- represents the genre's macho bravado in all its splendor. "I'm not really into the concept of tango disguised as a woman," she says in the lobby of a Hollywood hotel. Dressed in an elegant beige outfit with strikingly pointy black shoes, Luna talks about her album "Tango Varon" (Male Tango) in the typically staccato, aggressive-sounding Spanish of the Buenos Aires barrios.

Silver screen idol Rudolph Valentino did it. So did Al Pacino in "Scent of a Woman." Even Robert Duvall dipped into the art form that originated in the smoky clubs of Argentina. It's tango -- the dance so passionate it's often described as "making love with your clothes on." If you'd like to try to wrap yourself around your partner like a python -- or watch others try -- the Carlos Gardel Tango Festival is the place to be Sunday.

Orchestral playing that managed to be urgent in attack and sumptuous in tone distinguished the Los Angeles Philharmonic's program "The Passion of Tango" on Saturday at the Hollywood Bowl. However, conductor Miguel Harth-Bedoya needs to update his notions of tango choreography.

It's opening night at Club Social de Avellaneda, a new tango dance hall in a gritty Buenos Aires blue-collar neighborhood reminiscent of deep Brooklyn. Bronze busts of Juan and Evita Peron grace the entrance of the building. Inside, a giant mural above the dance floor depicts local stevedores, meatpackers and factory workers of a half-century ago.

The last few years have been good for tango in the United States, judging from the number of quality recordings released. Here are five albums that would make a perfect start to a comprehensive tango collection: * "The Story of Tango," various artists, Hemisphere/Metro Blue. This superb compilation of classic and contemporary tunes makes a great entry point to the world of tango.

Osvaldo Requena is on a mission. He wants to prove to the world that tango isn't as simple as it might appear. "I've done extensive research on many different kinds of music," said the artistic director of the internationally renowned company Tango Buenos Aires during a recent telephone conversation from his Argentina home. "Tango goes beyond the simple little chorus [of any pop song] that you hum along to.

What is it with orchestras these days? The San Francisco Symphony, the envy of orchestras everywhere for its success under its new music director Michael Tilson Thomas, is entering into the third month of a malignant strike. The Vienna Philharmonic, the world's most refined orchestra, continues to insist upon sexist and racist hiring to protect its traditional sound. And last season the Minnesota Orchestra made Eiji Oue its music director.

"Tango" is a bold, seductive attempt to probe the very soul of the distinctive, sensual Argentine music, song and dance that has been world-renowned since Rudolph Valentino stepped onto a cabaret floor nearly 80 years ago in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Thanks to that archetypal screen Latin lover, the tango is forever associated with the heady 1920s, but in Argentina it remains a vital and contemporary expression of the country's spirit.

"Tango" is a bold, seductive attempt to probe the very soul of the distinctive, sensual Argentine music, song and dance that has been world-renowned since Rudolph Valentino stepped onto a cabaret floor nearly 80 years ago in "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse." Thanks to that archetypal screen Latin lover, the tango is forever associated with the heady 1920s, but in Argentina it remains a vital and contemporary expression of the country's spirit.

Tango music is the voice of Argentina, as intimately identified with the national character as jazz is for the United States. And there are similarities between both types of music: Each is the musical manifestation of melting-pot societies of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, simmering up from a social netherworld to emerge as rich, complex cultural expressions.