[TANGO-L] Astor Piazzolla's BDay

[ozeng <ozeng @NEURO.DUKE.EDU>]

Today is Astor Piazzolla's birthday. We will celebrate his music, his creativity and his "not-giving-in-to-the-popular-demand" attitude which made him the "black sheep" of the "tango family" back in Buenos Aires when he was already becoming a celebrity all around the world...
There has been endless discussions on this list about Piazzolla's feelings towards the tango dancers and most of the time it has been argued that "he disliked the tango dancers", "he didn't want  his music to be danced to" etc. Well, here is a piece published in Reportango (February 2003, Issue # 27),  from an interview with Juan Carlos Copes:
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"My life with Astor was very profound. I believe that he always considered me a friend and I believe that from the pedestal where I held him I always offered him what I could humbly do. Approaching that music that made me fly so much, it made me fantasize, but also approaching him and feeling like his friend was very satisfying. I had some sort of idolatry towards him.
I remember when I met him. I was a crazy amateur back then. It was the year 1952 and those that have any memory of those days will remember they would kick out the milongueros from all the popular places. And I said, "I have to continue with this in some way, I can't leave it." And besides learning other dances (dances that I was never very good at), like contemporary, acrobatic, choreography, I felt I was very limited with what I knew. So, I began to pay attention to the music.
"A Fuego Lento" by Salgan was one of the first tangos with which a group of inexperienced friends and I worked, then one day I listened to Piazzolla. Then I became a habitue of his concerts, which he often played on the radio with his quartet. And one day I went to the Patagonia Theater and I told him: "Look Astor, I have a small group with amateur dancers and we are doing little stories about BA, not only with couples but also telling stories and I would like you to see one that we did with your tango "Contrabajeando." It seems that was a good introduction, because he came by to see us.
....
He saw it, thanked us, and left. And then I realized that I still have a long way to go to realize what Piazzolla had in mind. That was my first physical contact with him. Until his last words in Rio de Janeiro after a performance, he came, gave me a very strong hug and told me: "Man, who said that Piazzolla could not be danced?"
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Thank you Astor, again, on your birthday, for giving us all that you have created.
 
Gulden Ozen
Tangophilia/North Carolina