[TANGO-L] Finnish Tango

[Piia Savolainen <tangovanilla @YAHOO.COM>]

Jay asked me some questions about Finnish tango. My
comments are quite long, although I tried to keep them
as short as possible.

These are the topics:
1. Differences between Finnish and Argentine tango
2. About the music
3. Finding Finnish Tangos
4. Resources (Links)

Enjoy! :)

--------------------------------------------------

1. Differences between Finnish and Argentine tango

Many people have asked me this, and to be true, it is
a bit hard question. I have been dancing Finnish tango
since I was a little girl, and when I got introduced
to Argentine tango in my teens, first I wouldn't
believe Finnish tango had it's roots in Argentine
tango. But it does. And in the end that is all that
there is. Roots. Finnish tango doesn't resemble much
Argentine tango, and it doesn't feel the same to
dance.

In FT, there is a full body contact. That means
leader's and follower's chest, waist, and thighs are
in contact (follower's outer right thigh with leader's
inner left thigh, and follower's inner left thigh with
leader's outer right thigh).  That leads to a
position, where dancers need to turn their upper
bodies to be able to have the chest contact. (When
dancers are walking, they have this twist in their
bodies all the time.) This is the basic embrace. The
Follower can put her left hand on the leader's neck,
very much like in close embrace in AT. However, the
position can also be slightly opened up, and in that
case the follower rests her arm on leader's arm
(thighs are still in close contact, because that is
where the lead starts).

The steps are long. They can go low. There must be a
great deal of flexion in the knees all the time.
Dancers stay at the same level almost all the time
(meaning that they keep the same flexion in their
knees, not more sometimes and less sometimes). The
leader initiates the movement by starting to move his
leg with his thigh going first (knee flexed, foot
doesn't rise high from the floor). The follower just
keeps her thigh contact all the time. So they are both
moving together at the same time. When they have the
legs straightened, leader initiates a weight shift to
that foot. And that's one step.

There's no crossed feet system in FT. And FT is never
so playful as AT can be. I think with FT it is not so
easy to express so many different kind of
feelings/emotions than with AT. Finnish tango feels
very much the same every time I dance it. But it feels
GOOD. The embrace is very intimate, and kind of
comforting. The dance can be dynamic, and the emotions
I feel music conveys, the ones that automatically
transfer into the dance, are more on the dark side
than happy. There is desperation, sorrow, longing,
lost love... But there is also anticipation of
something better, hope, and sometimes this strange
tranquility - that whatever will be, it will be
accepted and that's about it. I believe melancholic
and nostalgic are also very suitable words to describe
the feeling in Finnish tango. (I think this has very
much to do with the time when many of the old tangos
were written: it was war (WW2), and after the war the
songs of longing (to be again in the good old times)
and about lost loved ones were very close to people's
heart).

----------------------------------------------------

2. About the music

In the above paragraph I already explained somthing
about the feeling in the Finnish tango music. In more
musical terms: The key is almost always minor.
Sometimes in an interlude it changes into a major. The
melodies have got influences from Finnish folk music
and melancholic slavic tunes. The time is very often
4/4. The rhytm has almost a march like beat. It is
sometimes softer, sometimes harder. There are almost
never any changes of tempo, just maybe some pauses.
The verse parts of tangos have many times the habanera
rhytm, and the interludes or refrains have a beguine
rhytm.

The bandoneon is not used, but accordion is instead.
That is one very characteristic instrument on FT. Also
violins appear in many orchestra versions.

-------------------------------------------------

3. Finding Finnish Tangos

This is a hard one. I have no idea if there are any
web shops you could by cd's. I tried to look for them,
but coudn't find just now. (I can do more research on
this, if someone wants me to?).

Anyway, the names you want to be looking for (if you
are interested in old Finnish tangos) are Toivo Kdrki
and Unto Mononen. They are the composers that have
made the most of the old famous tangos. Some early
singers were Olavi Virta and Reijo Taipale. Reijo
Taipale is still alive and doing well. These both guys
sang also other songs than tango, so be careful that
it says tango in the cd you are buying, if you happen
to find one.

If you want to find the newer tangos, you might want
to try for example the compilation cd's (there are now
18 of them) that come out every year by Seindjoen
orkesteri - Tangomarkkinat 1-18 (We have this tango
singer competition at Seindjoki, where a "tango king"
and "tango queen" get selected every year. On this
compilation cd there are tangos sung by the finalists
of this competition; some of the tangos are newer,
some older).

--------------------------------------------

4. Links

Article: The tango and the Finnish soul
http://virtual.finland.fi/netcomm/news/showarticle.asp?intNWSAID=26965

Article: The Finnish Tango - It's history and
characteristics
http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&6E5789AE999A2FECC2256F080033DA14

----------------------------------------------------

So, that's about it for now. If you have any
questions, I'll be more than happy to answer those.
Hope I didn't bore you too much... :)

Piia



--- Jay Rabe <jayrabe  @HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> Piia,
>
>      Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge
> about  Finnish tango. Some
> questions for you:
>
>      * How would you describe the major differences
> between Finnish tango
> dancing vs. Argentine tango dancing?
>      * What are the differences between Finnish
> tango music and Argentine
> tango music?
>      * Where can I get copies of Finnish tangos?
> (any English language
> websites?)
>
>      Thanks,
>
>           J in Portland
>           www.TangoMoments.com


		
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