Tango comes together and sounds in September with two festivals
The local tango scene will exhibit its current power from next Thursday when two self-managed meetings dedicated to this culture are launched: the fourth edition of the Family of Artists of the Fernández Fierro Athletic Club (FaCaff), which will be animated by more than 60 proposals until the end of the month, and the Flores Tango Festival, a space that has been operating since 2013, which will last until Saturday 10.
From their own point of view, both events have a common goal: to offer a broad and interesting panorama of today's tango, covering its multiple disciplines to support, accompany and disseminate a cultural expression that continues to beat.
FaCaff will take place during 18 nights in September, from Thursday to Sunday, at Club Atlético Fernández Fierro (Bustamante 772, CABA), while the Festival de Flores will be held during 10 days in different venues of the district.
Walter Coccaro, organizer of FaCaff, and Viviana Sclarlassa, one of the people in charge of the Flores Festival, talked to Télam about city music and the new edition of the respective meetings, and the particularity and spirit of each one.
T: There are more and more contemporary tango proposals and these meetings give visibility and offer a space for independent musicians to play. Do you see it that way?
Walter Coccaro: Since its beginnings in 2004, the Caff has always been a space to give visibility to new tangos, to new expressions of the genre, without denying classic tango, which is what nourishes us, but focusing on the current look, with the new musical and social influences, tango has many new things to express. The new blood has a lot to say.
Viviana Scarlassa: Today's panorama is of a diversity and richness impossible to encompass, we try to summarize not only some of the artistic quality that we find in today's tango, but also the commitment to the management of tango. The guys from Tango Cañón run a wonderful space called "La tierra Invisible" and the festival is a bit of an excuse to make visible not only the artists that make up the current scene but also these spaces.
T: Where was the focus in this new edition? What is the main difference in relation to previous editions?
WC: The difference between this current FaCaff and the previous one (which was pre-pandemic in 2019) is that we managed to set up the festival as a cooperative, with its own registration, its monthly meetings, its group decisions. This strengthens the project to such an extent that we were able to access a subsidy from the Government of the City that helps us meet expenses, that each worker is paid for his work and respect the 70/30 of bordereaux of tickets established by the Law of Music.
VS: Although there will be live concerts, the big difference in this year's lineup with respect to previous years is that we will focus on classes and workshops. We want those who attend the festival to have an active participation and not just be "spectators". There will be tango dance classes and practices for all levels. There will also be a group tango interpretation workshop. We want people to come and participate. We are also interested in making known some of the spaces that offer tango-related proposals in our neighborhood throughout the year.
T: This year at FaCaff there will be a special tribute to the festival's godfather and friend, Horacio Fontova. What can you tell us about this evocation of this figure of Argentine popular culture?
WC: Horacio Fontova was an artist who always accompanied us, he gave us his love, his art, his wisdom. He played several concerts at the Piro Club and was a great friend of many nights and a godfather of the house. His loyal partner Gabriela Campos organized a tribute on September 8 for El Negro to be present through El Chino Laborde, Alfredo Piro, Daniel Maza, Gisela Magri, Hernán Reinaudo and many more.
T: In the new edition of the Flores Festival, what would you highlight from this year's line-up?
VS: The closing of this year will be the inclusion of Floreal Ruiz in the Museum of Flores through the donation of an object belonging to the artist by his family. A few months ago we started the process to have a street named after him in our neighborhood.
Among other guests this year will be Floreal actor Gustavo Yaniello, who played the role of Pope Francis in the Emmy award winning series "Francis, the Jesuit".
T: Can we say that the spirit of the Flores Festival contemplates the crossover between traditional and modern tango?
VS: Yes, that was our idea from the very beginning. Tango is a very rich language that includes not only different age groups but also diverse expressions. That is why we include proposals such as "La Milonga Cañón" where there is a great young movement and others of a more traditional nature.
T: At FaCaff, in addition to the new, there is also a place for the history of such a rich genre. There will be a tribute to Osvaldo Ruggiero.
WC: There will also be talks and the historian Matías Mauricio will be there telling the history of the greats of tango and he will organize the Book Fair of independent publishers; on the 22nd there will be a tribute to one of the best bandoneon players in the history of tango, Osvaldo Ruggiero with his sons, one of whom (Adrián) is a bandoneon player of the Fernández Fierro orchestra. It is a total emotion that it is at the Caff, within the FaCaff, it is a tribute from the youngest to the greatest.
SOURCE: Télam