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Tango in Botanical Garden
June, summer day. I‘ve learned from a friend that “Picante” are invited again to play on the occasion of two years anniversary of “Tango Magazine”, magazine that has nothing to do with Tango, at least in my opinion… and as many other thing that pretend to be interesting and attractive, uses a symbol that has nothing to do with the subject… anyway, not relevant for our story; the important thing was we could listen to the tango music live… a beautiful summer evening into Botanical. I called all those that might be interested. We didn’t have an “official” invitation from the organizers, but it was an event in a public place, so we could try to go!
As any well organized event, starting with snacks, drinks to VIPs, it was very nice, as a year ago when the event took place into the Ioanid Park, only … after two hours with few live tango songs, los tangueros became unhappy… we danced a little and discretely on the Botanical Garden’s alleys enough to start our appetite to dance, but the show was long and the tango music not enough. I saw Razvan Mazilu and Monica Petrica among the guests, I though they will dance, and I was surprised when they announced a show from the “Bloc Bach” play and not from “Un Tango Mas” as I find the last one more related to tango than the other one that has nothing to do with it; it was the first time I saw them dancing something else. And they danced beautifully.
When it got dark, the show was almost finished and Alexandru and Horia started to play, the host of the show invited the public to dance on the small stage near the bandoneon and the guitar. That was the moment we have been waiting for!
As any well organized event, starting with snacks, drinks to VIPs, it was very nice, as a year ago when the event took place into the Ioanid Park, only … after two hours with few live tango songs, los tangueros became unhappy… we danced a little and discretely on the Botanical Garden’s alleys enough to start our appetite to dance, but the show was long and the tango music not enough. I saw Razvan Mazilu and Monica Petrica among the guests, I though they will dance, and I was surprised when they announced a show from the “Bloc Bach” play and not from “Un Tango Mas” as I find the last one more related to tango than the other one that has nothing to do with it; it was the first time I saw them dancing something else. And they danced beautifully.
When it got dark, the show was almost finished and Alexandru and Horia started to play, the host of the show invited the public to dance on the small stage near the bandoneon and the guitar. That was the moment we have been waiting for!
I had been dancing on live music before, I had danced into a park before, I had danced on stage before, I had danced under the open sky before, but this time was different. It was something else. It was a nice evening. Nice music. People wanting to dance!
I hardly started to dance and I didn’t dance much – I didn’t like to dance on the stage as it was too high and gave me a bad feeling to see the distance to the ground and the surface was small, but there was the best spot to dance: better than the asphalt of the alley and flatter than the grass. I was there to listen to the music not really to dance … but finding myself in that moment with all those people, listening to the music and watching them dancing was more than I expected for that evening!
I was very impressed by the progress of Picante and surprised of how many songs they knew. Their repertoire was much larger than I could remember and they were playing nice songs! I could hardly realize Alexandru and Horia were playing… I heard them playing many times and this performance reminded me a special “concert” into a bar, when they sang with a very dear friend of mine, on a winter night (but this is a story for another post); then and now in this garden their music really touched me!
Sitting in the grass near the stage, listening to the music and to the croaking of the frogs farther away, taking photos or shooting, having something to drink, a friend had an idea:
- Lets make a blog!
- A blog? About what?...
- About tango!
- ?!?!?!? … Wake up! Where this idea came from? … And what should we write of on that blog?
- Well… I don’t know, about tango!
- Ok then, you make that blog!... I cannot write, I always was weak on this subject… but if you want I can give you all the photos I made until now and all the photos we shall make, but you do the rest!...
Picante finished their performance, the tango music was still on, the VIPs left one by one, the tents and the tables were taken away, all the flowers and all the others embellishing things were gone, all the cables and sound machines were unplugged and only when there was no music at all los tangueros stopped dancing and felt it was time to live the place… home? … well, not quite, … they still wanted to dance… So this is the way we started the milongas at “El Rojo”.
Tango in Gradina Botanica
Iunie, zi de vara. Am aflat de la o prietena cum ca Picante erau din nou invitati sa cante pentru aniversarea a doi ani de la lansarea revistei “Tango”, revista care printre altele nu are legatura cu Tango, cel putin in acceptiunea mea … si ca orice manifestare care vrea sa atraga, se foloseste de un simbol, dar nu are legatura … in fine, nerelevant pentru povestea noastra; important era ca puteam sa ascultam muzica tango live, in Gradina Botanica intr-o seara frumoasa de vara. Am dat telefoane la toti cei pe care ii aveam in agenda si ar fi fost interesati de “socializare”, si i-am convocat. Nu aveam invitatie “oficiala” din partea organizatorilor, era un eveniment intr-un loc public, asa ca incercarea moarte n’avea!
Ca orice eveniment bine organizat, cu tot ce ii trebuie, de la mancare, bautura si pana la program artistic si VIP-uri, a fost foarte frumos, ca si cu un an in urma cand aniversarea a fost organizata in Parcul Ioanid, numai ca dupa vreo 2 ore in care muzica live a fost putina, los tangueros isi cam pierdusera rabdarea… . Se dansase putin si discret pe aleile din Gradina Botanica cand au cantat baietii, suficient cat sa ne incite la dans, iar programul artistic se lungea… si muzica intarsia. Printre invitati i-am zarit pe Razvan Mazilu si Monica Petrica, m-am gandit ca vor dansa, si am fost mirata atunci cand au anuntzat ca nu vor dansa nici un numar din spectacolul “Un Tango Mas”, care in mod normal s-ar fi legat oarecum de eveniment, si ca vor dansa o bucatica din spectacolul “Bloc Bach”; a fost prima data cand i-am vazut dansand si altceva.
Cand s-a lasat noaptea programul artistic era pe final, baietii au inceput sa cante, moderatorul evenimentului a invitat publicul - care se incumeta sa danseze tango - pe scena, langa bandoneon si ghitara. Atata au asteptat! Tropaiau demult in iarba…!
Am mai dansat pe muzica live, am mai dansat in parc, am mai dansat pe scena, am mai dansat sub cerul liber, dar parca atunci a fost altfel. Era altceva. A fost o seara faina. Muzica faina. Oameni cu chef de dans!
Mi-a fost greu sa ma urnesc sa dansez, si nu am dansat mult - nu imi placea sa dansez pe scena ca era prea sus si imi lasa un gol in stomac cand vedeam distantza pana la pamant, era destul de mica, desi era locul cel mai bun de dans, mai bun decat asfaltul de pe alee, si mai drept decat smocurile din iarba unde iti agatzai tocurile. La urma urmei nu ma dusesem acolo sa dansez, ci mai mult sa ascult muzica, … daca se potrivea si un dans cu atat mai bine… simplul fapt ca eram atunci acolo cu toti acei oameni, ascultand tango si uitandu-ma la ei cum danseaza era mult mai mult decat ma asteptasem de la acea seara!
Am fost surprinsa de varietatea melodiilor, si de cat de mult progresase Picante. Repertoriul lor era mult mai larg decat imi aminteam eu si aveau melodii foarte faine! Aproape ca nici nu-mi venea sa cred ca ei canta ce se auzea … Ii auzisem de multe ori cantand dar imi aduc aminte de o seara anume, un recital din iarna cand au cantat cu o prietena tare draga intr-un bar (dar asta este subiect pentru un alt post), cand au reusit sa ma impresioneze la fel mult ca in seara asta din gradina, si cand muzica lor a ajuns intr-un anumit fel la mine!
Stand asa in iarba pe langa scena, ascultand muzica completata de oracaitul broastelor in departare, facand poze sau filmand, fumand o tigara la un pahar de vorba, din una in alta, unui bun prieten ii veni o idee:
- Hai mah sa facem un blog!
- Blog? Despre?...
- Despre tango!
- ?!?!?!? … te-a traznit asa acuma! Ce-ti veni?
zic:
- …Si ce te gandesti tu sa scriem pe blog?
- Pai… nu stiu, despre tango!
- Bine, atunci sa faci tu blog!... ca io una nu ma pricep la scris, intotdeauna am avut nota 8 la compunere… daca chiar vrei, eu pun poze, facute de-a lungul vremii si ce poze o sa mai facem, de restul te ocupi!...
Picante a terminat de cantat, muzica de tango a continuat sa curga, invitatii s-au retras incet, incet, corturile si mesele au fost stranse, florile si toate elementele de recuzita de pe langa scena incepeau sa dispara una cate una, boxele si firele au inceput sa fie decuplate, si doar cand s-a asternut linistea los tangueros au incetat dansul si au simtit cum ca ar fi venit vremea sa plece … acasa? Parca nu, … inca mai aveau chef de dans… acasa la cine? … s-a pus problema. Si uite asa am inceput milongile la “El Rojo”.
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