I’ve been to Cafe de los Angelitos a couple of times already, as it is a Bar Notable and there will be a chapter about it in my book. The reason for this visit was quite specific.
I belong to a worldwide expat organization called InterNations, and in Buenos Aires it has a tango group. They organized a little gathering where a professional tango pianist would come along and tell us something about the history and styles of tango music, and a we would be treated to some bandoneon music.
There couldn’t be a more appropriate setting than Cafe de los Angelitos, which is steeped in the history of tango. Photographs of the great tango orchestra leaders adorn the walls, and even the stained glass panels are tango themed.
The bandoneonista was a young woman, and apparently there’s a trend for more women playing the bandoneon. I think that’s interesting, as it may well add yet another nuance to the ever evolving music of tango.
She played on a little balcony over the bar, and told us to go ahead and chat and she would just play in the background. I find it very hard to sit when tango music is playing, and I might have invited one of the men in the group to dance, but there just wasn’t any space between the tables. In any case, it was a lovely interlude.
I hope you enjoy this little bitesized taste of Buenos Aires.
Last night I went with some friends to see the wonderful Joanna Maddox sing Nina Simone at Notorious, a great little club just a ten-minute walk from my place. It was a great show, enjoyed with great company — what’s better than that?
I admitted to Joanna that she had introduced me to Nina Simone last night, as I honestly didn’t know her before. Having listened to some of her videos now, I know that Joanna did her justice!
When we brought her back for an encore, she surprised us by dancing instead of singing! Here’s the video.
By the way, if you’d like to see her sing Tina, check out my post here.
The deeper I go into tango the more I realize the importance of elements other than the steps. We are currently working on musicality, dancing to the various orchestras and noticing how the tango feels different with each one. These two songs are from the orchestra of Hector Varela, whose music is very dramatic! My aspiration now is to be able to not only feel the emotion in the music, but to dance the emotion. Tango is oneness: with your partner, with the music and with the floor. With Alejandro’s help, I am coming to understand that achieving this oneness requires using my whole body.
The words of tango songs are almost impossible for foreigners (and even some Argentines) to understand, because most of them are not written in proper Spanish. Instead, they use a slang unique to Buenos Aires called lunfardo. Although I understand only a few of the words of these two songs, I can feel the pain, and I do my best to interpret it. It’s a work in progress.
I hope you enjoy my tango journey through these occasional videos.
This is one of the Bares (or Cafes) Notables I am writing about for my new book. It is well known for its “tango” show, but none of my usual people were interested in going. I personally don’t like tango shows either, because they are more showy choreographed programs and not real tango. However, as I thought it would be useful for my book, I decided to go along anyway.
Two visitors I had recently met, Anneliese from Australia and Aytuna from Germany, were keen to see it though, so we three went together.
The cafe itself is beautiful, and has an interesting (read iffy) past. I will go again to do some sketching and perhaps have a further conversation with the manager, but in the meantime I thought I’d share some photos.
The theatre part of Los Angelitos is quite opulent, as you can see from this shot of the stage.
This lovely stained glass piece over the bar reflects the tango aspect of the cafe’s history.
I couldn’t resist a photo op with the lady who was checking in the visitors, in costume from the early 20th century.
From the video, you’ll see it’s not all tango. It’s more of a reflection of the music scene in Buenos Aires from the early 20th century. For me, this woman was the best part of the show. I should have made a longer videeo, but my phone was running out of juice. I hope you enjoy it anyway. Note the live tango orchestra on a platform behind the performers.
We’ve had thunderstorms all night, with very heavy rain, and so far it looks as if it’s on for the day. I had plans to go to an afternoon milonga, but if this keeps up I’ll be staying home.
In the meantime, it’s a good day to catch up with my blog. Not in any particular order, here’s some of what’s been happening for me in beautiful Buenos Aires over the past week or so.
Bares Notables Research
La Poesia is one of my favourites of these lovely old bars, and in fact it might top my list. That’s because it has an old, traditional Buenos Aires kind of feel to it, and the food is excellent. You can also often be unexpectedly entertained, sometimes by wandering professionals, sometimes — like this time — by enthusiastic amateurs. The pianist came up to our table and asked if we would like to sing and he would accompany us. We assured him he didn’t want to hear any of us sing, but we would happily listen. This lady took up the challenge and we thought she did well.
La Biela
Last Sunday was one of those glorious spring days that felt like summer. I met up with a bunch of friends on the patio of La Biela, a favourite summer spot for almost everyone. After quaffing some wine and chatting, Venetia, Sasha and I went up to wander around the artesan market, where we all managed to get some money spent.
On the way back, we passed La Biela again and came upon this man singing opera. We listened to him for quite a while, although I just videoed his last song. These ladies at the table beside him were clearly Italian (many Porteños are of Italian heritage) and joined in heartily especially in the Neapolitan love songs.
Free Concert at the CCK
Last night Venetia and I went to a beautiful concert at the Central Cultural Kirchner, known as the CCK. I didn’t take any photos, but simply sat back and drank in the wonderful music. It was the Buenos Aires Philharmonic Orchestra, who are always a pleasure. They had a guest clarinetist, who raised the roof with the last piece, a blend of classical music and jazz. Even the other musicians were mesmerized with his amazing clarinet solos.
And as always, I’m amazed that we can enjoy this calibre of concert absolutely free!
Well I see it is kind of drying up just a bit outside, so I must take advantage of this lull to go out and buy some groceries. The milonga is still in doubt, but I do have to eat!
My friend Venetia is back from her long vacation in Europe, so on Saturday we spent the day wandering around downtown, enjoying the spring weather. When it came time for lunch, we happened upon a lovely bodegón, the Argentine equivalent of a French bistro.
Love the sign pointing to the washroom!
When we went inside we were delighted! It was classic old Buenos Aires, down to the furniture, the way they displayed the bottles and the tiles on the floor. It also had a distinct tango vibe, with pictures of the old tango masters on the walls. When we had been there about ten minutes, and before we had begun lunch, a young guy sat down and started to play the bandoneón — that soulful, concertina-like instrument that gives tango its distinctive melancholy sound. Well, that was the icing on the cake. Venetia pronounced herself happy to be back in Buenos Aires.
Venetia took these photos and the video, so you can probably see the improvement from my usual ones!
But my feet were itching to dance tango!
Along the wall were several tables, most of which were occupied by groups of people. But the one closest to us was occupied by a man on his own. He looked to be in his sixties. I don’t know what got into me, but I gave him the classic mirada, the flirty glance that’s used in the milonga to entice a man to ask you to dance! He looked a bit startled – not surprisingly — and before I could think twice, I pointed to the small space in front of the bandoneón and said, “Queria bailar tango?” (Would you like to dance tango?)
Venetia nearly fell off her chair!
The man smiled and said he was sorry but he didn’t dance tango, but he thanked me very much for asking. I looked at Venetia and said, “I can’t believe I did that!” She said she thought it was very brave of me, but in retrospect I just thought it was a bit daft. But I’m sure the man will dine out on it for a while — I’m sitting in this bodegón minding my own business and this crazy woman asks me to dance!
Venetia’s steak was tender and juicy, but unfortunately mine was tough as old leather and I couldn’t eat it. I didn’t complain, but just told the waitress it was very tough. When the bill came there was no charge for mine. That’s good customer service, so I would go back.
Last night I joined a group of folks at La Dama de Bollini to hear our friend Cliff do a program of Cowboy Songs and Poems. This is a funky little place that often has interesting shows you wouldn’t necessarily find anywhere else.
This video is longer than the ones I usually post here, but I wanted to give you a feel for the variety of the music. There was Johnny Cash and Elvis, as well as some songs by people who, not being really a country music fan, I didn’t know — but I did enjoy them. And then Cliff read a couple of his own cowboy poems, and I’ve included one here. There was also some singalong, which is always fun.
On Saturday I went to a fun event I just heard about by accident. The kids are on winter holidays right now, and this was a free concert designed to interest young kids in classical music. I’ve been at several classical concerts where very young kids were really into the music — one took place in a park and a little boy of about six or seven stood on the grass and conducted the orchestra for the whole concert!
This one took place in Plaza Vaticana, an open square on one side of the Teatro Colon. I couldn’t believe the size of the crowd, and I had to stand in line for quite a while to get a seat. There were even standing room only sections on either side of the square.
There were opera characters walking around in costume as the crowd moved into the space, having their photos taken with the kids. Then they all moved up to the stage as the live orchestra took its place and the show began.
The music was all easily consumable, many tunes everyone knows, such as the William Tell Overture. You can see from the video how into it the kids and adults were. There’s a great appreciation for culture in all its forms in Buenos Aires, and the fact that they interest children in it very early will ensure that it continues. Just another thing to love about this magical city!
On May 25, Argentina celebrates the May Revolution of 1810, which marked the beginning of its independence from Spain. (There’s another celebration on July 9, but we’ll talk about that then!) In any case, although there are numerous local fiestas, I wanted to go to Mataderos. It is still technically a barrio of Buenos Aires, but quite far out of the centre — almost an hour’s drive. My friend Sally had arranged for her friend Liz to drive Sally, Venetia and me there and we arrived around 2 pm — the worst possible time for finding a parking spot. Eventually we paid a young guy 20 pesos and he gave up “his” spot — just a public spot on the street but you always find these enterprising folks claiming spaces and renting them to late arrivals like us!
Catedral Tango
By that time we were really hungry, so we went to a parilla that came highly recommended, Catedral Tango. We all decided to make lunch the main meal of the day, so we went all out and had steaks and red wine. Here are some pictures of the place.
It was so busy because of the holiday that they had set a table up on the stage, which is where we sat. The owner said anybody who sat there had to do some kind of performance, but we managed to escape before that rule was enforced!
It really was a great parilla, and the steaks were excellent. Here’s a picture of mine. When I saw it I thought I’d have to have a doggy bag because it would be too much for lunch, but it was so delicious I ate it all — as well as the french fries! We could have had salad, but come on, what’s a steak without chips really?
The focus of Mataderos is really the gaucho culture, so I was quite surprised to see so much tango — until Liz explained this was yet another place credited with the beginnings of tango. There were huge pictures on the walls of the old tango masters. In fact, I made this video to show you.
La Feria
Once our hunger was well and truly satisfied, we ventured outside, where there was a huge feria going on, with lots of artesanal food and jewellery and clothing and candles and … you get the idea. I’m a sucker for those places, especially when I can buy stuff from the artists who made it. Did I buy anything? Well of course! Venetia and I egged each other on as usual and we both bought stuff. If you know me, you know the first thing on my list — earrings. These are what my mother used to call shoulder bruisers!
There were several stalls selling honey, but although I do love real honey I didn’t need any as I have plenty right now. But I couldn’t resist this photo. Quite often you’ll see stallholders with honeycombs — but these ones had actual bees!
There was a great festive atmosphere because of the holiday, which you can see from these photos of the stage show and the flags around the streets. We all bought little blue and white rosette things to pin on our jackets. Here’s mine, which I was glad I kept on this morning because the waiters in the cafe where I had breakfast were all wearing theirs!
We missed it!
One of the main attractions of Mataderos is the gaucho show, in which gauchos display their horsemanship skills. I’ve seen it before at another place and was keen to see it here. However, we spent so much time at the feria and the stage show that by the time we found the place where it happened, the show was over and they were packing up! Oh well, we’ll just have to go back! There’s a fair here every weekend even though not quite so festive, so we will do that one of these days.
Venetia’s pictures
Just as I was finishing this post, I received this photo of a yummy smelling asado from Venetia, as well as some others which I’ve interspersed with my own. I love her video of an aging gaucho and his lady dancing in the street — enjoy! Thanks Venetia.
So all in all it was a lovely, festive day out, and an opportunity to join in the national celebration of my new adopted country — amazing Argentina!
