Cafes Notables

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Two Very Different Tango Evenings

There are many people here in Buenos Aires who love tango music, but don’t dance. It’s such a complex and varied form of music that it’s possible to enjoy it on many levels. As you know from my posts here, my preference is to dance, but I also love being exposed to other forms. This past week brought two such opportunities.

La Hora del Tango

On Wednesday night Venetia and I went to the Kirchner Cultural Centre to see something called The Hour of Tango, and neither of us was quite sure what it was all about. It turned out that La Hora del Tango is the name of a television series that is currently being produced, and this was the final episode. So the show was being recorded for television, which of course made it a whole different experience. There were takes and retakes, and a great deal of “hurry up and wait”, which stretched the hour out beyond two hours! The process was a bit tedious, but the tango itself was lovely.

A full tango orchestra performed by itself first, and then provided accompaniment for a troupe of at least a dozen dancers. We saw the first dance number twice, as apparently there was a small technical problem at the end, which was fine for the audience but I’m not sure how the dancers felt about it!

We had a couple of tango songs from Chico Navarro, who is very old now but was apparently a very big deal in his day and the audience loved him.

I have no photos of this, because they wouldn’t let us take any because of the television people.

Lola Mora at Bar Celta

One of the Bares Notables I’ve visited for my research was Bar Celta, and I remember reading that they had live music downstairs. Lola recently discovered a whole series called Music at the Bares Notables, and last night we went to see the show downstairs at Bar Celta.

Lola Mora (no relation to my friend Lola!) is a duo of women, one pianist and one violinist, who play a wide range of music but with a specialty in tango. They were fabulous! What musicians they were!

Here’s a short video clip of just one of their songs. This is a famous song called Adios Nonino, by a famous and controversial Argentine tango musician of the fifties called Astor Piazzola. He wrote it after learning that his father had died while he was off on a tour — the title roughly translates as “Goodbye Daddy”. As you can tell from the comments by my friends, it’s a well loved popular favourite.

And just to round things off, tonight I’m off to the milonga to actually dance tango — still my favourite!

 

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Catch-up Time

I knew I hadn’t been keeping up with my posts, but I was surprised to see it had been a couple of weeks since I’ve been here. Combination of work, lots of social dashing about and yet another summer cold!

I’ve continued to visit the bares notables with various friends. Here are a couple of shots from one of the most interesting, Los 36 Billares. There aren’t 36 billiard tables, but I think I counted about twenty, some in the main cafe area and a bunch downstairs.

 

These next three photos are of the oldest, and certainly among the best kept of the Notables, Cafe Tortoni. Definitely a tourist trap, often with a lineup to get in, but well worth it. I always enjoy soaking in the ambience in Tortoni with its pictures and its lovely art deco ceilings.

Cecilia and I, and her Peruvian friend’s daughter Nicole, went away for an overnighter on Good Friday to Chivilcoy, a provincial town a couple of hours away from Buenos Aires, to visit Cecilia’s daughter Macarena. Summer made a spectacular return — sunny and very hot the whole time we were there. This was a bonus, and allowed us to have a real mini-vacation. We sat in the plaza on Friday evening and drank mate, and then joined the Good Friday procession into the cathedral. Then we went home and retired to the backyard with malbec, where we played cards until two o’clock in the morning!

Now it seems it actually is fall, and we are getting a bit of rain. But it’s only a month till I go back to Canada, so I’m determined to make the most of every day and evening — rain or no rain!

I’ll try to keep up the blog better for the remaining weeks of A5. That’s “Argentina 5” if you haven’t read my book yet — and if you haven’t yet, you can get it at http://amzn.to/2oddkmF !

 

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Research at Petit Colon

I haven’t been very active here for a week or so, largely because I’m battling my second cold of the summer. I’ve managed to keep up with most of the social stuff, but just haven’t felt up to writing about them.

Anyway, last night I went with Joanna, Venetia, Michael and Bettye to Petit Colon to continue the research for my book. It’s only 40 years old, which is quite new for a Bar Notable, and in fact it was renovated just five years ago. But it is a lovely little place.

It’s called Petit Colon because it is on the street behind the Teatro Colon, and they have panelled the walls with a dark tapestry type fabric, reminiscent of old theatres. There is a fantastic alabaster chandelier my friends were urging me to sketch, but I couldn’t resist this big old clock. (It wasn’t actually six o’clock, of course, but that’s where the clock has stuck!) I might go back for morning coffee one day and do the chandelier.

There’s a fun research place coming up on Thursday night, and so many people are coming I think I actually have to make a reservation! I’ll post about that one for sure.

I had an interesting tango lesson this week from a different teacher. There are special “feminine techniques” in tango that help give it that special elegance, and I decided I needed to work with a woman to get that. So yesterday morning, despite the sniffles, I spent an hour with Luciana Lial, and I feel it is going to help my tango when I add it to what I am learning from Alejandro. Tango on!

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Another ‘Research’ Event — and a Bonus Surprise for Me!

Last night I went with five women friends on another “research” trip for the new book. It was also International Women’s Day, which is very big down here, so a nice way to celebrate. We were Cecilia, Venetia, Joanna, Lola and Gillian.

Bar Sur is a very old establishment in the very old barrio of San Telmo, where many of the Bares Notables are to be found. It’s tiny, dark and very cozy and intimate. I had spoken with Beatriz, the proprietor, last week, so she knew we were coming and welcomed us warmly.

We ordered wine and picada, and sat back to chat and wait for the show.

Bar Sur claims to have the oldest tango show in San Telmo, and I believe it. The signed photos of tango stars of the past around the walls testify to its tight ties with the music and dance of tango.

There’s no stage in Bar Sur, so the performers sing, dance and play right there on the floor beside the tables, which makes you feel almost like part of the show. I particularly liked the bandoneonero and the two dancers, who beautifully evoked the soulful sound of tango, which was emphasized even more because of the very dim lighting. I’ve put some photos of the iside here.

You might be wondering what the surprise bonus was. Well …

While some of us were taking advantage of a photo opp with the dancers (see the end of the first video), I told him I actually wanted to dance. He didn’t say anything at the time, but before the end of the show I looked up to find him in front of me, giving me a cabeceo — invitation to dance!

I separated Joanna’s video of this, as I didn’t want to put it beside the real dancers, but take a look and let me know what you think.

Of course if I had realized I was going to be part of the show, I would have worn my tango shoes!

We still have a lot of bares notables to see, but it will be hard to top that one just for the experience! See the videos below.


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Bar Notable “La Poesia”

More research last night for the new book! Silvia, Venetia, Viviana and Joanna joined me at La Poesia, a lovely old bar in San Telmo that was created long ago as a kind of hangout for writers and poets and other literary folks.

I was sitting near the side door, and suddenly a woman walked in and started singing! She was good — no microphone, no accompanists, just a good set of pipes. She was good.

Then soon after she left, a man pulled a chair over from a table, sat down and started playing bandoneon, that soulful instrument that gives tango music is distinctive sound. He was good too!

Nobody pays these people. They just go around the various bars and cafes, do their thing and rely on tips — kind of modern day troubadors! Anyway, here are the two videos Venetia shot (thanks Venetia!)  of the performances and a bit of the surroundings to give you a feel for La Poesia.


 

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More Research — 2 Cafes in One Afternoon!

Yesterday, Raul, Venetia, Gillian and I arranged to visit and review Los Galgos, one of the Cafes Notables of Buenos Aires. Interesting name: los galgos means the greyhounds. I thought it might have had a more interesting history, but according to the waitress, who did seem quite knowledgeable, it was simply that the original owner loved going to the racetrack to watch the greyhound races.

Originally opened in 1930, Los Galgos was by all accounts a vibrant part of an area that never slept, until it closed after several decades. I can’t seem to find exactly when it closed, but in 2015 it reopened under new management. They worked hard to renovate the cafe using many of the original materials and keeping to the spirit of the original.

We had coffee, which wasn’t as great as we had expected but not bad. We also shared some fantastic tarta de ricotta, a very generous slice of moist sponge cake with a filling kind of similar to German style cheesecake. Delicious!

When we left, Raul mentioned another Cafe Notable nearby called Celta, and we decided to take that one in while we were in the area. Being merienda time, we opted for wine instead of coffee.

Great old place with hams and salamis and cheeses hanging from the ceiling. But my favourite thing was the big old fashioned cash register hand decorated with Fileteado Porteño!

Everyone is entering into the spirit of my research with gusto, and Venetia, who is a professional photographer, is taking lots of shots so I’ll have a good selection for the book.