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Russian Tango - 1/4 May 31, 2020
Recent Tango by Year series on Wednesday evenings and a conversation with one of my tango friends prompted me to write this. There's a lot of text 
Firstly, the context. This is not a political post, but it is very important to try and understand the context. It would be fair to say that the large proportion of the “golden age” of tango – 30s and 40s – was a terrible time for Russia/former Soviet Union. The 30s marked the start of Stalin’s repressions – it was horrendous, people were arrested for any old thing, and sent to prison and prison camps (Gulag etc) that were located in severe climates. A lot of them were tortured and shot, their families arrested too. Antisemitism was rife. On top of that, the war started for Russia in 1941 and was absolutely devastating. At the same time, while people were dying in battles, the repressions continued. Some music and songs of Russian tango were sanctioned, on an off, particularly if the authors were arrested and named “enemy of the people”.
What is the relevance of this?
- A lot of prominent, very talented tango musicians, singers had absolutely tragic lives – secret or not so secret arrests, exiles, prison camps, death.
I'd like to concentrate on some recordings from the 30s.
Russian tango, for many people, will be forever connected to these difficult years. When people knew that the war was raging on their doorstep, there’s nothing to eat, and if you enlist to go to war, for every two young soldiers there was one(!) old-style rifle to share.
At the same time, arrest can happen at any time – and they still wrote beautiful music, sang and danced with abandon. Maybe this is the reason why they did it? These are the thoughts shared with me recently by a very astute tango friend. There is so much truth in them. He was saying this about all tango music -that it brings up these thoughts. But I find it is particularly true about Russian tango.
During the war some of the singers and musicians not only enlisted – they sang for the soldiers, they toured the front lines with concerts. What a sacrifice, what an admirable belief in not just the cause (war with Germany), but sense of duty to their art, no matter what was being done to them.
Tango music is forever tinged with sadness and heartache. I realise that it is like that for most people, I’m just explaining why some generations of Russians may feel it even more profoundly. But not all, I have to underline. Especially not the younger ones.
Now, onto the musical differences between Russian and Argentine tango, as we are bound to do "compare and contrast".
- The rhythmic structure. A lot more march-like, uniformed, without deviations, but still gentle (so not D’Arienzo/Canaro/Biaggi sharpness), interspersed with a lovely, gentle habanera – distinct, recognizable and danceable;
- Lots of wind/brass instruments – which you can mostly find in early Canaro, Lomuto and some Fresedo, but not later on. No wind instruments in the “Orquesta Tipica” set-up vs lots of beautiful wind instruments in Russian tango;
- Not bandoneon, but accordion (I believe Fresedo and some others used it too, but bandoneon is the main instrument in Tango Argentino);
- The singer starts signing much earlier, if not after the first few bars of the composition;
- Some unusual instruments – unusual to a “conservative” tango listeners and purists – like, a slide guitar;
Most notable Russian tango figures were multi-talented. They doubled as great composers, and arrangers, and sometimes orchestra leaders or also played an instrument. So that's a similarity.
1. Singer Vadim Kozin. Beautiful tenor and composer. Absolutely tragic life. Complicated person that, despite his own tragedies, hasn’t always made great choices, let’s just leave it at that. Vadim Kozin was known in Europe – the voice of immense talent.
Tango “Autumn” (Osen’), 1939.
Kozin wrote the music. In fact, he wrote four of these, corresponding with the four seasons, as an homage to Tchaikovskiy’s “Four Seasons”. Two of the compositions didn’t really do anything special, the other two were better, and “Autumn” is by far one of the most famous in Russia, and perhaps elsewhere. I call it a slow tango-milonga – because you will hear that gentle habanera throughout, it does not change. I think it is lovely and danceable. His voice is beautiful. You can appreciate his talent as a composer too. And the lyrics are full of imagery, very romantic but innocent. Here is my translation:
Autumn, a translucent morning,
As if the sky is covered in foggy mist.
Faraway made up of pearlescent colours,
The sun, distant and cold.
Where was our first encounter – so vivid, exquisite, mysterious?
That memorable summer’s eve
The encounter so sweet, unintended
Don’t leave, I beg of you…
The words of love I’ll say a hundred times,
Autumn is at the door –
I know that for sure.
But still, I tell you “don’t leave”.
Our little nook never feels confined,
When you are here, spring has sprung,
Don’t leave, so many songs have not yet been sung,
Every string still trembles in my guitar.
The male photos in the video are that of Kozin, throughout his life.
The female - of Elizaveta Belogorskaya, who co-wrote the lyrics, a notable poet, lyricist and singer of that time.
To be continued...
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<div class="fb-post" data-href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645" data-width="500" data-show-text="true"><blockquote cite="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645" class="fb-xfbml-parse-ignore"><p>Russian Tango - 1/4 Recent Tango by Year series on Wednesday evenings and a conversation with one of my tango friends...</p>Posted by <a href="#" role="button">Sasha Tango</a> on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=904266736666883&id=100012506940645">Sunday, May 31, 2020</a></blockquote></div>
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