Tango – Café de los Maestros & friends (2015)

by | May 22, 2015 | DVD & Blu-ray Video Reviews

Tango – Café de los Maestros & friends (2015)

Recorded live at El Palacio, Buenos Aires
Performers: Café de los Maestros, Juan Carles Godoy, Rodolfo Mederos, Teresa Parodi, Fernando Suarez Paz, Otros Aires, Gustavo Mozzi
Studio: Accentus Music ACC 20249 (4/15)
Video: 16:9 color
Audio: Spanish DTS 5.1, DD 5.1, PCM stereo
Subtitles: English, German, French, Korean
No region codes
Length: 80:23
Rating: *****

This is an excellent DVD, which looks as good as many Blu-rays I have received, and it is the real thing as far as tango goes; it’s most surprising that Amazon doesn’t offer it. The famous ballroom “El Palacio” in Buenos Aires was home to the most important tango dancers and musicians in the ‘20s and ‘30s, and even today remains a meeting place for tango stars. This is the authentic thing, with tango’s stories of longing, passion and melancholy.

The concert opens with the Café de los Maestros, which has not only the bandoneon players in the front line, but six or seven violinists plus a bassist in the back. They do a half dozen numbers, and include a couple totally instrumental ones, which are quite fascinating. An aged singer, Juan Carlos Godoy, performs a classic vocal tune originally done by Carlos Gardel. Here comes my usual complaint about English subtitles never including the translations of the song lyrics.  In such a case this would add tremendously to the viewing experience, but only the in-between comments by Artistic Coordinator Gustave Mozzi are provided with English subtitles. The strictly instrumental “Todos los suenos” gets a rousing performance from pianist Jose Pepe Colángelo, and was my favorite of the entire DVD. These is also a young good-looking bandoneon player who solos in the front line but is not clearly credited.  He’s a genuine virtuoso.

Next up is the Rodolfo Mederos Trio. This bandoneon virtuoso feels that tango is a voice of the past and no longer applies to today’s changed world. He’s fantastic. The trio does four tunes.  Both violinist Fernando Suarez and vocalist Teresa Parodi are up next. Both had performed with the late Piazzolla, and do four selections by that tango giant. It would really be nice to have translations of the lyrics so strongly sung by Parodi, but that is unfortunately not provided.

The closing group onstage is Otros Aires, which has brought some rock influences as well as electronics into their tango performances. They do five numbers, ending with “Essa,” which is evidently a longtime favorite in which most participate.  The program is brought to a rousing close by Gustavo Mozzi and Orquesta Matiné, as many couples crowd the dance floor.  The choreography of some of the dance couples is quite amazing, including in one case many lifts into the air and swinging legs akimbo. There is also one older couple, which is nice to see. Wish I knew what the leader of Otros Aires was saying in his rap-like deliveries, but the rock and electronics-influenced new style doesn’t destroy the tango feelings.

If you haven’t really gotten into tango in any way, this is the perfect DVD to show you what you’ve been missing, and to create new adherents along the way. A remarkable evening’s viewing! It shows that tango is by no means dead.

—John Sunier

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