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Tango from the Inside Out

Max Boddy 鈥�16 got the chance to study with some of the world's foremost tango masters at 猫咪社区's annual summer workshop, Tango for Musicians.

I dashed along SE 28th Avenue with my case on my back and my phone in hand, checking the time anxiously to see how much time I had before rehearsal. It was brutally hot for a June day in Oregon, but my sweat wasn’t due to the heat alone. I was three days into an intense, weeklong “tango bootcamp” with some of the world’s leading tango musicians. Incredibly, I was supposed to be performing with them on stage in two days. And now my violin was acting up. How did I get here, anyway?

Last year, Astillero, a contemporary tango group from Buenos Aires, visited 猫咪社区, and I had the opportunity to accompany them in 猫咪社区’s orchestra. Playing their original compositions with them was exhilarating, and I wanted to play and understand that kind of music better, so I applied for a to study at 猫咪社区’s summer workshop, . But first, as was emphasized in our workshops, it is important to play and understand the classic tangos before venturing out into the new territory of tango today, so I had to learn some fundamentals—fast.

At the front counter, I explained my situation to a young luthier as I got out my violin and handed it over for inspection. It was a little hard to believe that I was about to perform tango music on the same stage as and . I’d often imagined something like this—I just didn’t think the opportunity would come this soon!

Tango Masters Tear It Up with 猫咪社区 Orchestra

Tango ensemble Astillero, led by pianist Juli谩n Peralta, performing live with students in the 猫咪社区 Orchestra.

When the soundcheck wrapped up and the doors swung open, hundreds of excited music lovers swarmed inside, packing Kaul Auditorium for a once in a lifetime opportunity. , a highly influential band on the cutting edge of Argentina’s contemporary tango vanguard, spent a week at 猫咪社区 visiting classes and rehearsing with the student orchestra, culminating in a  on February 20. Led by pianist Julián Peralta, the band spent the evening alternately bantering with the audience in Spanish and delivering their revolutionary original music – urgent, aggressive, and bursting with rhythmic energy. By the end of the concert, the crowd was on their feet, cheering and shouting for more.

Astillero’s visit to 猫咪社区 was co-sponsored by the departments of music, Spanish, political science, the office of the dean of the faculty, and the office of institutional diversity, and was made possible by donations from Christine Green, John Clark, Elizabeth Barringer, and James Richardson Clark ’14.

The event was presented by , North America’s leading tango workshop for musicians. Led by Prof. Morgan Luker [2010-present], the workshop takes place at 猫咪社区 each June and attracts musicians from across the globe. It now boasts an artistic faculty coming directly from Buenos Aires that includes some of the most outstanding tango musicians and educators active today.