La Cumparsita

* It is among the most famous and recognizable tango songs of all time.

* Written by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez in 1917 when he was only 17 years old at that time of in the music room of Club Nacional de Football.

* First played in the coffee house La Giralda, Montevideo, Uruguay.

* The young Gerardo passed the tango he had written anonymously to the orchestra of Roberto Firpo to play for the first time.

* He was a student at the Faculty of Architecture in Montevideo that time.

* 7  years in 1924 in Paris, Gerardo realized that his tango, which he had forgotten about, had become a major hit.

* The tango lyricists Enrique Maroni and Pascual Contursi added words to the tango and renamed it as “Si Supieras” (If you knew/realized).

* La Cumparsita spread to the rest of the world from Paris, where meanwhile there was La Cumparsita-mania already in Argentina as well.

* Gerardo had only composed the first two parts. Firpo had added the third part and a harmony to the first part.

*Gerardo Matos Rodriguez spent  20 years in and out of court trying to regain his rights as author of the most famous tango in the world.He had sold the rights of the tango for 20 pesos when he first composed it. Most likely he was a naive 17 year old kid.

* In the Olympic Games of Sydney 2000, the Argentine team marched to “La Cumparsita”. This originated protests and official claims from the Uruguayan government.

* The song was named cultural and popular anthem of Uruguay by law  in 1997.

The Lyrics in Spanish and in English

 La Cumparsita: The little cumparsa

Cumparsa: Lunfardo word that denotes a group of people that attends the carnival festivals dressed in a similar fashion (usually, but not exclusively, wearing masks.)
The term seems to be a corruption of the italian ‘comparsa’.

Also see: History of La Cumparsita

Finnish Tango

 Here is the Wikipedia definition: Finnish tango is an established variation of the Argentine tango and one of the most enduring and popular music forms in Finland.

Here is a perspective from another blog post on Finnish tango as a response to this definition :

“Being from, and having lived in, Finland causes many people to ask us about the large tango scene that exists in this tiny country.  Many people who dance Argentine Tango mistakenly believe that Finns are dancing some form of Argentine Tango.  This is somewhat understandable given that Wikipedia says, “Finnish tango is an established variation of the Argentine tango…”  How misleading!  Yes, there is a very large tango scene in Finland, but Finnish Tango is just that:  Finnish Tango.  It is not Argentine Tango and does not resemble Argentine Tango in any way.  In fact, it mostly resembles ballroom tango, as does the music.  At a minimum, the majority of the population can dance Viennese Waltz  (they learn to do so in school) and in general they can all dance tango as well.  At it’s most basic form, Finnish Tango involves moving to the music and not much more.”

For a discussion on the differences between Finnish Tango and Argentine Tango!

The Finnish people organize the world’s oldest tango festival: Tangomarkkinat. It is held early every July in Seinäjoki, Finland.Music for public dancing is not restricted to tango: it includes all the dance rhythms popular in Finland: but tango content must, according to the rules, be at least 40%.It atracts more than 10,000 people annually in a country with a population no more than 5 million people.

Here is a blog just on Finnish Tango by John Ward from United Kingdom: http://www.finnishtango.blogspot.com/

The Satumaa is the quintessential Finnish tango. It was written by Unto Mononen, and published in 1955. The most famous recording is probably the one made by Reijo Taipale in 1962. Satumaa roughly translates to “The Fabled Land” or “The Fairytale Land”.

In 2009, the  famous Tango singer in Finland Arja Koriseva celebrates the 20th anniversary in her singing career.

There is also a movie called Finnish Tango (2008). The movie tells the story of a man, who – on his quest of finding the easy way out – discovers his own humanity. Alex is a passionate but unsuccessful musician. Nothing more, nothing less. After a tragic accident, Alex suddenly finds himself without a band and without a plan, but with a mountain of debt and raging metal players breathing down his neck. Searching for a job, he comes across a theater group of handicapped people. Alex invents a handicap, steals a handicap ID, gets the part and moves in with the group.