<<  -- 2 --  Malcolm Miller    AFFIRMATION OF LIFE

The stage glowed with magical intensity as the slinky Argentinian (rather than ballroom) Tango rhythms worked their magic. Lloica Czackis projected her vibrant voice in a selection of poignant -- even subversive -- Yiddish songs from the ghettos of Vilna, Bialistok, Lodz, Kovno and from Auschwitz itself. Amassed from a collection by the Vilna Ghetto survivor Shmerke Kaczeginsky (1908-54), whose 'Friling' (Springtime) was immediately appealing, the songs ranged in mood from the eerie to the festive. Certainly Tango is more than just a dance, almost a ritual, which transforms its texts -- usually about love lost, suffering and despair -- into a defiant affirmation of life, hence their importance to Jews in harrowing ghetto conditions. Poignant words in 'The boy from the Transport' were all the more intense with the biting tango music, while there was deliberate irony in 'Dos tango fun Oshvientshim' -- a caustic 'Tango from Auschwitz'. A lullaby mood in the caressing 'Kinder Yorn' (Childhood Years) contrasted with the exuberant 'Yiddishe Tango' adapted from a famous 'Yiddishe Tanz' (Jewish Dance).

The beguiling sounds of Lloica Czackis's soprano were enhanced throughout by fellow European-based Argentinians, Juan Aisemberg on viola and the pianist Gustavo Beytelmann, a Tango expert and composer who has worked together with Piazolla amongst others. Beytelmann's upbeat arrangements, jazzy and virtuoso, added a convincing tango beat to some of the Yiddish songs not originally conceived as such. His modern versions were superbly effective in the more relaxed and romantic second half. This began with slinky 1930s hits made famous by the Polish-born New York Broadway-Yiddish singer Molly Picon, 'Oygn' (Eyes) and 'Farges mikh nit' (Forget me not). The climax was the European première of a set of four luscious tangos from Buenos Aires, performed to cheers from the capacity audience. Overall the evening was an enthralling celebration of a repertoire so far not widely known, combining the expressive resonances of two powerful cultures, Yiddish song and Tango. Hopefully it may not be long before the group record a CD and 'Tangele' will resonate -- and be danced -- in tango clubs across the world.