Astor: A warm birthday wish for you from all of us musicians

Astor Piazzolla was a composer of incredible talent that figured out a way to navigate both worlds of Tango and Classical Music. As a Classical Pianist and composer, he was winning world-renowned competitions and had the privilege to study in France with Nadia Boulanger (one of the best piano teachers at the time). On the other side, as a Tango bandoneonist, he was skilled and always defiant of the status quo of the tango scene in Argentina. This did create some controversy because Astor was always seen (and criticized) as an outsider of the tango scene.

Nevertheless, this didn't stop Piazzolla to set a strong foot in the tango realm of Buenos Aires (and the world). Responsible for this was Nadia who was sincere with Astor. Nadia made sure Astor understood that even if he had an amazing talent as a classical musician, his real passion was tango. This was the catalist in the mid 1960's to get Piazzolla back in the game and he was focused on bringing to life a more modern, dissonant, and richer tango. In other words, Astor had seen the local tango scene stagnate and become more and more nostalgic. 

The result was the factor that in a very short period of time, Astor rebuilt tango over a classical music structure and alowed for it to have space for improvisation. This is how his famous octet came to be. The truth is that Piazzolla is a great example for all musicians to remember a few important points:

• ​Remember who you are
• Always do the best you can
• Stay strong as many might be jealous
• Never give up your dreams to change the world

From my point of view, tango was alwas for the ear rather than the feet!

by Astor Piazzolla

Stephanie Jones - Invierno Porteño

Renato Serrano & Hu Bin - Tango Suite

 Credits to Stephanie Jones

https://stephaniejonesguitar.com/

Blog Kudos to Luciano Marazzo

https://lucianomarazzo.com/

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