Finland’s tango fever

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Though half a world away from Argentina, the shy Finns have a passion for the melancholy music and dance, writes the Christian Science Monitor’s Stacy Teicher Khadaroo.

‘Finland. A nation of reindeer, saunas, Nokia cellphones, and its own special version of ... tango?

‘Yes. It seems the melancholic music is a perfect match for the typical Finnish soul. ‘It’s a little bit sad, and it’s beautiful,’ a woman tells me at a dimly lit Helsinki restaurant that regularly hosts dances. Paradoxically, when she moves to these sad melodies, she feels happy. (She didn’t want to be named, her reason being another national trait: shyness.)

‘When Finns first laid their eyes on performances of the Argentine tango nearly 100 years ago, they latched on and soon made it their own. By the 1930s, songwriters were penning original Finnish lyrics, setting the stories in their own snowy landscape.’

Read more about the Finnish passion for Tango here.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City