Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Grand celebration of the 5th anniversary of Tango Revolution!

Grand celebration of the 5th anniversary of
Tango Revolution with honorary guests performers Leonardo and Olga Suarez-Paz in Piazzolla concert and milonga (tango dance party) with live music.

SATURDAY DECEMBER 4, 2010 from 7pm -12am
aMUSE GALLERY
614 Alabama Street (b/w 18th & 19th Str, Harrisson & Florida)
San Francisco

Come celebrate Tango Revolution’s 5 years of service to the community with free Tango classes, Milongas and opportunities for young musicians to learn about and perform the Argentine Tango style!
We feel very honored that Tango stars Leonardo and Olga Suarez-Paz will join us in this celebration! Leonardo will perform violin and a special song in honor of Tango icon Carlos Gardel’s birthday (December 11) with our Tango Revolution musicians, teach a dance class and offer a special dance performance with his wife Olga.
What a treat!!! Don’t miss this special event!

PROGRAM:
7pm: Class with Leonardo Suarez-Paz – Intermediate level.
8:15pm Piazzolla concert with Leonardo Suarez-Paz (violin, song) and Tango Revolution musicians.
9pm: Milonga starts with DJ Zeycan
10:15pm Dance Performance by Leonardo and Olga Suarez-Paz
10:30pm Live Music set
Milonga continues till 12 am.

Entrance fee: $15 for Concert and Milonga w/Live music
$20 for Class, Concert and Milonga w/Live Music

There will be limited appetizers and drinks. Please bring your own wine, food, desserts to contribute to the celebration.

Donations towards the Tango Revolution Project are very welcome!

Hosted by Sonja Riket - More info: 415.661.1852
www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com – www.tangorevolution.blogspot.com


ABOUT TANGO REVOLUTION:
Tango Revolution is a weekly neighborhood project to offer anyone the opportunity to learn and experience the social aspect of Argentine Tango dance, music and history. By holding the event free of charge in an accessible café on a Sunday afternoon we encourage the spontaneous inclusion of music and dance in our everyday life as a communal experience.

Part of the project includes giving young musicians the opportunity to learn and perform traditional Argentine Tango music as well as Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango. They receive coaching sessions by professional Tango musicians from Argentina and the USA and perform regularly at Caffe Trieste Downtown and other special events in the Bay Area.

The Tango Revolution project began in 2005 at Café Revolution in SF’s Mission District. Its success has inspired other musical groups such as Classical Revolution to adopt the idea, the name and the practice. The Tango quartet Tangonero has its origins at Tango Revolution as well as several other musicians now playing Tango in the Bay Area.

Tango Revolution is a program of Intimate Embrace Tango, which envisions Argentine Tango as a relational matrix of connection to ourselves, each other and the world. We offer the beautiful connection between human beings in the Tango Embrace as a common ground and antidote against the isolation, separation and fearful existence we are led to believe is necessary. What better way to come home to ourselves and connect with each other across our differences than the non-verbal power of a musical and dance embrace, listening and moving together as one?

Astor Piazzolla Themed Masterclass with "Tango Royalty" Leonardo Suarez-Paz

Here is a unique opportunity for the musicians amongst you to study with a great artist who received the direct lineage of Astor Piazzolla. Don’t miss it!

WHEN: Friday December 3, from 5-6:30pm
WHERE: SF Conservatory of Music
50 Oak Street (at Market)
SF, CA 94102
PLEASE ARRIVE NO LATER THAN 5PM AND WAIT IN THE ENTRANCE HALL.
COST: $25
WHAT:
Leonardo will use a piece composed by Astor Piazzolla and teach you how to play this particular style of music: a mixture of Tango, Jazz and Classical. He will focus on the difference (for all the instruments) in phrasing, legatos, staccatos, rubatos ... and how to express the melody.
All musicians are welcome; notes will be provided.
For more info and to register your participation please contact Sonja Riket at 415.661.1852

ABOUT LEONARDO SUAREZ-PAZ:

Leonardo Suarez Paz , a fourth generation tango artist, billed by the press as “tango royalty”, is a representative of the Academia Nacional del Tango of Buenos Aires. He is known for his uncommon talent as a singer, a career which he began at the age of six, a tango dancer, and an artist who “possesses a unique spirit and is a virtuoso extraordinaire on the violin” (Wynton Marsalis, Artistic Director Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York) Leonardo’s mother Beatriz Suarez Paz, a leading tango singer in Buenos Aires, has passed along to Leonardo his vocal passion and talent. “Suarez Paz’s father, a brilliant tango violinist, had been one of Piazzolla’s principal collaborators, and from the first bar it was clear that the father and the son were made of the same stuff” (“Flying High,” JAZZIZ Magazine by Alexander Gelfand, Music Critic Cuartetango in Birdland, New York.)

By the time he was 14, Leonardo was playing and touring with tango orchestras and was the only young, teenage member of the last Horacio Salgan orchestra, in which each musician was a tango star. He is the only violinist of his generation who played with most of the great directors of the Golden Age as a violin soloist. He was also influenced by the Nuevo Tango, thus carrying the torch that was handed down from Astor Piazzolla to his father and to him, “Leonardo plays with the same intense passion and clarity heard a generation ago on his father's recordings.” (Barnes & Noble, Music Review February 2004)

In Buenos Aires, he brought together the best in tango and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis, who has also commissioned tango arrangements from Leonardo Suarez Paz. An EMI Classics artist, violinist, arranger and composer, Leonardo’s experience as a classical musician is part of the legacy, which makes him a leading tango violinist today.
Throughout his intense career, he has performed and recorded with a bouquet of international stars enhancing the productions of Placido Domingo (“Mariachi” Capitol Records 2000), American jazz legend Stanley Jordan (“My Favorite Things” TCB Records 2002), Latin star Luis Miguel (“Amarte es un Placer,” EMI 1999), and Carlos Franzetti’s (“The Jazz Kamerata”/“Tango Bar” Chesky Records). One can hear the sound of his tango violin in motion pictures Bossa Nova, Imposters and Flawless with Robert DeNiro. In 2009 and 2010 he toured throughout Brasil, China, Korea and Singapore with the show Café de Los Maestros, dedicated to the legends of tango.

Leonardo has performed with the tango shows Tangox2 , Forever Tango and Tango Argentino on Broadway.
Leonardo directs Cuartetango String Quartet, who’s latest album L’Atelier was released by EMI Classics. His Cuartetango Music & Dance Company and Romance de Tango shows were featured on an Emmy-winning program, “Rhythm and Roots,” which is currently airing in the US, Europe and the Middle East. http://www.ebru.tv/en/genres/ArtsLiterature/rhythm-and-roots/episodes/2/206-Cuartetango
For more info please visit: www.leonardosuarezpaz.com - www.suarezpazdance.com

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

BLUE TANGO

A World Tango fusion concert and dance celebration in honor of Hispanic Heritage Month by Argentine singer/guitarist Maria Volonte and Kevin Footer on harmonica.

Friday, September 10, 2010
8pm - midnight
$15/$10 (students/seniors)

Community Music Center – Concert Hall
544 Capp St. (between 20th&21st Streets, Mission&So.Van Ness)
San Francisco, CA 94110
415.647.6015 - www.sfcmc.org

Event Schedule
8-8:30pm World Tango Fusion Concert with Maria Volonte (vocals, guitar) and Kevin Footer (harmonica)
8:45-9:30pm Introductory Tango dance lesson with Sonja Riket (no partner or dance experience necessary)
9:30pm Tango dance party (Milonga) starts
10:15-11pm Live music set for Tango social dancing by Maria Volonte and Kevin Footer with guest Darren Morgan on cajon.
11pm Milonga continues till 12 am.

For more info, please call: Sonja Riket 415.661.1852 – intimate_embrace_tango@earthlink.net www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com


Argentine singer/songwriter Maria Volonte is a Latin Grammy nominee, Gardel Prize winner (Argentina’s Grammy) and member of the Tango Hall of Fame who combines a love of her Argentine roots with an absolutely personal approach to making music – result of a life lived intensely as a woman and as an artist – that has fascinated critics and audiences around the world.
Maria returns to the US following her recent tours of Argentina and Europe bringing with her all the passion and sensuality of her native Buenos Aires. Her new music explores the fusion of tango with the blues – two musical traditions born on the margins of society, which went on to seduce the entire world.
In tonight’s concert Maria will perform uniquely original compositions, deeply rooted in the Argentine tango with elements of blues and jazz. She will be accompanied by Kevin Footer on harmonica.
After an introductory dance lesson by award winning tango teacher Sonja Riket, the Milonga will feature a more traditional Live Tango music set for social dancing by Maria, Kevin and guest Darren Morgan on cajon. Come listen, watch the social Tango dancers or join in the dance!

More info about the artists:
MARIA VOLONTE (vocals & guitar):
Maria Volonte is an Argentine artist celebrated for the intense emotional universe that fires her music. Filling theaters and fascinating audiences and critics around the world, Maria turns each concert into a celebration of life, art and music.
Winner of the Gardel Prize (Argentina’s Grammy award) and a Latin Grammy nominee, Maria is a singer, guitarist and songwriter who takes the music of Latin America to unexpected places by crossing musical boundaries and honing a deeply personal approach.
As the Los Angeles Times wrote, “Volonte is a good example of an artist who is respectful of her roots yet not afraid to go beyond musty old formulas… Her musical concept is refreshingly broad.”
Jazz Perspectives wrote: Maria Volonte combines the earthiness of Edith Piaff with the sassiness of Eartha Kit.

Maria’s love of the musical life and her passion for experimentation have lead to far-reaching projects, from an exploration of the sassy roots of tango to tango fusion to collaborations with revered icons of jazz such as Horacio Larumbe (a project which lead to her 2003 Latin Grammy nomination). She has performed the title role in the Astor Piazzolla opera “Maria of Buenos Aires”, opened for jazz pianist Brad Mehldau, played at the famed jazz club Yoshi’s in California and thrilled audiences at music festivals from Punto de l’Este to Helsinki.

Maria has released six albums. Her latest, “Sudestada” (2007) features four of Maria’s own compositions and was produced by famed singer-songwriter Raul Carnota. “Yo soy Maria” (2006), explores the fusion of tango with jazz and bossa nova and was nominated for the 2007 Gardel Prize. “Tangos” (2004), brought together a classic collection of tangos from her repertoire and was nominated for the 2005 Gardel Prize. “Fuimos” (2003), a duo project with the legendary pianist Horacio Larumbe, won Maria the 2004 Gardel Prize and was nominated for a Latin Grammy. “Cornisas del Corazon” (1999), was recorded live at the historic Tortoni Cafe in Buenos Aires while her first, “Tango y Otras Pasiones” (1996) was chosen by the “La Nacion” newspaper as one of the “Top 100 Tango Recordings of All Time.”
In 2007, Maria was inducted into the Tango Hall of Fame.

Maria says: “For me singing is a celebration of life itself. It is the ecstasy and pain at childbirth, the mystery of the long voyage, the thrill of chance encounters, the surrender in love and the slow revelation on one’s true self. In singing I renew the force of life within me. I am never more myself than when I sing.”
Please visit: www.mariavolonte.com and Artist Video Link: http://vimeo.com/12754767

KEVIN FOOTER (harmonica)
Kevin Carrel Footer is a writer, photographer and harmonica player deeply inspired by the intense passions of tango. Since 2001, his writings are featured in the “Buenos Aires Herald.” His photographs, writings and music focus on the intimate, glimpsed world of the spirit. He plays harmonica professionally and tours the world performing with the celebrated Argentine tango diva Maria Volonte.
His writings, photographs and music can be read, viewed and listened to at: www.kevincarrelfooter.com

SONJA RIKET (Tango dance)
7x7 Magazine “Best Tango Teacher” Award winner and movement therapist Sonja Riket teaches dance and movement classes and organizes cultural-, social and fundraising events around critical issues of our time. After a long professional modern dance career in Europe, USA, Mexico and Africa, performing with such luminaries as Jose Limon and Lar Lubovitch dance cies.in NYC, she moved to SF where Tango found her in 1998. At a very early age her father, who was a music teacher in Belgium, instilled in her a deep love of music which always inspired her to dance. As faculty member of the SF Community Music Center she teaches Creative Expression and Injury Prevention for musicians. Sonja is a humble student of the bandoneon instrument. In 2005 she created Tango Revolution, a free weekly Tango music and dance event open to the public, held in an accessible café to encourage the spontaneous inclusion of music and dance in our everyday life as a communal experience. Youth from high schools, conservatories and universities are given the opportunity to learn about the music, dance and history of Argentine Tango and to perform as Tango Revolution Orchestra under the guidance of expert coaches. For more information visit: www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com

Thursday, April 29, 2010

Tango Revolution Orchestra and guests in Concert and Milonga

Tango Revolution and CMC faculty Sonja Riket present:

Tango Revolution Orchestra and guests in Concert and Milonga (Tango Party)

Saturday May 1, 2010
From 8pm-12am
Community Music Center
544 Capp Street (21st Street) in SF

FREE ENTRANCE AS PART OF NATIONAL DANCE WEEK!

To celebrate Mayday and United Nation’s declaration of Argentine Tango’s world heritage status, the youthful Tango Revolution Orchestra and special guests showcase their skill and enthusiasm for playing Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango and traditional Golden Era Tangos for listening and dancing. They will be joined by Betty Wong, piano faculty at CMC.
Take an introductory Tango lesson with award winning teacher Sonja Riket. No dance experience or partner necessary!
Come listen, watch the social Tango dancers or join in the dance!

CONCERT: 8-8:30pm
INTRO DANCE CLASS: 8:45-9:30pm
MILONGA(TANGO PARTY) starts: 9:30pm
LIVE MUSIC SET: 10:15-11pm
MILONGA CONTINUES TILL 12am

More info: Intimate Embrace Tango 415.661.1852
www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com – www.bayareandw.org
www.tangorevolution.blogspot.com

ABOUT TANGO REVOLUTION:

Tango Revolution is a weekly neighborhood educational project to offer anyone the opportunity to learn and experience the social aspect of Argentine Tango dance, music and history. By holding the event free of charge in an accessible café on a Sunday afternoon we encourage the spontaneous inclusion of music and dance in our everyday life as a communal experience.
Part of the project includes giving young musicians the opportunity to learn and perform traditional Argentine Tango music as well as Piazzolla’s Nuevo Tango. They receive coaching sessions by professional Tango musicians from Argentina and the USA and perform regularly at Caffe Trieste Downtown and other events in the Bay Area.
The Tango Revolution project began in 2005 at Café Revolution in SF’s Mission District. Its success has inspired other groups such as Classical Revolution to adopt the idea, the name and the practice nationwide.

We envision Tango Revolution as a fertile ground for learning about Argentine Tango, a dance and music of immigrants, which continues to cross the boundaries of race, culture, language and social status. Where both beginning and accomplished dancers and musicians can share the floor without obvious hierarchy.

We offer the beautiful connection between human beings in the Tango Embrace as a common ground and antidote against the isolation, separation and fearful existence we are led to believe is necessary. What better way to come home to ourselves and connect with each other across our differences than the non-verbal power of a musical and dance embrace, listening and moving together as one?

Tango Revolution is a program of Intimate Embrace Tango, which envisions Argentine Tango as a relational matrix of connection to ourselves, each other and the world. We organize classes, workshops, Milonga’s, concerts and social awareness-and fundraising events around critical issues of our time.
www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com - 415.661.1852

Friday, February 5, 2010

International Tango harmonica/piano duo Joe Powers and Naoko Aoki returns to Bay Area to celebrate Tango's world heritage status!

2 different events on Saturday-Sunday February 20-21, 2010!

On September 30, 2009 UNESCO, the United Nations cultural organization declared Argentine Tango a part of the world’s cultural heritage. "Tango conquered a long time ago a universal transcendence," UNESCO declared in a statement and added that the dance "embodies and encourages diversity and cultural dialogue."

After last Augusts’ sold out SF event, international Tango harmonica/piano duo Joe Powers and Naoko Aoki returns to the Bay Area for a celebration in style!
Their week-end performances will feature a traditional Argentine Tango concert and Milonga and a Tango/blues fusion happening in honour of Black History Month and the common roots of these musical genres.

For more information contact Sonja Riket at 415.661.1852
intimate_embrace_tango@earthlink.net, www.IntimateEmbraceTango.com

Joe Powers, a Portland based harmonica phenomenon, is well known for his unique and soulful blend of jazz, tango and blues. When travelling to Buenos Aires, to record his first Tango CD, he met Japan’s top Tango pianist Naoko Aoki. Together, the international duo has exhilarated audiences from Argentina to USA and Japan with performances of this seductive dance music. Join them for their return duo appearance in San Francisco!

Joe Powers: www.joepowers.com – Naoko Aoki: http://celeste.coplan.jp
View Joe and Naoko on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-D12Uag3rs

Details about each event follow below.

I) TANGO HARMONY
Saturday February 20, 2010
8pm-12:30am
$15 /$10 (students/seniors)

SF Community Music Center - Concert Hall
544 Capp Street, SF 94110
415.647.6015 www.sfcmc.org

Event Schedule
8-8:30pm Argentine Tango Concert with Joe Powers (harmonica) and Naoko Aoki (piano)
8:45-9:30pm Introductory Tango dance lesson
9:30pm Tango dance party (Milonga) starts
10:15-11pm Live music set for Tango social dancing by Joe and Naoko.
11pm Milonga continues till 12:30 am

Listen to a selection of traditional Argentine Tangos, Waltzes and Milongas as well as original compositions by Joe Powers (harmonica) and Naoko Aoki (piano). Take an introductory dance lesson (no partner or dance experience necessary). Come listen, watch the social Tango dancers or join in the dance!


II) TANGO & BLUES
A Tribute to Black History Month
Sunday February 22, 2010
6-10pm
FREE with purchase of food/drink at cafe- Donations encouraged!

Caffe Trieste Downtown
1667 Market Street, SF 94103
415.551.1000
www.caffetriestedowntown.com

Event Schedule
6-7pm Introductory Tango Lesson
7:30-8pm: Tango Revolution Youth Orchestra opens Milonga with a traditional Tango set.
8:30-9:15pm Tango/Blues fusion set by Joe Powers and Naoko Aoki.
Milonga continues till 10pm..

Since 2005 Tango Revolution, a free weekly Tango music and dance event is held in an accessible café to encourage the spontaneous inclusion of music and dance in our everyday life as a communal experience. To honour Black History Month Joe Powers (harmonica) and Naoko Aoki (piano) will play a Tango/Blues fusion set and highlight the common roots of these musical genres. Come listen, watch the social Tango dancers or join in the dance!

More info about the artists:

Joe Powers:
Harmonica virtuoso, Joe Powers is one of the few Harmonica players in the world to specialize in Tango Music. He was winner of the Belgian Crystal Harmonica Award in the Classical Division (2008) and received 4th place in Jazz Diatonic, at the World Harmonica Championship in Germany (2005). Since then he has performed at Tango festivals and events throughout North and South America, Europe, and Japan collaborating with top Tango maestros including: Emilio de la Peña, Raul Luzzi, and Koji Kyotani. He has shared the stage with top Tango artists such as: NarcoTango, ColorTango, and "Gotan Project" singer, Veronika Silva and has performed with groups as diverse as Pink Martini, British Pop Icon Jamie Cullum, and Smooth Jazz Pioneer Tom Grant. His CD, "Amor de Tango" was recorded in Buenos Aires in 2007 and features members of the famed Leopoldo Federico Tango Orchestra, including Latin Grammy Nominee, Nicolas Ledesma on Piano. His newest CD, "Melancolie" (Summer 2009) is a collaboration with Grammy Nominated, British Composer/Pianist, Michael Hoppé, featuring classically inspired, New-Age melodies.
This January 2010 Joe has been nominated for an Portland Music Award for "Outstanding Achievement in World Music".
For more information please visit http://www.joepowers.com.
Listen to Joe's music here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/joepowers

Naoko Aoki:
Naoko Aoki began her piano studies at the age of 4. After graduating from the prestigious Musashino Conservatory in Tokyo, she lived in Argentina and studied Tango with such Tango masters as Nicolas Ledesma and the late Emilio de la Peña. In addition she served as the principal pianist for over two years at the only Tango Orchestra School in the world, "La Orquesta Escuela", in Buenos Aires, under the direction of famed Tango maestro, Emilio Balcarce. Today she is considered by many to be the top Tango pianist living in Japan. Her Tango Ensemble, "Orquesta Aurora", which she composes and arranges for features some of the country's finest Tango talents. She travels nearly every year to Argentina and beyond for performances. Naoko made 3 CD´s..: Tierra Querida, Buenos Aires; Mi Refugio; and Puerto a Puerto. Visit http://celeste.coplan.jp/