A Lifetime of Tango: Sandra Luna

Global Rhythm, A Lifetime of Tango: Sandra Luna

“Music and Words, like two fallen in love, flow from the lips of the singer."

"Tango is a feeling that is so clear and pure," said Argentina's Sandra Luna. "If you haven't met it, it will wait for you. But, after you meet it, you'll need it."

Singing with some of the best contemporary artists in the genre, including Edmundo Rivero and Hector Varela, the 38 year-old Buenos Aires-born songstress has been breathing new life into the music of her homeland ever since she began performing at the age of 11.

Luna's recently released solo debut, Tango Varon (World Connection), which translates roughly to "powerful tango" or "male tango," is a pas­sionate amalgam of French chanson, American jazz vocalizing and Argentinean tango influences. Her vocals are crisp and bracing here, but she can also summon up a rough, raspy edge when the material requires it. Luna's versions of such classic tangos as "Ché Bandoneón" and "Canción Desesperada" reveal her as an artist that takes the tango canción artform seriously-and one capable of taking it back to its roots. Other, original material, such as the title track, demonstrates her skill at blending other influences with tradition-rooted tango.


The album's distinct flavor was the product of the dedicated produc­tion team that Luna assembled. Driven by the talents of producer Serge Glanzberg-the son of Norbert Glanzberg, pianist for Edith Piaf, Yves Montand and Charles Trent-Tango Varon echoes with the experience he brought to working with the likes of Manu Dibango, the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, and Mick Jones of the Clash. Working on this project with executive producers Gustavo Pazos and Eric van Santen and sound technician Jorge Da Silva, however, Glanzberg revealed a mas­tery of the tango, inspiring Luna to reach for new heights. "We formed a great team," she said. "We worked very seriously and hard. I think that with the cooperation and professionalism of everybody we made it a success."



It's a success that took a lifetime to shape. Raised in the Buenos Aires stockyard and slaughterhouse district of Mataderos, one of tango's traditional strongholds, Luna remembers being drawn to music early. "My first memory is when I was two," she said, "and I heard the voice of a woman who was playing the piano. She became my first music teacher later on."



Throughout her childhood, Luna sang nearly nonstop. "I sang in church, school and at home," she recalled, "also for those who'd ask me to sing at a certain place or simply on the street, for the people who lived in my neighborhood. Sometimes I would sing in my grandfather's grocery store. There was always a customer asking me to sing."



By the age of seven, Luna yearned to be a professional singer. With her parents' encouragement, she began to haunt the tango clubs of the Argentinean capital. "I asked my parents if I could go to the place where people sang tangos," she remembered. "Of course I didn't go to listen only. I asked the one in charge if I could sing as well. He gave me a serious and surprised look and asked me, 'Tango?"'



As it turned out, Luna chose a good night to make her stage debut. "Members of the Radio Argentina Council were present," she said, "and they booked me to sing on the radio and in all the shows they organized throughout the country. Since that day I haven't stopped working."



Luna's rise to stardom came swiftly. She became a regular weekend performer at Buenos Aires' premier tango club, Boliche de Rotundo, before her twelfth birthday. "It was an important place," she said. "It was some­thing to be proud of if you were booked there, because one of the owners was a well-known tango conductor at the time. It was a wonderful experi­ence. I remember that I sang the tango `Nostalgias' with bandoneonist Pocho Corsaro, who accompanied me."



Around the same time, Luna began performing at La Casa de Carlos Gardel, owned by tango superstar Carlos "El Zoral" Gardel. "I met Sexteto Mayor there," she said. "We worked together Thursdays to Saturdays." Luna continued to attract attention. Among the many that were awed by her singing was Hector Varela, bandoneonist of Juan D'Arienzo's influ­ential 1940s orchestra. When Varela heard her at Boliche de Rotundo, he was so impressed that he quickly invited her to join his group. "It was fan­tastic!" Luna said. "People said that it was the orchestra of the young because it attracted a young audience. Varela was one of the tangueros who sold the most records."



Luna's musical growth was further expanded after meeting tango master Robert Grela, one of the major instrumentalists on Argentinean tel­evision. "He was a great and wise person," she recalled. "He taught me to sing, to say what I felt and that each word has enormous meaning. I learned from him that music and words, like two fallen in love, flow from the lips of the singer. I feel privileged to have known him and to have been accompanied by his guitar. I can only thank him and those many other musical fathers who brought me up and formed me."



With the international release of Tango Varon, Luna is already envi­sioning her next recording. "The next album is slowly being drawn or sketched," she said. "We've been performing some of the new repertoire since the beginning of the year. "But I want to make one thing clear," she makes sure to point out. "Everything you hear from me when I sing is done with real feeling. That is what I gave in Tango Varon and that's what I will give in future albums and all other future work."



Craig Harris, GLOBAL RHYTHM.JULY 2004