The Mystery of the Finnish Tango…

Nobody quite knows how the sinuous rhythms of the Argentinian Tango first made the long journey from the steamy nightclubs of Buenos Aires to the cool shades of the Finnish pinewoods; but this much is certain – when Tango finally did get to Finland, it had come to stay!

The start of each short Finnish summer sees countless open-air dance floors springing up, in the hidden recesses of the ancient forest. And even today those dance floors re-echo each year to the insistent, fatalistic rhythms of the Finnish tango. Couples dance away the endless white nights of the northern summer and the tango king and queen of Finland are crowned in a blaze of publicity at the great annual ‘tango market’.

The Little Heart Tango Orchestra brings a breath of that air to London, in a performance featuring Finnish popular music from 1930-1960. This dramatic show weaves snatches of song and story from the trenches of the Winter War, glimpses of the glamour of the great ‘lost city’ of Viipuri, and everyday tales of fatal passion, unrequited love, National Romanticism, personal tragedy, the treachery of the heart, the vagaries of passion, and the ever-present seductions of vodka and despair.