ARTIST STATEMENT
Internal passion is synthesized as it merges
With the immediacy of the external environment:
Buenos Aires, Argentina. Sound and movement
Of milongas, subways, and music enter my system.
Total awareness, moving through tango time and space,
Learning to hear with my eyes; opening new portals.
Tango. The Subterraneos. Music of bandoneon.
All are one in structure, form, and metaphor.
Forced passage of air over metal squeezebox reeds
Communicates melancholy when notes are dragged.
Air movement within and around subway breaks,
Passenger cars joined by accordion-pleated elements.
Bandoneons and the underground, like Argentine tango:
Lines of music, tracks, orderly protocol of movement.
In all cases, frames must be supported,
Connection maintained, direction understood.
Real and transient like the wind. The bandoneon calls,
Sweeping slowly. Then, quick crisp puffs, like a train.
The sound is mournful, invoking far-away.
Leaving, returning to a nostalgic place.
Tango is memory of a happier time and the desire
To have it exist forever, within each brief dance embrace.
Stereotypical rendering not intended here; instead,
The existential moment of fusion and expression.