In a few days we will see in Lisbon to the 10 edition of the Festival, so we invite you to read the interview with Augusto Fragoso, one of the organizers.
Why did you choose Sebastián e Mariana to participate at The Festival?
Well, basically because we like them as the tanguero friends that come to our Festival.
They have been in Lisbon, in our Festival, several times and each time they have showed evolution, new aspects about their dance and new qualities, they are artistically very much appreciated and their ‘buena onda’ is appreciated. Besides that they were always very professional and organization friendly helping us solving the always happening small problems, adding their energy to the several different moments of the program and that’s very important for those who organize.
This is a festival with some years of history, how do you see this experience?
In fact FTL2012 will be the 10th edition of our Festival. We have been having a strong Festival from year one so I would say that it was until now a successful experience and mainly an enriching one. We have invited along all this year’s an excellent set of many artists, both dancers and orchestras, learning a lot with each one of them. It’s a festival with 600 to 800 people with a high rate of return. We are a non profit festival done by a non profit organization so our overall experience is measured only by the happiness of our guests and after 10 years I would say it has been always “Rewarding”.
Talking about the places, hotel, dancing room, city, which are the highlights?
The Festival is taking place in an iconic building from 1912, specifically in the Noble Salon of VOZ DO OPERARIO – a big wooden floor warm and charming salon with capacity for 850 people, perfect to dance with adequate space, with a stage, a bar, the salon embraced by a balcony that gives a “La Belle Epoque” feel and touch with plenty of room, tables and chairs for everybody. Voz do Operário is situated in the oldest and more paradigmatic neighborhood of downtown Lisbon – Alfama, near the Castle and the most famous historical area. Lisbon is a wonderful city to visit with great food and wines, good weather and southern friendship. Our guests say that coming to the Festival it’s an overall experience of Tango and Tourism.
Which are the aims of the festival?
Intensive ‘buena onda’ Tango experience melted with an intensive Lisbon experience. Make everybody involved feel Tango happiness for 6 days. In the other hand the Lisbon Tango crowd, unlike other crowds more central in Europe, doesn’t travel a lot (Portugal is in one end of Europe ) so the Festival is also a way to bring references and friends from other communities into our reality. The Festival is really international and more than 60% of our guest are from abroad so we also want them to have a good Portuguese experience. We try to always have late workshops, never in the morning, so people can be at the milongas that are going to 5am or more and still having enough time to rest and go around the city.
Are there some special attractions that you would like to tell us?
The Lisbon Festival is always having many surprises. We always have a hidden program of different things that will happen along the Festival, not always Tango. This year, naturally and since FADO was elected, as Tango, as UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, we will have some things happening about FADO and surprises. But I would say all the invited artists are the biggest special attractions.
How do you describe the Tango presence in your city?
Tango started in Lisbon very recently, on 1998, and as grown steadily ever since. We have a not so big community (maybe around 300 – 500 people) and milongas or praticas everyday of the week. The biggest milonga is having around 100 people and tango schools should be around 4 having some more people teaching in different dance schools or associations.
How was born your relationship with the tango?
>In 1998 through the ‘El Cumbre Mundial del Tango’ event, held in Lisbon in springtime that year when no presence of the Argentinean Tango was felt. Additionally we had the world Expo that summer and the Argentinean Pavillion that was presenting Tango demonstration all day long also helped to rise the Portuguese interest in Tango.
We consider that you are like argentine culture’s ambassadors, so how do you to pass on all the sensations of which tango talks about? (storia, love,sadness, melancholy, neithbourhood’s codes, ecc).
Fado and Tango are extensively alike in many aspects. The fillings FADO is singing are the same as in Tango, both are port cultures that started in the marginal society and rose to the upper classes and places in the city, both are result of the emigration phenomenon but in different ends of the rope. Argentineans say that Tango are danced feelings, Portuguese say that Fado are singed feelings, not by chance that Fado which was not danced for many now started to be danced by the tangueros. In conclusion – we don’t need to pass those sensations because we already have it in our culture.
Beyond the tango, do you condivide another type of argentine culture
Yes. Literature, Argentinean folklore and having so many friends from Argentina we ended naturally attending asados, horse races and polo, and other Argentina related activities.
More info: http://ftl.lusitango.com/
