Dubrovnik Le Petit Festival du Theatre 2009
 
 
 
 
  Silvana Deluigi
Buenos Aires, Argentina


So Silvana walks on stage and everything else kind of falls away. Yeah, the lighting, the proportions of the stage, the distance between the listener, the observer, and the singer, actress, everything. I've seen it, I've been there. If she walks into the frame of the movie, everything else becomes a distant, shaded, background: the other actors, the lighting: and, as only in others of the rarest cases of charisma, the framing actually dissipates. Again, I've seen it. And f*ck those of you who are so deaf to the tango as to have snickered when reading an account of the truth.

On stage, the other players are still there, it's still the context, the bandoneon, the stern faces in their places, but it's only a context in which Silvana's music, through which Silvana, that tango, can be accessed. She could go to the front of the stage (say, if the sound system fell apart, and the musicians stopped...) and kneel on the edge of it, and sing a capella, and an audience of three thousand would push to the front, not just to hear her fantastic voice, but to be closer to the perfume, the scent of that tango.

We all know that the tango's not really a music. It's the intense, dark glow and romance surrounding a player. Expectations of a history, or of a danger. Maybe of a chance to access a darkness still inside the listener, or whatever. I guess that's where the danger reference comes in. The macho Tango around Astor, or Goyeneche or (still) around Gardel. But the female tango is just as intense. Inverse, but just as strong a scent, just as dark. It's the female confidence of that tango around Silvana that makes the surroundings dissipate. For a second.

And the voice, of course : it's not just the perfect intonation or gorgeous tone, it's the swing behind the anticipation, it's that sound and swagger of sex made audible. Aw, you knew that already. That's why you're listening to her music.

Maybe restating the obvious, what made Astor the king of the tango wasn't really the formal innovations, the layers of dark and light and counterpoint, and shifting, viscerally breathtaking, chordal changes and complex references in his compositions. It was the fact that he had the guts and vision and defiance and fight to change the music he inherited into something that described the darkness inside himself.

What made Malvi, Pablo, Suarez Paz and Console the best tango band of our time wasn't their awesome command of their instruments (although) dare you to name any other musicians with as deep technical skills), but it was the way they took Astor's music, and dangers, and arrogantly made it so naturally parts of their own personal swaggers. And what makes Silvana the Queen of the Tango has, of course, even less to do with compositional or instrumental innovations than in Astor's case. It has though just as much to do with the darkness that she arrogantly surrounds herself with, and with that pause, and that sexual anticipation, y'know, that tango.

Anyway, all that shit about the tango dying, or being antiquated, or whatever. There's really nothing in the tango that can be superseded. There's never going to be a time when we won't be able to feel the dark glow, and not be able to smell the sex in the danger around Silvana.

Yeah, the real tango.

- Kip Hanrahan


Silvana Deluigi was born in Buenos Aires and grew up in the tradition of classical tango, but this tradition has never been just a museum piece. This is why in her first CD "TANGUERA" she began a very personal research into the hidden facets of this marvellous music. Today she is trying to go a step further by exploring the dialogue between the words and a single instrument.

It was an immense pleasure for her to work with Louis Di Matteo, one of the great master of the bandoneon, one of the rare ones to dare to free himself from the rigidity of the written notes. In his original compositions Louis has for many years tried to renew the bandoneon. At Silvana´s request he accepted the challenge to seek the same freedom of interpretation in classic tango and to establish a new intensity between bandoneon and vioce. Other friends - Osvaldo Calo, Jean-Paul Celea, Ulrich Lask - joined Silvana in this adventure who's goal is nothing but pure pleasure and emotion.

Her last project just inpreparation is a new concerpt of tango under the leadership of Kip Hanrahan, an old friend of Silvana who invited her to several recordings together with Caetano Veloso, Sting a.o.


Curriculum Vitae Silvana Deluigi

Born in Buenos Aires in 1960. Lives in Paris and Buenos Aires.

Education:

Study of theatre at the "Consevatorio Nacional de Arte Dramatico"(Buenos Aires) and also at the "Conservatoire National Superieur d'Art Dramatique" (Paris)

Study of singing at the "Conservatorio Nacional de Musica" (Buenos Aires) and also at the "Teatro de l'Opera Massimo Bellini"(Catania) and by Jaques et Francoise RENDELEUX (Paris)

Spectacle:

1979- "West Side Story" Teatro Presidente Alvar, Buenos Aires 1981- "Romeo y Julieta" Teatro Coliseo, Buenos Aires 1985- "Libertango" Theate de Plaisance, Paris

One Women Show

1988- "Blue Tango" Trottoirs de Buenos Aires, Paris 1989- "Tanguera" Trottoirs de Buenos Aires, Paris 1992- "Tanguera" Touring in Germany 1993 and 1994 "Silvana Deluigi - Juan Jose Mosalini" tour 1994- "Tango mio" Touring in Swizerland, Germany, Austrian 1995- Touring solo with Louis de Matto, bandoneon 1996- Touring solo "Tangos" 1998- Touring "Loca"

Films:

1989- "Tanguera" (52',16mm) Coproduction with the WDR 1990- "Artcore" (90',35mm) Coproduction with Artcore Films,WDR, CNC and several spots like "SKIP" (1992) and "PEUGEOT 405" (1994)

CD's:

1991- "Tanguera" (accompanied by Juan Jose Mosalini, Tomas Gubitsch, Osvaldo Calo, Jean-Paul Celea) 1995- "Tangos" (duos with Louis de Matteo, Jean-Paul Celea, Osvaldo Calo, Ulrich P. Lask) (both by WERGO) 1999 Loca

Actual projects

Silvana Deluigi "Tangos"
Tango quartet with different line up