Tangomarkkinat
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The Tangomarkkinat is the world's oldest
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Arge ...
festival. It is held early every July in
Seinäjoki Seinäjoki (; "Wall River"; , formerly ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of South Ostrobothnia. Seinäjoki is located in the western interior of the country and along the Seinäjoki (river), River Seinäjoki. The population of Sein ...
,
Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...
. As well as competitions to find the country's best tango singers, composers, and dancers, the festival features public dancing to live music provided by the best Finnish entertainers. Music for public dancing is not restricted to tango: it includes all the dance rhythms popular in Finland: but tango content must, according to the rules, be at least 40%.


History

The festival had its origins in a
Finnish sauna The Finnish sauna (, ) is a substantial part of Culture of Finland, Finnish and Culture of Estonia, Estonian culture. It was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists at the 17 December 2020 meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmen ...
. Lasse Lintala, the director of the
Ilmajoki Ilmajoki (; ) is a municipalities of Finland, municipality of Finland. Ilmajoki is a town and municipality situated in Finland's South Ostrobothnia region, founded in 1865. Ilmajoki has a population of 12,165 (28. February 2017)and covers an are ...
Music Festival and his wife were in the sauna with the director of the
MTV3 MTV3 (, ) is a Finnish commercial television channel owned and operated by the media company MTV Oy, originally launched on 13 August 1957 as a programming block, becoming its own channel on 1 January 1993. It had the biggest audience share ...
TV channel Tauno Äijälä and his wife Katja. Lintala was hoping to get the festival on TV. Äijälä suggested incorporating tango into the festival and perhaps a musical based on tango singer Olavi Virta. The idea was developed for a couple of years, but Ilmajoki was not interested. Lintala travelled to
Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...
to tell Äijälä the bad news. On the train he got into conversation with Matti Nuolivirta, the Mayor of Seinäjoki, and his deputy Risto Hakala who were keen for the festival to be held in Seinäjoki. Seinäjoki city council approved the venture, and in January 1985 the Tango Music Advancement Association was established. Backers were Seinäjoki city council, Seinäjoki's Maila-Jussit
pesäpallo Pesäpallo (; ; , colloquially known in Finnish as pesis and also referred to as Finnish baseball) is a fast-moving bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport that is often referred to as the national sport of Finland and has some presence in other ...
team, and the Marit and Mikot choir. About 18,000 people took part in the first Tangomarkkinat in July 1985, and over 1½ million people watched the TV broadcast. Seinäjoki city invested 60,000
marks Marks may refer to: Business * Mark's, a Canadian retail chain * Marks & Spencer, a British retail chain * Collective trade marks A collective trademark, collective trade mark, or collective mark is a trademark owned by an organization (such ...
. For the first three years of its existence the Tangomarkkinat was plagued by bad weather, and in 1988 it made a loss of 100,000 marks, exacerbated by the lack of success of the Olavi Virta musical, which premiered that year. In 1989 a combination of excellent weather and the immensely popular new Tango Queen
Arja Koriseva Arja Koriseva (born 21 April 1965) is a Finnish singer. She first came to fame as a Finnish tango, tango singer; her repertoire now includes evergreen, pop, musical theatre, and sacred music. Koriseva has sold over 330,000 certified records, mak ...
put the event back in the black. The most successful year was 1999, when attendance was a record 130,600 and the profit was 805,000 marks. President
Tarja Halonen Tarja Kaarina Halonen (, born 24 December 1943) is a Finns, Finnish politician who served as the 11th president of Finland, and the first and to date only woman to hold the position, from 2000 to 2012. She first rose to prominence as a lawyer wit ...
attended the 20th Tangomarkkinat in 2004, when 34 past and present Tango Royals were gathered together for a special radio concert.


Tango Royals

The tango singing competition is open to both men and women. In 1985 and 1986 just one winner was chosen, and the winners in both years were men. In 1987 it was decided that a male and a female winner would be chosen. The selection process starts with heats held all over Finland. Until 1991 ten finalists (5 men and 5 women) were sent to Seinäjoki, where 2 men and 2 women were eliminated in the televised "semifinal final" on the Friday of the Tangomarkkinat. On the Saturday, in the "final final", the Tango King and Queen were chosen, the runners-up being Princes and Princesses. Since 1992 a semifinal has been held in
Raisio Raisio (; ) is a town in Finland, located in the Southwest Finland region. It lies north of the regional capital, Turku. The population of Raisio is approximately , while the sub-region has a population of approximately . It is the most populou ...
, near
Turku Turku ( ; ; , ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Southwest Finland. It is located on the southwestern coast of the country at the mouth of the Aura River (Finland), River Aura. The population of Turku is approximately , while t ...
, where 20 semifinalists are reduced to 10. This too is televised. Since 2002 the Raisio judges have chosen 12 finalists, from whom the viewers vote for their 10 favourites. The tangos which the competitors will sing are allocated by lot. In 2007 the final was revamped. Only 2 men and 2 women are chosen on the Friday. On Saturday each must sing one classic and one modern tango; and furthermore the two men and the two women sing a modern tango in duet. One of the modern tangos used in 2007 was Takes Two to Tango, written in English by Jari Sillanpää for the 2004
Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...
and translated into Finnish for the Tangomarkkinat. In 2009 it was announced that only one Tango Royal, who could be a man or a woman, would be appointed. The public would be allowed to vote in both the final and the semifinal.'' Iltasanomat'', 7 January 2009 From 2013 onwards both Tango King and Tango Queen have again been chosen. Dance halls and other venues book the winners of the competition months in advance, so whoever does win gets a ready booked up tour. They also get a recording contract and are expected to attend the three following Tangomarkkinat festivals. Famous tango royals include
Arja Koriseva Arja Koriseva (born 21 April 1965) is a Finnish singer. She first came to fame as a Finnish tango, tango singer; her repertoire now includes evergreen, pop, musical theatre, and sacred music. Koriseva has sold over 330,000 certified records, mak ...
, Jari Sillanpää, Sauli Lehtonen, Saija Varjus, Erika Vikman, Eija Kantola, Mira Kunnasluoto, Kaija Lustila and Kaija Pohjola. The youngest was Heidi Kyrö, aged 15, who was Tango Princess in 1993.


Other competitions

From the beginning there has been a competition for the best new tango of the year. In 1985 the winner was ''Elämäni nainen'', which is now a classic. The 2007 winners, ''Raju rakastaja'' and ''Onko rikos rakastaa?'' were given extra publicity by being included in the televised finals of the singing competition. There is also a tango dancing competition, open to all comers. 1985 winners were Osmo and Tuula Katjos. Since 2002 there has been a separate senior section. Other competitions which have been held at various times in the Tangomarkkinat's long history include the "Golden Stars" non-tango singing competition, a jive competition, and a Miss Tango beauty contest.


References


Sources

* Marja Nyman, Tangokuninkaalliset, Revontuli 2002, * M.A. Numminen, Tango on intohimoni, Schilds 1998,


External links


Tangomarkkinat
{{Seinäjoki Cityscape Dance festivals in Finland Music festivals in Finland Seinäjoki Recurring events established in 1985 Tango in Finland Summer in Finland 1985 establishments in Finland