Expanding the world of Tango

Three International Women bring diversity to tango in Sebastopol Concert

Special to Sebastopol Times

Extending ethnic, gender, and geographic diversity into historically male-dominated Argentine tango music, Las Almas (The Souls), three women of international backgrounds, will perform classical, traditional and contemporary tango styles in concert at Sebastopol Center for the Arts on Friday, Oct. 21 from 7 to 9 p.m. An introductory lecture about tango history and women’s space in the genre will precede the concert.

The members of Las Almas include Korean-born pianist Sumi Lee, now of San Francisco; Panama-born bandoneon (concertina/accordion) player Heyni Solera from Washington, D.C.; and Chinese-American violinist Teagan Faran from New York. The three have classical training in the United States, with advanced study at La Orquesta Escuela de Tango Emilio Balcarce, Argentina’s leading tango orchestra school. Leader Sumi Lee states that the trio injects a physicality borrowed from tango as dance to performance of the music, and draws from other sources, such  as jazz, Afro rhythms and Argentine folklore. The Sebastopol show will be a concert, not a “milonga” dance party, for full attention to the underlying music. 

Their performance builds upon Sumi Lee’s piano foundation, Teagan Faran’s slashing and soaring violin, and Heyni Solera’s soulful bandoneon. Sumi Lee has performed with Bay Area opera companies and at the San Francisco International Arts Festival. She produces her own contemporary tango music and has toured tango across the United States, Canada and to South Korea.

Heyni Solera has extended the bandoneon into chamber music settings, brought tango into musical theater cabaret, and hosts a YouTube series “Today’s Tango with Heyni,” featuring music and interviews with performers.

Teagan Faran studied in Argentina on a Fulbright grant, exploring the fusion of tango, jazz, and classical music. She has performed with philharmonic orchestras, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and in jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater’s Woodshed Network.

The Sebastopol concert is the trio’s first venture to Sonoma County and is a part of their effort to expand classical tango’s geographic reach beyond urban areas. Sebastopol Center for the Arts also engaged them to enhance the center’s musical offerings, developing an international niche, according to music committee chairperson Lindajoy Fenley.

Tango dancing originated in bars and rough ports of Argentina and Uruguay, but has developed elegant ballroom styles with many variations around the world.  Sumi Lee explains that the music has evolved as well, to accompany styles that incorporated aspects of modern dance, with pauses, suspensions, and hesitations in emotional and physical tension and release.

For the women of Las Almas, she says that tango has been a path of discovery beyond their classical and cultural origins as they developed a love for the music and pursued its history, structure, and enjoyment.  

Sebastopol Center for the Arts (“SebArts”) is at 282 South High Street, Sebastopol, one block west of Main Street and near Ives Park.  Tickets are $20 for members of SebArts, $25 for non-members. Advance sale purchase may be made at https://www.sebarts.org/classes-lectures/an-evening-of-tango-with-las-almas-oct-21-2022