In celebrating the country’s bicentennial, the folk tradition of Tango from Argentina seemed to be the perfect choice to kick start the year-long festivities. In co-operation with Katara Cultural Village, the Argentinian Embassy in Qatar hosted a Tango music evening earlier this week. Argentinian duo Rocio Perez and Leandro Rouco enthralled the audience with some popular folk songs on the occasion.


Ambassador of Argentina, Rossana Surballe, third from right, enjoying the show with other dignitaries.

“This year is very special for Argentina since we are celebrating our bicentennial. On July 9, 1816, in Tucuman City, we declared our independence. Therefore, throughout this year the embassy will organise different events focused on this celebration,” Argentina ambassador Rossana Surballe told the audience at Katara Drama Theatre.
She thanked Dr Khalid al-Sulaiti and the staff of International Affairs Department of Katara for their support in making the event possible. “As you can imagine becoming 200-years-old is a very special occasion for any country. Today we want to start our celebration by sharing with you all the vast variety of rhythms of every corner of Argentina,” said the ambassador.
The Northwest is the birthplace of the independence, specifically Tucuman city. The well-known song referring to that city is Luna Tucumana’s Moon of Tucuman whose composer was Atahualpa Yupanqui, by all means the outstanding folk Argentinean musician of the 20th century, she informed the audience.
Speaking about Argentina’s history, the ambassador added that the Northeast imprints them with a totally different rhythm called “Chamame” whose beats are quite unique. “Cuyo, my homeland, the west region next to the Andes, and Pampas, the central part of Argentina, delights us with traditional creole songs. Of course, the passion of tango must be included in this journey through the musical map of Argentina. Songs of Buenos Aires from the beginning of the 20th Century such as tangos, milongas, candombes and valses will take us to the end of this musical evening,” she elaborated.
The young and energetic musicians, Rocio Pérez and Leandro Rouco, are playing together since 2009. They have a vast experience in performing in multiple venues of Buenos Aires and the rest of the country. In 2011, they carried out a tour in South America, presenting their show in Peru, Ecuador and Colombia. 
During that tour the duo developed their fan base together with the support of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires. This record explores the music of Buenos Aires from the beginning of the 20th century and its repertoire includes beats from the city and the countryside: tangos, milongas, candombes, valses, estilos, zambas and creole songs.
At the moment they are living in Qatar presenting a daily show in the recently open Argentine restaurant Fuego at Shangri-La Hotel Doha where you can enjoy great Argentinean delicacies while you listen to their music. “I hope you all enjoy tonight an unforgettable journey through our rhythms and can feel the soul of Argentina,” said the ambassador
Speaking about the songs, Rocio Pérez told Community that most of their selection for the night came from traditional Argentinian songs. 
“In general they are all traditional songs. From each areas, we chose some great traditional songs by different composers. We also played one song that was composed by Leandro, the guitarist, to show how compositions in Tango are alive, there are new things,” said Perez.
They wanted to show some most important songs and compositions, like the gems of the collections, she said, adding that Argentinian music is very rich and they tried to make a journey through the musical map with most important rhythms and to show a little one of each.
“We have used goat hoops, and bombo, the drum, and the guitar and accordion. I started singing long time ago but I have been singing specifically Tango dedicatedly since 2006. I have played as soloist and in groups. I have also played other rhythms from Buenos Aires, where I come from, the capital of Argentina,” said the female singer.
Initially, she said, she did not know how the audience would react because she was singing in Spanish and everybody would not be familiar with it here. “But it was great to see the audience enjoy it and they have received the music. They have really connected with our music in general in Doha. Here tonight, it was just great audience and I am really grateful that we got this opportunity to perform here,” said Perez.