Royal Tango
I caught bits and pieces of the Royally Arranged Wedding on TV. It all looked mercifully brief and tastefully done, simple and quite protestant except for the Argentinian tango which made the Princess cry. It sounded familiar, and it was: Astor Piazolla's Adios Nonino (real audio, written for the death of his father), quite poignant perhaps, seeing as Ms Zorreguieta's parents (once supporters of the Argentinian Junta) had not been allowed to attend the wedding.
I liked the idea of this music, this passionate declaration, this piece of otherness infiltrating what was otherwise a very Dutch occasion.
Piazolla's 'New Tango' (Tango + Tragedy + Comedy + Kilombo) has been quite popular in the Netherlands since the 80s, when it was almost obligatory to like the man. I avoided the hype (a nasty habit of mine, never wanting to go with the mainstream, always against the grain), so I didn't get into Piazolla until much later.
I have two albums: one a live CD called 'Finally Together' which I bought in 1992. It includes Adios Nonino and was recorded in the Carre Theatre here in Amsterdam (just a short walk up the road from me). It's an amazing piece of work, a magical night captured on disc. Hear it and you'll wish you were there. It was a Dutch release, but re-released in the USA under the title 'Luna' - in case you want to find it.
The other is Tango: Zero Hour, a recent gift from G. This is a studio album recorded in New York (where, incidentally, Piazolla lived as a boy). The sleeve notes explain its title: 'Astor Piazolla imagined la hora cero as the time after midnight, an hour of absolute end and absolute beginning.'
Like a wedding.