I am a tango Argentino fan, so it is quite normal that for me, hosting the musicians from the famous orchestra La Juan D’Arienzo from Buenos Aires, Argentina in Slovenia – Ljubljana was a dream job.
The Juan D’Arienzo play the traditional tango in the style of the famous orchestra from the golden age of tango – Juan D’Arienzo. And how they play!
But the guys from the orchestra are not only musicians: they are sweet people, they have become my dear friends and the days spent together were for me the best possible days.
We have visited many famous places together: we were at the Bled castle where they just couldn’t understand how beautiful Slovenia was.
And after a stroll around the lake (well, not completely around – that would probably be too much for all of us) we had a break to taste some sweets: the famous Bled kremšnita, of course, which they adored.
Having two of them in my car the whole day was an excellent opportunity to talk about tango: I was lucky enough that Pablo Valle, the pianist of the orchestra, also loves Biagi, so we were passionately discussing Biagi’s music and – yes, he loves the same Biagi pieces and the same singers that I do (in case you want to know – Hugo Duval…)
Evening with them in a restaurant in Ljubljana was such fun: just imagine ten young guys from Argentina being in their best possible mood, singing Argentinian songs, trying to sing like Pavarotti, singing in soprano (yes, indeed…), talking Porteno (Argentinian Spanish) at 200% speed and being happy that that was one of the rare evenings they did not have a show and had some time to enjoy themselves. We were only 13, but one would probably say we were a group of 30 or more… And after a quick night walk around the Three bridges (sorry guys, but I really don’t know where to go to play billiards at 11 pm in the center of Ljubljana, will have a look for the next year), that was it for Monday.
The visit of Ljubljana was mostly dedicated to shopping which was kind of funny for me (well, they are guys???) but after the shopping, we again had the most amazing lunch. This time, it was dedicated to learning some Slovenian words. As for now, they have learned to say Prosim (please), Hvala (thank you), Dober dan (Hello), Natakarica (waitress) and Dober tek (Enjoy the meal). 5 words for two days isn’t so bad at all… And they were constantly practicing these words on our waiters…
And came the night of the performance at milonga La Milonguita – special edition in Festivalna dvorana: they were constantly saying: Tranquilo Alenka, take it easy, don’t worry, everything will be OK – looks like I looked a bit nervous about the evening to them… but they spent half of the time playing music on the stage and the other half playing table tennis in the backstage. Don’t even know where they found table tennis in Festivalna dvorana… Finishing at 1.30 am, we were all quite tired and needed some sleep.
And the next day when I was hardly alive after three hours of sleep, they were all ready to go to Milano. Six hours on the road, sound check, dinner and another show. That’s how it is if you are La Juan D’Arienzo.
But we managed to become dear friends and they are looking forward to meeting me again in Buenos Aires next month.
The most important thing for me: they told me many times that these three days in Slovenia were the best days and completely unforgettable for them.
And yes: we already have plans to organize their show in Ljubljana again next year.
La Juan D’Arienzo, goodbye, see you next month in Buenos Aires and next year in Ljubljana again!
Tango DJ Alenka