[Tango-L] Amanda Lucero -- milonguera

[Janis Kenyon]

Part of a two-hour interview with Amanda Lucero on November 7, 2002:

There are good ones and bad ones in every profession in the world.  There
are many tango teachers, but very few milongueros.  There are very few men
who know how to dance well.  All the foreigners enjoy the pleasure of
dancing to our music, my tango, our tango as it is danced.  Everyone wants
to work outside of Argentina.  We Argentines are the owners of mate, dulce
de leche, and tango.  The music is an international messenger.  My music is
called tango, from the nation Argentina, and from the city of Buenos Aires.
It is an international exchange.  You need to listen well to the lyrics of
tangos.  They provide the basis of tango. The lyrics are dramatic, tragic,
sentimental, and about love.  Some say tango is sad.  That's not true.  It's
not sad.  It is real.  Every lyric of tango is a piece of life.  It's what
we feel.


Amanda Lucero was born February 16, 1941.  Her mother was a professional
tango singer, and her uncle was a professional tango guitarist.  Tango
singers visited the family home in Villa de Voto when Amanda was a child.
She accompanied her parents when they went to dance in the neighborhood
clubs.  She began dancing tango at the age of 12 with older boys in the
clubs where she was escorted by relatives and learned to dance without any
instruction.  She has danced for more than fifty years in the hundreds of
clubs, confiterias, and salons of Buenos Aires and has performed as a singer
and dancer.

Graciela Gonzalez wrote: Amanda Lucero continues to be my model for
excellence on how the feet talk with presence and musicality.  Her dance and
classes hold the feminine essence, refinement, generosity and quality that
only years can give.

Laura Grinbank wrote: As a singer and dancer of tango, Amanda Lucero is one
of the paradigms of our dear tango, and the fullness of both expressions of
our art.

Alejandra Arrue wrote: I want to give my thanks to Amanda Lucero who is part
of a generation of women who today can transmit their teachings to the
world, without forgetting to help us understand each lyric of tango when we
listen to her excellent voice singing them.

Happy birthday, Amanda.