The tango was declared part of the world's "intangible cultural heritage" by UNESCO in October of this year. Most people associate the dance with Argentina. It’s also the unlikely national dance of Finland.

Radio broadcaster and music historian Ilpo Hakasalo pinpoints the exact date the tango arrived in Finland: 2 November 1913. That is when three couples from France performed a tango show. The dance became popular in the 1920’s and ‘30’s in upper class society.

But in 1940, it was composer Toivo Karki who combined Russian romantic melodies with German marching tunes and created a style that developed into classic Finnish tango. According to Hakasalo, this differs from the Argentine tango in two important ways. The Finnish tango is composed in a minor key with a stronger emphasis on the lyrics.

“The Argentine tango tries to tell about a particular situation in three minutes,” he explains, “whereas the Finnish tango tells about a whole eternity, a whole life in three minutes.” He added that the Finnish tango contains less passion and more melancholy, as can be seen in titles like ‘Love, Suffer and Forget.’

King and Queen of Tango

The undisputed king of tango singers from 1940 to the mid-1960’s was Olavi Virta. He produced many classics of popular Finnish music and appeared in numerous film and theatre shows. But his ‘man of the people’ persona proved his undoing when an arrest for drunk driving cut short his career.

The tango’s popularity went into a gradual decline during the 1970’s. But in 1984 with the start of the now annual Seinäjoki Tango Festival, or Tangomarkkinat, the musical art of Finnish tango has seen a major revival. The festival’s tango singing competition has produced a new generation of stars like Arja Koriseva, crowned Tango Queen in 1989.

Shy People Dancing

Today, the popularity of dance competitions on television has added to the interest in tango dancing. But one tango teacher thinks there is a particular reason why Finns are so drawn to the dance: “We in Finland are shy people. We don’t talk a lot. When we dance the tango, we are very close to our partner and our hearts are talking together. We don’t need any words. We are just dancing.”  

Tango in a Minor Key was produced and presented by Dheera Sujan. The documentary was originally broadcast in August 1998. Sadly, featured music historian Ilpo Hakasalo passed away in 2006.