I
started life as a poor portenito in La
Boca. My poor old mother, who used to
wash other people's clothes to support
us with her back bent over the wash basin
often told me, "Juanito, one day
you will be famous like Cachafaz and make
sweet music like Carlitos (Gardel). In
fact, your friends will call you El Legendario.
I emigrated to the U.S. by wading across
the river on a dark, moonless night. After
working in many bean fields, I knew it
was time to make my talents known to the
culturally starved gringos.
After many years of working without proper
documentation I was granted amnesty by
El Grande Padre Blanco after teaching
him the secrets of the gancho and sharing
the seductive methods of El Mate.
I've danced tango since 1989. In those
days I used to fly from Salt Lake City
to LA once a month to take lessons (seriously!).
Even from the early days of dancing and
learning, tango has spoken her seductive
music to me. A real turning point in my
tango voyage of discovery came with my
time spent learning from Nestor Ray. Tango
-- the music and the dance -- have never
been the same.
Betty and I have traveled to Buenos Aires
twice a year for the last three years
dancing, learning, expanding my music
collection. Currently I own nearly six
hundred tango CDs ranging from the old
to the new, from the classics to the neo-tango.
I started playing at milongas from a selfish
standpoint: very few people played music
the way I heard it in Buenos Aires and
I found most of the music playing disjointed
and not at all compelling to dance.
My philosophy in playing music is simple:
People want to dance to their favorites--they
don't come to a milonga for musical education.
I want to play music that compels people
to move their feet and get out of their
chairs.
I play music currently at the Argentine
Association on Thursday in Burbank. Friday
at Miriam and Hugo's El Adoquin when they're
out of town. Occasionally I play at El
Encuentro in Sherman Oaks when they have
a need. I've played at the Marcos Questas
Las Vegas Tango Festival, Milonga Cristal
in Buenos Aires, La Fiesta de Noel en
La Casa de Pilar in Buenos Aires, and
at La Milonga de Jeff & Nerissa in
Phoenix, Arizona and at Greenstreet in
Salt Lake City, Utah.
When I'm not dancing or playing music,
you can find me at http://www.kokorohealth.com
