“Yes! Check it out.” ” - Errol Nazareth, host of Frequencies and Big City Small World on CBC Radio

NEW ALBUM dropped MAY 28

Hugh's room live presents at Club Revival

Our debut album release party was a wild, wonderful night, with sensational collaborator Ariel Pirotti, joining us all the way from Buenos Aires. 

“El albúm con el sentido de tango contemporáneo en Canadá” ” - Diego Rivarola, host of El Tango en el Mundo on La 2X4 FM 92.7 Buenos Aires

Distancia

Solidaridad Tango

Tango is the poetry of a city: the music of one, or many, caught in the surprise of passionate fate.

DISTANCIA begins with the poem “Winter’s Coming”, reflecting the solace of music to help us cope with isolation as Toronto shut down in March 2020. “Deriva” reminds us of the tidal drift of fear that measured our hours during the pandemic, and “
Tango is the poetry of a city: the music of one, or many, caught in the surprise of passionate fate.

DISTANCIA begins with the poem “Winter’s Coming”, reflecting the solace of music to help us cope with isolation as Toronto shut down in March 2020. “Deriva” reminds us of the tidal drift of fear that measured our hours during the pandemic, and “Pompeya” is a riot of murga dancers sweeping through the streets of Buenos Aires, breaking through the malaise. The brooding obsession and violence of “Variación” leads to the poem “And I Have Been Looking”, a meditation on the deaths of Indigenous women Joyce Echaquan, Barbara Kentner, and Tina Fontaine. As Toronto brought out the police to force the city’s homeless into unsafe shelters, “The Corner” was born. A brief and tender reprieve from the present is offered to us in “Fuimos”, one of the greatest tango love songs, answered by “If Not Today”, a story of love in the face of disaster. Written as the world finally began to open up, “YYZ” is a tongue-in-cheek homage to Canadian rock idols Rush, Toronto, and the folk drums and songs of Aparna Halpé’s childhood in Sri Lanka. The classic tango, “El Adiós” (1936), brings back a great tango written by an overlooked woman composer, in a rare arrangement by a woman for a woman’s voice. “Charrúa” rocks out with candombe rhythms signaling the African and Indigenous roots of tango from the Rio de la Plata region. Our album ends with a poetic land acknowledgement to the Mississaugas of the Credit and all diverse First Nations, Inuít and Métis, on whose traditional lands we settlers bring this work of art into being. The music and poetry of DISTANCIA are an expression of the connection and relationships that we built in the face of an apocalypse: of the eternal celebrations of life, and death, of our ongoing struggles, and of the inspiration that arrives at 3 AM…wherever you are in the world.

Solidaridad was founded in early 2021 by Aparna Halpé to create a new space for women tango musicians. We are North America’s first and only all-woman, diversity-affirming tango ensemble.

Our heartfelt thanks to...
The Ontario Arts Council, for crucial funding.
Composers and arrangers: Julián Peralta, Pétalo Selser, and Eva Wolff.
Our incredible production team: Michael Wojewoda, João Carvalho & Bryan Lowe, Kim Cooke & Revolution Recording, Michael Fischer & Stream Studio, Nick Austin & Indie Pool, Mark Weston at Annette Studios, and Mo Thunder.
Our greatest allies: Graham Sanders, Sean Mills and Cecile, Mary and Michael, Jerome Beddoe, Doug Wilde, Alex Johnson, Nathan Petitpas, and Michael Wojewoda, Sam, Will, Teddy & Graeme. Our mentors: Charles Gorczynski, Paulina Faín, Exequiel Mantega, Diego Schissi, Ignacio Var-chausky, Guillermo Rubino, Adrián Enriquez, and Ben Thomas.
Read more…
0:00/???
  1. 1
    0:00/0:27
  2. 2
    0:00/3:33
  3. 3
    0:00/2:40
  4. 4
    0:00/4:50
  5. 5
    0:00/2:08
  6. 6
    0:00/2:40
  7. 7
    0:00/4:52
  8. 8
    0:00/3:25
  9. 9
    0:00/4:06
  10. 10
    0:00/2:26
  11. 11
    0:00/2:38
“The group’s name embodies the spirit of unity and inclusion—out of solidarity—and it’s a powerful statement in a genre that historically has been male-dominated. The diverse backgrounds of its members highlight the beauty of cultural exchange and collaboration in the world of music, in particular, the distinctive world of tango” ” - New Releases in International Musician (p.21)

About

Latest News

Announcing work on our Debut album, Distancia.  Greetings from the recording studio!  Joined by legendary sound engineer Michael Wojewoda and his team at Revolution Studios, as well as sensational bandoneonist Eva Wolff Solidaridad is putting together a tango journey that captures the dark hours of anxiety and loss that we experienced through the pandemic, and the powerful exuberance of hope that got us through it all. This album will feature compositions by Aparna Halpé, Pétalo Selser, and Julián Peralta. We are proud to note that all arrangements on this album are by women.

Shows

Come here us play, dance, meet the musicians, explore new venues.  If you'd like to hear about new events, please subscribe to our newsletter.

Musicians at play