Singing For Their Supper

It is a treasured memory - the sound of a dozen or so women singing a Swiss folksong as we rode together on an old cog railway from Wilderswil up to Schynige Platte. The singing (and yodeling) was spontaneous as it probably was in today's video which features the group Perpetuum Jazzile singing Libertango in a Buenos Aires restaurant. I envy the memory the other restaurant patrons must have now.

It is probably safe to speculate that Perpetuum Jazzile is the most famous choir in Slovenia, perhaps the most famous in all of eastern Europe. Their fame, alas, does not come from their performance of Piazzolla but rather from their performance of Toto's Africa. The Africa video has been viewed more than three million times. To put that in perspective, the most viewed Piazzolla video is the Yo-Yo Ma version of Libertango which has been viewed about a half million times. Another perspective, less pleasant perhaps, is that Avil Lavigne's Girlfriend video has been viewed more than a hundred million times. But, I digress ...

Tomaž Kozlevčar and his singers are to be saluted. You will find other a capella versions of Libertango on YouTube but you will not find any as fun as this one. There is more Perpetuum Jazzile to be enjoyed here on YouTube. Or, you can buy their 2006 CD, Čudna noč or pre-order their new CD and DVD, Africa, which is to be issued in October of this year. The contents of the Africa CD have not yet been announced but let's hope it includes Libertango.

If the video does not appear below, click here.



To learn more about Piazzolla videos, visit the Piazzolla Video site.