Tangomarkkinat

Tangomarkkinat is the oldest tango festival in the world. Every year in early July, it is held in Seinäjoki, Finland. The festival includes public dancing to live music provided by the best Finnish entertainers, as well as competitions to find the country's best tango singers, composers, and dancers. The music for public dancing is not limited to tango; it includes all of the popular dance rhythms in Finland; however, the tango content must be at least 40% according to the rules.

The festival got its start in a Finnish sauna. The director of the Ilmajoki Music Festival, Lasse Lintala, and his wife were in the sauna with Tauno Äijälä, the director of the MTV3 TV channel, and his wife Katja. Lintala hoped to have the festival broadcast on television. Äijälä proposed incorporating tango into the festival, as well as possibly creating a musical based on tango singer Olavi Virta. The concept was worked on for a few years, but Ilmajoki was uninterested. Lintala traveled to Helsinki to deliver the bad news to Äijälä. On the train, he met Matti Nuolivirta, Mayor of Seinäjoki, and his deputy Risto Hakala, both of whom were eager for the festival to be held in Seinäjoki.

The Tango Music Advancement Association was founded in January 1985 after the Seinäjoki City Council approved the venture. Seinäjoki city council, the Maila-Jussit pesäpallo team, and the Marit and Mikot choir all supported the project.

In July 1985, approximately 18,000 people participated in the first Tangomarkkinat, and over 112 million people watched the TV broadcast. The city of Seinäjoki invested 60,000 marks. The Tangomarkkinat was plagued by bad weather for the first three years of its existence, and in 1988 it lost 100,000 marks, exacerbated by the failure of the Olavi Virta musical, which premiered that year. In 1989, a combination of perfect weather and the enormously popular new Tango Queen Arja Koriseva resurrected the event. The most profitable year was 1999, with a record attendance of 130,600 people and a profit of 805,000 marks. President Tarja Halonen attended the 20th Tangomarkkinat in 2004, when 34 Tango Royals from the past and present gathered for a special radio concert.

Takes place: July