[man singing in spanish] sami: finnish crooner reijo taipale sang about the land of fairy tales in the year of 1963. by then, finland had already been intoxicated by tango for 3 decades. in the early days of the twentieth century, tango drifted to the nordic shores on the backs of sailors and traveling music men. i first got interested in this music when

i heard the bad boy of the argentine tango, astor piazzolla. later, i toured south america, where i witnessed tango in clubs, theaters, and even in the streets. i'm interested in the history of this beautiful and proud music, but i also want to find out if tango is still breathing. does it still possess its former power and glory? and most of all, does it have a future? i'm sami yaffa, and i'm a rocking rolling globe trotter with an endless curiosity about all things musical. this is my exploration into why music is so important to us all. this is "sound tracker."

federico: sami! come in. sami: hey, federico. federico: what's up, amigo? sami: what's happening, man? federico: how are you? sami: how you doing? montevideo. federico: yeah, you finally made it. sami: nice. my buddy, federico "dinamita" pereda, is a guitar player who lives in montevideo. federi picks me up from the harbor. we're going to check out the wares of tango's other homeland, uruguay. what is this neighborhood, man? federico: this neighborhood is called ciudad vieja. it's the border-- sami: this is the old town. federico: yeah. sami: what about when you lived in that neighborhood? it was kind of a little bit of a-- federico: yeah, it was rough. sami: a rough neighborhood. federico: it's still a rough neighborhood 'cause we have the poor and we have a lot of, you know, crack smokers that you call it. [speaks spanish] singer: ♪ come on and get it ♪ sami: so you had to carry a gun when you came home. federico: yes, yes.

sami: from a rehearsal or a gig. federico: after the show, so the rehearsals. my friend told me, carry this gun. sami: but you never had to use it, right? federico: i never had to use it. sami: that's a good thing. right on. federico: i had to make some noise a couple of times to scare some people. sami: to scare--yeah, yeah. scare them away. singer: ♪ come on and get it ♪ federico: i know a couple of musicians that they're still inerested in tango, but it's not a fashion. sami: right. federico: the common people, like 18 to 20 years old, they don't like give a [bleep] about tango. they are more interested in cumbia, justin bieber, uh, [bleep]. sami: mr. dynamite drops me off in front of the legendary bar fun fun. inside, i'm greeted by two of the big names of the montevideo tango scene, double nelsons, oscar nelson and nelson pina. the amazing

guitarist lucio martinez has also joined the gang. nelson: [singing in spanish] oscar: [speaking spanish]

[singing in spanish] [speaking spanish]

[siing in spanish]

[applause]

sami: wow. salud. wow. [speaks spanish] [drums playing] brought over from africa by slaves, the rhythm of candombe is a big part of tango's soul. federico and i heard the banging of the drums during our evening stroll. we bumped into the blokes from sinfonia de ansina who were kind enough to reveal candombe's secrets, its history, and everything in between. ohh. wow. [speaking spanish] [all speaking spanish]

[rhythmic drumming]

[all speakg spanish] [rhythmic drumming] [guitar playing] igcio: [spking spanish]

sami: after the previous night's guitar bacchanal, it was time to catch a snooze on the way to buenos aires. buenos aires is a real south american mega city. over 13 million residents, some 11 football teams, affluent neighborhoods mixed with favelas, good eating, cold drinks, and gorgeous ladies. i had a few hours off, so i decided to visit my old pal mariano. maybe he would have time to give me a new tattoo. mariano. mariano: hey, good to see you, man. sami: how you doing, man? mariano: nice to see you again. sami: same thing. mariano: long time. long time. last time it was in l.a.,

the studio. sami: yeah. [bleep] a, that's right. mariano: you'd been recording. sami: yeah, yeah, yeah. exactly. mariano: ok, this is your place. sami: ready for some pain. my first one made in '87. mariano: oh, yeah? sami: rockwell, remember? yeah, yeah. it's '87, man. this is 10 years ago. the last one is what i had up here. that's my ex-wife. mariano: your ex-wife? [laughter] sami: that's right, man. no, it's worth it, man. it was 10 years, 15 years together, man. mariano: gonna have to get names, you know, for girls. sami: i know. i know. there you go. that's perfect. yeah. mariano: right there? sami: yeah, let's go for that. ok, nice. it's a bass cleft. viva la bass. yeah, next time i'll come and spend a longer time and get a bigger work done. mariano: all right. sami: right. yeah, yeah. yeah, yeah. it's not the brightest idea to tattoo names of ladies on your skin, but screw it, i'm a romantic.

my old friend max masri has a rehearsal space in the meat packing district of corrales viejos, a rough neighborhood where you don't want to end up alone after dark. iaddition to its bad reputation, corrales viejos is also one of the most important birthplaces of tango. max has a band called nghetto. they are the kings of electric tango, the first all argentinean band who really dragged tango into the modern times without asking anyone's permission. all right. where do i plug in and what key does it go from? max: so you're going to try to play this song? sami: yeah. i checked ou the bass line a little bit while you were playing, so it might take a while. this one here? max: yeah. [guitars playing] sami: right? [guitar playing]

ok. yeah. [playing music]

cool. yeah. max: first time playing in the tango. sami: that's right, man. max: electric. sami: you popped my cherry. [laughter] that's right, man. you guys started a while back, right? max: almost 11 years now. we started as a studio project. and then once we finished the first album, we decided to play live. sami: and it's--and the first record did really well, right? max: it got nominated to the latin grammys. so we flew to l.a. and we went to all those hollywood parties. [laughs] it was crazy. sami: you know, people must have been freaking out a little bit in the beginning when you started, you know, started combining electro beats and hip-hop beats with-- max: of course, some people said, this is not tango. this is crazy. sami: right. yeah. max: so we were concerned with the traditional people. they're always afraid that the new stuff will make the older stuff fade. [indistinct], he's a very well

known dancer, he told me that for him, electronic tango brings new people to tango. then they discover the old stuff. sami: it's true. exactly. that's how it goes. it's kind of like going to the original thing of tango because it was a mix of multitude of music. max: that's right. sami: it's turned into almost like a museum or something. max: yeah, that's right. sami: you know, it's there like a painting that can't be touched. max: like if rock and roll only stayed with elvis presley or something like that. it won't evolve. could be boring to listen to elvis presley all the time over and over again. th is [speakspanish]. and this used to be a place where all the immiants useto stay le a hundred years ago, 150 years ago. some people from italy, from poland. they got together. and some people from the provinces. they brought the bachata, [speaks spanish], and everything together, and that's how tango started. so we have our rehearsal place in the heart of tango.

sami: it's got a vibration-- max: little vibration, yeah. the vibes. sami: exactly. yeah. cool, man. brilliant. thank you. it's hotter than hell in buenos aires. maybe the heat got to me. why the hell else would i have booked a dancing lesson from one of the strictest teachers in town, el nene and his lovely partner melina. [classical music playing] i really don't like to dance, i like playing. i know i've got two left feet and toes a few sizes too b, but who knows, maybe el nene can unleash my inner fred astaire. oh. [laughter] melina: [speaks spanish]

how are you doing? sami: hola. melina: nene. [all speaking spanish] sami: ok. [laughter] [all speaking spanish]

sami: oops. i'm sorry. el nene: no, no, no. sami: no, no, no? [all speaking spanish] sami: oops. sorry. oh, it's--sorry. el nene: no. no. no. no. no, no, no. sami: no, no. el nene: no, no. [all speaking spanish]

melina: this is the [indistinct], this tango, right? this is the style that comes from feeling. sami: yeah, i know. [all speaking spanish] sami: wow. [all speaking spanish] sami: [indistinct] ohh! i asked el nene if i could go

dancing in milonga next weekend. he looked at me like i was crazy and said, "absolutamente no." el nene: no. sami: ok, that's enough shaming of yaffa. i needed to get away, yet somehow stay in the world of tango. ever the gambler, el nene thought we should visit the track to bet on some horses. i was a-ok with that if it got me out of the dance studio. el nene: [speaking spanish]

sami: 1, 3, and 6. what do we got? [announcer speaking indistinctly] sami: come on. [bell ringing] man: what is your number, sami? sami: come on. what's happening? who is it? who is it? [announcer shouting indistinctly] sami: come on. i can't see any numbers. who is it? quien es? quien es? come on. es tres! si! we won. el nene: oh! [laughter] [both speaking spanish]

sami: right on. [crowd singing in spanish] sami: what would a trip to argentina be without a decent game of football? in this country, football is a way of life, a function as important as eating, drinking, and making love. outside the stadium, there are hundreds of riot police. the fans of the home team are kept on the terraces an hour after the end of the game so the fans of the visitors won't get clubbed to death on the way home. football is a very macho culture, no doubt, so why is