Finnish tango is Finland's own version of the tango: slower and simpler than in Argentina, sung in minor keys about longing, nature and lost love — and loved by the whole nation.
The tango reached Finland in the 1910s, during the worldwide tango craze, and Finnish composers soon began writing their own. Their tangos were slower, in minor keys, and full of the melancholy of long winters and short, bright summers. After the Second World War the Finnish tango had its golden age: singers such as Olavi Virta and composers such as Toivo Kärki and Unto Mononen, whose “Satumaa” is the best-known Finnish tango of all, filled the dance pavilions. The dance itself is danced in a close embrace with calm walking steps, so it is easy to begin. Since 1985 the Tangomarkkinat festival in Seinäjoki has crowned a tango king and queen every summer.
