It was at the end of the 20s that the tango made its lap of honour outside of South America. For almost 20 years the tango was the favoured music on the dance floors of the world. It conquered the whole of Europe, as well as the Middle East and even the Orient. Interestingly, exponents of the tango were never satisfied with just copying the Argentinean tango, or merely translating it into the language of the host nation. For many musicians, in places such as Istanbul, Beirut, Cairo and Algiers, the tango was the very first encounter with “Western” style music. However the response to this encounter was always very free. Not only in Western and Central Europe, but also in the metropolises of the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean, tango scenes flourished with followers emancipating themselves from Argentinean imports with their own independent styles. ECHOES FROM AFAR brings together the most beautiful of these almost forgotten tangos. They were recorded between 1928 and 1952 in London, Paris, Bucharest, Athens, Istanbul or Beirut, and sung by the following artists: The Russian Pjotr Leschenko, the Rumanians Jean Moscopol and Titi Botez, the Greek Sofia Vembo, the Turks Seyyan Hanim and Ibrahim Özgür, the Syrian Egyptian (brother and sister duo) Farid and Asmahan and the Algerian Lili Boniche. In each case the artist sings in her or his mother tongue. In addition to the exotic interest of these recordings, the collection reveals how a musical form that originated in the urban culture of Argentina inspired and influenced musicians from around the world – an example of World music at a time when this expression hadn’t even been thought of.