Heading North

The samba has been Brazil's favorite rhythm so long that even hymns and the national anthem now bounce in samba time. Last week in Rio de Janeiro for the first time in six years, a tango swept the town. Cariocas crowded the Teatro Carlos Gomez, an old vaudeville house in the old quarter of downtown Rio to hear a pretty, black-eyed Argentine import named Chola Luna sing the hit tune Adios, Pampa Mia.

Adios first took hold in Rio when a recording by co-author Francisco Canaro Argentina's "Mr. Tango," outsold the best carnival sambas. Canaro promptly rushed Chola up to press the advantage.

Just why Brazilians had temporarily deserted their lively sambas for a sad-sweet tango about the pampas seemed explainable only by Brazilian saudades--a special Latin kind of homesickness for things and places they have never seen. When last heard from, Adios, Pampa Mia was heading north. U.S. citizens could get set for a tango in the jukeboxes.

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