The violence and upheaval of human history, particularly that of its empires and colonies, has created — among other things — a paradox of suffering and beauty the moral scales of which no mortal can hope to balance. What art comes from the brutality of conquest is part of the longform passion play of human existence, and that art is, thankfully, part of my beat. I’m thinking of the tango, one of the finest mergings of music and dance in the known universe, a gorgeous rose grown from the fecund and bloody ground of Argentine, African, Spanish and South American history. From the late 19th century salon dances in Buenos Aires to the new forms championed by masters like Astor Piazzolla, the tango is one of the greatest kinetic
artforms, and a personal favorite. Pianist Wendy Cheung seems to agree, as she has spent the last decade traveling the world spreading the gospel of this fantastic dance. Her tour stops in the Arcata Playhouse at 7 p.m. tonight, where her musical partner on the bandoneon (a form of accordion popular in tango) is Argentine player Hugo Satorre ($15, $13 for Playhouse fanclub members).