Riga's King of Tango

Latvia brands itself as the nation that sings. And with every village and school boasting a choir, it's definitely a place full of harmonies.

Less well known is Riga's place in the history of tango. Specifically, that in the melancholy 1930s millions of Europe moved their feet to tunes by a master of the genre named Oskars Stroks.

Oskars was born in Daugavpils in 1900, a prodigy in a musical Jewish family. As a teenager he earned much needed cash playing piano in silent movie theatres, which taught him improvisation and rhythm.

Times were tough for composers after World War I, so Oskars opened a stationery shop to support his family. He hired a young sales assistant named Lena, and promptly fell head over heals with her stunning dark eyes. Mrs. Stroks didn't approve, Lena didn't fancy her besotted boss, but Oskars turned his shattered dreams into a tango called - yes, "Dark Eyes."

He bumped into an Austrian conductor playing the summer season with his orchestra in Jūrmala and gave him the score. It brought the house down. The baton twirler sent copies to colleagues across the continent and Dark Eyes became the biggest tango hit of the interwar years.

Life wasn't exactly happy ever after for Oskars. He spent World War II hiding from the Nazis in Central Asia, then after the war he was purged from the Soviet Latvian Union of Composers, preventing him from performing or composing.

He was rehabilitated at the end of his life and records with his music were released. In recent years he has been rediscovered by Riga music lovers, as attested by the memorial plaque at his home on Tērbatas iela.

Have a listen to Dark Eyes - you'll be swooning and swaying instantly!