Fringe Music & Cabaret

Sweet Tango, Assembly Checkpoint Slipstick, Edinburgh

Rob Adams

Three stars

Gena Tango’s daegeum player gets set-up a bit unfairly when he has to admit that, yes, he’s the handsome guy who is going to feature on a tune that shows off the Korean flute. All abashed, he nonetheless recovers quickly and delivers one of the highlights of Sweet Tango, a show of considerable charm and promise that hints at what might have happened had Astor Piazzolla created his nuevo tango in Seoul rather than Buenos Aires.

The incorporation of the haegeum (a two-string fiddle) and especially the ajaeng (a bowed zither), alongside the Korean flute, bandoneon, keyboard, bass guitar and percussion, gives Gena Tango’s fusion of tango with their native sounds, at its best, real power and character. There are some cheesy moments but their frontwoman, singer and violinist Lee So-Yun’s exuberance and the group’s general enthusiasm makes for an enjoyable early afternoon hour.

Martin Kent opens and closes Slipstick by applying and removing his facial make-up in a dressing-room mirror with impressive accuracy and speed. In between times he delivers a bonkers, quick-changing array of mimed characters ranging from the entire cast of the Wizard of Oz to something akin to the love child of Kate Bush and Wallace, of Wallace & Gromit, singing My Heart Will Go On aboard the tug boat Titanic crossed with a dodgem car.

In the best traditions of the Fringe it’s an absurdist romp that employs audience participation, although those allergic to willies and water might not wish to sit too near the stage, and in its most risqué episode it can at least say in its defence that it promotes safe sex.