Libertango

Piazzolla recorded and published Libertango in Milan in 1974. The title joins the Spanish libertad, liberty, with tango, and stands for his break from classical tango toward nuevo tango. While touring he and his band played an extended version in 1977 for Radio Télévision Suisse. In 1990 the Uruguayan poet Horacio Ferrer added Spanish lyrics on the theme of freedom.

The piece has had a long afterlife. In 1981 Grace Jones released I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango), a reworking of the tune with new lyrics by Jones and Barry Reynolds and a tango, reggae and chanson sound. It was the second single from her album Nightclubbing, reached the top 20 in five European countries and went to number one in Belgium. Jean-Paul Goude directed the video. Libertango was also one of two Piazzolla pieces that made up the whole soundtrack of Jacques Rivette's film Le Pont du Nord (1981) and was used in Roman Polanski's Frantic (1988).