[Tango-L] Argentine Tango II

[Sergio Vandekier]

Amaury asks ; (thank you Amaury for stimulating an interesting discussion):

"I do have a question to our group.  Lets for a minute,
for the sake of
conversation, accept the argument supporting national
origin as a factor
influencing artistic performance.  Would the same
apply to music playing and
composing?

If so, than Yo-Yo Ma is a hell of an Argentine.

Cheers,
Amaury "

It is precisely in the music where the Argentine character is expressed the 
most.

It is obvious that one of the most important ancestors of tango is the 
Milonga. The early tangos were very similar to the milonga. Even today some 
of those primitive tangos such as "el Porteñito",
"El Esquinazo" or "El Entreriano" are frequently thought to be milongas 
abroad.

La milonga was born in rural areas where the main entertainment of the 
gauchos was to gather around a fire and play the guitar.

They had verbal competitions in which one of them would improvise lyrics, 
usually in the form of a question, on a certain theme ( philosophical 
subjects such as love, life, death, God, fate, etc) as he accompanied 
himself with the guitar. Another cowboy would answer in verse as well.

This is still done in rural areas, mostly as part of the celebration of 
national holidays, along with rodeos.

Blacks listening to this form of "rap" baptized this event with one word of 
their African Language
"Milonga" meaning "palabrerio" too many words.  This original meaning od 
milonga is still used in slang, when somebody comes with a long  complain he 
is told "ok, do not came now with that milonga".

In time this guitar playing at the "Payadas" (this is the name of the verbal 
verse competition), was followed by dancing to the guitar rhythm, (this 
dancing, was also called milonga) and later on the place where the payada 
and the dance took place was also called 'Milonga".

This is the reason we still  go to the "Milonga" today.

Gauchos (cowboys) would bring cattle to the city of Buenos Aires and 
Montevideo and camp in the outskirts where the slaughter houses where 
placed.  It was in this periphery of the city where  the rural milonga 
interacted with other rhythms brought by immigrants from Spain (Tanguillo, 
something like Flamenco) or by sailors from the Caribbean (Habanera) and 
music and dances played at the Candombes of African origin.

>From the confluence of those rhythms it is thought that Argentine Tango was 
born.

Other dances evolved in rural areas,  dances that form part of the rich 
Argentine Folkloric repertoire.

Some of those dances are becoming very popular abroad such as the "Chacarera 
and even the Zamba".

This is getting to be too long so I will stop here for now.

Summary: The dance and the music both are strong reflection of the Argentine 
Character.

Nobody says that you have to dance like an Argentine; although many of you 
do it and learn to do it to perfection, others inject some of their own 
culture and personality in their dancing, this is not wrong.  You should be 
able to dance the way you wish, the way you prefer to do it.

Tango has a strong, broad embrace that encompasses all of us.

Have a nice day, Sergio

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