[Tango-L] Influence of European rhythms in the Tango

[romerob@telusplanet.net]

Konstantin Zahariev,

>From "La musica en Cuba", by Alejandro Carpentier, Fondo de Cultura Economica, 
Mejico 1967

.....When Argentina lost its blacks it needed that that the Tango rhythm return 
from Spain through the Zarzuela (Operetta or Musical Comedy) and from the 
Habanera edited in Europe giving form to what is its national dance.

Bruno
-----Original Message-----
From: tango-l-bounces at mit.edu [mailto:tango-l-bounces at mit.edu] On Behalf Of 
Konstantin Zahariev
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 4:15 PM
To: tango-l at mit.edu
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Influence of European rhythms in the Tango

Dear Bruno,

Tango borrowed the cuban habanera rhythm pattern. The spanish habanera
is derived from the cuban habanera as it came to Spain and got adopted
there.

Secondly, ragtime itself is connected to West African and Haitian drum
lines (time lines). I am not sure what we are arguing about here. As
far as I remember, I did not claim that there has never been any
influence from Europe on the development of the musical form; my
comments were in the strict context of replying to claims about
influences of european  _rhythms_ on tango.

We should also separate the development of the musical form from the
development of the dance form. Some of your examples below are about
the dance form which I have thoughts on but have not addressed.

Lastly, you say "early Tangos and Milongas have parts of cakewalks and
ragtime music.". As far as I can tell there were no milongas in the
sense of post-1930 milonga, and the ones before that were folk music
forms not associated with tango.

As to cakewalk, you may be referring to the popular
sixteenth-eight-sixteenth note combination. That one is actually
present in several countries (Cuba, Brazil, USA) and, if memory
serves, in many national/popular dances and it can all be traced,
again, back to west african/haitian drum time lines.

With best regards,

Konstantin
Victoria, Canada