[Tango-L] Canyengue as a musical term rather than a dance style.

Thu Mar 15 17:15:16 EDT 2007

Dear friends , follows some words , will explain below the meaning

Ocili oco muele Suku a sola oluali, wa eca Omolahe ongunga hati ,wosi o tava  kokuahe ka ka nyolehe, o ka kuata muele omuenyo kopui.

This is umbundu/quinbundo, one of the  36 dialects that are still spoken in  Angola, an african country over the atlantic ocean . Although the official language of the country is portuguese, being an old portuguese colony, later independent.

This words are taken from John 3:16
16"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

It is not the purpose of this comment to spread the Godspell into a tango community, but to present the way this dialect is spoken, since in umbundu/quinbundu , ka llenge was the word to design a dance made by local african natives.

There is certain uncertainty in considering the canyengue as special musical term or a tango arrangement of music.

As far as I can found in local books of Buenos Aires, the word  ka llengue came to America with the slaves, it changed locally to canyengue, and was used to describe the dances of the afroamerican slaves in America . 

There are some books on afro american culture in the basin of Rio de la Plata, written many years ago by an argentine researcher, Ortiz Oderigo, which are being recovered from oblivion , by a local university specialized in alien cultures,m with a department of Afro American cultures.

This research on canyengue meaning, is part of a silent and patient work from this author, Ortiz Oderigo, and is good o spread the news I think

take care
alberto
 Mensaje original ----
De: Carol Shepherd <arborlaw at comcast.net>
Para: Andrew RYSER SZYMAÑSKI <arrabaltango at yahoo.co.uk>; tango-l at mit.edu
Enviado: jueves 15 de marzo de 2007, 17:24:35
Asunto: Re: [Tango-L] Canyengue as a musical term rather than a dance style.

Wow!  This is some beautiful information :)

Thank you very much!!

Andrew RYSER SZYMAÑSKI wrote:
> Hi All,
> 
> Canyengue, technically speaking in musical terms,
> means slapping the [double] bass, pioneered by
> Leopoldo Thompson around 1910:
> http://www.elportaldeltango.com.ar/english/orchestras/English/firpoingles.htm
> http://www.todotango.com/spanish/creadores/lthompson.asp
> It was also popular from around 1920 in jazz, mainly
> New Orleans.
> 
> Robert Farris Thompson tells us:
> "Canyengue in music is like the term duende in
> flamenco.  Like the term salanc in the folk music of
> Cataluña.  Salanc in Catalán, duende in Spanish, swing
> in U.S. jazz parlance, all of the above.  Canyengue
> means you know how to swing, you've got the flavor,
> you're culturally appropriate.  And the first
> historical notice – one of the first – Canaro, the
> great orchestra leader, Canaro had a black bassist – I
> call him the Cachao of tango, a big, powerful black
> bassist -- and his name was Ruperto [Leopoldo]
> Thompson.....  And Ruperto was famed for introducing
> [percusses] drumming the side of his bass.  And also
> striking, sometimes drumming, the strings.  And he
> started the tradition of canyengue, that is, the
> drum-izing, or turning melodic instruments into
> percussion instruments. And that is canyengue, when
> percussion begins to dominate at highly sophisticated
> levels, which is one of the definitions of swing, then
> you've got canyengue.  And if you dance with a kind of
> rhythmic flair, you have canyengue."
> 
> http://www.afropop.org/multi/interview/ID/86/Robert+Farris+Thompson-2005/
> 
> I haven't been able to hear the Piazzolla piece Igor
> refers to, but there presumably should be some
> bass-slapping on it. If not, Piazolla might be
> referring to the "social" meaning of the word, i.e.
> "sleazy-like, uncouth". Remember that Piazzolla
> constantly went back to the roots of tango, in
> reaction to the very polished stuff that was played at
> the time. 
> 
> http://www.planet-tango.com/lyrics/elchoclo.htm
> http://www.blackwellassociates.com/tangoterms.html
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Andy.
> 
> --- "Barnes, Bob" <BBarnes at mpr.org> wrote:
> 
> 
>>Hi-
>>
>>Canyengue is a whole can of worms when applied to
>>classical musicians.
>>Jazz musicians instinctively know how to swing and
>>how much or how
>>little to add depending on taste.  Your example of
>>Sidney Bechet (early
>>dixieland) and Glen Miller ("In the mood", about 30
>>years later) is apt.
>>The earlier music did not have as much swing as the
>>later ones.
>>Different musicians added different amounts of swing
>>to a phrase.  For
>>instance, check out the difference between Louis
>>Armstrong and Miles
>>Davis playing "Bye Bye Blackbird".  Armstrong's 8ths
>>are very linting
>>and uneven, where Davis plays much stratighter 8ths.
>> I'm sure dancers
>>would interpret both of them differently.
>>
>>In both Tango and Jazz, much of the musicality is
>>what is not written on
>>the page.  If you play the notes exactly as written,
>>it will sound OK,
>>but will miss some "spark" or "soul".  This is where
>>swing or canyengue
>>comes in.  To complicate things further, Tango music
>>is completely
>>arranged (w/ almost no improv) and Jazz relies
>>heavily on improv with
>>complicated arrangments occuring only on the "tops
>>and tails" (start and
>>end) of a tune.  In both tango and jazz arrangments,
>>the notes are
>>usually written "straight" and the players add
>>swing/canyengeu to taste.
>>The musicians devote years of their live becomeing
>>immersed in the
>>musica culture and instinctively know what sounds
>>right and what
>>doesn't.
>>
>>Now for the big wrench in the works: Classical
>>Musicians.  They may are
>>may not be familiar w/ swing, jazz or tango.  The
>>orignal question in
>>this thread refered to an orchestral piece by
>>Piazzolla.  Orchestral
>>musicians can not be expected to "swing" or
>>"canyengue", so the figures
>>are generally written out for them.  This also makes
>>sure that a section
>>of 20 violins swings or canyngues togheter.  The
>>marking "acanyengado"
>>would make more sense for a soloist than a section. 
>>
>>
>>Guardia Vieja groups play with less canyengue than,
>>say, late Pugliese
>>or Troilo.  Modern Tango groups (Color Tango, El
>>arranque, Tango Forever
>>Orchestra) tend to play with a lot of it.
>>
>>I'm sure someone could write a PhD thesis on the
>>musical concept of
>>canyengue.  Unfortunately, I'm not a musicologist
>>and I need to get back
>>to work now.
>>
>>I hope this make some sense.
>>
>>-Bob
>>http://www.mandragoratango.com
>>
> 
> 
> 
> Andrew W. RYSER SZYMAÑSKI,
> 23b All Saints Road,
> London, W11 1HE,
> 07944 128 739.
> 
> 
>     
>     
>         
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