The origins of tango
It is necessary to know that the tango was born at first in the dirty bars of the banks of the Rio de la Plata, where the black community, mainly deported from Bantu Africa, gathered, isolated, within a city which dreamed only of Europe and modernity. However, their joyful and thundering music, originating from the candombes ("dance with the drums" in Bantu languages), was soon to win over all the newcomers of the immigration, also prey to solitude and melancholy. Its history is forged in the flux of crossbreeding and musical influences (European waltzes and mazurkas, Cuban habanera, African candomblé...), which does not allow to identify the exact origin of the tango. However, the genre was born at the end of the XIXth century, when Argentina was the promised land. African slaves, miserable European immigrants and other dreamers lulled by the promises of the New World disembarked by the millions and crowded into the conventillos
, simple courtyards surrounded by rooms in floors, which could accommodate up to 500 people. In all the cabarets, people came to seek oblivion: all the uprooted people of Buenos Aires met to play cards, take refuge in the warmth of alcohol and evoke with melancholy their neighborhood life. It was here that the tango really took shape between 1860 and 1880. Originally, it was a purely instrumental genre: amateur musicians improvised ephemeral melodies on a simple key. The first formations were trios composed of a flute, a violin and a guitar. At the end of the 19th century, the Germans arrived with their bandoneón, and very quickly it became the emblem of the tango. In these miserable places the population is essentially male, the men repeat the steps of dance between them then practise them with the girls of joy, in the brothels, which flower in the suburbs. Disapproved by the "good" Argentinian society, the tango was considered "dirty" and prohibited in the high spheres of the society. The tango then became a symbol of ethnic mixing and a true philosophy of life.The codes of dance
Tango is an improvised dance, but it responds to a precise language and codes that suggest to be constantly listening to each proposal of its partner. In spite of the different forms it has taken over the years, the basics are the same everywhere: the basic steps of tango consist of walking in pairs and synchronizing. In the tradition, the man leads the dance and leads the partner, she has to let herself be completely abandoned. The man guides the step, but the woman can influence the dance by slowing it down and making it more enjoyable. The man guides the step, but the woman can influence the dance by slowing it down and making it more enjoyable. The other golden rule: dance with your whole body and your whole being! Latino people have the reputation of living and expressing things very intensely: let the tango be a witness to this! More or less sensual, expressive, fluid or burlesque, tango is intimate and elegant. The invitation is made at a distance, by the man or by the woman, but be careful: one should never move to go directly to invite the person! To signify his intention, you just have to look at her. If you have his agreement, then this person nods his head... only then can you move towards him. If the consent is not there then the connection will not be made: the beauty of the dance is governed by a mutual desire, not constrained, nor obliged.
Leaving to come back better
In the quivering twentieth century, the sons of good families come to slum with the migrants to the sound of this dance from the shallows. Some do business in Europe and slip the first tango records into their trunks. Badly perceived in its own country, the tango is all the rage in the French capital and gains its letters of nobility there. Different styles of tango then develop from Western Europe to Russia, via Finland. One of the first great successes was the work of Angel Villoldo, El Choclo (The Corn Ear), which was even played on the German front in 1916! Rosendo Cayetano Mendizábal was responsible for another mythical composition, El Entrerriano (The Man Between Ríos). The tango then makes its entry in the living rooms of the good society of Buenos Aires where it becomes an emblem of the nation. The golden age of tango, during the Roaring Twenties, was marked by its singers, such as the inimitable Carlos Gardel. The salons and confiterías
were full to bursting, the great orchestras recorded disc after disc. D'Arienzo, Di Sarli, Pugliese, Troilo, D'Agostino... became stars whose hits are still being danced at the milonga today.Carlos Gardel, the greatest figure of the tango - whose paternity France, Uruguay and Argentina dispute - made his debut in 1911, guitar in hand, in the bars of his district, the Abasto. He was one of his country's most beloved artists and participated greatly in the development of tango in Europe and the United States.
The golden age ended in the 1930s with his tragic death. While the musical genre is exhausted, to know its revival in the 1950s with major artists such as Anibal Troilo, Edmundo Rivero, then 1960 with the nuevo tango, engaged in a neglected way, that of a purely musical genre. Anibal Troilo, known as Pichuco, was one of the greatest bandoneonists of all time. Throughout his career, he was, by his charisma and his human qualities, a great gatherer of vocations and creations. In fact, his work lies at the confluence of danced tango, sung tango and instrumental tango. Often presented as a revolutionary tango, Astor Piazzola's work literally renovated tango by contributions of classical music and jazz. A bandoneonist of genius, he lived in New York during his childhood; it was there that he met Gardel. The singer Roberto Goyeneche made his debut in Horacio Salgan's orchestra, and his voice took off in Troilo's troupe. He chose many collaborators among the most prestigious artists of the time and built himself a most admirable solo career. In the Argentinean memory, he occupies for the moment the place of the last of the great tango singers.
Today, tango is not only part of the glamorous clichés about the country, it is learned and danced in the milongas of the capital until dawn.The revival
Having fallen into disuse during the dictatorship, tango is back in fashion among the young generation after a new passage through Paris in the 1990s. Today, even if tango is danced and sung a lot for tourists looking for the glorious porteño past, it remains a still vigorous and popular art. A part of the youth slides their sneakers on the floor of the milongas and the bandoneon chords still resound. Tango was even included in 2009 on the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage of humanity. Artists such as Daniel Melingo and Adriana Varela continue to sing it, while other musical trends are taking it over and giving it new life. This is the case of electronic music with groups such as Gotan Project, Narcotango, Tanghetto or Bajofondo Tango Club. It also seems that tango accompanies the march of the world: describing this dance as macho, women want to reappropriate tango by breaking stereotypes and guiding the dance. However, this egalitarian vision tends to revolt the most conservative who rely only on traditional forms. But tango continues to become more democratic and evolves with mentalities: in 2008, the first edition of the Buenos Aires queer tango festival brought together same-sex couples on the dance floor.
