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Articles |
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| Tango
from Argentina, Buenos Aires or the world? |
| (por Daniel
Canuti, info@abrazosbooks.com) |
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In the Tango music, we argentines feel
our selves completly cofessed.
It seems someones are worried becasue
some people associate tango with Argentina, and no with Buenos
Aires; in fact was born in some determinated area: Buenos Aires,
Montevideo and -if we are strict with the story- also Rosario.
You know, we argentines have a complex
(or several) of inferiority and insecurity, so to fight this,
we over-demostrate security and are «doucement»
arrogants. It is easy to find a porteño worried and afraid
because « narrow mind people » did no understand
that tango comes from there, as if someone (even if wanted)
could stole the tango or could stole him this honour. The article
does no add anything for those which are into tango and add
cofussion for those who wants to know on serious about and of
course tells us how much dissapointed the author is.
Is normal to associate tango with Argentina,
even if when we analyze better, we discover that tango was no
borning along the whole Argentina. Also the good meat does no
comes from the whole country; big zones as North Argentina and
Patagonia do no produce and do no eat good meat; in stead, many
people in Argentina can no eat not even a piece of bad meat
in, but in fact, in the media, good meat makes association with
Argentina. A less «culinaire» example is the Zen
, it is said that comes from Japan but studing deepler we could
discover that was developed in a specifical area of Japan or
somewhere else like China before passing to Japan. Nowadays,
a lot of people practice Zen, but this does no mean that is
no more from Japan and to belong to the world, and does no mean
that narrow mind and nationalists japanese people label Zen
as own when maybe belongs only to one region of Japan. A few
people in Occident practicise Zen as more than a hobby after
work time. It’s true that is no easy to listen to Responso
-the piece that Troilo dedicated to his death friend Homero
Manzi- in the middle of the pampas or in Quebrada de Humahuaca,
but is no easy to find people in the world who listen to this
track neither. Of course a newyorker, a johannesburger or a
guatemalteco could tolerate such a beautiful tango, that does
no mean that -as they live in urban zones- they would fall in
love so easy; just because -in the rare case they dance- Responso
does no belong to the «danceable» tangos, or just
because it does no say too much to them. It is no easy to know
it, despite the boom, no so much people from big cities dance
or listen to tango or recognize in tango.
Tango is no universal how is used to
say, what is becoming global is the consume (or consumition,
I am sorry because of my English) of tango, and mainly in its
danceable aspect; and it is ok, this is normal and no deserves
any critic; Who is more interested will meet its words, compositions,
and what tango have to offer (or what they can discover and
take from tango) and other ways of expressions that belong to
Tango.
Tango was developed in the area mentioned
above, in a certain fixed time, in a certain context on which
this area kept interexchanges with the world and also with the
deep country, -the land- (we called «interior of Argentina»),
from where gauchos, and milonga payada come and seattled the
roots of the future tango.
It is easy to imagine that in small
towns from Argentina nobody danced tango perhaps, but if we
see on the other side, is astonishing to note that there was
no tango musician or interpreter or orchesta that have no played
in the big quantities of little towns in the interior of the
central Argentina, from Gardel, Pacho, Vardaro and Pugliese
til each secondary player or singer. Tango was beloved in each
town of central Argentina (loved as cultural expression or simply
music that came from Buenos Aires, cap of Argentina and offered
to the rest of the country to which they -inhabitants- belonged)
and was listened to and sang in most of the houses even if no
developed it or danced it. Di Sarli, Federico (Domingo), Ciriaco
Ortiz, did no meet tango in Buenos Aires, they reach Buenos
Aires because the knew very well tango, how to play it and they
knew also that the Mecca was of course Buenos Aires, a city
form the same country as theirs.
Di Sarli (born and formed as musician
in Bahia Blanca, a city 650 Km far from Bs. As) had his debut
in 1916 Santa Rosa (capital of La Pampa province) that even
today is a very small town and directed his own orchestra in
Bahia Blanca city in 1919. Gardel shoot his first film in Cordoba
mountains, 700 km far from Buenos Aires and was singing still
at the end of the 20ies in many small town in central Argentina,
Firpo and Pacho sold millions of copies of their recordings
and of course more o less the 30% had as destination the interior
of Argentina (the country had then, less than 20 millions inhabitants).
Carnavals from Rosario (300 km far from Bs. As.) were famous
bacuase the quantity of people that used to go to dance tango
with Canaro directing more that 50 musicians, just to give some
examples, just to mention some fomous names, but a lot, really
a lot were spread along the country every week end, at the begining
of the last century to play for the inhabitants of those places.
Coria Peñaloza wrote words like
Caminito (in 1925 if I am right) inspired in the far dessert
of La Rioja Province and Filiberto did no question if were inspired
in a town or what at the moment to write the music for it and
to create one of the most famous tangos.
Many tangos were writting to be played in Sainetes and even
in Circus tours along the country; of course they were writting
most of them in Buenos Aires, on the other hand, Piazzolla’s
music does no represent any big urbe as many say, but only Buenos
Aires as himself said.
And anyway as says the words « . . . este es el tango,
canciòn de Buenos Aires, nacido en el suburbio que
hoy reina en todo el mundo»
Lamas in its incredible book demostrates
with archive papers, that the more known tango «partitions» at the begining of the XX century (he means exactely before
Tango reached Paris in 1913 ca) were published in the quantity
of 100.000 or more of each tango and that 25% of it was sold
in the interior; with this (and the whole book) he wanted to
explain many things: that tango was played in the country, that
tango was accepted for people who was able to read music -that
is middle class people, and no lowclass people as says the official
history of tango- before tango reached Paris, and that tango
was no a low-level improvisated music created and played by
ignorants, but created by people who knew how to play and to
compose, most of them formed in argentine conservatoriums and
many of them from Europe too.
It is important to recognize wich was
the area where conditons afforded such a beautiful creation
had place, this area is seattled in Argentina and Uruguay (better
between the east part of Arg and the west part of Uruguay) and
is no tragic to say that tango is from Argentina, is no a lie,
is no a complet true. It is no against the porteño «private
propierty»
In the same way, frenchs can say and
feel that Can Can/Follie bergés, sel de Guérande,
Champagne, Bordeux and the 11 players who won the futball world
cup in ‘98 are from France (without seeing deepler) as
well as Rimbaud, Verlaine, Mallarmé and Baudelaire even
if in fact this «great four» were melt
by the incredible Paris exactely more than in France. France
is a nation on whose soil, people live feeling this -that is
a nation- in front of others, and with the right to feel that
they create and created all what France gives and gave to the
rest. And is true. That is the reason because the world knows
as a detail (as important detail or sometimes as a trivial detail)
that champagne comes from France and tango from Argentina and
no because an insistent nationalism as the author vanity acuse.
Buenos Aires dos no need someone makes lobby fot the tango,
any argentine knows which are tango comes from.
Many in Argentina know about tango even
if they don’t dance, many people can tell him what
happened after the 50ies with the culture and with the without
end dictatures, to understand why is no danced as before.
The anecdote of the little Gardel shows
us just the oposite what the author in a hurry wants to reffer:
despite the universal of the inmigration an the doubty universalism
of the bandoneon, the kid with his parents were from Argentina.
There is another more fresh and less
literary anecdote that I say without the spirit to be enphatic:
Pino Solanas was shooting the film El exilio de Gardel (1984
?) on Paris streets, and suddenly he nedeed an extra who could
whistle the tango which is whistled in the film, between all
the aspirants was choosed an argentine from Cordoba city who
was there by case, because he whistled as an argentine.
Tango, as Blas Matamoro says is dense
episode of the argentine history and a curious moment of the
occidental art.
Sometimes we can note that everybody
wants «to have» the tango in some way, every single
person as well as every country; Italy because of the italian
last names or because many of the first musucians were born
in Italy, (well, then why tango did no grow up in Italy?); France
because 90 years ago opened its doors to the dance, (well, then
why the dance did no developed in France?); Germany because
the bandoneon, (well, then why germans did no developed the
virtuosism and the need to have a bandoneon with 140(?) keys
in stead to use it just as an armonic with 72 keys?); Spain
because the flamenco and the language, (well, then why Spain
-or must I say Andalucia ?- did no write such a beautiful poems
and developed the way to interpretate/sing tango?), and etc.
For Vicente Rossi, tango is afro-montevideano, well perhaps
Africa and Uruguay are the places that less «media» had on all this history.
I like to compare Tango with a soap,
you can have it the hand, but if you open the hand too much,
it scapes, if you close it too strong, it slides away.
Tango is there, (in the time, …. belong to Argentina’s
mitology like el truco or Irigoyen as Borges
says) it does no need us. It is used to say, «support
the tango», «help tango», when
in reality tango is helping us, is from Argentina and is giving
us argentines, and today more than ever, to a lot of people
from anywhere, a lot of pleasure and conflicts as every real
art opera.
Daniel Canuti
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