Tango.

A Latin American song and dance genre. The etymology of the word ‘tango’ is still much debated. During the 19th century in Spain and several Latin American countries the term designated various types of dances, songs and communal festivities. Fernando Ortíz and others claim the word is of African origin with the general meaning ‘African dance’. Others believe it is of Castilian origin, derived from the old Spanish word tañer (taño; ‘to play’ an instrument). Rossi and Vega stated that the term ‘tango’ was used by black slaves in the La Plata area (Argentina and Uruguay) from colonial times to designate their percussion instruments (particularly drums), the locale of the dance and the dance itself. By the first decades of the 19th century the meaning was extended to black comparsas, festive carnival groups in Montevideo also known as candombe. As late as 1900 the Cuban comparsas (a type of carnival parade) were designated as tangos. From the mid-19th century there are references to the Spanish Andalusian or gypsy (‘flamenco’) tango. From a musical viewpoint (particularly as regards rhythm), however, there is little doubt that the internationally known tango – the foremost Argentine and Uruguayan urban popular song and dance – is related to the Cuban contradanza, habanera and Cuban tango. The latter, together with the habanera, had spread throughout Latin America by the 1850s. In Brazil as well as in the Rio de la Plata area ‘tango’ was the name given to the habanera itself during the latter part of the 19th century. The tango brasileiro was at first nothing more than a local adaptation of the Cuban habanera. Several popular genres including the Maxixe developed from the habanera. All of these dances have in common the prevailing duple metre (2/4), the accompanimental patterns shown in ex.1a and b, and the formal sectional designs of the European polka.

Despite its many meanings ‘tango’ primarily designates the most popular Argentine urban dance of the 20th century: it is one of the most expressive and nationalistic symbols of the Argentine character. The tango is said to have developed in the arrabal or orillas (poor slum areas) on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The arrabal or suburban culture consisted of elements introduced after 1870 by millions of frustrated European immigrants, and aspects of urbanized pampa (or gaucho) traditions. Gaucho musical traditions were especially represented by the payada and the milonga. The improvised song texts of the payada often referred to current events, and frequently voiced social protest. The milonga, a dance of alleged African origin in duple metre and syncopated rhythm, contributed to the rhythmic structure of the tango. Most tango scholars, however, interpret the dance as being at first an adaptation of the Andalusian tango, and the Cuban Danzón and habanera. Until about 1915 the tango maintained the duple metre (2/4) of the habanera and milonga, after which 4/4 or 4/8 became more frequent; after 1955 new rhythmic complexities developed. Three types of tango may be distinguished: the tango-milonga, the tango-romanza and the tango-canción. The tango-milonga is strictly instrumental (for popular orchestras) and has a strong rhythmic character; the most ‘classic’ example is the tango Boedo (1928) by Julio De Caro (although it originally included lyrics by Dante Linyera, these were rarely used in performance). The tango-romanza, either instrumental or vocal, is more lyrical and melodic, and has a strongly romantic text; one of the best known is Flores negras (1928) by Francisco De Caro, considered a model of refined lyricism in tango style. The tango-canción, as its qualification indicates, is always vocal with instrumental accompaniment and has a strong sentimental character. This type represented, particularly in the 1930s, the tango’s transformation into a wider urban popular genre no longer associated primarily with the underworld of the arrabal. The lyrics of the ‘tango-song’, however, continued to express views of love and life in highly pessimistic, fatalistic and often pathologically dramatic terms, as was the case in the intensely bitter, ill-humoured and introverted songs of the arrabal. During the same period social protest themes appeared in numerous tango-songs. Some of the best examples of tango-songs include Samuel Castriota’s Mi noche triste (c1915), Julio César Sanders’s Adiós muchachos (1928), Enrique Delfino’s Milonguita (1920) and Anîbal Troilo’s Sur (1948).

From a structural viewpoint the first tangos tended to have a tripartite form, but after about 1915 the two-part form began to predominate. Delfino (1895–1967) is considered the first composer to have established the standard form of the tango: two parts of equal length (14–20 bars), the second generally in the dominant or the relative minor of the main key. The first instrumental ensembles performing tangos were tercetos (trios), generally including violin, guitar and flute, with accordion frequently replacing the guitar. Numerous pieces were also written for piano solo, and voice with piano accompaniment. About 1900 the new trio included piano, violin and bandoneón (diatonic accordion with 38 keys or buttons for the high and medium registers and 33 for the low register, in the most classic size adopted by bandoneón tango players). Vicente Greco (1889–1924), a famous composer and band-leader, is generally credited as the first to standardize the ensemble which he called ‘orquesta típica criolla’, and which initially included violin, flute, guitar and bandoneón. Greco’s ensemble was first recorded in 1911 (with two violins and two bandoneones). After that, larger bands were formed, culminating with ensembles of up to four bandoneones, a sizable string section, with violins, a cello, a double bass, and a piano. Often during the 1930s and 1940s vocal duets were added to the instrumental groups. Ensembles that gained great popularity included those of Juan Maglio (‘Pacho’), Roberto Firpo, Francisco Canaros and Eduardo Arelas. Some of the best-known bands included the orquesta típica ‘Select’ (established in 1919), the orquesta típica ‘Victor’ (1925) formed to record for RCA, the orquesta típica ‘Novel’ (1934) and the orquesta típica ‘Los Provincianos’ under the famous bandoneón player and composer, Ciriaco Ortiz (b 1908). Under the influence of Astor Piazzolla (1921–92) the large orchestral arrangements with percussion instruments and other additional colours appeared in the 1940s, breaking away from the orquesta típica arrangement. In the 1960s Piazzolla introduced the electric guitar in smaller ensembles, for example in his Quinteto ‘Tango Nuevo’.

The internationalization of the tango took place during the first 15 years of the 20th century. It became fashionable in Parisian society after 1907 when Camille de Rhynal (or ‘Tod Cams’), a dancer, dance teacher and producer of dance competitions, modified the abrupt movements which were considered too crude for the ballroom. In England it became popular from 1912, when it was danced by George Grossmith and Phyllis Dare in The Sunshine Girl (Gaiety Theatre), and soon was being danced in restaurants and at tango parties or ‘tango teas’. After World War I it became the most popular ballroom dance with many bands and featured in most dance competitions. The extraordinary figure Carlos Gardel (1887–1935) was particularly influential in making it fashionable throughout Europe and the western hemisphere; in the 1920s he became an Argentine popular idol whose legend still continues. Himself a product of the arrabal, Gardel came to symbolize the fulfilment of the dreams of the poor porteño. Ohe of his major contributions to the history of the tango was to transform it from its strictly dancing character to a song type of socio-cultural significance, and a type with which Argentines of different social classes could identify. Besides his own recordings of well-known tangos and his numerous appearances in classic films, his best-known compositions include El día que me quieras, Mi Buenos Aires querido, Por una cabeza, Volver, Silencio and Cuesta abajo. Perhaps the most popular tango ever written was Gerardo Matos Rodríguez’s La cumparsita (1917). Other representative pieces of the international repertory are Sanders’s Adiós muchachos (1928), Enrique Santos Discépolo’s Yira, yira (1930), Juan Carlos Cobián’s Nostalgia (c1930), Francisco Canaro’s Adiós, pampa mía and Edgardo Donato’s A media luz.

The choreography of the tango is also symbolic of the arrabal culture, in that dance figures, postures and gestures reflect some of the mannerisms and style of the compadrito, a popular hero similar to Don Juan, and a pimp in the early Buenos Aires barrios (districts). Mafud (1966) interpreted the straight, immobile upper body of the male dancer as a reflection of the characteristic posture of the compadrito; he related the smooth pattern of steps to the same patterns in the creole knife duels, and the forward tilt of the spine to the use of elegant high-heeled shoes. The major theme of the tango as a dance for embracing couples is the obvious domination of the male over the female, in a series of steps and a very close embrace highly suggestive of the sexual act. Characteristic of the dance is the contrast between the very active male and the apparently passive female. Taylor (1976) interpreted this as a danced statement of machismo (manly assertion), confidence and sexual optimism. Savigliano (1995) on the other hand, provides a subtle and complex analysis of the engendering capabilities of tango.

The tango lost some of its earlier popularity in the late 1940s and 1950s but it was revived in the 1960s and 1970s. In Argentina, however, the socio-cultural complex of the tango has always attracted the attention of both intellectuals and other social strata, including the younger generation of the 1970s.

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GERARD BÉHAGUE/R