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Argentine Tango School

History of Tango – Part 2: The origins of Tango

How Tango came to be is unknown. We have information about the history leading up to the rise of Argentina as a state. From these facts, we can only speculate about how Tango came to be.

In 1805 and again in 1807, England tried to invade Buenos Aires but was repealed successfully by the population, not by the Spanish army, which abandoned the city. This paved the way for ideas of independence, eventually leading to the Colonial system’s end. After a war against Spain and a civil war, the Argentine Republic unified during the decade of 1860. Most of the references related to Tango point to this time to signify its origins.

Railroad networkThe first Argentinean Presidents promoted the immigration of the European workforce, defeated the indigenous people who had still claimed part of the Argentine territory, favored an economic model of production and export of agricultural goods following British-led ideas of the international division of work, and invested in the technology and infrastructure that made possible such model. A modern port was constructed in Puerto Madero, and a railroad network transported the whole production of the entire country to this port. Buenos Aires greatly benefitted from these changes and grew exponentially. Between 1871 and 1915, Argentina received 5 million immigrants, mostly Europeans. Almost all of them stayed in Buenos Aires.

Buenos Aires, known at that time as “La Gran Aldea” (“The Great Village”), also received other immigrants from the countryside who had been displaced. The gauchos’ natural environment was the Pampas, which became the private property of the new landowners. Also, the “chinas” were indigenous women whose men were killed in battle, defending their territory.

ImmigrantsAll these new arrivals to Buenos Aires had few resources and were very poor. They could only afford housing in the poorest neighborhoods, where the Afro-Argentineans, descendants of the African slaves, had been populating since 1813’s abolition of slavery. They were the locals. If any newcomer wanted to know something about Buenos Aires, they had to ask the Afro-Argentineans, who, before this massive immigration, constituted one-third of the population.

Juan Manuel de RosasBetween 1820 and 1850, before the Argentine Constitution was written and immigration was promoted, Argentina was under the administration of Juan Manuel de Rosas. During this time, the Afro-Argentineans enjoyed a period of greater participation and freedom of expression. Rosas was a landowner in the province of Buenos Aires with a perfect resume. When he was only thirteen, he fought heroically against the English invasions. Later on, he proved to be a very efficient administrator of cattle ranches and a successful businessman. Rosas created, financed, and trained his militia of gauchos, which would go on to be integrated into the state as an official regiment. They soon earned a reputation for being highly disciplined, and Rosas was able to establish order at the border with the indigenous populations. In 1819, Rosas put this militia at the province’s governor’s service to quell an uprising against him. This is how Rosas became known as “El Restaurador de las Leyes” (”The Restorer of Law’).
Afroargentineans during RosasHe became the Governor of the province of Buenos Aires and, between 1835 and 1852, was the prominent leader of the Argentinean Confederation. This period of Argentina’s history is called the “Era of Rosas.” He obtained the necessary support for his administration from the poorer sectors of the population of the City of Buenos Aires (integrated for a majority of Afro-Argentineans), and the gauchos of the countryside close to the City (many of whom were also Afro-Argentinean.) During his tenure, Rosas attended the “candombes” (celebrations) of the Afro-Argentineans as an honored guest. Also, during this period, the carnivals began in Buenos Aires.

“Abuelita Dominga era muy vieja
y vivía en el barrio de los candombes.
Del carnaval de Rosas no se olvidaba
al cantar esta copla roja de amores:

Rosa morena,
de la estrella federal,
yo se que tu alma está llena
de un pasión que es mortal.
Rosa morena,
todos la vieron pasar,
en su garganta morena
sangraba un rojo collar.

Abuelita Dominga siempre lloraba
al recordar la historia de amor y sangre.
Y me dio esta guitarra para que un día,
la cante como nunca la cantó nadie.

Rosa morena,
muerta en los cercos en flor
la vio una noche serena
todo el Barrio del Tambor.
Rosa perdida
aún dice el viejo cantar
que le quitaron la vida
porque quiso traicionar.”

“Rosa Morena (Abuelita Dominga)”, Héctor Blomberg and Enrique Maciel.

“Están de fiesta
en la calle Larga
los mazorqueros
de Monserrat.
Y entre las luces
de las antorchas,
bailan los negros
de La Piedad.
Se casa Pancho,
rey del candombe,
con la mulata
más federal,
que en los cuarteles
de la Recova,
soñó el mulato
sentimental.

Baila, mulata linda,
bajo la luna llena,
que al chi, qui, chi del chinesco,
canta el negro del tambor.
Baila, mulata linda,
de la divisa roja,
que están mirando los ojos
de nuestro Restaurador.

Ya esta servida
la mazamorra
y el chocolate
tradicional
y el favorito
plato de locro,
que ha preparado
un buen federal.
Y al son alegre
de tamboriles
los novios van
a la Concepción
y al paso brinda,
la mulateada,
por la más Santa
Federación.”

“La mulateada”, Julio Eduardo Del Puerto and Carlos Pesce.

Juan Manuel de Rosas’ regime affected all aspects of life in Buenos Aires and the culture. After his fall in 1852, local famous actors under his regime were dismissed, and the theaters of the City received foreign companies in their place. The Spanish theater companies from Andalusia were the most popular then, with the “sainete” being the primary genre offered by these companies. This genre comprised shorter pieces, including humor, songs, and dance elements. Soon, the music and dance of Tango could be seen on these stages.
Also, after Rosas was exiled, the candombes were prohibited in open spaces, so the Afro-Argentineans had to continue them inside. This change of venue forced them to dance closer to each other, shaping the choreographic elements of their dance, which eventually fit the embrace of Tango. During this period, “Tango” referred to any dance performed by the Afro-Argentineans.

All the necessary elements for Tango to appear were there: the Great City of Buenos Aires, the Afro-Argentine culture, the criollo and the gaucho, the native “chinas”, the massive immigration, the reconciliation with the Spanish heritage after the end of the War of Independence, and the open door to the rest of the world through the port.

In modern society, dancing is viewed as a specialized activity, such as a profession or a hobby. For the people of the 1800s, dance was integrated into everyday life. A person was not particular because they danced, but they stood out if they did not or could not dance.

The Renaissance was the beginning of dance as a modern social activity. Before the Renaissance, dance was a purely ritual activity, intending to maintain a connection between the human realm and the Cosmos, which involved mythological and religious connotations and rationales.
Then with the development of the modern city and its lifestyle, and the consequent secularization of all aspects of life, dance assumed the role of facilitating social interaction.

Minuet 1738In the origins of social dances, we observe no physical contact between partners; then they take each other hands, developing the “minuet” during the 1600s, which led to dancing in each other’s arms, with the “waltz” in the 1700s. The direction of the evolution of social partner dancing becomes evident: a closing of the distance between the partners that culminates in the embrace of Tango.

There are two explanations for why the embrace happened in Tango, which are not contradictory. The first is the eclectic origins of the dance, which combined techniques of opposite tendencies, like the continuous movement in acceptance of the inertia, characteristic of waltz, and the “figures”, detention of the movement opposing the inertia, characteristic of the dances with separate partners or solo dancers, performed, among others, in the Afro-Argentinean and Andalusian dances. The greater communication made possible in the embrace produced a social partner dance that could have both the partners united in each other’s arms and the figures from the stops of the solo dancers. The other explanation is emotional: the consolation the embrace gave all these humans left alone by displacement, economic exile, and destruction of their families, cultures, and lifestyles.

Other characteristics of the new dance were that it was improvised, favoring the skill and creativity of the dancers, their spontaneity, in contrast with the repetition of choreographed formulas that the other dances demanded; and the innovation that the woman walks backward, which contradicted all previous approaches to partner dancing. These elements are rooted in the body language of the criollos, men and women trained in short knife fencing. Due to a cultural demand and the historical realities of the time, knowing how to fight was necessary, just as today it is considered necessary to read and write. In a historical situation of the rapid transformation of the government and institutions, no reliable protection was provided to the people, their families, or their property.
Before the British, who the Argentinean government commissioned to construct the railroad network, brought futbol (“football” in England, “soccer” in the United States) to Argentina (effectively making it the most popular sport), the criollos of Buenos Aires practiced “visteo.” Visteo is a variation of fencing using a wooden stick burned in one end, or the index finger painted with grease or ashes, to mark the white shirt of the opponent. This is something that was inherited from the gauchos. The popularity of this practice prepared the Porteños of the 1800s with the necessary skills to create the dance of Tango.

The characteristic elements of the dance of Tango were referred to as “cortes y quebradas” (cuts and breaks).

Tango regionThis technique soon became the characteristic dance of the poorest inhabitants of Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Rosario, and the villages located south of Buenos Aires in an area known as “Barracas al sur”, Avellaneda, and Sarandí.
These women and men received the names: “chinas” and “compadritos.”

The massive immigration in Buenos Aires was intended to populate the countryside. Still, a failure in the implementation of the necessary policies, corruption, and the “Panic of 1873” (the great financial crisis that triggered a worldwide economic depression) conspired to detain almost the entire human wave in “The Great Village.” The City was unprepared to receive this amount of people, and housing quickly became one of the most urgent problems.

ConventilloThe Andalusian-style houses of the Southern side of Buenos Aires, San Telmo, and La Boca were soon creatively transformed into rooms to rent.
This type of construction, typical of the Colonial time, constituted a string of rooms aligned one after the other, with doors that opened to a patio or corridor connecting them. Their owners made each room a separate apartment to rent.
The huge demand for rooms made them expensive, so sometimes more than one family would rent one room and further divide it to make it affordable. This created a very crowded living unit called “conventillo.”

Yellow feverIn 1871, Buenos Aires suffered a yellow fever epidemic that killed 8% of its population, most living in these houses. The situation was so dire (with more than 13,000 people dying in 4 months) that it was necessary to open a new cemetery in the area of La Chacarita.

Many immigrants were male because they did not want to risk their families in the adventures of a “new world.” This created the conditions for the rise of prostitution as a very profitable business.
After the 1871 yellow fever epidemic, the authorities of Buenos Aires became more concerned with public health. Among many public health measures, prostitution was regulated. The unintended outcome was the differentiation between foreign women and the locals. Foreign women, who did not understand the language and the culture, were lured into being sex slaves by an international network of human traffickers and had to accept these regulations, fees, and taxation. The locals, Afro-Argentineans and native “chinas,” together with the Spanish and Italians, went into hiding. This also satisfied the demand of two different sectors of the market, per their purchase power, making the “loras” (“parrots”, due to the language barrier) the better off and the “chinas” (Quechua word for “woman”) the less favored. The legal business, called “casas de tolerancia” (“houses of tolerance”), were located downtown, in the area of Corrientes Street, San Nicolas, Palermo, San Cristobal, and Barracas. The clandestine ones were called “cuartos de chinas.”

“Milonga del tiempo guapo, milongón de rompe y raja,
la bulla del empedrado va marcando tu canción;
soy porteño del 80 y al compás de tu canyengue
desfilan por mi memoria los recuerdos en montón.

Te conocí en los fortines
que cuidaban la frontera
reclamando los amores
de una china cuartelera.
Animando las retretas
del Parque de Artillería
y en la barriada bravía
de las Barracas del Sur.

Milonga del tiempo guapo, milongón de los milicos,
de “kepises” requintados y bombachas de carmín;
con tu música sencilla fuiste ley de los porteños,
grito de los cuarteadores y alma del piringundín.

Te conocí en los corrales
de los viejos Mataderos,
hecha jerga en los quillangos
del recao de un forastero.
tu canto fue la corneta
del cochero del tranvía
y el Palermo de avería
tu escuela sentimental.”

“Del tiempo guapo”, Vicente Fiorentino and Marcelo De La Ferrere.

The demand was always greater than the supply, meaning customers had to wait. The owners of these houses soon realized that they needed to offer something to these customers while they waited, to keep them from leaving and to entertain them. They began to hire musicians as a form of entertainment. The most popular music at the time was polka, habanera, milonga and a new kind of rhythm called… tango. Sometimes the men who were waiting would dance, which led the owners to the realization that perhaps the dance in itself could generate business.

The first “academias” began to open during the 1870s. These were places where men could go and dance with a superb female dancer, improve their skills, and try new moves, all for a fixed price per song. These women shared the customer’s pay with the owner of the hall. The better dancers were more in demand and would dance nonstop for several hours, song after song, man after man. They did not need to be pretty or possess any other quality besides being great dancers. The academias were located mainly in Constitución and San Cristobal and popular in the City of Rosario. The owners and managers of the academias were mostly Afro-Argentineans.

Outside the circuit of academias, in 1857, the Spanish musician Santiago Ramos provided a distinctive Andalusian contribution, which in turn recognized Afro-Cuban and African roots. He composed one of the first tango-flavored songs, “Tomá mate, che” a proto-tango with “Rioplatense” lyrics and Andalusian-style musical arrangements. It was part of the “sainete” “The Gaucho of Buenos Aires,” which premiered at the Teatro de la Victoria. Also from that time came the proto-tango “Bartolo tenia una flauta” or simply “Bartolo”, derived from a classical XV century Andalusian melody, and the Montevidean “candombe tangueado” “El chicoba”.

Lo de HansenThe first Andalusian tango to reach mass popularity was composed in Argentina in 1874. The title is “El queco” (slang for ‘brothel’, of Quechua origin), from the Andalusian pianist Heloise de Silva, which makes open reference to the “cuartos de chinas.” Also, a candombe called “tango” titled “El merenguengué” became very successful at carnivals organized by the Afro-Argentinean population in Buenos Aires in February 1876. In 1877, the “Lo de Hansen” restaurant in Palermo was the first in a series of restaurants, cabarets, and pubs where high society youth would socialize and dance Tango.

The year 1880 is when some authors mark the transition between the gestation of the Tango and “La Guardia Vieja” (“Old Guard”.) Some others prefer to wait for the further evolution of the genre and the appearance of the first scores. In this decade, the tango and milonga were confused with one another, and both began to impose their dominance over the habanera. During this time is when tangos began to multiply, “Señora casera” (Anonymous, 1880), “Andate a la Recoleta” (Anonymous, 1880), “Tango # 1” (José Machado, 1883), “Dame la lata” (Juan Pérez, 1883), “Qué polvo con tanto viento” (Pedro M. Quijano, 1890.)

In 1884, the Afro-Argentinean Casimiro Alcorta composed the oldest famous tango, “Concha sucia”, with openly pornographic lyrics referencing life in the brothels. Three decades later, Francisco Canaro changed the lyrics and the title to “Cara sucia” (“Dirty Face”), definitely making it the inaugural tango. Casimiro also composed “La yapa”, a tango that was later recorded as “Entrada prohibida”, then signed by the Teisseire brothers as the composers.

Casimiro Alcorta was also a celebrated Tango dancer; his companion “La Paulina” was of Italian origin.

Around the same time, another Afro-Argentinean, the “payador” Gabino Ezeiza, introduced the “contrapunto milongueado”, linking the milonga to candombe. He told another payador, Nemesio Trejo, that “contrapunto milongueado” is ‘pueblera’ (‘of the city’) and a daughter of African Candombe, and while hitting his fingers against the edge of the table began to hum “tunga … tatunga … tunga …” to demonstrate with an onomatopoeia the link between the milonga rhythm with the Candombe (In an interview to Nemesio Trejo, made by Jaime Olombrada, published in the newspaper “La Opinion” of Avellaneda -Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina- on April 15, 1916).

At this time, the most common Tango ensemble was the guitar, violin, and flute. In the following years, the guitar and the flute disappeared, and the piano and then the bandoneón was integrated, shaping the “Orquesta Típica.”

OrganitoIn those years, the “organito,” a portable player, had a significant role in the initial spread of the Tango. It was made of tubes or flutes and a keyboard operated by the cylinder, enabling the passage of air to produce different notes. Bellows generate air activated simultaneously with the cylinder by rotating a handle. The “organito,” like the organ and the bandoneón, is a wind instrument. It is essential to differentiate the “organito” from the “organillo,” which is more common in Spain and produces sound from strings. The sound of the “organito” prepared the ears of the Porteños for a natural transition to the bandoneón in Tango when it finally arrived in 1880.

It is around these “organitos,” where men were seen dancing Tango in the street, practicing “cortes y quebradas.”

“Las ruedas embarradas del último organito
vendrán desde la tarde buscando el arrabal,
con un caballo flaco y un rengo y un monito
y un coro de muchachas vestidas de percal.

Con pasos apagados elegirá la esquina
donde se mezclan luces de luna y almacén
para que bailen valses detrás de la hornacina
la pálida marquesa y el pálido marqués.

El último organito irá de puerta en puerta
hasta encontrar la casa de la vecina muerta,
de la vecina aquella que se cansó de amar;
y allí molerá tangos para que llore el ciego,
el ciego inconsolable del verso de Carriego,
que fuma, fuma y fuma sentado en el umbral.

Tendrá una caja blanca el último organito
y el asma del otoño sacudirá su son,
y adornarán sus tablas cabezas de angelitos
y el eco de su piano será como un adiós.

Saludarán su ausencia las novias encerradas
abriendo las persianas detrás de su canción,
y el último organito se perderá en la nada
y el alma del suburbio se quedará sin voz.”

“El último organito”, Homero and Acho Manzi.

Read also

Bibliography:

  • “Antología del Tango rioplatense”, Jorge Novati, Irma Ruiz, Néstor Ceñal e Inés Cuello. Instituto Nacional de Musicología “Carlos Vega”, 1980.
  • “Crónica general del Tango”, José Gobello, Editorial Fraterna, 1980.
  • “El Tango”, Horacio Salas, Editorial Aguilar, 1996.
  • “Historia del Tango – Sus orígenes”, Rubén Pesce, Oscar del Priore, Editorial Corregidor 1977.
  • “El Tango, el gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro, Editorial Argenta, 2009.
  • https://www.todotango.com/english/

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History of Tango – Part 1: Women and men of the Colony

The dance of Tango originated in the second half of the XIX century in the area designated Rio de la Plata, on the outskirts of port cities like Buenos Aires, Montevideo, and Rosario.[1]

Historically, this area was an essential part of the Spanish Colonial Empire, which gained its independence from Feudalist Catholic Monarchic Spain towards integration into a Western capitalist globalized economy. This economic revolution was led by the United Kingdom and the United States, at the beginning of the 1800s, as a direct consequence of the transformations that swept through Europe due to the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Napoleonic Wars.

The elite class that led this process of transformation, although not unified – as many internal conflicts arose after the final defeat of the Spanish Army – were inspired by the ideas of the French and American Revolutions and saw industrialized countries like the United Kingdom as beacons of civilization, superior to the models of a feudalist Spain, and Aboriginal Native nations of America.

Since the arrival of the first Spanish expedition to the Rio de la Plata under the command of Juan Diaz de Solís (1515), the changes that affected this territory were very slow for almost 300 years.

Monopoly routeDuring that time, Spain allowed its colonies to only trade with Spain and other Spanish colonies. To avoid ships being captured by enemy nations and pirates, Spain established a unique route to transit goods between the settlements and Spain. Unfortunately, this route was not favorable to Buenos Aires, making goods too expensive and scarce to the inhabitants of Rio de la Plata. Consequently, smuggling became the only profitable business for its population and the only way to acquire what it needed to survive.

The first Spanish colonists in Argentina and Uruguay could see that the land was excellent for cattle. The animals prospered and reproduced rapidly, creating a source of leather. In an area with no other natural resources like stones, metals, or wood, this new resource became the primary material to create the necessary tools for everyday life activities. Leather was also the only product available to exchange for smuggling goods into the area. Since the cattle were wild, there was no reliable tracking system in place, which was ideal for those in the area looking to make the most of this resource. Cattle producers (“estancieros”) were one of the leading forces behind gaining independence to end the monopoly imposed by Spain.

In 1776, this territory was given more autonomy, becoming the “Virreinato del Rio de La Plata,” with the capital in Buenos Aires, mainly because Spain wanted to end the growing smuggling business in the area and profit by regulating the trade.

The isolation of this territory geographically – due to the enormous distance from Spain – and politically and economically – due to the strict trade policies – shaped the characteristics of its population and created an environment that allowed for the appearance of first, the “gaucho,” and then later, Tango.

The early expeditions in Rio de la Plata comprised men who did not integrate well into Spanish society. In addition, the men who commanded these expeditions sometimes behaved in a very authoritarian way, which is understandable due to the harsh conditions and the riskiness of expeditions at the time. Historical records show that the first gauchos descended from Andalucians and Moors of North African descent, who accepted Christianity only to avoid persecution. Once these men reached America, many broke loose from the expeditions and lived as nomads, living off the wild cattle that rapidly populated the lands and coexisting with the natives.[2]

In “Tierras de nadie” (No man’s land), the area that is today the border between Uruguay and Brazil, the first gauchos (1771) lived off the ground and hunted wild cattle, which they sold to the population of what is known today as Rio Grande do Sur, Brazil.

Gaucho with boleadoras

To hunt wild cattle, the gauchos used various techniques. One method, which they learned from the natives, was the use of “boleadoras”, an artifact made of three balls of hardwood, stone, or metal, lined with leather and tied together with leather strings, which they skillfully launched at the rear legs of the animal to make it fall and capture it alive, and keeping it in good condition, thereby maximizing its profitability.
Jesuit's missionsAnother origin of gauchos came from the Jesuit Missions after they were dismantled in the area now known as the border between Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay, populated mainly by natives of the Guaraní nations. These missions were efficiently organized and very productive. For that reason, the missions attracted the attention of the powers of the time, who were suspicious of their prosperity.

The gauchos developed a new and genuinely local lifestyle and culture produced by the mix between the members of the expeditions and the American natives. They prized independence, self-reliance, honor, friendship, hospitality, loyalty, rejection of arbitrary authorities, courage, virility, resilience in facing adversity, and appreciation for a life based on simplicity and harmony with nature. These values are still the ones that guide the identity of Argentinians and Uruguayans. More specifically, these values permeate Tango and are most evident in the lyrics, as illustrated in the song below.

“Tango que sos un encanto
De quien escucha tus sones,
Tango que atraes corazones,
Con tus dulces cantos
Y tus bandoneones.
Sos de cuna humilde,
Y has paseado el universo,
Sin más protocolo,
Que tu música y tus versos,
Para abrirte paso
Has tenido que ser brujo,
Por tus propios medios
Lograste tu triunfo.
Tango que sos un encanto,
Hoy vive tu canto,
En mi corazón.

¡Tango!, ¡Tango!
Tango bravo, tango lindo,
Tango noble, tango guapo
Tango hermano
De mis largas noches tristes,
Compañero de mi pobre corazón.
Tango bravo, fascinante,
¡Tango brujo!,
Tango bravo, combatido,
Tango bravo,
Tango gaucho
Que a pesar de tanta contra
Defendiste con altura,
Tu bravura de varón.”

“Tango brujo”, Francisco Canaro.[3]

“Tango Brujo” by Juan D’Arienzo y su Orquesta Típica with Héctor Mauré, 1943.

The gauchos represented a continuity of the Middle Age Knights of Spain and Europe. They were skillful horseback riders and were very proud of their ability in the fight. The gaucho’s weapon was the “facón”, a 16-inch knife – that could be seen as a shortened Knight sword. In general, the “facones” were made from bayonets and used alone or in combination with the “rebenque” (a sort of whip) or the “poncho” (an outer garment designed to keep the body warm) rolled on the left arm and used as a shield.

Gauchos with facónThe “facón” was not only a weapon but also an indispensable everyday tool, as well as the “rebenque” and the “poncho”.

The gauchos trained their fighting skills in a game called “visteo,” in which they used a wooden stick burned at one extreme or the index finger colored with ashes or grease. They played inside a small marked square called “cancha.” The game’s primary goal is to force the opponent out of the square.

“Tome mi poncho… No se aflija…
¡Si hasta el cuchillo se lo presto!
Cite, que en la cancha que usté elija
he de dir y en fija
no pondré mal gesto.

Yo con el cabo ‘e mi rebenque
tengo ‘e sobra pa’ cobrarme…
Nunca he sido un maula, ¡se lo juro!
y en ningún apuro
me sabré achicar.”

“Mandria”, Juan Rodríguez, Francisco Brancatti and Juan Velich.[4]

“Mandria” by Juan D’Arienzo y su Orquesta Típica with Alberto Echagüe in vocals, 1939.

The body language that came out of this physical training eventually shaped the Tango dance.

Gauchos and horsesThe gauchos were horseback riders by nature. In their childhoods, they learned to ride horses at the same time; they learned how to walk. Similarly to the cattle that the Spanish brought, the horses brought over from Spain reproduced very quickly, providing the gauchos with a large pool of horses to use and trade. They  call their horses “pingo” and “flete.”

“Pasó la tranquera y el pingo miraba,
tal vez extrañao de no verla más,
y el gaucho le dijo: ¡No mire, mi pingo,
que la patroncita ya no volverá!”

“Lonjazos”, Andrés Domenech and Jesús Fernández Blanco.[5]

“Lonjazos” by Rodolfo Biagi y su Orquesta Típica with Carlos Acuña in vocals, 1943.

During the 1800s, when the gaucho moved into the cities, he became the “compadre.” This move required him to give up his horse and shorten his knife. The “compadre” will show up again later about Tango.

Payador and guitarThe gaucho’s favorite musical instrument was the guitar (”guitarra criolla”), inherited from Spain (guitarra española.) The poetry of the gauchos accompanied by a guitar is called “payada”, and the performer “payador.”

The “payada” evolved into “milonga” when Gabino Ezeiza (1858-1916), an Afro-Argentine payador, introduced its rhythm derived from African Candombe[6].

The landscape of Argentina and Uruguay is said to have influenced the gauchos deep into their character.

“Hay una hora de la tarde en que la llanura está por decir algo; nunca lo dice o tal vez lo dice infinitamente y no lo entendemos, o lo entendemos pero es intraducible como una música…”

“El fin”, Jorge Luis Borges.[7]

Courage, skillfulness, resilience, and knowledge of the terrain made the gauchos vital elements of the Independence War, forming the core of the liberation armies. In honor of them, the Argentine writer Leopoldo Lugones coined the term “Guerra gaucha.”

Los infernales de Guemes

Unfortunately, shortly after being praised as liberators of the new countries, they found themselves expelled from their habitat by the reorganization of resources by the new leaders, dividing the precious productive land into plots suitable for large-scale agricultural production. Also, to foster the growth of the cities, in 1736, the new leaders prohibited hunting wild cattle without a license, which deprived the gauchos of their source of living. This prohibition forced the gauchos to choose between being excluded from society – as criminals – or being hired by the new owners of the land – as “peones” – or emigrating to the cities, where they would be partially integrated as “compadres.”

During colonial times, the place of women in society was determined by racial and economic factors. The women of the elite class were subject to arranged marriages to create family alliances. The purpose of these alliances was to preserve Spanish traditions, promote religion at home and consolidate the model of family life. Women were responsible for maintaining family honor and fulfilling the ideal of virtue. The most critical moment of a woman’s life at the time was her wedding day, which she was prepared for since childhood. Women were expected to be docile, respect the authority of their husbands and live within the confines of the home. Female education was entrusted to the Church to achieve success in this model, educating them in a domestic scheme of submission. The public role of a woman was to accompany her husband and attend charitable activities and Mass (a true female social center.) Women who were widowed took the reins of their husbands’ businesses and managed their assets; if they did so successfully, they entered the male world and were able to interact with civil institutions.

For the mestizo woman, life was not limited to the home as they had to engage in productive work or service outside the house: trade, domestic labor (maids, laundresses, sewists, etc.), and handicrafts (hand-spinners, candle makers, and cigar makers). They also worked in grocery stores, which meant they had more contact with the broader society.

Although marriage was an ideal in their lives, this did not have the degree of complexity as in the elite class because there was no obligation to continue the family lineage. This left more room for sentimental marriage. Although chastity and marriage remained ideal for all women, the mestiza women were not held to the same standards. They received instruction only through Catechism and the teachings of the Bible, as well as productive activities.

Initially, the mestizo in general and, therefore, the mestizo woman was frowned upon by both Hispanic Creoles and Indians. But then, the whole society was crossbreeding, mixing, and becoming a hybrid; after that, the mestizo condition ceased to be defined accurately.

The role of indigenous people and indigenous women varied depending on their position within their community; it was different from being an elite member of a native community than a regular native.

After the arrival of the Spaniards, native women were responsible for transmitting traditional traits of indigenous culture (housework, trade, clothing, etc.). With the imposition of monogamy, which opposed the polygamous structure of the indigenous society, many women were left alone. Also, the increased mortality of native men due to hard work left more women alone, which led them to look for work. They were employed mainly as housemaids, where they acquired great power and were also active in trade. In this way, they learned to use the currency and learned the Spanish language even before the native men themselves.

With the reduction of indigenous peoples into personal service, slavery, etc., Spanish-Criollos imposed a new social structure, disintegrating the indigenous organization, resulting in a total integration into the Spanish-Criollo society at the cost of the destruction of the indigenous culture and social network. Thus, the role of indigenous women in the colony was determined by the needs and ambitions of the Spanish-Criollos and the Spanish Crown.

Because of the indigenous population decline, enslaved Black people were brought to America as a labor force for agriculture, domestic service, and farm work. Urban enslaved people were mainly housemaids, bakers, and laundresses. They were the property of married white women (becoming part of the homestead). They were objects, and property (living under worse conditions than indigenous or mestizo, although there were exceptions.)

During the Independence War, women had a prominent role, no less important than men.

The ideals of the women of Tango, of the “milongueras”, were developed through these times. They value the nature of femininity, with its attributes of maternity, companionship with the male partner, independent-minded, capable of successfully taking on the tasks traditionally attributed to men when necessary.

Juana Azurduy de PadillaAn example of the ideals of women can be seen in the life of Juana Azurduy de Padilla (1780-1860).

Juana descended from a mixed family and was orphaned at an early age. She spent the first years of her life in a convent.

In 1802 she married Manuel Ascencio Padilla, and they went on to have five children. After the outbreak of the independence revolution on May 25, 1810, Juana and her husband joined the pro-independence militias of the area that today belongs to Bolivia. Juana was one of many women who joined the fight.

Juana actively collaborated with her husband to organize the “squadrons”, which joined the troops sent from Buenos Aires. During the first year of fighting, Juana was forced to abandon her children and was in combat on numerous occasions.

The government of Buenos Aires was impressed by her courage, and in recognition, in August 1816, it decided to provide Juana Azurduy the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. More recently, she was posthumously promoted to the position of General by Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and Bolivian President Evo Morales.

“Yo soy la morocha,
la más agraciada,
la más renombrada
de esta población.
Soy la que al paisano
muy de madrugada
brinda un cimarrón.

Yo, con dulce acento,
junto a mi ranchito,
canto un estilito
con tierna pasión,
mientras que mi dueño
sale al trotecito
en su redomón.

Soy la morocha argentina,
la que no siente pesares
y alegre pasa la vida
con sus cantares.
Soy la gentil compañera
del noble gaucho porteño,
la que conserva el cariño
para su dueño.

Yo soy la morocha
de mirar ardiente,
la que en su alma siente
el fuego de amor.
Soy la que al criollito
más noble y valiente
ama con ardor.

En mi amado rancho,
bajo la enramada,
en noche plateada,
con dulce emoción,
le canto al pampero,
a mi patria amada
y a mi fiel amor.

Soy la morocha argentina,
la que no siente pesares
y alegre pasa la vida
con sus cantares.
Soy la gentil compañera
del noble gaucho porteño,
la que conserva el cariño
para su dueño.”

“La Morocha”, Ángel Villoldo.[8]

https://youtu.be/EmLbOirSNPc?rel=0

“¿Dónde están las mujeres aquéllas,
minas fieles, de gran corazón,
que en los bailes de Laura peleaban
cada cual defendiendo su amor?”

“Tiempos viejos”, Francisco Canaro, Manuel Romero.[9]

Read “History of Tango – Part 2: Origins of Tango”

Bibliography:

  • “El Tango, el Gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro. Argenta 2009.
  • “Crónica General del Tango”, José Gobello. Fraterna 1980.
  • “El Tango”, Horacio Salas, Planeta 1986.
  • “Historia del Tango”, Ernié, Del Priore, Sierra, Zucchi, and others. Corregidor 1977.
  • https://www.todotango.com/english/

[1] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tango

[2] https://www.tangoargentinaclub.com/sp/folklore/origin_gaucho.php

[3] Tango, you are an enchanter
Of those who listen to your sounds,
Tango, you attract hearts,
with your sweet songs
and your bandoneons.

You have humble origins
And traveled the universe
without more attributes
other than your music and your verses.
To open your path
you had to be a sorcerer
with your resources
you achieved success.
Tango, you are an enchantment,
today your song lives
in my heart.

Sorcerer Tango!
Brave Tango, Beautiful Tango!,
Noble tango, courageous Tango!
Brother Tango
Of my long sad nights,
mate of my barren heart.

Fascinating courageous Tango!
Sorcerer Tango!
Brave Tango, Opposed,
Brave Tango!
Gaucho Tango,
despite the odds against you,
with loftiness, you defend your manly bravery.

[4] Take my “poncho”… don’t be sorry…
I’ll even share my knife with you!
Name the place of your choice
I’ll be there, be assured
without regret

I, With the end of my whip,
more than enough to collect
I swear I’ve never been a coward
And in no situation
You’ll see me retreat.

[5] He passed the fence, and the horse watched,
perhaps wondering for not seeing her,
and the gaucho told him: Don’t look, my horse,
that she won’t come back.

[6] https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabino_Ezeiza

[7] “There is an hour of the afternoon in which the plain is about to say something, it never says it,, or perhaps it says it infinitely, and we do not understand  it, or we understand it, but it is untranslatable as music …”

[8] I am the brunette,
the most graceful,
the most renowned
of this population.
I’m the one to countryman
very early at dawn
provides a mate.
I, with a sweet accent,
next to my humble home,
sing
with tender passion,
while my owner
goes at trot speed
in his horse.
I am the Argentine brunette,
I do not feel regrets
and happily live
with my songs.
I am the gentle companion
of the noble porteño gaucho
I keep my affection
for my owner.
I am the brunette,
Of ardent look

And in my soul feel
the fire of love.
II’mthe one who to the Criollito
most noble and courageous
love with ardor.
In my beloved home,
under the arbor,
in the silvery night,
With sweet emotion
I sing to the pampero wind,
To my beloved homeland
and to my faithful love.
I am the Argentine brunette,
I do not feel regrets
and happily lives
Singing

I am the gentle companion
Of the noble porteño gaucho
I keep my affection
to my owner.

[9] Where are those women,
faithful women of generous heart,
that at Laura’s dances fought
each is is defending their love?

Argentine Tango’s history – Introduction

El Cachafaz and Carmencita Calderon - Tango dancer's leyendsArgentine Tango is a dance that originated in the poor neighborhoods of the largest cities in Argentina and Uruguay at the end of the XIX century.

It represents the cultural mix of immigrants and the established population. For example, in the 1800s, Buenos Aires and Montevideo had a population of 25 % to more than 50 % of Africans each. They were servants of the most influential families in these cities. They were more integrated into the life of these families and society in general than the Africans of other societies like North America.

“Tangos” was called the black people celebrations and places of meeting since the beginning of the XIX century. It is in these places where the dance known today as Tango began the development of its choreography and music.

Other African terms directly related to Tango are “milonga” and “candombe”. “Milonga” is a Quimbanda expression that means “words” and referred originally to a kind of duel between two countryside singers called “payadores” who playing guitar, will improvise verses of eight syllables with a structure-type question/answer. At the same time, “candombe” is a Bantú word that referred initially to the rhythms and dances made by the Africans in their tango meetings and to these meetings.

When they were given freedom (1853), they created several associations -kinds of unions- to help themselves, and placed them mainly in the area of the neighborhood of Montserrat. During the carnival, they used to go out on the streets with brightly colored costumes and big-feathered hats, dancing many hours to the monotonous rhythm of “candombe”—   the music they played at these events. Different associations competed for supremacy, which developed into bloody street incidents.

The repetition of the violence forced the police to close many of those associations in 1877. It was the end of black people’s carnival. The consequence was the creation of several dance centers where they developed a kind of couple dance called “tango” using the same choreographic elements they used before in their candombes. But that Tango was not an embraced couple dance. They danced it separately.

Other influence in the origins of Tango comes from a typical character of the Argentine Pampas: the “gaucho”.

GauchoThe “gaucho” is the product of the mix between the first Spanish who arrived in the lands later called Argentina and the natives. They were very skillful in the techniques needed to survive in the countryside. They liked to live far away from populated cities and towns, had no regular jobs, occasionally got hired by the owners of the “estancias” (farms), and knew the secrets of knife fencing and horse riding.

They had a strong morality of independence and, if needed, faced the arbitrary police. These “gauchos” had an essential participation in the battles for emancipation against the Spanish Kingdom. They symbolized the ideals of autonomy, courage, and justice without arbitrariness.

After the Constitution of 1853, the ideas of modernity and progress start to shape the new country. The “gaucho” did not fit this project and began suffering persecution. The lands where the gaucho used to wander were confiscated and given to others. Having no other option, they moved into the city’s poor suburbs and got jobs as butchers, herders, horse-breakers, or cart drivers. Even though the gaucho goes under a metamorphosis, leaving the horse, shortening his knife to hide it better because it was not allowed in the city, changing his clothes, and getting the new name of “compadre,”; he still keeps the same ideals of justice, independence, and courage.

His new neighbors admired him and often approached him, looking for protection or advice. The young men of these poor suburbs began to imitate the attitudes of the compadres and soon got themselves the name “compadritos.”

Although the gaucho, transformed in compadre, brought the “milonga” to the slums, he did not dance. His inheritors, the compadritos, did dance.

They took the choreographies of other dances from other places. They danced in the port of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, such as polka, mazurka, waltz, and habanera, and danced with them to the music of the milongas. Furthermore, they incorporated elements from the black people’s dances, from their “tangos”, most of the time with racist sarcasm.

This originated a way of dancing called “cortes y quebradas” and a musical genre called either “tango” or “milonga”.

When these dances arrived at the port of Buenos Aires in the second half of the XIX century, the embrace technique was known as “dancing to the European fashion”. The compadritos adopted this technique and incorporated it into their movements from the African tangos. Until this moment, all the embraced dances were of continuous motion, which means that one time the couple starts to move, they will not stop until the song’s end. On the other hand, the African tangos and the other not embraced dances used “figures”, which means that one or both partners will suddenly stop and take a position called a figure. To combine these two different ways of dancing – the embrace and the figures – the compadritos had to go further into the embrace technique and create the “close embrace” technique. Before Tango, there was space in-between the partners in all the embraced dances. With Tango, there are no in-between space partners anymore. Tango incorporated the close embrace technique that allows the “figures” in the embraced dance: one partner will stop while the other keeps moving, or both will suddenly stop for a while and restart the movement a few beats later. The close embrace was enough for Tango to be disapproved of by the “respectable” society. In addition, the compadritos liked to play with the scandal and with a mocking and unconcerned attitude making provocative movements in the dance for the amusement of some and the shock of others.

The 1853’s Constitution opens Argentina to the immigration. Millions of immigrants, mainly Italians and Spanish, arrived to the country and changed it radically.

Immigrants arriving to the port of Buenos AiresTango was influenced by immigration too. Its rhythm slowed, and its melodies acquired a nostalgic flavor, contrasting with its original joking attitude. Its choreography also changed, leaving its provocative character and tidying up its figures. A novel instrument was incorporated into the tango music, the bandoneon, created in Germany, which fits perfectly with the new shape of the Tango. Soon, the bandoneon became the musical instrument of tango music. All this will prepare Tango for its acceptance in European ballrooms.

The 1913 was the year of its highest popularity in Paris.

This made its return to Argentina, its natural country, through the “main door”. Rejected before by the high society as a product of the slums, everyone praised it thanks to its international fame. Everybody wanted to learn to dance Tango at this time. Only the 1914 World War stopped the popularity of this dance in Europe, but just for a while. A few years later, in 1917, a countryside singer included the first Tango with a lyric in his repertoire, creating the way of singing tangos.

This man was Carlos Gardel, and even he died in 1935, he still reigns as the model of the tango singer thanks to his 1500 records.

Carlos Gardel | Argentine music at Escuela de Tango de Buenos AiresThe WWI, the post-war crisis, and the reassuring presence of Carlos Gardel eclipsed Tango as a dance for a while. This was the period of the popularity of the “tango-canción”(tango song), which is good for listening but not necessarily for dancing.

Simultaneously, a renewal of the instrumental Tango was being developed by the violinist Julio De Caro. Julio De Caro, Argentine Tango musician, leader and composer.
With his academic training, he contributed to Tango what its intuitive primordial musicians had been unable to provide.

In 1935 Juan D’Arienzo incorporated the piano player Rodolfo Biagi in his orchestra and with a fast and playful rhythm which reminded the origins of Tango, started to attract thousands of dancers back to the ballrooms.

Juan D'Arienzo portrateThis orchestra’s acceptance was so significant that other orchestras imitated its characteristic rhythm.

At this point, Tango was a mature artistic expression. Music, dance, and poetry reached their pinnacle and developed during the 1940s in what was known in Argentina as the Golden Age of Tango. During these years, Tango defined the shape we know today.

Three decades of dictators made Tango blur in Argentinean life, especially Tango as a dance, but it was not enough to disappear. Although 1984 was when democracy came back in Argentina, it was also when Tango revived. The worldwide acceptance of Astor Piazzolla music, who knew how to integrate Tango into other musical expressions such as classical music, jazz, and rock, incorporating electronic instruments; the triumph in Russia of Julio Bocca, an internationally known Argentine ballet dancer who danced to Piazzolla music; and the fantastic success in Broadway of the show “Tango Argentino” which presented the most excellent tango dancers at that time; all of these, plus the freedom of expression that democracy brought to Argentineans, made possible what we can see today: a strong presence of Tango not only in Argentina, its natural country but also in the whole world.

Why did Tango triumph all over the world?

It is not easy to find one absolute answer. Still, maybe it has to do with the necessity of expression, and Tango is a dance where all the range of human feelings can be expressed: happiness, homesickness, passion, wittiness, and much more…

Learn more about the History of Argentine Tango…

Bibliography:

“Crónica general del Tango”, José Gobello. Editorial Fraterna, Buenos Aires,   1980.

“La historia del Tango”, tomo 2 “Primera época”, Roberto Selles y León   Benarós. Editorial Corregidor, Buenos Aires, 1977.

Leer este artículo en español…