1531 Notes from Buenos Aires 8
Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2003 17:36:40 -0500
From: Rick McGarrey <RICKMCG@FLASH.NET>
Subject: Notes from Buenos Aires 8
What do the rich people know?
What do they know about tango?
What do they know about the pulse, the rhythm?
Most of us know that tango dancing is about music and
feelings. But here is something I believe strongly.
It is not about just any music, and it is not just
about any feelings. After my recent immersion in old
clubs of Buenos Aires, especially the ones in the
poorer neighborhoods, I am more certain of this than
ever before. Argentine tango dancing is about a very
specific type of old music- music from a certain
place, and a certain time; music sung and played by
certain artists. And it is about the feelings that
listening to this music elicits. But not just any
feelings! This is important. These feelings should
be the ones an Argentine has when listening to this
music. And, more specifically, the feelings a working
class porteno from the barrios has when dancing to
this music. To understand this music, and to dance to
it, you must try very hard to get as close as possible
to those feelings.
It is the job of any foreigner (or porteno for that
matter) who wants to dance tango well, to search for
this experience. Not to feel the music in terms of
his own culture, or to try to take some of the 'steps'
of tango and dance them to some other music. You are
welcome to do this, of course. And it may be fun and
creative... and maybe even beautiful. But you will
not be dancing Argentine tango if you do.
Why is this so? It is because the people who wrote
this music, and the poetic words that go with much of
it, are from the world of the Buenos Aires milongas.
The things they are saying come from that world, and
were written for it. Their words have the smell of the
old dance clubs. They went to the milongas, and hung
out with and danced with the people there. The words
and music they wrote are about struggling with life
and survival and love and loneliness in old time
Buenos Aires. They affected the people in the
milongas and the ways they danced, and more
importantly the people and their dancing affected what
these artists wrote and the way they played. These
are the things you are supposed to feel these things
when you dance tango.
How do I know the people affected the creators of the
music, as much as the music affected the people? Here
is one (of many) small clues. I just saw an interview
of Pugliese's widow on TV Solotango. She said that if
you watched closely when he played at milongas, you
could see that he was always watching the feet of the
dancers. He was talking to them with his music, but
they were also talking back... and he was listening.
You can be sure that the next time he wrote or played,
what he saw became part of the music.
So tango is special music, special feelings, and
probably to be complete, the feeling of sharing these
things together within the atmosphere of the milongas
of BsAs. Or at least in an atmosphere as much like
them as possible. Take something away, or change it,
or add something new, and there's a good chance you'll
lose it.
If you accept the premise that a big part of dancing
tango is to search for these feelings, then how do you
do it? Not everyone can fly off to BsAs and spend
months in the clubs, so here is one practical
suggestion. I would suggest learning a little about
some of the lyrics. Not a lot, because most are not
easy. Most are written in turn of the century BsAs
street slang, with their meanings buried beneath
metaphor and poetic construction. The words may refer
to things within this inner world, some of which no
longer even exist . It takes a little work, but some
of them pack as much beauty and emotional power as the
music itself. Sometimes even more. The Argentines
know that these words can stand alone on their own
artistic merit, even apart from the music. They are a
big part of tango. So I suggest beginning by
selecting one piece with lyrics, a piece that you
especially like to dance to, but maybe don't
understand. Then find out something about those
lyrics. Not much, just the meaning of the title, and
maybe the meaning of the first line or two. It's
surprising how much feeling you will get from this
small thing. The song should change a bit for you,
but it will be an important change, and ultimately,
the song will mean more.
So, some time you may really have it together, dancing
in the music and knowing what the song is about. You
know it's maybe about some poor guy who got stabbed in
a whorehouse in Floresta, or about the people, and the
moonlight that reflects off of their cheap tin houses
('A working neighborhood, a human neighborhood.')
('Farol'). And if you know this, and dance it like
you know it, not thinking about yourself, or how you
look, just being out there with the music and your
partner, some rough old guy may politely approach when
you return your table. And he may ask a question
about your dancing. He won't ask who your teacher
was, or what classes you took. He may simply ask in a
strong 'arrabalero' accent, 'De que barrio
sos?' 'What neighborhood are you from?' If he uses
those words, in that way, , it is very likely that you
have been dancing tango.
One more thing. You may wonder what an arrabelero
accent is. It is an accent of the 'down'
neighborhoods. An accent of the poor. The words I
wrote at the beginning of this piece are spoken in the
drawn out version of Castellano called 'arrabalero'.
Actually, they were sung in it. It is the strong
arrabalero accent of Alberto Castillo, singing with
Tanturi's orchestra, and most of us in tango have
heard it many times. The words come from the people
of the poor southern neighborhoods, from the heart of
tango. They are talking about the richer people to
the north, downtown. Today, they may apply as well to
some even richer people, much farther to the north.
This is not a precise scholarly translation, but you
don't want one for dancing tango anyway. Here is the
general idea:
What do the rich people know?
What do they know about tango?
What do they know about the pulse, the rhythm?
Here is how you dance the tango,
Painting pictures with your feet,
With the blood rising in your face to the music...
With your eyes closed to hear better...
All mixing in each partners breath.
The title of the song is, 'Asi se baila el tango.' A
very direct and practical title.
It means, 'This is how you dance the tango.'
