4161  A criticism of the criticism of "TANGO: The Art History of Love...

Date: Tue, 25 Apr 2006 02:09:44 EDT
From: Bill King <Euroking@AOL.COM>
Subject: Re: A criticism of the criticism of "TANGO: The Art History of Love...

I am sorry; I think many are missing the point or points.
1. Thompson's book is good and enlightening, and not the least thought
provoking, but he has a clear agenda, and he has a tendency to overemphasis the
African contributions by under playing the local Argentine and European
contributions.
2. I think the African contributions to Tango and other dances and to music
in the new world are considerable, but by no means were they the primary and
continuing influence on all of them all of the time, especially Tango.
Thompson's work gave me that impression. I got the distinct view if it was not
for the African influence initially and continually, Tango would not exist as
we know it. IMO, I seriously question that point of view. Because Dizzy
Gillespie plays in BsAs in 1956 doesn't, in my mind, equate to a continued black
legacy of tango but rather that of a great musician from a different musical
world crossing over to another compatible genre, like Getz and the Samba.
3. Finally editorial criticism are written to enflame, and many times the
author takes his point which may be correct and embellishes it to create
controversy, and in doing so he will also overstate the issue. If they didn't, who
would waste there time reading them. So, IMHO this is one of those cases,
where the book overstates its principle point and the critic creates the
controversy by doing likewise. The truth lies somewhere in between.
Just some thoughts,
Bill in Seattle