1665  Notes from Buenos Aires 20

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 10:56:34 -0500
From: Rick McGarrey <RICKMCG@FLASH.NET>
Subject: Notes from Buenos Aires 20

La Noche de las Milongueras (Posted one month late -
this report was lost in the computer, and it just
resurfaced!)

Last night I almost didn't take the camera along to
Sin Rumbo, thinking that there wouldn't be anything to
film, but it turns out that it was 'La Noche de las
Milongueras'. They had invited the 20 most famous
living milongueras to be honored and to dance. All of
them were there, with two notable exceptions-
Carmencita Calderon, who must be about 95 years old,
and Maria Nieves- but I didn't mind because I have
already seen both of them dance. There were other
photographers there, so I was able to film out on the
floor, and I got some very good shots of all of their
different styles. Margaret, the best known, was
introduced as the 'Milonguera of the century', and she
danced a lot. She was featured and interviewed in the
documentary 'Tango, Nuestro Baile', and she's also
in 'Obsession'. The man she was with in those films
was also there (with someone else) and also a
milonguero that is very famous, and also prominent in
the films, called 'El Chino'. He is old, but a very
tall and elegant dancer who seems to have lost none of
his skills. You would recognize both instantly if you
have ever watched any of the old tango documentaries.

Margaret and El Chino danced alone on the floor, and
then Margaret danced with another man, and El Chino
asked Alejandra to dance (through me). While I was
moving around the floor filming them, a woman touched
my arm, and said in Castellano, 'He dances well, eh?
Watch the feet, watch them touch the floor.' She was
right. He is famous for the way he steps. His feet
touch the floor in a very smooth, strong, precise
way. The woman who spoke to me turned out to be Sra.
Balmaceda, the mother of Ernesto and Julio
Balmaceda. Later that night I filmed her dancing with
her son Ernesto. He steps a little like El Chino
(maybe he picked it up from him), and I also filmed
Sra. Zotto dancing (the mother of the other famous
brothers). Then I got two little kids who came in to
perform for the older generation, representing the
future of tango, and they were fun to watch.

In an earlier report I said that it is by editing your
writing that you give it meaning. And I said that
this applies to tango dancing as well. That was
pretty smart! I must have been drinking when I wrote
that. From a million steps, you must decide not only
what to do when the music begins, but also what to
leave out! Here is an interesting example. When
Alejandra danced with El Chino, it was a 'milonga'
tanda. It was her first time dancing with him, and
she is accustomed to dancing downtown with guys like
Danny and Cacho who are milonga experts. They dance
milonga with a lot of upper body movement, but El
Chino remains very still in his upper body when he
dances milonga. The feet of course move in a
rhythmic, stabbing, traspie, but they carry the body
in a smooth, flowing, turning path around the floor.
Alejandra said it was great. Where many people rock
and roll a bit, or use some small twitches to express
the melody of milonga, El Chino chooses to express the
music with stillness, by doing nothing with his upper
body. Less is more! For me, he has added meaning by
editing out movement. This focuses attention on his
feet, and he is the master of the feet! It's a more
difficult way to dance, but I told Alejandra that when
I start to get serious about milonga, that's how I
want to do it.

After Alejandra and El Chino danced he told her he had
seen her before and wanted to dance with her, but
never had the chance. He told me I was lucky to have
her as a partner, and then he said something
surprising. He said that it was a great honor for him
to be able to dance with Alejandra Todaro, the
daughter of the great Antonio Todaro! She was so
surprised she didn't say anything. Like most people,
she doesn't use her last name in the milongas (codes
again). Now I will tell a secret, but everyone
reading this must promise to keep it quiet.
Alejandra is a Todaro, but she is not Antonio's
daughter. Please, don't ever tell El Chino this. He
is a great gentleman, and he had a wonderful time
dancing with her. So I think maybe it's better not to
say anything. What's the point in spoiling it for
him?

Many years ago, on the back wall of Sin Rumbo, the
original owner and lucky horse picker painted a mural,
which he proudly signed: 'Painter: Tanguito
Oliveto.' It has a huge bandoneon, and an 8 foot
high wreath, with the names of 27 orchestras arrayed
along it. I asked the manager if all of them had
played in the small room, and he said, 'Yes, of
course.' I didn't recognize all the names, but I
remember seeing Troilo, Piazzola, Maffia, Laurenz,
Minoto, and Fresedo. But what was Fresedo doing
there? I thought he had a big orchestra that played
mostly for the rich people in Recoleta in large fancy
halls like the Palais de Glace. Imagine what it would
have been like to dance with those maestros rocking
away in that small room at Sin Rumbo. Laurenz playing
live, with Casas singing 'Como dos Estranos' or 'Vieja
Amiga'. Troilo with Florentino and 'Yo Soy el Tango'
or 'Tristezas.' They say that when Piazzola was
playing in the orchestra, he would fool around and
make strange noises to drive Troilo crazy. He just
liked to see him look around and glare. He finally
stopped when Troilo was about to fire him, but then he
would occasionally talk other members of the orchestra
into making the noises. I would give almost anything
to hear one night of that live music in Sin Rumbo.

One of the other names on the wall is not so famous.
The name 'Aieta' painted in small brown letters,
refers to Anselmo Aieta, who had an orchestra that was
rarely recorded. Someone wrote from the list to ask
me to try and track down a CD, so I went to see
Oscar. He works in a small cluttered room on the 5th
floor of an office building at 123 Parana, just off of
Plaza Congreso. On the door are the words: 'Club de
Tango- Oscar B. Himschoot- Proprietor.' Oscar is very
old and very sweet, and he is a gold mine of tango
information. He even wrote a book about tango, and I
bought a copy for Alberto. It's the place to go for
things that are impossible to find elsewhere, and if
Oscar doesn't have it, he knows where it is. He was
able to track down one recording of Anselmo Aieta, so
he called someone and had them make a copy for me.
I'm listening to it right now, and I like it. It is
the old marching tango music of the guardia vieja,
like Francisco Lomuto, Orquesta Victor, or Orquesta
Minoto. It's perfect for the old walking tangos of
the neighborhood clubs- and both Minoto and Aieta have
played in Sin Rumbo.

I told Oscar I would write about him on the list.
Some of you may already be familiar with Oscar, but in
case you're not, here he is:
Website: www.clubdetango.com.ar
Email (Write in Spanish): clubdetango@sinectis.com.ar

He is a one man operation who publishes a magazine,
and runs the business. BsAs has two main tango
magazines, BA Tango, and El Tangauta. Tangauta is
published by Susana Miller's son Diego, and his wife
Luz. Both magazines are essentially the same, with
ads and milonga schedules, some light articles, and
pictures of people at parties- the kind that are
published in local 'lifestyle' magazines everywhere.
Oscar's magazine is mostly about tango history and
music, with a few ads, and a very small milonga
schedule in the back. Oscar said he was doing alright
until Menem came along and destroyed his business, so
now he's trying to start over at the age of 75 with
his small tango shop. Oscar is looking forward to
hearing from people on the list. He's a little frail,
so take advantage of his knowledge while you can.

Corrections:
Gabriel emailed me to point out that in report
#12 I said that the population of Montevideo was 4
million. It is actually 1.5 million. The entire
country is a bit less than four million.
He also correctly pointed out that we
were in Montevideo on the weekend of July 18, which
is their Constitution Day, and that this could account
for the reason that the city seemed so quiet.

In my interview with Alejandra I quoted her saying she
is "surrounded by the music" when she follows. She
read this later, and told me it should be
"surrenders to the music". Either way it makes
sense to me. Sometimes she and I misunderstand each
other. Last year I was looking at a map of the
Malvinas, and I asked her how you say "sheep" in
Castellano. She said, "barco". Another time I asked
her how you say "salesman", and she told me,
"marinero".

We are off to Cordoba for a week. Chau.

Date: Tue, 5 Aug 2003 11:54:38 -0400
From: Richard Lipkin <ezie@EROLS.COM>
Subject: Re: Notes from Buenos Aires 20

One can find a tango by Aieta, Araqa de oro, on the cd "20 Orquestas
Olvidadas" published by El Bandoneon EBCD 116.
A great cd for collectors BTW - every track by a lesser known or seldom
heard orchestra - excellent for listening and dancing.
The recordings seem to be mostly from the 30s although unfortunately no
dates are provided with the cd.

Richard
www.newyorktango.com

Rick McGarrey wrote:

>The name 'Aieta' painted in small brown letters,
>refers to Anselmo Aieta, who had an orchestra that was
>rarely recorded. Someone wrote from the list to ask
>me to try and track down a CD,....
>