5543  Kizomba & Canyengue together at last....

Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 15:28:46 -0800
From: m i l e s <tangobliss@gmail.com>
Subject: [Tango-L] Kizomba & Canyengue together at last....
To: tango-l@mit.edu

Hi,

After watching this clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRw62Ouq-0A (and related clips)

And this clip.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?váCMOvOTCZ8 (and related clips)

In my neophyte tango mind, there can be no doubt that the two dances
are connected by a very clear thread.

Tango's roots are buried forever in the stream of time, trade routes,
and royal decrees.

What we have today is what we have. And we're working with that.

However, to me, the roots of both Canyengue and Kizomba in Tango are
clear as day. And that's what I'm goin with.

Miles.

Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 17:33:49 -0700
From: Tom Stermitz <stermitz@tango.org>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Kizomba & Canyengue together at last....
To: Tango-L <tango-L@mit.edu>

The rivers of culture often divide far back in time. They may meet
again, but sometimes it is just morphological coincidence.

From all these videos, Kizomba seems more closely related to salsa
and african club dancing than it is to tango.

African club music got back to Lisbon following the collapse of the
Portuguese colonial empire. I saw some awesome african music in Lisbon
nightclubs in the mid-eighties. Not like any of the other afro-pop
stuff, like King Sunny Ode.

Kwende Lima's accent is totally portuguese, rather than Brazilian.
Very odd to my ears, as the Brazilian is so musical and the portuguese
so chopped-up and like Spain spanish. This suggests to me that he is
of Portuguese African heritage, meaning that he might know kizomba,
but would never have known canyengue, unless he learned it via tango.

He clearly knows some tango. In that videos he does ochos, sandwiches
and other specifically tango elements. Frankly, I think he is
combining his knowledge of Kizomba and tango to make a show, something
new.

I mean, you've got people mixing west-coast swing (R&B music) with
tango. Sure, both dances have african roots, but it is a bit
reductionist to claim that the connecting thread is African. The
direct connecting thread comes from a few dancers (or maybe a single
dancer... guess who?) in the US in the 1990s who knew both dances.


On Feb 5, 2008, at 4:28 PM, m i l e s wrote:

> Hi,
> ...
> In my neophyte tango mind, there can be no doubt that the two dances
> are connected by a very clear thread.
>
> Tango's roots are buried forever in the stream of time, trade routes,
> and royal decrees.
>
> What we have today is what we have. And we're working with that.
>
> However, to me, the roots of both Canyengue and Kizomba in Tango are
> clear as day. And that's what I'm goin with.
>
> Miles.

Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:56:36 -0500
From: Keith <keith@tangohk.com>
Subject: Re: [Tango-L] Kizomba & Canyengue together at last....
To: tango-l@mit.edu

Recently we had someone recommending scholarly research to separate fact from
fiction in the origins of Tango and other dances. Sounded good to me. Now we have
the opposite extreme. Miles can look at 2 very modern 21st century videos of
Canyengue and Kizomba and recognise their common roots in Tango. Amazing Miles.
If that came from a 10-year old, it might actually be funny.

Serously though - can we try to be a little more serious when it comes to the origins
of Tango because, I for one, would certainly like to know. But I don't think looking at
21st century videos of dancers, who probably know many dances, is going to tell us
anything. I can dance 13 different dances well enough to teach and a few others I
just dance for fun. I could certainly combine different elements of each, but would
that show a common thread? Of course not.


On Wed Feb 6 7:28 , m i l e s sent:

>Hi,
>
>
>However, to me, the roots of both Canyengue and Kizomba in Tango are
>clear as day. And that's what I'm goin with.
>
>Miles.