3151  Tango "Protesta" in Buenos Aires last night

Date: Sat, 22 Jan 2005 11:20:22 -0500
From: Shahrukh Merchant <shahrukh@SHAHRUKHMERCHANT.COM>
Subject: Tango "Protesta" in Buenos Aires last night

Tango "Protesta" in Buenos Aires

"O le le
O le la
Queremos la milonga
La gente no se va ..."

(roughly: "We want our Milonga and we're not going to leave!")

A crowd of 150-200 people chanted this on the streets around 4:00 am
early this morning outside Club Villa Malcolm, where the relocated
Canning Milonga had been closed down by the police a little earlier.
(See link to photos at the end.)

"Enough is enough! If they won't let us dance inside, we'll take to the
streets." And we did. Right on Avenida Cordoba, a major 5- or 6-lane
avenue. Of course, traffic was light at that hour, but the police sent
in "reinforcements" to direct traffic around us into the one open lane
(relieving Julio Balmaceda from that task!).

Those visiting Buenos Aires and frustrated by the continued closings
could take some small comfort from knowing that they were part of a
special evening: Dancing in the middle of Avenida Cordoba to the voice
of milongueros singing classic Tangos, and the Federal Police of Buenos
Aires looking on ...

Cronica (TV station) sent in a cameraman (who arrived after most of the
action had finished, but they briefly interviewed a few people,
including two foreigners: Mila from Russia and myself). This should be
on TV sometime today. The daily newspaper La Nacion also sent a reporter
who will have an article and some photos in that paper this Sunday.

The backlash has apparently started and the stakes have been raised.
Newspaper reports had already started including mention of "the other
side of the story" in reference to discos and clubs. Now Tango has
entered the equation, with what one would think should be some
considerable advantages:

- It is deeply rooted in the culture and the people of Buenos Aires (the
vast majority of whom do not dance it) love it and are proud of it.

- People who go to Milongas of course go to have a good time. But they
generally consider themselves as participating in the culture as
well--it is something that they study, often intensively, and put into
practice in the Milongas.

- A typical Milonga bears little resemblance to the type of event that
resulted in the tragedy of the Club Cromagnon fire, neither in the
rowdiness of the crowd (though you never know if these closings keep up
...), nor in its size.

- There is a large Tango tourism industry (even though it is a cottage
industry)--the majority of dancers at many downtown Milongas are
foreigners (this is a whole separate discussion topic in and of itself).

All this gives a different dimension to the economic impact of these
closures: Safety comes first, no doubt, but when the brush is painted
too broadly, and decisions seem increasingly arbitrary, there is an
economic and cultural cost as well.

Photos at: https://www.shahrukhmerchant.com/tango/tango_protesta.htm


Shahrukh Merchant
https://www.shahrukhmerchant.com/tango/