Extra Extra!! Argentine Tango Pronounced Dead!!

¿Es esta noticia la temida premonición para los tiempos que vendrán después de la pandemia? Un escalofrío nos recorre la espalda.

Is this news a dreaded premonition for the after pandemic times? A chill runs down our spines.

¡No es lo que a nosotros nos gustaría ver! ¡Fuera esas pesadillas! ¿Fake news?

It is not what we would like to see! No more nightmares! Fakes news?

Relax... no se preocupen...

Relax... fear not... 

Este encabezado viene publicado en el Washington Post en un tórrido verano de 1920, al parecer cuando los 'bailarines de mediana edad' se habían apoderado de la pista de baile... ¡bailarines jóvenes, por favor, tengan esto en cuenta! ¡La velocidad no está ya permitida y parece que a los hombres se les tenía que decir dónde poner sus manos! ¡Esta es una advertencia anticipada para usted Maestro D'Arienzo! 😃

This comes from the Washington Post, in the torrid summer of 1920, it seems the 'middle-aged dancers' had taken over the dance floor... young dancers, please be notified! Speed is not allowed and it seems men had to be told where to put their hands! This is a future, in-advance warning for you Maestro D'Arienzo! 😃

"Los muertos que vos matáis is gozan de buena salud!"

"The dead that you kill are in good health!" (Spanish saying from the 16th Century)

La  nota completa nos dice más abajo...:
The full story reads below...:

Londres, 28 de agosto de 1920. - El tango argentino, que ha estado muriendo desde 1914, recibió su golpe de gracia hoy, cuando el mayor Cecil Taylor, presidente del Congreso de la Sociedad Imperial de Profesores de Danza, lo declaró muerto.

London, Aug 28, 1920. — The Argentine tango, which has been dying since 1914, got its last jolt today, when Maj. Cecil Taylor, president of the Imperial Society of Dance Teachers Congress, pronounced it dead.

Los bailes de moda de la próxima temporada serán un tango nuevo y completamente reconstruido, el fox-trot, el l´Italienne de un solo paso y la polka lenta española. La simplicidad en el movimiento es la base de estos bailes. La "retención de cadera" está prohibida.

Fashionable dances next season will be a new and thoroughly reconstructed tango, the fox-trot, the one-step l’Italienne and the Spanish slow polka. Simplicity in movement is the basis of these dances. The ‘hip hold’ is barred.

"La tendencia de la danza moderna es la simplicidad en el movimiento", dijo Maj Taylor. “Debe haber tranquilidad en el estilo. No se quieren acrobacias. L'Italienne es un vals en un nuevo tema y la polka lenta española se parece a un tfox-trot, pero es más lento. Una de las razones de la tendencia más lenta en el baile es que el bailarín de mediana edad ha venido para quedarse. "

“The tendency of the modern dance is for simplicity in movement,” said Maj Taylor. “There must be quietness in style. No stunts are wanted. L’Italienne is a waltz in a new theme and the Spanish slow polka resembles a fox trot, but it is slower. One of the reasons for the slower tendency in dancing is that the middle aged dancer has come to stay.”

El congreso dictamina que, al bailar, el hombre debe colocar su mano en el medio de la espalda de su compañera. Ella es guiada de esta manera, en lugar de que su compañero coloque su mano derecha sobre su cadera izquierda.

The congress rules that in dancing the man should place his hand in the middle of his partner’s back. She is guided in this way, instead of by her partner placing his right hand on her left hip.

¡Cuidado con las manos muchachos!    Watch your hands, boys!


© Luigi Seta

Las "Barras" del Tango (The Tango Orchestras' "Hooligans")

By Luigi Seta

Tango is not only its music or its dance steps… there is also something else… encompasses its poetry, its history, its sentiment, its  relationship with politics and how tango changed people’s everyday life… in other words, to understand tango is necessary to understand its culture.

El tango no es solo su música o sus pasos de baile... incluye también su poesía, su historia, su sentimiento, su relación con la política y cómo el tango cambió la vida cotidiana de las personas... en otras palabras, para entender el tango es necesario entender su cultura.

A good example is the passion that tango aroused on people in the Golden Age, similar to the one that we can found today in football (soccer) teams in the Argentina of today.

Un buen ejemplo es la pasión que despertó el tango en el pueblo en la Época de Oro, similar a la que podemos encontrar hoy en los equipos de fútbol en la Argentina.

The 1944 tango “Domingo a la Noche” by Juan José Guichandut and Oscar Rubinstein, recorded by Caló / Berón and Tanturi / Campos in the same year, is describing in first person, the typical and religious Sunday night friends’ get together at the usual barrio's café, to comment on their news and happenings.

El tango de 1944 "Domingo a la Noche" de Juan José Guichandut y Oscar Rubinstein, grabado por Caló / Berón y Tanturi / Campos en el mismo año, describe en primera persona, las típicas y casi religiosas reuniones de amigos en las noches del domingo, quienes se reunían en el café del barrio, para comentar sobre sus novedades y acontecimientos.

Let’s find out in this lyrics that the tango orchestras was one of the preferred topics of discussion. /
Descubramos en esta letra que las orquestas de tango fueron uno de los temas preferidos de discusión.

"Domingo a la Noche "(Sunday's Night)

Tango - 1944

Version Miguel Caló Orchestra 
Singer Raúl Berón - Recorded Aug-16-1944

Café de un barrio porteño En la noche de domingo... Sexta edición, cubiletes, El tema: fútbol y pingos. Cuatro muchachos charlando En la mesa de rigor, José, Ricardo y Anselmo Y el cuarto: un servidor. Y mientras van discutiendo Si es mejor River o Boca, Si es mejor Legui que Antúnez O qué orquesta es superior. Anselmo cuenta sus penas, Ricardo su mala suerte, Y José, muy tristemente, Que sus cosas van peor.

Café at a Buenos Aires neighborhood On Sunday night ... Sixth newspaper edition, goblets, The topic: soccer and horse races. Four boys chatting At the usual table, José, Ricardo and Anselmo And the fourth: myself. And while they are arguing If it is better River or Boca, If Legui is better than Antúnez Or which orchestra is superior. Anselmo tells his sorrows, Ricardo his bad luck, And José, very sadly, That his things go worse.

Also, there are some urban stories about the different groups of followers of the tango orchestras, telling us that they were so passionate about their idols that the discussions were so heated that fights were quite frequent.

For instance the Pugliese followers identified themselves wearing a Band-Aid in the face, so if you were in a milonga where Troilo was performed and you saw a bunch of guys with Band-Aids, you knew that trouble was about to start!

Además, hay algunas historias urbanas sobre los diferentes grupos de seguidores de las orquestas de tango, que nos dicen que estaban tan apasionados con sus ídolos que las discusiones fueron tan acaloradas que las peleas fueron bastante frecuentes.

Por ejemplo, los seguidores de Pugliese se identificaban aplicándose una curita en la cara, así que si estuviste en una milonga donde tocaba Troilo y viste a un grupo de tipos con curitas, ¡sabías que el lío estaba por comenzar!

About this, let’s watch this interesant excerpt from a Pugliese’s documentary / Miremos este interesante fragmento de un documental de Pugliese sobre esto.

Excerpt from Pulgiese's documentary

"Soy del Pueblo" - Encuentro TV channel

In closing, let’s give us the opportunity to explore more an more about the tango culture, called “Tangueidad” to place ourselves a little bit closer to its sentiment.

Para finalizar, démonos la oportunidad de explorar más y más sobre la cultura del tango, llamada "Tangueidad", para estar más cerca de su sentimiento.

© Luigi Seta

Ilegal Milongas in Paris

While the fever for tango gradually returns to Parisian streets, a group of young people organize several times a week and without the authorization of the authorities of Paris illegal "milongas" in the open air in which dozens of couples participate.

Article translated by DJ Luigi from Tango City magazine.

As in its golden years, that dance is once again the rage in Paris, but not only in the cabarets but also in the streets and the most emblematic places of the French capital, like the esplanade in front of the lavish Opera Garnier, the central courtyard from the Royal Palace and even the docks facing the Seine River. 

To these luxury backdrops is added a pinch of mischief, given that these milongas do not have the approval of the city authorities and therefore are "milegales", as the organizers call them using a play on words. 

Hundreds of people are inscribed on these mailing lists coordinated by the French Fabrice Ballion and Tonton Jojo (as they call themselves), who send a message the day before or just hours before announcing the place and time where the next call will be made. 

"When it began, about two years ago, there was a small group of about ten or fifteen people, and little by little that nucleus got bigger, people talked and then enrolled in the lists and then the rumor circulated for everyone. sides and quickly was aware, "he told Efe Ballion. 

In each milonga about 50 couples of all ages participate, who sneak in from all corners of Paris and who are always attentive to leave quickly when the police threaten to seize the music equipment they use to dance. 

"In general, the police are very understanding, we do not come to fight, we come to dance and have a good time," says an Italian tango girl of about 70, who prefers not to identify herself but confesses with mischief that when the agents arrive to cancel the dance "they run away" quickly from the place. 

Young people are also present, attracted by tango for different reasons, such as the one given by a young Algerian who lives in Paris and who knew the River Plate dance through the film "Perfume de mujer", when Al Pacino danced to the sound of " Por Una Cabeza". 

"I am a guitarist and for a long time I was interested in Argentine folklore, like the chacarera, and then I wanted to play tangos, but in order to do that I first had to learn to dance, and now that I dance it I do not play it anymore," the young man told Efe. 

Another tango player, about 40 years old, who participates in these milongas from the beginning and approaches several times each week, confesses that illegality adds a "spicy element" and "rekindles interest" in dance. 

For this man, of French nationality, tango is an addiction: "It has a great emotional charge, with the couple and with the music, and it transforms our lives". 

Such is the success of the illegal milongas that the organizers no longer seek the permission of the authorities, but prefer to keep this transgressive aspect and organize them in the places that occur spontaneously. 

"It must stay that way, wild, pirate and improvised, we do not want to ask for the necessary authorization from anyone," says Ballion, who adds the benefit of making them in the open air because they are free: "We do not want anyone to have to pay to come to dance tango. " 

When choosing the best place in Paris to dance, opinions agree that there is nothing better than the floor of the Opera Garnier esplanade, in the heart of the city, and also the Trocadero marble surface, which makes it possible to glide more easily and under the watchful eye of the Eiffel Tower. EFE

A Hidden Milonga like in Paris

Hidden Milonga Miami Beach

a clandestine milonga 

every 2nd Saturday
organized by Lorena & Luigi