Date:         Wed, 12 Oct 1994 15:15:02 -0400
Reply-To: Karim Shafik <kts@CIM.MCGILL.CA>


*******************************************
I was asked by several epople tp post all the information I received
concerning the history of tango.   So here goes::
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Music
When I attended the Stanford University Tango Week 3 years ago historian &
choreographer Richard Powers, (one of the) founder(s) of the Flying Cloud
Vintage Dance Academy, traced the music from at least the 1700's. As I
recall, he also identified 33 different explanations for the origin of the
name, none of which was a clear leader for the One True origin.

The modern Argentine tango music is identified with the Bandoneon, a
portable accordion with buttons instead of keys. Until the early 20's,
however, the Bandoneon was not a frequent or obvious member of tango bands.
The use of aluminum frames allowed the Bandoneon to be even lighter & (more
important) much louder.

The American tango did not exist until the mid-teens of this century, when
the tango was imported from France, mostly by way of England. It was then
that the Bump Bump Ba-Bump Bump rhythm was introduced with the advent of
the American tango.

The heavy European emigrations to Argentina in the early teens must have
had many influences on the tango, both musically & the dance. Between (as I
recall) 1911 & 1913 the population of Buenos Aires increased from 2 million
to 8 million people. The ratio of men to women was 10 to 1. Life was Hell
in many ways for the emigrants in the teens. The sad lyrics of early tangos
reflect that.

About 40% of those emigrants were Italian, and the language & the culture
of Argentina was influenced by them. As for tango, there are many elements
in opera, for instance, that match Argentine tango music. However, Powers
does not see such an influence.

Tango music has been used & modified by Europeans, perhaps more than
Americans. In the 30s it was very popular in Italy. It is the national
music of Finland. Kurt Weill was influenced by it, & wrote several, the
best-known being "The Sailor's Song" ("Der Matrosensagen").

Tango music has since been influenced by other waves of music from Europe &
the U.S. Astor Piazzola, for instance, toward the end of his life brought
jazz elements into tango.

Dance
No one is sure where the Argentine tango dance came from, though there are
various myths about it. There is little evidence that gauchos had anything
to do with it, though that's part of the myth. There IS an Argentine
national dance called the Gaucho dance (along with a half dozen or more
other names), but it has very little musical commonality with the Argentine
tango. As for dancing, no one is sure whether the real gauchos even danced.

The myth also has the tango dance coming out of brothels in
turn-of-the-century Buenos Aires. That seems more likely, given the
sexiness of the early Argentine tango, but again there's little historical
evidence. The milonga is a bouncy, swaggering dance much danced in the
barrios which has some of the elements of polkas. It is more clearly a
pre-cursor to the tango. The African-derived candombe has many musical
elements in common with the milonga, but few in common with the dance.

The Argentine tango must have been influenced by European dances imported
during the waves of immigration, especially the early teens. Then in the
early teens Argentina returned the favor, & tango became the rage in
France, then shortly thereafter in England, then America. Each country
shaped it further, the Anglos especially removing risque elements &
simplifying the dance. Some early American dance masters taught the foxtrot
but called it tango. (One dance teacher referred to the tango as the
"tangle," which I've often thought is as good a derivative of "tango" as
any!)

In Argentina tango was looked down upon by the middle & upper classes as
belonging to the barrios & brothels. Then in the mid-teens French
enthusiasm for the tango caused it to become fashionable. Tango in
Argentina was developed further, made more elegant. Hollywood also
influenced it. It gained more theatrical elements, & many of the older
Argentines one meets on America today learned a variant of the American
tango instead. This "tango viaje" can still be seen danced in Chile &
Uruguay, among other neighbors of Argentina.

Today
In the 50's tango music & dance began to languish, but like many operatic
heroines is taking forever to die. In a dramatic last-minute rescue, in
1985, the touring French dance review "Tango Argentino" struck New York by
storm. Tickets were so frantically pursued that it returned to NY in early
'86 for several months, toured Europe, the rest of America & Japan & South
America, leaving enthusiasts in its wake. Finland, for instance, has more
than 2000 tango clubs, and the Japanese are in love with the dance too. The
tango has become a small but strong industry in Argentina & has become one
of its influential exports, being shaped yet again by its enthusiasts.

Such as myself. Last Thursday I and almost 300 others attended a workshop
held by the Pasadena Ballroom Association that taught a fusion of American
tango with so many elements of the Argentine that it is Argentine except in
name.

Tonight, Friday, February 25th, 1994, working late in Fullerton,
California, I leave in a few minutes to visit a birthday party at the Los
Angeles Argentine Association in Glendale. Tomorrow (Saturday) I'll take my
300th or 400th lesson in Argentine tango, this time at the Beverly Hills
Studio of the Performing Arts. That night I'll dance with a few dozen
others on the ballroom floor at City Dance Studio in West L.A.

Sunday I go to Norah's in Burbank to practice with 15 others who will put
on a show in a few months choreographed by Felix Chavez. There I'll
probably dance on the tiny, waffled dance floor till late at night, during
which I'll likely also dance merengue, cumbia, a little hustle, a belly
dance, & one line dance (probably to the tune "Black Velvet" by Alannah
Miles).

Tuesday night I'm going to a new night club in Encino where the owner is
experimenting with a tango night, & Wednesday night I visit Pedro's Grill
in Hollywood where someone else is doing the same. I'll pass up Tango Night
at a night club in Orange County, & a similar event at a Woodland Hills
Arthur Murray studio.

Sometime in the next few weeks I'll be giving free lessons to a select few
in what I fondly (& probably foolishly) hope is a new, simplified way to do
the Argentine tango that yet preserves its distinctive elements. And
continue the agonizing work of writing a book about it.

RAMON Gomez: Interpretacion del tango
The tango did originally evolve in Argentina, Buenos Aires specifically.
There are two schools of thought as to it's connection with Spanish dances
like the Habanera etc. One believes that the habanera, tango andaluz, and
milonga (creole/gaucho dance) contributed to the early rythmic development
of the tango. The controversy arises when discussing the influence of
candombe (African-Argentine music) on the tango. Some Argentinians oppose
that viewpoint strongly on racial, cultural grounds, who knows ! The
milonga was influenced to some degree by blacks in argentina being a creole
dance.

Milonga is an afro-brasilian word meaning "words", in argentina it came to
represent a large, joyful, unruly gathering, very often associated with
bordellos located near military barracks. Singing and dancing was popular
at these gatherings, the chief instruments here were the guitar, drum and
later the flute. It is believed that the dance evolved from these
gatherings. Whites in Argentina emulated these dances which they saw during
carnaval, and they continued the tradition of the dances.

The higher classes abhorred this dance form because it was mainly done by
the urban poor, creoles, immigrants and it was strongly linked to the
prostitution houses in Buenos Aires. Even the language of the early tango
songs is very crude called lunfardo, associated with thieves, criminals and
such. It was taken to Europe where it became very popular, especially in
Paris. Apparently it was then brought back to Argentina before WWI, and was
changed somewhat and became more socially acceptable.

An interesting point I found was about the conflicts between the creoles
and the new immigrants arriving in Argentina. The creoles were comopeting
with the immigrants for jobs, women and were frustrated. The tango was
theirs however, and they showed it off to the immigrants. The immigrants
were accepted if they could do the complicated footwork and body movements.
I think you could see these furtive elements in tango today.

When the tango became socially acceptable, it evolved highly in its music
and song. Carlos Gardel was the man who made the tango popular, songwise.
His other names were Charles Romauld, and he sometimes used his mothers
lastname Gardes (accent acute on e). In 1893 he went to Argentina with his
mom. Initially, he sang a lot of street music and changed his name to
Gardel (to sound more creole). Gardel made the tango widely acceptable and
is seen as the person who made the tango an absolutely Argentinian artform.


Just a short note on the music, early tango music was more joyous and it
later became influenced by the duels/conflicts between the creoles and the
immigrants so it was more about pain then, with the use of the bandoneon
(an Italian accordion type instrument), the music began to be sad. What
about tango love songs? I'll leave that to soemone else to explore.
Probably the result of Gardel's influence. [Someone mentioned that it was
originally danced by women only, that is the tango andaluz from andalusia
in Spain.]

Other music exists to heal wounds; but the tango when sung and played is
for the purpose of opening them, for the purpose of sticking your finger in
the wound and to tear them until they bleed

Nobo Komagata:
According to a fascinating video, "Tango Bar", it seems the dance
(Argentinean Tango) originated from a dance (probably Milonga) among the
poor in Argentina. I don't thing there is any particular inventor of Tango.
The music may have originated in Andalucia, Spain before the dance (source
"The Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing by Richard Stephenson). But I am not
sure about the credibility of the account. These are what I believe at this
time but not 100%. I also found a book, "El Tango y Sus Circunstancias by
Fernando Assuncao (Spanish). It has a bibliography containig dozens of
books. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to read it.
komagata@eniac.seas.upenn.edu

M.Sequerth
It is my understanding the original Tango was indeed spanish. However, it
was not the form that we use today. Originally the Tango was danced by
women alone. When the dance was brought to the west (Argentina) it took on
the form that closely resembles that which we dance today. The modern form
was influenced by the Creole (French), Indian and Black cultures of the
"west". When it returned to Europe it was danced in the cafes and scorned
as a "peasants" dance. Later 1910???? it gained social acceptability. This
is the way I remember it. Some of my chronology may be in error but, the
dance did originate in Spain, and later brought to the new world. I hope
this helps.
marks@igor.tamri.com
Nicole Stefaniuk
I heard from my instructors that the tango was developed in Argentina. It
was danced by men who were working in the fields for weeks on end, then
came into town for wine and women. They grabbed the woman as close to them
as possible (hence the body position), but they smelled bad (hence the
woman's arching away). Even if this isn't true, it's a cute story.<wink>
(stefan@snoopy.usask.ca)President, University of Saskatchewan Ballroom
Dance Club
Stephen Zisk
According to my several sources (all secondary), the Tango was not
"invented" but developed around the turn of the century from several
earlier dance forms, principally the Milonga, a faster dance, and the
Habanera, slower. Some Tango music still has undertones of these two
earlier forms. As for the Milonga and Habanera, these apparently arose from
a mix of African, South American, and European (possibly Italian) music and
dance patterns.

The Tango was brought to Europe via Marseilles, and was "made respectable"
by a number of different exhibition dancers, so it might be argued that a
Frenchman or Spaniard had some part in "inventing" the more socially
respectable forms of the dance. Ironically, it took European
"respectability" to bring the dance out of the slum bordellos and bars into
respectable circles in Argentina.

Larry Carroll
I just returned from Stanford University's Tango Week. According to
historian and choreographer Richard Powers, there are over two dozen
different explanations for the origins of the work "tango," and none of
them may be right. It is known that tango music existed in the early
1800's, and was based on the habanera rhythm, of which there are two
variants: dotted-quarter,eighth, quarter, quarter & eighth,quarter,eighth,
quarter, quarter. If you drum this, it sounds like BUMP... BA-BUMP BUMP and
BA-BUMP-BA BUMP BUMP.

A graduate student working with Richard, Jo Baim, believes the tango has
close ties (or at least an affinity) with waltz, and gives examples of
mid-18th century music in which the 4/4 time of tango shifted to 3/4 time
and back again in the same work. Here in Los Angeles, where we're lucky
enough to have two places to go to listen and dance the Argentine Tango to
live bands, both bands usually play a waltz during each 30-minute set, and
sometimes mix the two tempoes.

As for the dance, there are similar speculations & no hard information as
to where it came from. The myth claims contributions from African slaves,
South American gauchos (who for all we know did not dance at all), pimps &
prostitutes in the brothels of Buenos Aires & Montevideo, and many
different ethnic dances brought from Europe by immigrants.

More recent evolution of the music and dance is clearer. Powers has
examined numerous dance manuals, letters to the editor, articles, posters
for events, recordings, & motion pictures and is working on a book about
his findings. Apparently about 1811 visitors to Argentina from France
brought it back and it found a home in Montmarte, where Apache was created
in an atmosphere full of poverty, crime, and misery; Apache is basically
stylized physical beating and rape. Shortly afterwards, Paris discovered
tango & put its own mark on it, making the music and dance brighter and
happier, slowed the tempo, and made other stylistic changes.

This was then imported to Britain & America, each putting their own spin on
it (such as ragime music), and back to Argentina, where the original was
infused with European and American elements. Later, tango was affected by
motion pictures, music and dance from such sources as jazz, foxtrot, and
waltz, and such political elements as the 1916 democratic revolution in
Argentina. Today it continues to evolve. Astor Piazzolla, for instance,
often completely abandons the habanera rhythm. And Argentine tango is
enjoying a renaissance because of the success of such musical revues as
Tango Argentino and Forever Tango, Nora Dinzelbacher's Tango Argentina
dance troupe and classes in San Francisco, and teachers such as Sonny
Newman in Seattle, the half-dozen teachers here in Los Angeles, and others
in New York, Chicago, and Miami.

Currently most people's ideas of the Argentine tango is still primarily
what they see on stage, where a huge space is available & dancers trained
almost from birth in ballet and other dances do very complex steps in
patterns produced by professional choreographers and honed to precision and
blinding speed by many hours of practice. That is changing as more people
actually do tango in America, and it begins to resemble what it is in
Argentina today. There dance floors are small and crowded, so long runs
(corridas) and high kicks and boleas (where the leg is extended straight
back from the knee) aren't done. Long, complex choregraphed passages aren't
possible, either, because musicians play music differently depending on how
they feel, adding & subtracting passages, changing keys and tempoes, etc.
More importantly, other couples interfere: dancers have to move out of
other's paths to avoid collision, or move around couples who have stopped
because of a problem or because they're doing something fancy they saw on
stage. Dancers develop improv skills under these circumstances, base their
actions on simple patterns, and focus on improving their style, so that
they are more elegant and sexy and precise. Embellishments tend to be
subtle: toe taps, slightly different rising and falling of the upper body,
how toes are angled, etc.

As more people get involved in Argentine tango, accident and poor training
and dance skills from other dances change it. I've started doing some
things that break traditional patterns (or maybe its's just adding show-biz
elements, as is always being done with tango). For instance, I drop the
extended hand, putting my left hand behind my back, letting it hang
straight down, or place it on my hip. When the music is very slow and sad,
I may place it behind my partner's back above my right hand and (in effect)
embrace and "console" her, or carress her hair (or other things!). I may do
sight leads, where I drop both hands and depend on her following visual
cues. This can only work when my partner is very good, I ensure that my
upper body is very parallel to her's (which is proper tango style, with the
lower body fairly independent of the upper), and establish a simple pattern
before I drop my hands.

Alan Hu
Tango is derived from Habanera at some point in its history, so you
frequently get the dotted-quarter eighth quarter quarter rhythm. Thanks to
the Foxtrot influence, you'll also see lots of quarter quarter quarter
quarter rhythms. Although Argentine tango has many phrase-length changes,
most ballroom tango music sticks to 8 beat phrases that fit nicely with the
length of most dance figures. Traditional instruments would be accordian
(actually bandoneon), violin, and piano. I can't really describe the style;
go get the Tango Project CD and listen.
ajh@Xenon.Stanford.EDU
Dave Hudson
It is common for tango to have broader 32-beat musical phrases atop this.
These broader phrases can be useful in identifying tango where the normal
percussive clues seem absent. Don't confuse tango with paso doble, which
sounds even more march-like and less phrased.
tdh@ksr.com

Styling
In the Latin dances, I suspect you are seeing two things: spotting on fast
turning actions, and an effect of something in the developed aesthetic of
competitive dancing, namely, emphasis on body speed and contrasting speeds.
For example, the slow legato rumba music might encourage seem to want slow
movements. However, to develop more interest, create focus and drama, and
to highlight certain movements and shapes, couples work hard to create
contrast by creating very fast movements followed by very slow controlled
actions with a building of tension, followed by a release that creates more
speed. A more knowledgeable Latin dancer will have to fill you in more.

As you noticed, the Standard dances had much less of this. There cannot be
nearly as much spotting because it would destroy the topline. Nonetheless,
you see sharp head actions in Tango. This is not so much spotting as a
result of the highly stylized aesthetic of modern international style
Tango. I often tell inquisitive beginning dancers that the standardized
tango had to have something added to replace the sex that was removed :-)
The idea is to provide rapid, contrasting shapes, and movements. You want
to surprise the audience and make use of building and releasing tension.
There is actually a new trend in Tango that I think is great. The
international Tango music has for a long time (anyone know when this
developed?) been very march-like. Quite boring really. There is today a
trend towards music that reflects Tango's roots more accurately. The tempo
is slightly slower, you hear more accordian (how is a bandoneon
different?), and the music is more textured. The very top dancers in the
world are showing this in their correography too. There are still sharp
fast movements, but we're seeing more swivels and contrasting lines that
are developed over considerably more time. There is less emphasis on
movement -- To the point where the Amateur world champions may not get
around the floor even once in the entire song (lesser dancers like me
cannot afford to do this---yet)! Though, you didn't see this on the Ohio
Star Ball show, however, I noticed that Mason and Chard are incorporating
these elements into their correography. (Their execution isn't quite there
yet, and the music was the old style.)

David G. Way
dgw2@cornell.edu
14 East Ave.
Ithaca, NY 14853
(607) 255-2663