Re: J'ai du bon tabac dans ma tabati`ere

[JPJacquet <jfilms @HOME.COM>]

The funny thing about musette is that its sociological roots are pretty much
carbon copy of the stereotypes one reads about early argentine tango: lower
class entertainment, knife wielding proletarians, loose women (as in
"grisettes", the "repos du guerrier" of the 1871 "communards", a name that
has cropped up in early tango lyrics if my memory serves me right), dour
italian immigrants, most of that crowd living on the outskirts of Paris,
cavorting in scores of river bank eat and drink and danse joints (see Renoir
and Manet paintings for reference) on sundays. The epitome of musette music
is the so-called "java", an up tempo waltz danced with each partners'hands
resting on the lower back (read buttocks) of the other, and characterized by
a planitgrade type rocking motion. For the semiologist out there, this
"java" does not refer to coffee or computer programming, but to a language
developed by the convicts, consisting of pronouncing words phonetically and
backwards (I understand "lunfardo" uses this trick at times), so that the
police would not understand them...
The gentry quickly took to the argentine tango in the 10's (speaking of 10,
see a famous engraving of a an evening dressed couple doing a tango demo for
the not too amused then pope Pius X), not wanting to have anything to do
with musette. Musette survived despite the contempt that surrounds this form
of music to this day. It is for ever associated to the accordion, a far less
exciting instrument than the bandoneon, granted. Tangoes played by musette
combos are pretty bad. When they switch from javas and valess-musettes, the
pat sentence of the grinning dancers taking to the floor is "va doucement,
c'est un tango!", usually meaning that someone is going to put the moves on
someone.
Jean-Pierre Jacquet

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