• Adventure Tours
• Argentina Tours
• Australia Tours
• Bahamas Tours
• Bolivia Tours
• Brasil Tours
• Burma Tours
• Cambodia Tours
• Cuba Tours
• Egypt Tours
• Ethiopia Tours

• Hong Kong Tours
• India Tours
• Indonesia Tours
• Israel Tours
• Italy Tours
• Japan Tours
• Jordan Tours
• Malaysia Tours
• Maldives Tours
• Mexico Tours

• Mongolia Tours
• Namibia Tours
• Nepal Tours
• Niger Tours
• Peru Tours
• Portugal Tours
• Russia Tours
• Rwanda Tours
• South Africa Tours
• Sri Lanka Tours

• Sudan Tours
• Swaziland Tours
• Thailand Tours
• Togo Tours
• Turkey Tours
• USA Tours
• Vietnam Tours
• Yemen Tours
• Zanzibar Tours

Tango Schools (ARGENTINA)

You want to get to know Argentina and Argentinians closer? Then you have to get to know the Tango as it is is a way of life in this country.

This passionate dance also referred as the ‘war of the legs’, is not just a salon dance for couples. It’a a key to Argentina. The passionate dance and the music are inseperable.And the words of the songs are a key to it’s history.

THE HISTORY

Although it has come to epitomize the glamour and elegance of high society, with women in sleek glittering evening gowns and men in tux and tails, the tango originated in society's underbelly--the brothels of turn-of-the-century Argentina. As immigrants from Europe, Africa, and ports unknown streamed into the outskirts of Buenos Aires during the 1880's, many gravitated toward the port city's houses of ill repute. In these establishments, the portenos (as they were called) could drown their troubles in a few drinks and find some companionship. They looked desperately for a distraction to ease their sense of rootlessness and disfranchisement as "strangers in a strange land."

From this heady, intermingled cultural brew emerged a new music which became the tango. Though musical historians argue as to its exact origins, it is generally accepted that the tango borrowed from many nations--the relentless rhythms that the African slaves--the candombe--beat on their drums (known as tan-go); the popular music of the pampas (flatlands) known as the milonga, which combined Indian rhythms with the music of early Spanish colonists; and other influences, including Latin. Some say the word "tango" comes from the Latin word tangere (to touch.)

Ironically, as these lonely immigrants and societal outcasts sought to escape from their feelings, they instead developed a music and dance that epitomized them. The wail of the tango, it is said, speaks of more than frustrated love. It speaks of fatality, of destinies engulfed in pain. It is the dance of sorrow.

Originally, the tango dance developed as an "acting out" of the relationship between the prostitute and her pimp. In fact, the titles of the first tangos referred to characters in the world of prostitution. These tango songs and dances had no lyrics, were often highly improvised, and were generally regarded as obscene. Further, the early tangos not only represented a kind of sexual choreography, but often a duel, a man-to-man combat between challengers for the favors of a woman, that usually ended in the symbolic death of an opponent. Sexual and evil forces were equally celebrated in this ritual. During this time, the wailing melancholy of the bandoneon (an accordion-like instrument imported to Argentina from German in 1886) became a mainstay of tango music.

With the advent of the universal suffrage law--passed in Argentina in 1912--the lower classes were allowed to vote, which served to legitimize many of its cultural mainstays, including the tango. As it became absorbed into the larger society, the tango lost some of it abrasiveness. The structure of the dance, however, remained intact, and soon the tango developed into a worldwide phenomenon. Even the Americans were doing it, although some ladies were given to wearing "bumpers" to protect themselves from rubbing a bit too closely against their male partners.
During the first two decades of the new century, the tango took Paris by storm. The blessings of the Parisians, in turn, made it a staple of Argentinean high society. Tango was reigning supreme in the cabarets and theatres frequented by the rich. Out of this culture, the tango musician became elevated to professional composer status. A pioneer in this genre, Roberto Firpo, created the typical tango orchestra--rhythm played on piano and double bass; melodies played on the bandoneon and the violin, with strong counter melodies and variations. The stars of this era were Osvaldo Fresedo and Julio de Caro.

In 1918, lyric writing for the tango become the latest trend, bringing forth the birth of a star who is still celebrated five decades after his death--singer Carlos Gardel. The memory of this handsome, charismatic performer has reached hero worship status in Argentina, not unlike what Elvis Presley inspires in the USA.

In 1930, a sudden military coup in Argentina ended the citizens' right to vote, and thus largely silenced the voice of the people, the tango. During this time, a very pessimistic philosopher/singer of the tango emerged, Enrique Santos Discepolo. He is famous for the line, "The 20th Century is a trash heap. No one can deny it.."
Tango revived in the late 1930's when the Argentinean masses regained a good measure of their political freedom. They celebrated their social rise with the tango, which became a symbol of their physical solidarity and part of their daily life. Again, tango musicians emerged who took the form in new directions including Fresedo, de Caro, Pugliese, and Anibal Troilo.

Soon, wealthy intellectuals, far removed from the working class, "orilla," began writing new lyrics for the tango. Because of their influence, tango took on a more romantic, nostalgic, and less threatening air, a sweet remembrance of youth in an idyllic society that never existed.

When Juan Peron rose to power in 1946 the tango again reached the pinnacle of popularity in Argentina, as both he and his wife Evita embraced it wholeheartedly. Yet, with Evita's death in 1952, the tango again fell from the mainstream spotlight. American rock-and-roll invaded the popular scene, and the tango again seemed out of step with its times.

Today the tango is enjoying a renaissance of popularity, keeping the fire of this daring art form burning brightly.

DANCE COURSES

You can take tango lessons in almost every part of Buenos Aires. There are lots of them. Even Tango Clubs organize dance lessons for free. But probably the best Tango Course to attend is The National Academy of Tango located in Avenida De Mayo Nb: 833.

BANDONEON

What differenciates tango, is the spirit the instrument bandoneon gives to the music.If you dont hear it in a special way you might dismiss it as an accordian. But the bandoneon is much richer in sound and capability. But when you get it , you are never the same anymore. It gives you a truer sense of pitch and envelops you in a pensive but warm and evocative soundscpae. It drwas you in.

The BANDONEON is an offshoot of a family of german button and bellows instruments called KONCERTINAS,invented around 1845. Koncertinas (distinct from those played in the british isles) were small square instruments which had 14 buttons on each side. Later this number increased to more than 70 The first bandoneon was in fact a konzertina made around the year1856 and to which the commercial name of "bandoneon" was given in memory of Einrich Band, who had a music shop in Krefeld (north Germany)
The bandoneon was developed throughout Germany under various sizes and systems. One of these many different models,the "Reinlander"(from the Rein district) was exported to Argentina at the very end of last century,whereas the "Chemnitzer"(from the city of Chemnitz) was brought to USA by Polish and Czech migrants. Germany used to sell a lot of musical instruments to both north and south America,i.e. the harmonicas used in blues, the melodeons used in Cajun music and all kinds of accordions in the brazilan Nordeste, Colombia and so on.
Bandoneon was very quickly adopted in Buenos Aires and became the symbol of Tango. It was never built there.

SAN TELMO

San Telmo....The heart of Tango in Buenos Aires. San Telmo is widely hailed as the most picturesque part of Buenos Aires. Cobblestone streets and colonial buildings set the atmosphere for an array of shops and boutiques, tango parlors and cafes.Every Sunday musicians play tango, Professional couples dance, and old Tango records are sold in the famous ‘Tango Bazaar’.

Night clubs are sunstituted by tango clubs. The nice thing about tango is that it a solution to th universal ‘I like that woman but will she reject me if I go and talk to her’ problem. I a tango club if you are fond of a lady, you ask her for a dance. She will not reject you out of courtesy. If the ineterest is mutual, she will go on dancing with you for a couple of songs more. If not she will kindly thank you and leave after the first song.

Tourists must visit the tango shows and tango theatres by professionals. They are earth striking. And most of the Professional dancers once used to be amateurs who just started dancing tango out of curiousity but later fell in love with it.

Argentina Tours

Tango Schools