Tango Festival 2011 Championships (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Buenos Aires’ annual tango festival kicked off on the 14^th August. More than 2,000 artists will perform in over 2,000 shows at venues across the city, drawing international tango-hungry crowds to the capital city. Organisers claim the festival will preserve traditional tango culture while bringing together emerging artists and international stars. However many are concerned that the festival focuses too much on tourism and international prestige at the expense of respect for the roots of Buenos Aires tango.

According to many traditional tangueros, older forms of the dance are under threat due to increased demand for the more flamboyant styles often favoured by tourists. While tourism is responsible for enormous investment in tango culture, many are worried that it also presents a threat to the integrity and long-term survival of authentic ‘tango culture’.

BA Tango: A Crowd-Pleaser

This year’s packed agenda of milongas, workshops, and concerts began on the 14^th August and will end with the Mundial de Baile2012 two weeks later. Last year’s festival attracted 400,000 people and this year’s could bring an even bigger crowd.

Hernan Lombardi and Gustavo Mozzi at the press conference for the 2012 Tango Festival (Photo courtesy of BA Culture)

Tourism is a defining feature of this festival and has been key to cultural policy in Buenos Aires ever since the ministries of culture, sport and tourism were combined in 2001. The Ministry of Culture today claims its role is to “project Buenos Aires into the international sphere of production and exportation of culture”. Culture Minister Hernán Lombardi is well placed to pursue this agenda, having served as secretary of tourism for the city in 1999 before leading both the Ministry of Culture and the City’s Tourism Agency between 2007 and 2011.

At a press release for the launch of Tango BA Lombardi called the event “the horizon of a new cultural geography in which the south has a privileged point of development and expansion in terms of creativity and the arts.”

Tango is an international business in Buenos Aires. However the relationship between tango and tourism is a difficult one, and critics accuse the city government of trying too hard to please transient visitors instead of investing in more projects to nourish tango culture within the city.

Traditional Tango: Everywhere and Nowhere 

  One such critic is Cherie Magnus, a 2006 finalist in the Tango World Cup who now teaches traditional milonguero tango with her partner, Rubén. Milonguero tango is the traditional form of the dance, partly inherited from Argentine gaucho culture. It centres around the close embrace and is an improvised dance based on a core set of steps led, of course, by the man.

Cherie Magnus and Ruben Aybar dancing tango at Nuevo Chique Milonga in Casa Galicia. (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Magnus feels that the city government’s focus on the tango festival and world championship risks a neglect for more long-term investment in everyday tango culture, like the nightly milongas which take place across the city.

“Milongueros go to their favourite milonga and they keep going where they always go. They have nothing to do with the festival. The championship has also gotten so political, so cookie cutter, no one cares about it anymore except the foreigners” she says.

Tango gatherings known as ‘milongas’ are nightly dances which take place in dance halls across the city. Tables are arranged facing the dance floor and constantly interchanging couples dance for short bursts of, often live, tango music.

Milongas have always been the lynch pin of tango culture. However they are independently financed and generally receive no financial subsidy from the government. Coordinating and sustaining a milonga is a precarious business. The organiser must rent a salon, hire a band, and pay to market the event. Often the salon owner takes all the money from the bar, leaving only the money from the door to cover the rest of the costs.

“There are fewer and fewer lovely traditional milongas, I’m sorry to say, because people just don’t have the money… It used to be that milongueros would go every night to milongas, but that hasn’t passed on. A lot of them are dead, a lot are sick, or too poor,” says Magnus.

Like many other devotees to traditional ‘milonguero’ tango, Magnus feels there is an increasing divergence between traditional and tourist tango circuits, which do not see an equal flow of investment.

“At some of these milongas, everyone is foreign, everyone speaks English, everyone is dressed differently, everyone dances differently. People don’t understand that they should be going to the traditional milongas to dance with local people, not to dance with each other.”

The Buenos Aires tango scene runs on demand, and is firmly dependent on tourists with money to spend. These milongas need tourists or locals to continue going in order to stay alive, however many remain under the radar of the tourist scene and suffer the consequences. In addition, many traditional clubs do not cater to the increasing demand for unorthodox forms of ‘nuevo tango’, more popular with international crowds.

‘Nuevo tango’ involves a more flamboyant repertoire of steps and can be a more choreographed form of dance. The embrace is not as close as with traditional milonguero tango and the steps are usually larger, with higher kicks and more dramatic flourishes.

Walter Piazza agrees that the situation of many milongas is precarious, “there are very historic milongas in traditional places that really need financial help, they don’t show up in tourist guide books but they’re very important.”

Dance and Diversity: Tango Today 

Academia Nacional de Tango above Cafe Tortoni on Av de Mayo (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Piazza is secretary to the president of the National Tango Academy and it is his job to know about all forms of tango, including the increasingly popular new forms. Founded in 1890, the Academy was established to preserve tango heritage in Argentina. The ornate building which sits above the famous Cafe Tortoni is home to an enormous library of tango music, poetry, and literature; housing over 20,000 original music scores.

Piazza is adamant about the need to preserve tango heritage, however he also sees tourism as the key support for the tango industry in the city and believes the Festival plays a major role in this.

“I think the tango festival is an excellent thing,“ he says. “Inside the city here, there are those who try to preserve orthodox tango, but tango doesn’t come from just one place, it comes from a mixture of cultures and people.”

“There is no such thing as one pure tango culture. The key is to move forward while respecting your roots,” says Piazza.

According to Buenos Aires Mayor, Mauricio Macri, this is exactly what the festival will do. “The increasingly large young crowds that come to the festival give rise to new codes on the dance floor, new poetic styles, new sounds, and new expressions,” he said in a press release. “The tango festival isn’t a nostalgic longing for better times gone by, it reflects a capacity for creativity in a society moving forward, with an optimistic eye to the future.”

The definition of ‘tango culture’ has been historically slippery, as reflected in its 2009 designation by UNESCO as ‘intangible cultural heritage’. This designation recognised the importance of “the mix of European immigrants, descendents of slaves, and creoles” in the creation of tango culture.

The UNESCO award did not come with financial aid, but Lombardi told BBC Mundo at the time that he would establish US$3 million worth of tango projects and preservation per year.

Tango for Who? Community Investment

Frente Cultural Raymundo Gleyzer at a protest. (Photo courtesy of FCRG)

Many claim that the money promised by Lombardi has not filtered down to community level, however. On the 25^thJune 2012, cultural centres across the city gathered in Parque Centenario to protest against the government’s focus on festivals and tourism at the expense of investment in everyday culture in Buenos Aires. The protest was organised by the Frente Cultural Raymundo Gleyzer movement, an umbrella organisation for cultural centres who are railing against what they see as a consistent short-term view towards government investment in culture.

“Since taking office as mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri has applied a constant policy of disinvestment and budget cuts in cultural matters,” says director of El Gleyzer, Jonathan Thea.

“Today the budget for culture is just 3.1% of the total, which is aimed at the development of mega-events which are profitable from the economic point of view, but not representative of our history, identity and culture.”

There are over 51 cultural centres in the city, forming the backbone of community-oriented cultural provision, including tango classes and workshops. However the city government budget for festivals is six times higher than the budget for neighbourhood cultural projects, and the culture budget has been reduced by 20% in recent years.

According to El Gleyzer’s manifesto, “the City government wants to turn Buenos Aires into a tourist mecca in South America, and that explains the unification of the ministries of culture and tourism.”

However, according to Thea, “a city with social and spatial segregation can’t have a cultural policy based on big events which only benefit a small sector of society.”

The Heart of Tango: Still Beating 

Lombardi and tango festival organiser Gustavo Mozzi are keen to deny this assessment. Both have stressed the inclusive and community-oriented nature of the festival which remains 100% free for all events. The leaders claim it will bring needed investment and rejuvenation to important community areas connected to the roots of tango, like the historic neighbourhood of La Boca, which has recently seen the opening of Usina del Arte cultural centre.

Dancing legends Gloria and Eduardo Arquimba perform at the press conference (Photo courtesy of BA Culture)

“With its arrival in the Usina del Arte, the tango festival has regained a space in a neighbourhood closely related to its origins and its identity in music and dance. Tango lived in La Boca, taking shelter in modest dance clubs and cafes when it was banned from main stages and fancy venues,” says Lombardi.

Across the eight different categories in the agenda, the festival showcases veteran stars like pianist José Colángelo and dancing legends Gloria and Eduardo Arquimba, as well as innovative new dancers and musicians like band Tanghetto. The event showcases a vibrant tango culture which, despite its difficulties, shows no sign of dying out just yet. Sitting in his office surrounded by tango memorabilia old and new, Piazza agrees.

“There are still plenty of people who respect this way of life, this tanguero culture. People from the older generation -70, 80 years old- but also people much younger than me, who want to continue the line. It’s going to continue for a long time, this culture is very much alive and well.”

What do Argentines think about the relationship between tango and tourism in the city? Click here to find out.

On every day of the week besides Wednesday, the Zona Tango’s summer dance hall is just a regular home.

From the outside it is almost invisible six days a week, located among dull houses and shady sidewalks that make you want to hold your purse a little tighter. But when the Wednesday party is in full bloom, with the soft light beaming from the door and bandoneon tunes streaming down the stairs, the location is hard to miss.

Nor would you want to miss it. This weekly tango soiree is one of the best in town.

“It’s a neighbourhood milonga,” says club organiser Fernando Bietti. “We are a group of tangueros who want to do tango in our way. The clothes don’t matter. Age doesn’t matter. It’s not done for economic purposes. It’s not done for tourism.”

Usually, Zona Tango’s Wednesday dance takes place in a hall below Bietti’s apartment. This summer, rather than shut down during renovations, Bietti gave his home to the weekly event – a move he said people loved and he will continue through summer months in Buenos Aires.

“It’s really good, the way it is,” he said. “In reality, I hope it flows, that it continues naturally.”

Bietti said the purpose of Zona Tango is to have a place to dance with “buena onda,” with good energy and a relaxed atmosphere. With that goal, he said the club pulls some of the dance’s up-and-coming greats from nearby tango schools.

“Around here is the IUNA (National Institute of Arts), where many people dance professionally,” he said. “And there’s CETBA (Centro Educativo del Tango de Buenos Aires), where there’s also a tango school. There are a lot of students, as both of these locations are close. Many of them come here to this milonga to dance.”

The dress code is as Bietti says – relaxed. From flowy green pants and black skater shoes, to stilettos and a short-and-loose skirt, anything goes for both women and men.

The relaxed clothes translate into an easy-going environment, where the dance really is what is important. Dancers spin on the floor, occasionally hitting or accidentally kicking each other. Old and young stand cheek-to-cheek and hand-in-hand, swaying together before taking the first steps into the dance.

The skills show on the floor. Most dancers obviously have a lot of experience, with near-perfect form and the kind of moves novices only dream of doing.

While dance is the main focus of the Wednesday night get-together, what would a dance be without music?

The piano is wheeled to the patio, and a string base is pulled out. The bandoneon ties the two instruments together with its sweet, nasal sound.

A guitarist occasionally takes the stage, and delightful vocals are often a feature, too.

“Every Wednesday, we get together and we listen,” he said. “There are always musicians. Always. Musicians always come, and the people dance to live music.”

The music, as the dance, is performed by people who are good at what they do. The bands play well together, and their songs are a joy to the ears.

The skill from everyone involved makes it hard to believe that they only get together in the space once a week. When it isn’t Wednesday, the patio, where dancers glide to the tunes of a band, is closed up and littered with chairs. The kitchen – where drinks can be picked up – is just a kitchen, with red and yellow walls and the scent of dinner coming from the oven. The piano that the band plays is tucked into a side area. In the main dance room, the clickety-clack of stiletto tango shoes is replaced with the tappity-tap of a ball flying across a ping-pong table.

Even on Wednesdays, it is hard to escape the fact that, during the summer months at least, Zona Tango is held on a private patio in a residential area. Despite the performers’ expertise, no one claps or shouts when a song finishes for fear of upsetting the neighbours; instead, they snap their fingers or whistle quietly.

And then, in the middle of it all, you might spot Bietti’s cat, Canaro, sneak into the bathroom and start drinking out of the toilet.

What does midnight look like in the Paris of South America? For those of us cursed with a golden-age mentality, Buenos Aires can be a reprieve from all the baggage that comes with modern reality.

This city is captivated by nostalgia, and even if a venue wasn’t born decades ago, many owners pay close attention to details in the hope of capturing a little of the magic of bygone eras. The bar at the Sofitel hotel transports customers to Montmarte with themed evenings every Thursday, whilst Sunday strolls in San Telmo’s markets act as a gateway to the past.

But once all of yesteryear’s magic gets into your system, where does one go when the lights go down? And just where, prey tell, do you plan to wear that poodle skirt?

From the city’s shadowy jazz bars to sultry milonga halls to lively peñas folklóricas, this week’s Top 5 brings you our pick of places to live out your dream era.

Club 74 gets its funk on Saturday nights (Courtesy of Club 74)

Disco Night at Club 74

Legend has it that the 80s stunted the growth of Club 74. Born in 1958, the club progressed with the ages until deciding to remain in a disco time capsule a few decades ago. The white stucco walls match the white stucco couches, giving the whole place an igloo-like feel.

The Saturday night fever is still burning every weekend, with a DJ who pretends he’s never heard of Lady Gaga. A surprisingly mixed crowd boogies on the dance floor – some dancing to remember, and some channeling moves they’ve surely only seen on TV.

The club has a celebratory atmosphere – there are usually several birthday parties going on – and it’s a refreshing escape from the moody indie-rock scene of today.

Saturday is definitely the night to go, as it’s the only night of the week when the dance-floor lights up, in true retro fashion like a flashing Rubix cube. And really, what good are revolving mirror balls without the neon lights?

Club 74 is also renowned for its themed parties, and April’s Madonna/Michael Jackson tribute doesn’t sound like one you can miss.

For more information on Club 74 visit club74.com.ar

Swing Dancing on Friday nights (Photo: Lauren White)

Swing Dancing at Teatro Mandril

There’s more than one way to swing in Buenos Aires, and if you choose the kind on offer at San Nicolas’s quirky Teatro Mandril, cameras are even allowed.

A little alcohol helps to loosen up limbs as the crowd make eyes at each other around a dimly-lit, college fundraiser-style bar. Every brand of hipster seems to be gathered there on a Friday night; the retro hipster, the punk hipster, the popular girl-turned hipster, even the odd Dad hipster.

Around midnight everyone starts to gather in the back room, near the stage and dance floor. Drinks are abandoned and tables shuffled against walls to allow for the gyrations of 200 or so guests.

Guys and girls are split and line up facing each other as a male and female instructor teach the sexes their corresponding steps. After a few minutes of learning basic steps the couples grab a partner and the room transforms into a fire inspector’s nightmare. Patrons spill into every spare corner and the dance floor becomes a mere suggestion of where you should be. After about 10 minutes of practice, the sea of men and women splits again to learn more complex moves.

The party loosens up around 1:00am when the swing orchestra starts playing, and those with less ability slink back to their drinks. A few men and women own the dance floor into the early hours, while the rest watch in awe or just abandon the moves and dance with friends.

To see a video of the type of music on offer at Teatro Mandril, click here.

Milonga de los Consagrados with Orchestra Ernesto Franco playing on the stage. (Photo: Cherie Magnus)

Tango Milonga at Centro Región La Leonesa

A gentleman lets his fingers walk up the bare back of his partner; the woman’s platinum-blonde bob allowing for full exposure of her elegant shoulder blades. Only when she is spun around do you realise the woman is pushing 60 years old, and dancing better than anyone you might have seen at more touristy milongas.

Welcome to La Leonesa, where the only clues to people’s ages are their faces and their elbows. Both men and women dress to impress. Some arrive in pairs and are seated at the black and white-clothed tables surrounding the dancefloor by a burly bouncer-type host in a velvet blazer. From then on, eyes dart around the room hoping to be caught.

After receiving their cue to dance, the women’s eyes take a rest, with many choosing to follow their partner’s lead with their eyes closed.

The large hall lends a slightly eerie, echoed quality to the music, and its yellowed Victorian wallpaper only adds to the authenticity for traditionalists.

Vendors seem to have found their target market here, as you can’t escape the kiosks of tango heels, posters and apparel positioned on the way into the hall.

Regulars say the best times to go are Thursday night’s Niño Bien event, or Saturday afternoons. You can dance if you want to, but you should know it’s very likely you’ll be out-shined by someone. Something about this place suggests it was no one’s first spin around the floor.

To read more more information on Centro Región La Leonesa click here

The art deco entrance of Virasoro Bar (courtesy Virasoro Bar)

Jazz Evening at Virasoro

Although not included on our Top 5 Jazz Clubs, Virasoro has a quaint appeal for a more tightly-knit, interactive jazz experience. Before going on stage, the band greets and jokes with the incoming crowd in the nook of a lobby. After a few beers they get up to play, leaving sheet music strewn about the floor. The venue’s unpretentious, art deco space holds a small crowd of mostly young enthusiasts who come with a small group of friends or as a pair.

The band performs in front of a continuously rolling, black-and white projection that plays jazz performances and interviews by yesterday’s great players.

The screen casts a blue-grey light on the seven band members, who play about three steps away from an audience consisting of only around eight crowded tables.

After a few glasses of wine, the candle-lit ambiance and gentle beats put you in a more subdued state, making it hard to focus on film screenings.

The only downside was the impatient waiters. Make sure you have your selection ready, and with a solid Spanish accent to hand, or be expected to, well, wait.

For more information on Virasoro Jazz Bar, visit virasoro.com.ar

Folklórica Los Cardones (courtesy Los Cardones)

Peña Folklórica Los Cardones

When a gringo pictures Argentina, Los Cardones is likely what he sees. Peña folklórica originated in the northern provinces of the country (Salta in particular) in the 1950s, and the culture has trickled down to Buenos Aires and beyond.

This large bar has walls block-coloured in bright yellow and orange, windows framed by flowery vines, and a photo of Jesus on the cross hung prominently behind the stage. The club pays homage to Salta by featuring a small menu of traditional regional fare, and a large photo of Salta’s cathedral that blankets nearly half of the wall.

Traditional folklórica is performed with three guitarists, one drummer, and perhaps a violinist. This is frequently varied however, with some acts featuring only one smiling guitarist, and an occasional drummer that seemed to be part of the crowd until he was given the nod to go up on stage. The atmosphere is friendly, loud and proud. The audience is frequently encouraged to join in by clapping with the music, and is never told to “shhh” like in other bars.

Raul, the club’s MC, introduces each performance with the same enthusiasm you’d expect if he were opening for his own son.

“We’re the first peña folklórica in Buenos Aires,” he boasts several times before the musical acts begin, and encourages the crowd to sit so close to the stage they’re almost on it.

For more information on Los Cardones, visit cardones.com.ar

The alluring term milonga is used to describe an event where people come together to dance tango. This sexy, sultry dance remains one of Argentina’s defining traditions, and with Buenos Aires holding fort as tango capital of the world, many see it as the soul of the city.

Influenced by a wave of European and African immigrants, tango was formed at the end of the 19th century and developed mainly within working class communities, who found refuge in its steps. Originally a popular means of passing the time, men would commonly dance with one another outside brothels whilst waiting for their turn. In the past 20 years, it has regained much of its popularity, with an array of fashionable milongas to choose from on any night of the week.

According to one dancer I met, “you can’t dance the tango badly, you can only move badly.” So, before you tie up your tango shoes and move badly, here are some tips on where you can go to dance or simply enjoy watching some of the city’s most authentic tango.

La Glorieta (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

1. La Glorieta

A traditional, quintessential milonga; I felt like this was the ‘true’ Argentina, where locals come to dance real tango.

Located in Belgrano’s beautiful landscaped park, I watched the dancers arrive and assemble under the same picturesque, open-air gazebo as orchestras and political groups have historically gathered under. As they change in to their tango shoes, I notice jeans are rare and elegance is a standard etiquette.

When they’re ready to begin, I witness the famous ‘tango invitation’, where the eyes do the talking and a man will stare intently at a woman before asking her to dance. At this milonga, you can feel the magnetic and compelling energy between couples as they dance, even though they may have been strangers to one another only moments before.

For many, La Glorieta isn’t merely a way to pass a few hours; it’s a way of life for a whole community of dancers, many of whom go to several dances a week. The gazebo fits a surprising 200 people, and at weekends, you’ll find it full. Whilst there are classes available, this particular milonga is better for those with a bit more experience, since the dancers here are serious!

But if you already have the basics, head to La Glorieta and get practising- if for nothing else than to talk to friendly, tango loving locals and admire their dancing.

Free entry, Saturdays and Sundays 7-11pm. Classes cost $20 and start before the dance at 5pm. For more information, click here.

La Catedral (Photo: Karine Lambin)

2. La Catedral

According to the doorman at La Catedral, this is Argentina’s, and therefore the world’s, most famous milonga.

Housed in a building that dates back to 1880 and which from the outside is unassuming, you can’t help but be hit by the wow factor of La Catedral’s dancehall. Impressive, charming and atmospheric all in one; recycled furniture fills the room and a huge heart–shaped sculpture hangs from the ceiling. Candle lit tables and dim lighting add to the already mysterious mood of this old warehouse.

The activity is non-stop. After the classes there’s a free milonga, followed by a 1am show. Nevertheless, you won’t be alone if you’d rather sit back and enjoy the quirky location; there’s a large bar area, which also serves food and the sociable atmosphere makes meeting people a certainty.

More accessible than most, La Catedral is tailored for beginners and intermediates. Tuesdays is the most popular day to go when the dancehall is packed.

Everyday from 9pm onwards. Entry costs $20 or $25 including a class. For more information click here.

Tango in San Telmo (Photo: Montecruz Foto)

3. La Milonga del Indio

What better place to dance tango than the place it first emerged?

San Telmo’s Sunday market is a ‘must do’ in Buenos Aires; full of street performers, antiques and many other quirky discoveries, Plaza Dorrego definitely draws crowds. But as dusk falls and the stalls are being dismantled, the sound of drumming is replaced with the songs of Carlos Gardel, and new crowds gather for something entirely different.

The open-air location, beneath trees adorned with coloured lighting, is rather romantic; and surrounded by classic, timeless cafes, you’re spoilt for choice picking somewhere to enjoy a post tango beverage. Indio Milonga attracts many young travellers keen to learn from the locals, so it’s a good place to practise if you’re feeling rusty or just want to try out your steps.

As well as tango, alternative music and folklore is also played, but be prepared – when the organiser orders ‘a bailar’ (dance!), the crowd instantly transforms in to enthusiastic tango dancers. 

Free entry, Sundays at 7pm. For more information, click here.

La Viruta (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

4. La Viruta

If La Viruta’s stark dancehall and coloured lighting reminds you too much at first of high school dances and runs the risk of appearing too commercial, it’s definitely worth sticking around to settle in.

Without wanting to limit themselves La Viruta offers classes in rock, salsa and tango, and as well as the typical after-class milonga, also hosts a show on certain days.

Perfect for beginners, their tagline boasts ‘you’ll enter walking and you’ll leave dancing’. And true to their promise, because it’s always busy you’ll feel less self-conscious if like me, your dance moves are more primitive than professional.

If La Viruta’s overflowing popularity appears a little more claustrophobic then classy, its distinguishing factor is how sociable it is. Pedro Soria, a frequent dancer, told me, “people come here to dance tango, but also to meet people, maybe as a dance partner, a relationship or simply a lover.”

In true Argentine fashion, the milonga continues in full swing until 5:30am, and as the surrounding venues close their doors, people head here for a concluding dance.

Every day except Monday. Entry costs $29 and $25 on Tuesdays. For more information click here.

Queer Tango in San Telmo

5. Queer Tango

The music from Queer Tango lures you in from the historic, cobbled streets of San Telmo.

As the name suggests, it’s no surprise to see dancers of the same sex here. While some are partners, others simply want to learn the role of the opposite sex in the dance. Traditionally in tango it’s the man leading the woman, but putting gender aside, it’s easy to see who has the female role since the female often dances with eyes closed, allowing themselves to be led by their partner.

A night at Queer Tango boasts a regular mix of locals and foreigners, and its casual location is definitely inviting for mastering the basics. Although the hall has a slight school theatre feel, it offers a light and jovial atmosphere in which to drink a beer and maybe eat an empanada or two whilst spectating tango with a twist.

The idea behind the night, which began in 2007, was to host an event where no presumptions are made, and where you can dance whichever role you desire in a relaxed setting. Mariano DoCampo, tango teacher and organiser explains its success, ”Queer Tango is important for the gay community, no-one asks any questions and people can enjoy dancing tango with their partners.”

In a city that’s home to an extensive gay community and an exciting destination for many more, we can’t see Queer Tango’s attraction fading any time soon.

Every Tuesday. Entry costs $25 with classes starting at 8:30pm and a milonga from 10pm-2am. For more information click here.

Tango Show at La Viruta in Palermo (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

She closes her eyes and instantly the crowd fades away and her perceptions are heightened, her senses intensified. She hears his breathing close by her ear, her nose is full of the man-smell of him. His hand at her waist, almost imperceptibly pressing into her flesh, incites her to even greater abandon. The world itself has become the encompassing circle of his arms and her heart beating in time with the music. There is nothing she wouldn’t do to please him.

He deftly sidesteps and avoids collision with a less experienced couple. He stops-corte-and whirls her around him-giro-as he guides her counterclockwise over the floor. Tonight her movements are so fluid, like water in his embrace; guiding her is a delight. Had she challenged him, or fought him, or even tried to anticipate his lead, he knows that this timeless moment would have been impossible. She conquered him by surrendering herself entirely, and he is entirely at her service, a slave to this thing of beauty in his arms. She smiles and he feels, literally, a pang in the area of his heart as her trust moves him, inspires him to care for her even more, and each step they take transports them into another realm, where music and man and woman are one.

No, this is not an excerpt from Danielle Steele’s latest novel. This is an apt description of what happens every single night at the various milongas in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. This is tango, and it rightly deserves its reputation for sensuality. The reported effects of tango are as heady as any drug, as deep as any meditation, and as earth-shattering as orgasm. If yin and yang dance – they dance tango.

What is it that makes tango so distinctive, so appealing?

A Brief History

The origins of tango can be found during the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries in Buenos Aires. The city at that time was a mixture of elegance and cosmopolitanism blended with poverty and misery, where the arrabales, or outskirts, of the city was a concentrated blend of immigrants, freed slaves, displaced guachos and native indigenous peoples, most of them poor. Unlike the immigrants who went to the US and settled in ghettos, those disembarking in Buenos Aires were more often than not forced to live under the same roof in conventillos, manors abandoned by the rich and built along a traditional Spanish colonial style with a central patio, which facilitated the exchange and sharing of cultural practices amongst the different peoples that settled here. Like all marginalised sectors of society, those living in the arrabales had different social codes than the economically privileged. Between the activity of the ports and slaughterhouses, the city received a constant influx of newcomers and rose to the challenge to meet their needs. Bars, music halls, eateries, whorehouses all thrived in the slums of Buenos Aires, as well as the human vices and violence that usually accompany them.

From this melting pot of cultures, languages and traditions, the tango was born. The underprivileged, having no wealth or possessions with which to distract themselves, had to subsume their misery in other activities. It comes as no surprise that they should seek solace in the most ancient of rituals: dance. An article in Critica in September, 1913, describes how men living in the conventillos would make fun of the Afro-Argentine candombes from the Mondongo district by dancing in this style to the music of the milonga, a folk music typical to the pampas. The combination of exiles, displaced peoples, sailors, migrant workers, white slaves – all with their own histories – was perfect for creating the crowded yet intimate scene which today is associated by the whole world with tango.

Bandoneon at center stage (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

What is tango?

Tango is first and foremost a musical style, with distinctive instrumentation, usually a sextet with violins, piano, bass, and bandoneon, with great emphasis on base rhythm, usually 2/4 time. The bandoneon, whose name is a corruption of this glorified concertina’s patent, Band-Union, is one of elements which lends tango its characteristic sound.  Some say there is a predominance of minor keys used in tango, which no doubt lends to its melancholy air, representative of the lost hopes and dreams, or faraway loves of those who developed the genre. There are distinct periods to the history of tango as music, but these are perhaps best savoured as they are expressed by Astor Piazzola, reluctant tango genius, in his Suite ‘History of Tango in 4 movements’: (Brothel 1900, Café 1930, Nightclub 1960, Concert d’Aujourd’hui).

Secondly, tangoes are songs, often of a nostalgic, reflexive nature. Enrique Santos Discepulo, one of the main lyricists/composers of tango (see Cambalache) during its Golden Age in the 20th century said: “Tango is a sad thought that you dance to.” While many tango lyrics are full of sexual innuendo, or double entendre, there is an element of melancholy that seems to mirror the lament of the bandoneon. The glory of days past, lost loves and opportunities, forgotten playthings or sunsets, and sad farewells are all grist to the tango mill. Arguably, the dramatic tone of tango lyrics reflects the lives of those who, unseen and unheard – except for the tango – made Buenos Aires what it is today. Tango became the mouthpiece of the masses, the way of expressing their sorrow at leaving their homes and their families, soothing their fear over the uncertainty of their futures in this new land, verbalizing their anger and criticism over the injustices that abounded at the time, and yes, crooning about their loves, both new and old. All these people had had to leave behind some aspect of their identity before arriving in Buenos Aires; tango was the voice of their new identity, and Carlos Gardel was and is their undisputed hero.

Last, but far from least, tango is a type of dance, at present either salon style or staged dancing. As refers to salon dancing, tango was and is danced in crowded rooms; there is a theory which claims that its complicated moves and counterclockwise lanes result from this reality of the milongas (tango dance hall) of Buenos Aires. The true innovation of tango in the area of dancing is that tightly closed embrace allows the hips and legs to be entirely free, giving rise to one European noble’s question: “Is it supposed to be danced standing up?” Dances such as the waltz, or polka, are sequence-based, that is, the same steps are followed at the same time. Tango allows for improvisation: the man must lead (especially if he doesn’t want to run into another couple) and the woman must follow – and never anticipate what the man’s next move might be. As one self-described tango maniac claims: “It is the male partner who makes it possible to be at one with the music.”

The Tao of Tango

Many Argentines will decline an invitation to attend a tango concert or competition, claiming the following to just name a few: a) I don’t like tango because it’s so male-oriented, so machista; or b) To dance tango you need a mysoginist and a defeatist:; or c) Women like tango because it fulfills their need for rape fantasy that otherwise they would get from romance novels. In reality, tango allows both dancers to fulfill the archetypal roles of male and female in equilibrium. Human rhythmic arts (i.e. dancing) are, according to Steven Mithen, author of The Singing Neanderthals, “rooted in courtship ritual”. Leave to the Argentines to get to the heart of the matter; tango is, without a doubt, courtship ritual taken to an aesthetic extreme. The balanced union of male and female each gracefully moving within the sphere of the other is a perfect embodiment of the yin-yang symbol, where male and female create the One, the Tao.

Salon Canning in Palermo (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

Nevertheless, the generations born after the 1955 coup d’etat which ousted Peron grew up in a world where tango was censored and banned. Curfews made dancing at milongas practically impossible (although they seem not to be enforced in places that played imported music, such as rock-n-roll). Time and time again, the Argentine government in turn expressed distrust and fear before local expressions and favored foreign influences in all areas of society: agriculture, construction, engineering, economics, music, film and television among others. As a result many Argentines today never learned to dance tango or enjoy their most famous heritage—or have they? Argentines themselves have tango so incorporated into their daily lives, that the music and dancing oftentimes become superfluous. Tango could be described as a meta-culture, a culture that underlies the strata of the porteño’s mind. In other words, an Argentine lives and breathes tango; he/she doesn’t have to think it. Tango is a part of who Argentines are: their identity. This is why it is so important to delve into the world of tango to understand the local mentality; Argentines move to 2/4 time; they improvise; they sail through crowded streets and venues like nothing. In other words, all Argentines tango, whether they dance it or not.

UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

In October, 2009, the tango was declared world heritage by the UNESCO. Thanks to this induction, Argentina (and Uruguay) receive an annuity for “the promulgation, preservation, and education of this intangible cultural heritage”. Already there are efforts to foment new compositions, teach lyric writing and in general renovate the faltering genre. Milongas flourish, and more and more young people are showing interest in playing the bandoneon. As is fitting for a New World phenomena, tango is one of the youngest inductees into the UNESCO registry. Approximately one hundred years old, tango has penetrated modern man’s psyche unlike any other recent form. Although the joke is on the UNESCO: there is nothing intangible about the tango; it’s all hands-on.

Homero Manzi tango show in Boedo (Photo: Beatrice Murch)

It really does take two

The relief described by both men and women upon dancing tango appears to be related to this surrendering of unhealthy or irritating roles in daily life. Women seeking release from competitive, “masculizing’ roles professionally, or men who seek to assert their masculinity gracefully – these are some of the people who are attracted to the milongas. It would seem that each is able to carry out the archetypal part assigned to them: for the space of three minutes, the man encompasses and protects his prized partner; he is knight, prince, and hero all rolled into one. The woman becomes the centre of his universe, the end-all and be-all of his existence, his muse and goddess, cosseted and secure, while she yields to the subtle directions that he sends through his hands, totally given over to the experience. Tango practised thus fulfills all of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – from the physiological to self-actualization during one tanda (set of four tango dances). No wonder tango dancing has been described as a parallel universe, the effects similar to deep meditation and overflowing joy.

A Word of Warning

Tango is not for the faint of heart, nor is frequenting milongas. If you are in Buenos Aires (or Montevideo) and are determined to explore this side of life, please take a few tango classes where the codes which rule the game will be explained to you, and thus save you any uncomfortable misunderstandings once seated at your table. If you only want to listen to tango music, try the Centro Cultural Torcuato Tasso.

For a list of places to take tango classes, click here.

For a list of milongas to watch, or join in, click here.

Many thanks to the Biblioteca Nacional del Tango and my patient partner.

In the popular imagination of the foreigner, there exists an image of Buenos Aires as the world’s sensual centre of tango, where a night on the town means dancing until the wee hours of the morning with a seductive porteño at an old world milonga.

But those who arrive in the city for the first time expecting to show up at a milonga and tango the night away are often in for an unpleasant surprise. The dance’s endless codes and rituals, known as codigos, make it so that it can take weeks for a newcomer to get a first dance. Vacationers generally do not have this kind of time to wait, and so many turn to a growing service in Buenos Aires: taxi tango dancers, basically dancers for hire.

“For a lot of people, they’ve been bitten by the tango bug and it’s their dream to come here. It’s almost like a pilgrimage,” said Rachel Sloan, a native Brit who runs a tango taxi company called Tango Taxi Dancers. “Some of them go away terribly disappointed. And we’re trying to help them avoid that.”

Instead of braving the milongas solo, foreigners can hire a dance partner to accompany them. This allows them to bypass the intimidating process of asking or being asked to dance, known as the cabeceo, or “head nod”. This gendered ritual dictates that a woman first stare at a man with whom she would like to dance, and if the man reciprocates the interest he will stare back and nod. The woman must nod back to confirm, and then the man approaches the woman’s table and waves. The woman stands up, approaches the man on the dance floor, and then they dance.

This process can be intimidating to novices.

Richard Miller, a 60-year-old Chicagoan, did not even dance during his first two-week trip to Buenos Aires in 2007, despite going to milongas every night. During his second trip, however, he came with a group of Americans who hired taxi dancers, and combined with his increased skill level, he was able to score a few dances.

He now just finished his fourth trip to Buenos Aires, and has come to appreciate the cabeceo.

“I think the cabaceo is an appropriate custom that we ought to do outside of Buenos Aires, that we ought to do in the U.S., because it protects women as well as men from embarrassment,” he said. “It helps people find their magical dance.”

Foreigners looking for taxi dancers usually contact agencies or individuals through the Internet, through ads published in tango magazines, or through word of mouth. Some agencies have the client and dancer meet beforehand and go together, some meet right outside the club, and other individual dancers will meet the client before but then enter the milonga separately, as if they do not know each other.

Diego Ramírez, who runs a company called Buenos Aires Tango Taxi Dancer, organises four taxi tango couples who often accompany groups of foreigners to milongas. He said the average client is 35 and older, majority women, and at an intermediate or below level.

“With each person or group of people it’s totally distinct,” Ramírez said.

But one thing most of his clients have in common is their curiosity about the codigos. “They ask a lot about the customs, the language of tango,” he said.

Sloan’s company uses a pool of about 30 dancers, renting them out individually or to groups based on clients’ preferences for age, skill level, and language. She said they purposely retain dancers of “all shapes and sizes”, from early 20s to late 50s.

“They work with us because they want to look after tourists,” said Eduardo Amarillo, a tango teacher who co-runs the company with Sloan. “They don’t need the money for their lives, it’s an extra job. It’s more for the pleasure of being with foreigners, and for tango, than for money.”

Ramírez said that it can be quite evident to other dancers at the milongas when travelers have hired taxi dancers.

“It’s really obvious when it’s a group of people and foreigners and they send a young couple of 25, and there are distinct age differences,” he said.

But Sloan said that most porteños accept the place of taxi dancers – who she said have been around since the 1920s – in the milongas. There are a few, however, who do not.

“Some people really don’t like it, but it’s the same with everything in life,” she said. “I think some people really make a living preying on foreign women, and this reduces the pool for them. Some people genuinely don’t like foreigners.”

There is also the “escort” stigma. Sloan said that they have had to make it explicit that the services they offer are strictly professional.

“We don’t like when people ring up and start asking how much the extras come up to,” she said. “People get things out of context….There was one woman who bit Eduardo’s ear and said ‘Eduardo, what’s happening with us?’

Ramírez has also experienced overly aggressive clients, but said that being straightforward can solve issues before they arise.

According to Miller, this behaviour often stems from a fundamental misunderstanding about the nature of tango.

“Uninformed or misinformed people want to call tango sexual,” he said. “But it’s not – it’s sensual.”

Lead Image: Tango a San Telmo by Andrea Balducci

Tango Cherie and Ruben dance tango at Nuevo Chiqué (Photo/Beatrice Murch)

A retired dance librarian, Cherie Magnus has done everything from tour with an international folk dance troupe to run her own belly dancing company in Los Angeles. Since 2003, the 67-year-old has called Buenos Aires home, teaching tango by day and frequenting her favourite milongas by night with her partner in life and dance, Rubén Aybar, a 56-year-old Tucumán native. She blogs about tango and expat life at tangocherie.blogspot.com.

How did you learn to tango?

You name a kind of dancing, I’ve done it. But the tango is something that you can do when you’re old. I saw a stage show in LA, and I thought, “well I could do that”.

Why did you relocate to Buenos Aires?

My husband died and I got breast cancer twice. I couldn’t continue to work fulltime because of my health. By this time, I had started taking tango lessons. I came down here for a ten-day trip, and then I was hooked after that. I danced when I could in LA, but the tango style wasn’t milongero. It wasn’t about connection; it was about showing yourself off. When I had to retire, I moved to Mexico, to San Miguel de Allende, which was too gringo for me after a while. The prices started getting higher and higher. So I moved here with the cat in 2003.

How did you and your partner Rubén start dancing together?

I had never wanted to dance just with one person because part of the challenge for the woman is she has to adapt her way of dancing to every man she dances with. But then I see Rubén at a milonga, and I say, “who is that guy?”. I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I don’t know if you know about the cabeceo (“head nod”). I looked at Rubén for, like, two months before he took me out to dance. (Soon) I started to only want to dance with him. I would still keep my independence, and go to my favourite milongas, but then it was “oh, I wish Rubén were here”. So after a while, we became committed to one another, and I totally gave up dancing with other people because I was bored with it.

Explain the cabeceo.

There’s about 40 different codigos that go with the milongas about how you behave. One is that the men do not come up to the women and ask them to dance. In between sets they clear the floor, with music called a cortina, or curtain, and everybody sits down. (The woman) starts looking around the room to see who (sic) she would like to dance with, and then she stares at the man. If he wants to dance with her, he’ll stare back and nod to her. And then she’ll nod back, meaning ‘Yes, I’ll dance with you for this set.’ She stays sitting in her seat, and he will walk across the floor close to her table and wave. She stands up, they meet on the floor. “Hola, cómo estás? Todo bien?” The music starts. After a few phrases – there’s no rush – he’ll open his arms, and they’ll embrace. And they dance. 

How did you and Rubén start teaching?

In 2006, we entered the Campeonato de Tango. There were more than 500 couples, and we ended up number 15. I was the only foreigner to make it past the semi-finals. After that people started asking us if we teach. Rubén didn’t want to. He said “I don’t want to make the tango a job, it’s my pleasure, it’s my love.” But on the other hand, he had been laid-off in 2001, and he needed the money. I live off my dinky little pension, so I needed the money, too. So we started to teach, and it’s been growing and growing, and it’s been very satisfying.

Cherie and Ruben dance Folklore (Photo/Beatrice Murch)

How hard is tango to learn?

Well the good and bad thing about tango is that the basic step is the walk. It derives from natural movements of real people, not from professional dancers that have taken ballet for ten years. So anybody can do it. The challenge is, though, that unlike salsa or rock ‘n roll, there’s no basic step apart from the walk so you have to improvise.

You have to not be afraid to be close to another person of the opposite sex. A lot of Anglo-Saxon people – English, American, Canadian – they’re afraid of dancing that close with a stranger. Rubén can make any lady dance. The men usually have a lot harder time. Some are very challenged that they have to think up what to do. They get impatient. They’re very self-critical.

How is dancing tango different for men and women?

The man has to be the leader. He cannot afford to not think. The woman can’t think at all, because she has to just respond to the body of the man. Our teaching as a couple is perfect, because whether we have a man or woman, the student dances with the teacher, and the other teacher observes and corrects.

What should a foreigner expect to pay for lessons?

Sometimes it’s a bit of a tease because you arrange a private lesson, let’s say for $50, and you go there and they tell you (that) you have to pay for the studio rental, which is usually $20, and then if you don’t speak Spanish, you have to pay someone to translate, and you have to pay someone to be your partner. We charge US$60. But some of the more famous tango teachers, maybe it’s US$150. (For) group classes, it’s maybe $15 or 20.

How does tango reflect Argentine culture?

There’s a saying that “it’s a sad feeling that is…” (Chokes up) I get sad when I think about it! Tango is very emotional. “It’s a sad feeling that is danced”. And Argentine people, especially the porteños, they are sad. Their faces are sad. They don’t have a lot of hope; they live in the past; their hearts have been broken. I mean it’s human, all these things. But the Cubans, they salsa their way out of it. The Mexicans, they cumbia their way out of it. But the porteños, they seem to enjoy being in the middle of all those sad feelings.  

Are young Argentines embracing tango?

There’s a lost generation. Tangos were outlawed by the politicians, and there were no more milongas. So Rubén is like the youngest milonguero, which means men who have grown up in milongas. Between 40 and 55, there are very few. Now people that age are looking to dance. And the young people are attracted because they see it as a way to get out of dire economic circumstances. They can become stage dancers, or they can become teachers and tour the world. And there’s a different style. It’s more athletic, more aerobic, less connection. But whatever attracts them, dancing is healthy.

Is tango gaining popularity outside Argentina?

I (recently) wrote about tango for the in-flight magazine for Qatar Airlines. It was cute because the guidelines for writing for that magazine were “don’t talk about alcohol, sex, or pork”. There might be some porky dancers, but I didn’t mention that.

To request lessons, contact Cherie through her blog at http://tangocherie.blogspot.com.

Photo by Beatrice Murch

Mario Herrerias Sexteto

Tango in Buenos Aires conjures up a vast range of cultural stereotypes. Perhaps the favoured among tourists is smoky brothel bars in less than salubrious barrios where beautiful girls dance with dangerous men, or sophisticated milongas filled with a belle epoque charm imported direct from Paris. For many Argentines, it’s that strange dance their grandmothers told them about, or the places where tourists allow 150 pesos to slip through their fingers and into the pockets of money-grubbing restaurant owners hoping a dance will distract from uninspiring meals.

Tango Contempo conforms to none of the above. It is an ongoing series of concerts at Café Vínilo with a weekly-changing programme which features two groups showcasing different styles of modern tango. The concerts are normally instrumental, although unusually a singer was present at the performance I attended.

The venue is a cavernous room at the back of an agreeable Palermo restobar. Among the audience backpackers rub shoulders with the architect class and a wide range of age groups is represented. Both Argentines and foreigners crowd around tables with the obligatory glass of malbec and a picada or two.

On the night I attended, tango-jazz outfit Mario Herrerias Sexteto and the Orquesta Típica Criolla took to the stage.
The first group fused tango with contemporary jazz. Perhaps it’s a personal prejudice, but clarinet-dominated smooth jazz for me evokes impersonal hotel bars. Nevertheless, it is clear that the group purvey complex melodies born of a skillful musicianship. They offer a very contemplative, ‘intellectual’ form of tango, with song titles featuring cultural in-jokes such as ‘Un Tango para Frank’ in homage to Frank Zappa. It was an almost cinematic set in which motifs are developed throughout the course of the piece, growing in intensity.

Orquesta Típica Criolla

Esteban Falabella, Tango Contempo director

Photos by Beatrice Murch

Where the sexteto pushed the boundaries of tango to experimental limits, the second act was resolutely traditional. It was an enchanting orquesta típica comprising two violins, two bandonéons, a piano and a double bass. The musicians were uniformly dressed in slick black and white ensembles, presided over by a singer with bold, rich vocals. He cited numerous tango authors and song title ‘yo soy un porteño’ seemed to summarise the nostalgia for old Buenos Aires hanging in the air.

With two such contrasting acts as the line-up for the evening it is no surprise that project director for Tango Contempo, Esteban Falabella’s aspiration is to create an environment in which “traditional and contemporary tango can coexist.” He enthuses that the musicians “play by their own rules,” borrowing elements from traditional tango repertoires and making them their own.

The initiative is run by a group of seven musicians, each of whom have their own projects. They have united, however, in order to promote what Falabella describes as “a modern vision of tango.” Tango Contempo’s mission is to offer a forum for what it perceives to be the most interesting in new music. The focus is on concert tango, a more musically complicated form than the dance-orientated Milonga tunes.

They believe that in the last ten years, the quantity of musicians exploring popular tango music has grown significantly. Indeed, Falabella declares that “tango in Buenos Aires is experiencing a period in which there are a lot of people with new ideas. It’s undergoing a lot of experimentation.” This new vision of tango, unfortunately, receives limited press coverage and is often sidelined from the commercial circuit.

Falabella opines that after reeducating themselves in traditional tango, the time has come for musicians to find “their own voice.” He perceives tango as intimately bound to the history of Buenos Aires: “it’s the sound of a city, a mix of cultures and people and professions.”

On the subject of its limited relevance to young porteño life, he views this as an issue which needs urgent addressing: “they don’t experience tango as their own culture, they don’t have easy access to what tango really is, they just see these old things from other eras. There’s a whole new generation doing new things at the moment, it just lacks an outlet.”

Tango Contempo aims to blow the cobwebs away from the fusty attic of tourist tango. It showcases a variety of highly skilled and classically-trained musicians who have pieced together segments of tango’s history and turned it into something new. Falabella asserts that it is this interweaving of history and innovation which makes contemporary tango so unique, as “it has such important history, but also a power which is something tangible and alive, in constant movement. In that sense it’s not historical. It’s a way of life and of perceiving art.”

TangoContempo is held every Thursday at 9.30pm in Cafe Vínilo, Gorriti 3780 (tel. 4866-6510). Tickets are $25. The cycle runs until the end of November, restarting in March. See http://www.myspace.com/tangocontempo for further information.

A committee of experts has confirmed the place of tango on the UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, inscribed on 30th September. This follows a joint presentation between Argentina and Uruguay which promotes the symbolic meaning of the dance as forming a key part of both countries’ cultural identity.

The initial document requesting consideration had been submitted in October 2008. In March it received the approval of external experts. The final step was a decision reached over the course of the fourth meeting between the 24 Member States of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Heritage at which 400 delegates were present in Abu Dhabi, Arab Emirates. It was after this meeting that, along with 76 other inscriptions from various countries around the world, that a place on the prestigious list was confirmed for Argentina and Uruguay’s iconic dance.

In order to commemorate the event, a Grand Open Milonga organised by the Ministry of Culture is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday in San Juan y Boedo. The Buenos Aires minister for culture, Hernán Lombardi, has declared of UNESCO’s decision that “this announcement represents both a recognition as well as an engagement to continue developing the distribution of the many different styles of tango and stimulating production through music, dance, singing and poetry competitions.”

Photo by Nina Kourea

Sitting in a café watching tourists throng the pedestrianised cobblestones of calle Defensa one Sunday, I noticed three young chaps carry a piano by.

So used, was I at this point, to the strange goings-on of San Telmo’s weekly market, I barely batted an eyelid.

Later on, I noticed a crowd had gathered down the road, and behind them recognised that same piano – surprisingly in tune for its ordeal – was part of a full ten-piece Tango orchestra.

This was Orquesta Típica Imperial, and being a bit of a sucker for Tango, I stopped to listen.

“It’s lovely to hear the next generation bringing Tango back, but I do wish they’d dress better,” the lady in front of me lamented to her sister.

I stifled a giggle as the cellist, who also had heard the comment, winked at me. It was obviously not the first time people had said such things.

But looking at the group of musicians in front of me, I had to admit the ladies had a point. The double bassist was sporting flared jeans and aviator sunglasses, and the cellist a beard and hair typically described as ‘the Argentine Jesus look’.

Like it or not, Tango has moved with the times.

Later Matilde, one of Orquesta Típica Imperial’s bandeon players, told me of course – the music has had to evolve to remain popular, and the kind of smart clothes the women were lamenting the lack of were simply the fashion of the time when Tango was most popular. Men would go out wearing suits and ladies in dresses. It wasn’t related to Tango, it was simply the fashion of the era when Tango happened to be popular.

Nicolás, another bandeon player, interjected, “often people want to reminisce about the golden age of Tango, and think if we dress the same and play the same music they can turn back the clock. They are romantic memories of a time that has gone. People are not accustomed to seeing someone who is young and dressed like me play a beautiful Tango.”

After Tango’s boom in the milongas (Tango dancehalls) of the 1940s and 50s, the movement died off, making way for rock and roll and other musical genres that had come into vogue. However, by the early 1990s, Argentina’s flagship musical style started making a comeback. The new orchestras that came out of the revival had very much changed with the times – playing classic Tango melodies with a modern twist.

Photo by Nina Kourea

And Orquesta Típica Imperial are emphatic in that they are not trying to recreate anything. They do play a lot of old Tango songs – only around a quarter of what they play are their own compositions, but that is balanced by only a quarter being well-known Tangos. Half of their chosen playlist is generally old songs that are beautiful compositions but not so commercially well-known.

They admit this is not an easy path to take, and perhaps dressing in a more traditional way and playing more crowd-pleasing, famous Tangos would have more easily lined their pockets. However, the drawback would be they would have to play each song a certain way to make it a crowd-pleaser.

But as independent musicians they relish the freedom of being able to play things their way. They also believe this way the music can grow and develop in a natural way. As violinist Federico says: “We do not sound the same today as we did five or three years ago – the music is evolving as the group evolves and comes more and more into its own style.”

However, they tell me it is hard to find places with good acoustics that fully show off the sound of the group, so the orchestra has taken the innovative step of making their live performances more of a ‘show’, to make them more entertaining.

“We live in an era where the visual is super important. Things that are not taken in by the eyes are often not taken in,” Nicolás says. As a result they feel that to make their shows more popular, without falling into the tourist-trap style of tango, they need to be able to offer something else.

Photo by Nina Kourea

Matilde is enthusiastic to unite a variety of artistic styles – creating a theatrical dance performance being one idea – but for now they are instead projecting images onto a screen behind them as they play.

“Soundtracks are chosen for films by putting music that goes well with the image. Well, we do it the other way round – we choose images that go well with the music,” Matilde says.

But having been along to one performance, and noticed the projected images were powerful, political images, which really seemed to make a statement, or give the group some sort of an alignment, I had to ask why they had selected such clips.

“Are they combative, you mean?” Nicolás asks, laughing. “Well, for some people Simon Bolivar is a hero, for others he is not – you are never going to please everyone. We choose real things that have something to do with Argentina – poverty, Che. Images of Latin America too. We also have one about Salvador Allende.”

Photo by Nina Kourea

“But we have also done one with Maradona,” Matilde adds. “Each person picks their choice, and I suppose they are all similar in a way, in that we are all similar in what we think. Music is not just an entertainment – it contains artistic ideals too. Sometimes that ideology can be to say ‘I’m not getting involved in politics’, but that in itself is a political statement and ideology. Even getting up in the morning is making such a decision – you are deciding to get up, to conform. And anyway, showing a clip telling how a democratically elected leader in Chile was assassinated is not at all a left-wing ideology – it is a fact and history. Allende was killed. He was elected and killed and a military junta took power.”

The orchestra have been together for nearly ten years now, and despite the makeup of the group changing numerous times, they are starting to get known and play for bigger crowds. They played in Plaza de Mayo for the 30th anniversary of the coup that led to the last dictatorship, on 24th March 2006, and also take one overseas tour a year.

These tours are an essential way to earn money, as although the idea of their music being free for all to hear is appealing, it doesn’t put bread on the table.

Matilde tells me how they are heading to the UK for the first time this year, and how they are excited about playing there.

It might be a good idea to leave the Maradona projection at home for that leg of the journey though…

Go and Orquesta Típica Imperial play!

They also play every week on Defensa during the Sunday market during the early afternoon, where you can also pick up their latest CD which came out last year.

For more information please visit www.orquestaimperial.com.ar