Stop and feel this music before you read on……(Por-una-cabeza-music.mp3)
In every movie, there are scenes that linger and stay with us for a lifetime. For me, that scene would be Al Pacino dancing in the movie Scent of a Woman. I was very young when I saw that movie, and yet I found that dance and song so beautiful and powerful, but then I never knew what the whole dance meant. This same song and dance appeared again in the movie True Lies. I could still hear that song in my ears even without hearing it, but my knowledge ended there.
On December of 2007 I went on a trip to Italy and there I met this person who loves Astor Piazolla. I don’t know what he plays, all I know is that he was a musician. 6 months later I was on a visit to Philippines and there I found a CD by Astor Piazolla which was recorded by one of my friends. I never even knew it was there. So I listened to it for the first time, then after that I did a little research on the musician and found out that he was Argentinean and he plays Tango music. 5 months later, I sit on a restaurant in La Boca, Buenos Aires watching the Tango.
Tango querido viejo, tango que me embargas con la cadencia de tu música sentida
(Dear tango, old tango that overpowers me with the cadence of its felt music)
From El Choclo by Juan Carlos Marambio Catan (1930) and Enrique Santos Discepolo (1946)
So this is the Tango!!! The scene that lingered all these years was Tango and the song was “ Por Una Cabeza” by no other than Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera. Carlos Gardel is the famous singer who sang the Tango from Paris to New York, his crooning voice and charisma was a hit. Sadly, he died on plane crash in Columbia at height of his career.
The Tango had a long history for where it is now, respected and admired by millions of people around the world. It used to be frowned upon by the elites and the high government officials. The tango then was a sinful and shameful element.
The Tango was born around 1880 on the borders of Buenos Aires, in the bars, cafes, gambling houses and brothels. During this time there were a lot of immigrants from France, Italy and Spain and men coming from other barrios going to Buenos Aires to look for a job and better life. Having left their families and women behind, the loneliness swept them in this passionate dance that expresses a lot of their emotions and longing.
The social dance during those times were quite conservative since partners stand opposite to each other, but the Tango has invaded all the personal space you could think of, the cheeks so close, chests together, the sensual looks and all the caressing.
The men who came from the middle class and elite families who went on adventures and danced in these places found themselves swept by the Tango, but as soon as they come home, the women in the same class are not open to this and would not dance with them. These men ended up practicing with other men as well. However this wasn’t a mark of homosexuality.
Eventually, they were able to brought this dance to their families. They taught their sisters, aunts, and the girls in their neighborhood. Slowly the tango was already danced in the homes of these classes. The most progressive years of Argentina was between 1880 – 1930 and they maintained that till the early 50’s. They were even one of the 10 richest nations in the world, and for this reason the rich Argentinean families had houses in Europe where some of the members of the family introduced the Tango. Eventually it became a fashion for these elite societies.
Now the tango is inviting people from all over the world to do the dance!! They come to Argentina to learn and dance like the locals. The tango is no longer to be frowned upon. Now it has become part of the culture. It has become the dance of Argentina to the world.
