tango love

hay milonga de amor
...este tango es para vos



foto : salon tango finals, world championship in buenos aires, august 2009. by natacha pisarenko (ap)

apparently tango made it onto unesco's "representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity". whatever. the compiling of such a finite list of deserving cultural "elements" and allocating protected status & funding on that basis is ummm, problematic. and ridiculously far away from such realities as war & imperialism. and of course unesco, like all un-related entities, is sketchy to say the least.

but dios! tango is sooooo beautiful, isn't it? originating in the poor immigrant neighborhoods of buenos aires & montevideo, it was most likely first danced by (& between) young men who worked in the río de la plata ports in the early 1900s. that's a bit of distance from the glammed-up ballroom version that people tend to imagine as tango today, but you know how it goes...



foto : buenos aires. young men dancing (among men) and listening to tango, circa 1900. (from the museum of tango, buenos aires)

tango music & dance have experienced in recent years a sort of resurgence owing to modern pop cultural reinterpretations. those arguably do more to rescue them from declining into obscurity than the unesco designation will. and maybe are also bringing back a bit of the more street-level consumption, no?

**

siento un dolor / i feel pain
muy dentro de mi corazon / so deep in my heart
si amarte es un pecado / if to love you is a sin
yo me quemo pues / i'll burn then
en el infierno junto a vos / next to you in hell

: tango del pecado (calle 13)


tango + electronica =
pa' bailar : bajofondo



tango + reggaeton =
tango del pecado : calle 13



tango + mas electronica =
mente fragil : tanghetto



tango + mas electronica + argentine hiphop =
mi confesión : gotan project w/ koxmoz



tango + rock en español =
mareo : bajofondo w/ gustavo cerati



tango + popular revolt =
queremos paz : gotan project

el tango queer

hay milonga de amor / este tango es para vos...



2nd international queer tango festival
1-7 december 2008
buenos aires

ya son muchos los estudios que prueban que en un principio el tango se bailaba entre varones. esto --se explique como se explique-- echa luz sobre un interesante elemento: desde un principio, el tango nos plantea una práctica que pone en escena la abstracción de los roles del sexo al que socialmente se adjudican. de ahí en más, se abren las posibilidades.

**

there are now many studies that demonstrate that, at its beginning, the tango was danced between men. this, whatever the explanation, sheds light on one interesting element: from the start, the tango establishes for us a practice that sets aside socially-constructed gender roles. from that point on, the possibilities are opened.

: tango queer buenos aires



santa maría (del buen ayre) : gotan project

tenemos furia

queremos paz : gotan project