‘Tango Negro’ — A Matter of Perspectives
Yvonne Besser (YB) and myself (AA) came from different perspectives and approaches to interpreting this screen narrative. Yvonne is a German Tango enthusiast. I am interested in how documentaries rooted in reality could be produced to reset skewed views of social history.
We had just seen the film at Film Africa 2015 as well as listened to the Film Director — Don Pedro — walk us and other members of the audience through how his documentary came about. We walked out with our friends (all of whom, unlike myself, are active Tango enthusiasts) at the end of Don Pedro’s discussion with more questions. We decided to save a conversation for another day.
“Tango is an amazing phenomena; a complex mix of immigration, different influences from very different regions — Africa, Andalusia, Italy, Spain, Germany, etc. — has created and continues to evolve a contemporary form of artistic expression” . — Yvonne Besser.
AA: As an outsider my peripheral take on Tango goes somewhat like this. As a dance culture it seems to evoke a moody chemistry between two people leaning cheek to cheek and chest to chest whilst pacing their turns eloquently around each other in step. All of this whilst staying rooted in a moving axis as a couple at any one time can be pleasurable viewing. I find the physically sensuous intensity to the intuitive choreography playing out between couples aesthetically fascinating. Well this was partly the extent to which Tango sat in my thoughts.
That its provenance as far as Argentina’s history is concerned could be debated in literature or film did not occur to me until I saw the programme for Film Africa 2015. Does this mean prevailing narratives about the ‘Tango Scene’ (a phrase I picked up from Yvonne) are underlined (amongst many circumstances) by ‘Afro-Argentine’ percussive techniques in the way the strings and bandoneons are played with sliding drags like “arrastres,” that gives a groove to the move?
What is the relationship between contradanza habanera who arrived with Cuban sailors in the late 1800s, the Spanish fandango and the bassline players of Argentinian Candombé?
The argument for the comprehensive correspondence between these three traditions is not adequately explored in the movie. Robert Farris Thompson, a professor of African Art at Yale, is a thought leader on African influence on Argentina’s national dance. He cross references Cuban Spanish with Afro-hispanic languages Ki-Kongo, Argentine vernacular and African-American English of the black church in his book Tango: An Art History of Love Cross. So we know there is some in-depth research activity around this topic which the film failed to address.
YB: Don Pedro has used the film to reflect on the social and cultural lives of slaves around the La Plata River; separating Uruguay and Argentina. We see snapshots of Afro-Argentine and Afro-Uruguayan take on musical history, in a contemporary context. Similarities between Candombé , Habenera , and Milonga are explored in reference to how contemporary society in both countries have formed perceptions of this period.
He is able to tease out from his contacts — historians and descendants of Africans in Argentina and Uruguay — who take us through an intergenerational ownership of the rhythm and beats of Tango. However what is likely to be a complex relationship between African rhythm and beats historically and in recent times is missing within the narrative. This leaves me curious for perspective.
How does this movie square the circumstantial history of Tango with its improvised Argentinian signature after independence from Spain and other conflicts? Where does the change processes that started from the late 1800s as a result of over six million migrants from Europe settling in Argentina fit into this narrative? As a musical expression Tango’s social history is probably more complex than the movie depicts.
AA: I find it curious that Argentinian society might be telling (or not telling) itself a variety of stories about Tango, its historical relationship with Africa framed within an incomplete picture. One would need to learn broader aspects of the film’s narrative (such as wars in Argentina where slaves were used as cannon fodder) and Uruguay’s Great War (Guerra Grande, 1843–52). As far as the film is concerned how both ‘sub-plots’ are connected in ways to substantiate the African provenance of Tango left me with more questions than answers.
YB: I would have loved to have seen aspects of the narrative where the historical African rhythm are compared in details with tango music, played with a variety of instruments but no drums.
I wonder if Don Pedro would make a second part, taking us through other influential references, perhaps focusing on questions about how all these different music styles have came together with nuanced social historical backgrounds. What were the complexities of time, place and events that have made it possible to create such rhythmic beauty out of a difficult historical circumstance?
I think the Tango movement found its way back to Angola along the path of Kizomba. It is not clear to me exactly how this process happened. Perhaps this might be an area to explore in a follow up documentary?
AA: The idea that Tango as a movement resonates universally has appeal for me. This documentary has been a helpful tool for stirring one’s curiosity about its journey as a complex issue, historically.
It has left me interested in the divergent historical portrayals, contradictory ideas and controversial opinions about Tango’s evolution and its connections with contemporary African dance and music.
Enter my neighbour; Florencia Bravo-Czastka, an Argentine whose interests include Gambian dance and Tango amongst others. Her musical tastes and eclectic sensibilities inspired a trip to The Gambia in 2013.
A postscript by Florencia Bravo-Czastka:
“Most of Argentina’s historically indigenous people ‘pre-colombinos’ began to be dominated by colonists; Spanish Empire, from the early 1500s onwards. By the end of the independence wars , enaction of law of freedom of wombs and abolition of slavery in the 1800s the social fabric of Argentina was in flux. The Argentine Carnival, similar to the Rio de Janeiro Carnival, emerged at this time and the growth of rhythms such as Candombé and Milonga became an integral aspect of Argentine folk music. Juan Manuel de Rosas (Dictatorial governor of Buenos Aires between 1835–52) showed his appreciation by attending some of the carnivals. He issued a decree, in 1840, completely abolishing slavery within Rio De La Plata.
On the other hand Domingo Faustino Sarmiento (President Argentina 1868 –74) who came after Juan Manuel Rosa; today respected as a travelled intellectual, ‘civilizing influence’ and political innovator (who encouraged intelligent thought) presided over controversial policies towards minorities in Argentina. The largest mass deaths of Afro-Argentines occurred on his watch; 1868 to 1874: the Paraguayan War of 1865–1870 and the 1871 Buenos Aires yellow fever epidemic. These and large scale immigration from Europe and the Near-East partly informed the decline of the Afro-Argentine population. Domingo Faustino Sarmiento is noted for claiming that blacks can have no part in Argentine society.
Candombé is interesting. It is a popular kind of music with place roots from Rio De La Plata (Silver River); like Cachengue, it derives from marginalised cultures and mixed influences opening up new type of rhythms. Its African roots in Uruguay seems textured compared to its equivalent in contemporary Argentina . I feel it is made complex with nuanced drumming whilst the version in Buenos Aries is simpler in comparison. Similarly Tango has flown the nest trending to geographically different styles of dance and melody internationally.
I took lessons in Afro-Brazilian dance and African drumming lessons in Buenos Aires. This was about ten years ago when finding anyone of African descent on the streets of Buenos Aires was rare. I started to dance Tango during my teenage years. There was no chance that I could have related Tango with Africa at the time. There were no percussion instruments, it was just Accordion, Guitar and Piano; very orchestral.
Even amongst immigrant European families like mine, we feel we might have some Africa in us. But it is a subject nobody talks about. There are so many layers about it.
I was in Gambia 2013 with my partner Shemek I met a dance teacher — Fatou - who gave me classes over three days.
This inspired me on returning to London to join a dance company called the Frititi Dance Company .
At a point does it matter how Tango came to be, to the extent that as an enthusiast I find dance a creative tool? I am not limited by my antecendence in my equal love for Gambian dance, lyrics and rhythm, Tango and world music.
‘Tango Negro’ spurred this discussion. It put a spotlight on other views that might shift our perspectives a little.
Perhaps exchanging different views on complexities associated with stories that share similar characteristics to ‘Tango Negro’ might allow us to reflect on the vitality of any cultural diaspora through the prism of migratory musical culture and expressionist dance forms as imaginative tools.
