Life's A Good Gig: The book

Tango and the music of Argentina-by John Cain


The famous music and dance from Argentina is, of course, the Tango. The fact that Argentina was populated largely by European immigrants is an example of how the differences in instrumentation and social history make Tango music distinct from Mexican and Caribbean Latin music-(Mariachi, Salsa, Mambo, Cha Cha Cha, Merengue, etc.) There is little, if any, African influence in tango music. Tango instrumentation consists of violin, contrabass, piano, and sometimes guitar. But the most emblematic instrument in tango music is the bandoneón, a type of accordion. Some tango orchestras have as many as four bandoneón players. Tango music generally has no drums. The rhythm is implied through complex melodies and interplay of all the instruments. Today’s tango music is quite sophisticated, requiring a high degree of musicianship to perform.
The history of Tango is hard to pinpoint exactly. There are many theories and myths about its origin. The dance is probably only the third dance in Western history where men and woman faced each other and embraced (the Viennese waltz and polka are the other two). This could be one reason why tango has always carried a bawdy reputation. Another common myth is that Tango originated in the brothels of Buenos Aires at the turn of the 20th century. But it is more likely that this is where literate Argentinean society first became aware of it.
As there was a shortage of women in Buenos Aires, the only way a man could get close to a woman was to visit a prostitute or dance. With so many men and so few women, a man had to be a good dancer. The women got to be selective. So the men would practice their dancing with other men in the courtyards of the tenement blocks where they lived. It was important that the woman be impressed with the man’s dancing, so the men invented steps and moves that would show off the woman. This is a more probable place for the origin of tango. The shortage of women also meant a shortage of prostitutes, so there were often long lines of men waiting in the brothels. To keep them entertained, musicians were hired, just like in the bordellos of New Orleans where ragtime and jazz music germinated. And to kill time the men would practice dancing. But not with the women because, after all, they were busy. So these men there would also practice dancing with each other. Tango was more likely developed by poor, undereducated, straight white men who immigrated from Europe to work and make their fortunes.
Theories about the origin of the word “tango” differ. One theory is that it morphed from the name of the African god of the drum “chango” with the Spanish word for drum “tambor.” But again, Argentina doesn’t have a heavy influence of African culture like Cuba and Brazil. Instead it was populated by massive influxes of Italian and German immigrants; hence there are no African percussion instruments or call and response song forms in tango music. At the turn of the 20th century, many of the Italian immigrants to Buenos Aires were from Naples. In the Spanish slang of Buenos Aires, lunfardo, the word for Italian is tano, shortened from neopolitano (Neapolitan). Some think the word tango is derivative of this. The tanos gave tango the melodic tradition of Neapolitan songs as well as the lyrical style of violin playing.
The bandoneón arrived in Buenos Aires, perhaps brought by German immigrants or sailors. It was invented in Germany or France as a cheap substitute for a church organ in poor communities. A small accordion-like instrument, the bandoneón is one of the hardest instruments in the world to learn. It has two button keyboards, one for each hand, and unlike the piano keyboard has no obvious relationship in the placement of notes. Each note is placed differently depending on whether the bellows are going in or out.
From poor, working class neighborhoods and brothels, tango eventually emerged into acceptable society. Legend has it that French sailors brought the dance back to their country where it became popular in the dance halls of Paris. The Parisian version of Tango is known as Apaché dancing, in which the man roughly throws the woman around, giving her a mock beating. Eventually tango was introduced to American audiences by the silent film star Rudolf Valentino. Not long after, tango was added to the repertoires of ballroom dancers. Nowadays tango music and dance are viewed as national treasures by Argentina and enjoy more popularity than ever with a worldwide subculture of aficionados.

Article from Fox & Quill Magazine-Dec. 2007

Words and Music
by John Cain


Buried in the bottom lines of a recent e-mail chat with writer John Wolf he wrote this:

"We are of what we can understand and we only understand what our words can tell us. Twenty-six letters like the twelve tone scale is an endless canvas to express our tales, climb over walls of controversy, conquer countries with sweeping verbosity, or be lost in hollow accounts of what we can not think when at a loss for words."

As a professional musician his words really struck a chord with me, so to speak, because I’m a musician who wrote a book about music and musicians, rather than a writer who wrote a book about music. As a musician I’m accustomed to expressing myself with music but in writing a book it was a difficult challenge for me to do so with words. So, Wolf’s words got me thinking about the correlations between the written word and music. Though both of these genres of expression require talent and practice of craft I believe it is more difficult to express moods and emotions with words than with music. Let me explain.

Written words and music have a couple of things in common; a piece of writing, an essay, a poem, short story or novel, can be considered the equivalent to the musical performance of a composer’s work. Also, the effect of the writer’s work and the composer’s tune is internal. It happens within the mind of the reader and the listener. A major difference, however, is that a writer creates his work in private whereas a musician creates his work in public. When you perform live music the reward is instant because the performance and the audience are present in the moment. (Or you can bomb in an instant, too!) Writing is more of a vicarious marathon. An author doesn’t get instant feedback. The book goes out there and he hopes people read it and like it, but he’s not there to know what their reaction is to his work. It takes time for that to happen.

This subject of music as language is the topic of endless discussion among musicians. Music, we have decided, actually has a larger lexicon than spoken or written language even though it uses merely 12 tones. But because music is sound it is more akin to spoken language than written language. In a few seconds music can communicate moods, feelings and imply ideas that would require hundreds of words to express in writing and much more time for the reader to understand. With writing, things must be described, defined and explained.

As human creatures we are full of imagination, ideas, fantasies and emotions that if we were to speak about in normal everyday life with others, they'd throw a net over us. It is considered inappropriate to discuss certain things, especially fantasies, in public. But it is acceptable to express them with music-and other forms of art. Since communication is a two way street the recipient of music, the listener, is in on the game. The music says what the listener is feeling or wants to say but cant because he is, as Wolf says, “…lost in hollow accounts of what we can not think when at a loss for words." On some subliminal level he or she understands the meaning of what the music is saying. The listener “gets it.” The music is expressing something the listener has felt but could never put into words exactly.

A writer, on the other hand, does put it into words exactly. Using 26 letters of the alphabet the writer’s skill is to literally express those same taboo ideas and feelings with words, and to do this without having some one throw a net over him or getting thrown in jail. And, of course this happens to writers all too often. Do we need a reminder of how important freedom of speech is? Written words are usually deemed more dangerous than musical expression. Writers who broach taboo subjects or tell the naked truth are always getting into trouble with the authorities, particularly when they critique those in power or whip up a revolution.

Good composers of music really know how to yank one’s emotional chain in the same way a good writer can tell a story that will bring a tear to one’s eye or make the reader laugh out loud. About 350 years ago Johan Sebastian Bach figured it all out, at least for the musical lexicon. He made a list of all the major and minor keys and assigned emotional values to each key, (the key of D-minor being the saddest key of all.) Music also has the unfair advantage of using the timbre of the musical instruments. These are like the voices of the characters in a novel. For example, a composer knows that the timbre of a tuba can sound like a fat guy and the trilling of a flute can sound like a ballerina. A writer, on the other hand, has to use words to imply or describe what the voice of the characters sounds like so that the reader imagines the sound in his mind. A skillful writer can weave his tale with words, evoking a sense of mystery, terror, irony or humor without all the advantages of musical instruments mentioned above.

The writer’s task is to communicate without the advantage of sound. His talent is to tell a story, evoke moods, inform and hypnotize, to create a world inside the mind of the reader with nothing but words. And what power these words have when wielded by a skillful writer. Just as Wolf said, with words we… “climb over walls of controversy, conquer countries with sweeping verbosity.” (American revolutionary troublemaker Thomas Paine comes to mind.)

Words and music are the sacred language of our species and we have the right to use them as we choose. But the power of music and words can be used for good or evil. Written words and pieces of music can and have been used to both inspire and brainwash. People have laughed, cried, fallen in love, been imprisoned and killed for music and words. Just like comic book super heroes let’s vow to use our powers for good, not evil!


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