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Buenos Aires Streets, I:
Small streets for big personalities
—by Hector Angel Benedetti
Those who, observing names and positions of the streets of Buenos Aires, try to discover symbolic crossings, suggestive presences or absences, size proportional to the quality of the tribute, and other similar relationships can set all their suspicions aside. There is logic on the existence of a street that is called San Martin on one side and Bolívar on the other, but there is no analogy if Rivadavia produces the change of name. A corner exists where, as in the times of the Revolution, Moreno and Saavedra collide; but this is not a coded message. It would be like seeking hidden reasons in Beiró and Lope de Vega: neither was the 1928 elected vice-president a fanatic of Fuenteovejuna, nor had the Spanish playwright who died in 1635 ever voted radical. The scarce cryptograms of the map of Buenos Aires encouraged these myths; that Dorrego and Lavalle cross each other, for example. Any cabdriver will confirm that they don’t come even remotely close to each other, and that they remain as distant as Felipe Pigna teaches us they were. And with regard to length, the fact that Curie is less than one block long while Ramón Falcón sports almost sixty is just regrettable ineptness.
The best verification that the length of the streets is not always related to their names, is found in tango: its best-loved main characters have scarce meters of memory in the paving of the great city.
Carlos Gardel
The street Carlos Gardel was officially christened when in 1961 the Municipal Bulletin 11.725 published ordinance nº 18.252.
It was about renaming a small section of the street Guardia Vieja, between Anchorena and Jean Jaures. The election of this section was not trivial: the area of Abasto had been Gardel’s first stage and his permanent frame of reference; it was delimited by the Market and by the street where, a few blocks away, stood the house where he lived; finally, the fact that it is a passage, a shortcut, conferred it a more "tanguero" air.
It was (and still is) barely a hundred meters long. A modest encounter, certainly, that of the most important tango singer with the nomenclature of Buenos Aires, modest but in his neighborhood, as he would have preferred.
The requests for a street named after Carlos Gardel had begun in 1935. For example, poet Francisco Raimundo ("Chilo"), a few weeks after the death of the singer wrote: "In name of Art I ask, / as the most faithful emissary / to this and that person in power / that they don’t forget about you; / and that in fairness / to your sacred memory / a commemorative street / they name faithfully after you, / the street Carlos Gardel / as if recording your story…" Well: a quarter of a century later it became a reality. Later came a small square (in 1973) and a subway station (in December of 1984).
Elías Alippi
The 175 bus characterizes itself by almost never coming; a quality that increases exponentially on rainy days or when one is very pressed to arrive, for example, at the station of Urquiza. Years of traveling on this line give one a certain resigned sympathy for its delays, to which those ephemeral conversations of the bus stop confer a folksy character: "Have you been waiting for a long time…?" This writer has traveled no less than three decades in its cars; at this point, everything or almost everything could be forgiven. After all, chauffeurs and passengers already are like family, and the affectionate memory of the many palindrome tickets obtained on board still persists: eternal gratitude for so many illusions in exchange for eighty cents.
Its route takes it along Avenida de los Constituyentes to Manuel A. Prado Street, where it turns seeking what used to be the Grafa, today a supermarket. Then it goes through a district of similar buildings and narrow short streets with names of actors: Sebastián Chiola, Elsa O' Connor, José Gola, Caesar Ratti. One of them is Elías Alippi.
Besides actor, playwright and businessman, Alippi (1883-1942) was a great tanguero. A first-rate dancer, he was also the author of a few tangos; the most famous one is La Payasa, recorded by Ignacio Corsini in 1922. Its music is the same one of Gran Hotel Victoria. Alippi signed the lyrics of La Payasa with Carlos Schaeffer Gallo, playwright ignored by the Filcar guide (1).
Eduardo Arolas
The Eduardo Arolas passage ends across from the Hospicio de las Mercedes, on what used to be Barracas Street (today Dr. Ramón Carrillo). The memory turned street of one of the main tango composers, far from being picturesque, is brief and almost hidden; at its other end is the thick wall of the South rails.
Close by, in a dingy small cafe near the old Sola station, Arolas could be seen, towards 1906, playing guitar. The bandoneon would arrive later.
(1) N.T. Buenos Aires streets guide
Show review
Episodios Cifrados en Tango
"What a good idea it was to come to see you!" reads one of the entries of the guestbook that the organizers of Episodios Cifrados en Tango have placed at the entrance of the Teatro El Cubo, so that everybody can leave their impressions. Between November 5 and 26 the show gathered, at the heart of Abasto, dancers Claudio González and Melina Brufman and singer Guillermo Fernández. It received the applause of the audience and showed once again the value of self-directed and professional work.
There were no props on the stage, which was completely black. The outstanding talent of the dancers was all that colored that deep space. The show was structured in seven “episodes” that presented different stories. Presentación: Humanidad, started with the dancers sharing "that last tango, the one that indicates the end of a couple" they said; Fernández is on stage also and we discover him in a more acting than musical role. From then on he cries and continues crying during what the creators of this show called Episodio Fraccionado o construcción de un tanguero. where the singer writhes in a bed, dressed in pajamas and whispering his sorrows, in a role that will be the guiding thread of each scene. We will see him thus five more times, each one better than the other.
After the introduction, it was clear that the audience had entered a dark tunnel that would carry it through various shades of human relationships using tango as cultural expression. In Episodio I: La Despedida and II: La Presa, Brufman and González marvelously sketched the beat of En esta tarde Gris and Verano Porteño. Historias de Esquineros, Episodio III: Los Cautivos and Episodio Final: La Humanidad followed. In all of them the trio of artists managed to transmit to the audience the flavor of heartfelt tango, of passion, pain and melancholy that permeate Argentina ‘s popular music and that obviously filled them with the energy and talent that abound in Episodio Cifrados en Tango.
Maybe this flavor, which is present in the whole show, is what leaves the public with a feeling of sadness upon coming to the end. "In each one of us live together poetry, love, fury, magical understanding, conflict as well as the unexpected and the absurd. A tango couple is a cell with all the possible forms of life inside it, waiting to be brought to the stage".
Melina Brufman, Claudio González and Guillermo Fernández
Teatro El Cubo
Florencia Guerrero
Cambalache
Adrián and Alejandra
Dancers Adrián Veredice and Alejandra Hobert were in Buenos Aires in November after a seven months tour through prestigious stages around the world: United States, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Sweden, Turkey, Hungary, Australia, Taiwan, Korea and Poland. In addition to performing at milongas in El Beso and Salón Canning, they have been rehearsing for the show "Otango".
Otango – The ultimate show
Artemis, the company directed by Olivier Tilkin, begins its new tour with its show "Otango". In December they will appear in Belgium and during March and April, in Italy. The cast is comprised of dancers Chistian Márquez and Virginia Gómez, Paula Rubín and Mariano Galeano, Sabrina Masso and Fernando Gracia, Claudio González and Melina Brufman and Adrián Veredice and Alejandra Hobert, the orchestra Tanguisimo and the voices of Jose Luis Barreto and Claudia Pannone. Veredice and Hobert are in charge of coordination and group choreography, and Mona Estecho, wardrobe.
Seeking the ideal woman
Hernán Buenosayres, starring Hernán Piquín and Miriam Coelho, and a team of eleven dancers, an orchestra and a singer, premiered at the Maipo Theater at the end of November.
The musical tells about the problems of an inhabitant of the great metropolis who paradoxically seeks the Ideal Woman. "Choreographers Margarita Fernández and Laura Roatta submerge the main character in a Buenos Aires Purgatory”, the organizers explained. The show also features wardrobe designed by Francisco Ayala, scenery by Griselda Martínez, and a live orchestra and singer, with arrangements and musical direction of Julián Vat based on music by Julián Plaza, Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Pugliese among other composers.
Cáceres by Maquinal
The group Maquinal Tango presented its homonymous CD, recorded between the months of August of 2005 and July of 2006. This is the first work totally produced by Demarco Electronic Project and it features several styles within the same genre.
The material gives priority to each one of the original melodies by Juan Carlos Cáceres, with an excellent end result. In addition to the songs of the Argentine musician, a renewed version of La casita de Mis Viejos deserves a special mention.
For the love of tango
Singer Mariana Domínguez appeared during November at Café Homero. She performed songs by many authors and of diverse styles that are included in her first CD, Buenos Aires, Amor y Tango, in addition to tangos, candombes, milongas and waltzes. The singer, originally from Buenos Aires, moved some years ago to Necochea. She returned to bring her music and hopes to repeat her visit soon.
November in guitars
The last Friday of November, Bartolomé Palermo presented his guitar group Palermo 5, formed by Adrián Lacruz, Leandro Nikitoff, Mariano Heller and Nicolas Trono. The show took place at the Café del Estaño and singer Hugo Araujo and special guest Florencia Bernales joined the group.
The tangos of Caracol
On Sunday November 12, at The 36 Billares, Roberto "Caracol" Paviotti launched his sixth CD entitled Cantar in a renewed expression of our music.
Caracol’s new recorded material includes Cordón, Parte Del Juego, Tinta Roja and El Conventillo. Paviotti was in charge of artistic and musical direction and some of the musicians that accompanied him were Jose Teixidó on guitar, Nicolas Perrone on bandoneon, Juan Pablo Elgarte on piano, Patricio Cotella on bass, Ana Serena Elgarte on flute.
For young people, also
In December, the Palais de Glace will again be the setting for our national dance, with the fourth edition of the Festival de Tango Joven, which will close the cycle started in the province of Mendoza. The event is organized by the Secretaría de Cultura, sponsored by Secretaría de Turismo de la Nación and admission is free. The festival proposes the fusion of tango with new tendencies and diverse contemporary artistic expressions. "The idea of Tango Joven arises from the need to bring tango to those who think it is boring, sad or out of date" the organizers said and they added that "tango continues to speak of our identity and continues to reflect our way of thinking, of feeling and of relating to others. This is valid for both older and younger people, because tango lyrics speak of things that happen to all of us".
No rest
After the success of the 1er. (first) Certamen Pre Mundial de Tango Río Negro, that took place some months ago in the locality of Luís Beltrán, its organizers announced that they will continue "working on the second edition for next year because the South needs a place like this, where families of all social classes can enjoy this new tango tourism and cultural proposal ".
Winds of the suburbs
On December 16, Alejandro Santos presents his new CD at La Biblioteca Café. It is called Visión Panamericana, and the flutist combines rhythms of Rio de La Plata such as candombe, tango and folklore, fused with the most modern currents of jazz and contemporary music. "I try to reflect in my compositions the current rhythms and climates of our region, in a kind of universal, South American, and Rio de La Plata fusion", he explained.
Crazy about tango
On Fridays and Saturdays during the month of November, Soledad Villamil presented at Torquato Tasso a show of waltzes, milongas camperas, chamarritas, rancheras and tangos. The lead actress of the Vulnerables and Locas de amor TV series, after Glorias Porteñas, returned to the stage as a singer with songs of Atahualpa Yupanqui, Alfredo Zitarrosa, J. M. Aguilar, and the duo Jiménez-Aieta, among other composers.
Cóndor de Fuego prizes
As it has happened for the last 19 years, the Asociación Estampas y Memorias awarded the Cóndor de Fuego Prizes 2006, in a ceremony that took place in the Salón Dorado of the La Plata Municipality. Among the winners were La Plata singer Graciela Siman, as well as artists from the rest of the country. "The prizes are caresses to the heart, like the applause of the audience in each performance", said Siman.
Uphill
In November, the trio formed by Pablo Yanis on bandoneon, Mariano Gil on guitar and Juan Fracchi on bass, presented their CD, La Carroña, at the Abasto.
During the show, they performed the song Pablo y El choclo written in 1900, and music by Piazzolla and Rovira. They also played current compositions, including some of their own. In each song, the young musicians’ heartfelt and committed performance reminded the audience of the most solid performers of the genre.
Ventarrón on Tuesdays
During the month of November the cycle, Music on Tuesdays, organized by the direction of Music of the City of Buenos Aires presented Quinteto Ventarrón.
The group is comprised of Caesar Angeleri, Roberto Calvo and Gustavo Margulies, guitars; Néstor Basurto, large guitar (guitarrón) and voice and Marcos Ruffo, bass; they all have extensive experience in Argentine music as soloists and in groups, as well as accompanying well-known tango performers.
In the service of tango
Every Thursday in November and December, Velma Café presents Tango Servicio Tararira, a proposal that congregates young interpreters who give form to a show both amusing and heartfelt. Among the members of the staff are Guillermo Fernández, Claudio Galladou, "Chino" Laborde, Luís Longhi, Federico Mizrahi, Alfredo Piro and Carolina Pujal. Between songs, the artists and the venue generate an intimate atmosphere and surprise with guest performers; the first one was Horacio Fontova.
WHY I DON’T’ ASK YOU TO DANCE
(“...come to dance with me; I want to talk to you away from your friends. ..” (1))
by René
It is not that I am playing hard to please, I beg you to believe me. It goes deeper than that… how can I explain it... One of your big problems is coordination. I am not referring to the fine motor kind, you have invested good bucks in both doubtful and prestigious teachers. I am talking about the coordination of our much-postponed encounter. It seems to me, my dear, that you cannot really understand how the game is played, and that comes close to being a sin.
I am going to play my part, man that I am, no doubt about it. You will see me with my back straight and my neck stretched, a slightly worried expression on my brow and that manly look that I have practiced so much during long morning shaves. I will zero in on your eyes and then yes, a light nod and a certain and feline subtlety in my movements will invite you to dance. It is an ode to courage, my darling, because both my marvelous ego and I will be risking a negative answer. My legitimate pride exposed in the middle of the floor; years spent grooming my indomitable image of heartthrob gambled heads or tails in that coded message inviting you to dance.
This is no small thing. That it is why I am asking you not to make it even more difficult for me.
I mean: if you know that I do not like very fast and rhythmic orchestras, when they play them give me a break. Don’t force me into milonguero astigmatism, into "I look at you but I do not see you". Find a cool tanda, sort of middle of the road, something that will allow us to have a peaceful evening. I ask of you please, do not even dream of a milonga, let’s proceed with caution.
So don’t seek me at peak hours. Can’t you see that the dance floor is crowded like Bristol beach in Mar del Plata? What inane reason would make me invite you to dance under those conditions? I would prefer that you have a good memory of me and not a run in your nylons or somebody stomping right on your bunion (remember that nature imitates art). We better wait until the dance floor is a little bit emptier.
Besides, I have been observing you and there are certain behaviors that you should urgently change.
If there are fans in the room, tie your hair; and if there aren’t any, tie it anyway, your tresses get in my nose and I get allergies. And be a bit more selective as to who you dance with. Or didn’t you know that that guy was going to give you more kicks in one set than you would get from a defense player of El Porvenir soccer team in an entire championship? And you expect me to ask you to dance after that? No sweetie, that’s not how it works...
Don’t hold the back of my neck, please, I beg you: it makes me neurotic and besides, it invites gossip. And on top of everything, you want me to dance with you dressed like that? Why? So that the guys become dehydrated and the women cross me off? Not even if I were crazy, doll; what is in it for me there? You need to wake up immediately...
Forget glitter forever. You leave the guys as if they were coming from being branded and, let’s agree, you look almost as elegant as those who combine tango shoes with little short socks.
And get rid of that bad habit of fixing your bra between tangos, so that in order to keep my eyes from wondering, I have to breathe like the Tibetan masters and recite to myself the stanzas of Pobre mi madre querida (My poor dear mother).
And if you are going to sigh in my ear, don’t pretend to be like Lady Di afterwards, because it makes me wild, I don’t know if you understand what I mean. And with me...
- Hey, did you ever dance with that one?
- No, the opportunity never came up...
(1) N.T. ( “...ven a bailar que quiero hablarte, aparte de tus amigas...” ) from Sollozo de Bandoneon, Tanturi Cadicamo
World
Tango in Texas
In October, Argentine tango company Estampas Porteñas offered a show in Houston, Texas that was attended by more than 6,000 people. During the event a happy Carolina Soler, director and founder of the company, received from the Institute of Hispanic Culture a commemorative plate in tribute to the artistic history of excellence of Estampas Porteñas .
Additionally, Bill White, Governor of Texas, proclaimed October 14 Day of Estampas Porteñas in Houston. The company includes five dance couples, a singer and a five-member orchestra. It has an extensive repertoire that goes from Gardel and Lepera to Piazzolla, with which it captivated a city where country music is the one played by most local radio stations.
Grand and Gallant on tour
Dancers Mayra Gallant and Silvio Grand starred for the second time in the musical Dreams of Tango, in the National Musical Theater, one of the most important venues in the city of Saint Petersburg. After the show, where eight Russian dancers participated, the Argentine dance couple emphasized that "this is the first musical tango co-production produced by Russians and directed by Argentines; the presence of singers Alexei Barbolin and Julia Zueva and an orchestra of 26 Russian musicians, members of the permanent cast of the National Musical Theater and directed by Andrew Alexeiev, deserves a special mention".
Dreams of Tango presented several musical numbers and the story of a young Russian woman who, when going through the mementos of her grandparents discovers that they danced tango, which awakens in her the same passion.
The dance couple has been in this city twice before, as teachers and artistic coordinators of the touring cast of the company Esquina Carlos Gardel.
Third Belgrade Tango Festival
Aleksadar Nikolic and Beltango Quintet organized the Third Belgrade Tango Festival that took place in the capital of Serbia during the month of September. The local and visiting tango enthusiasts were very satisfied during each of the shows that brought the national music of Argentina to those latitudes.
During the three days that the festival lasted people enjoyed workshops during the day and milongas at night. The Festival closed with an open-air milonga at the Repuburic Trg, in the center of Belgrade, attended by tango fans and citizens who strolled through the place.
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