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Posts: 432
Joined: Jan. 7 2005
From: Iasi, Romania
A question
Ryan , u said u know things about literature...maybe u can help me find the answer to this.
There is this Borges book "the History of tango".
Well.it's not really history...but I kind of like it this way.But I think I always wondered what this word means and how related is the tangos and the tango(and if there is a relation). I see no relation besides,I dont know...4/4 time signature.
on dictionary.com they say the origin is [American Spanish, possibly of Niger-Congo origin; akin to Ibibio tamgu, to dance.]
Now,this is why we have tangos and tango,is just about the word "to dance" in a language or is it more than that,more similarities that I dont see? Anyway,I thought it would be good to answer myself to this question...since to be sincere 1st time I've heard about the argentinian tango and always had this question in mind ...when tangos was a subject of discussion.
What I would really like is see if anybody knows some more about this topic,and if there is no connection between the two dances ...to explain how come flamenco has guajiras( I think guajira is cuban,right?) but no tango.
ORIGINAL: sorin popovici But I think I always wondered what this word means and how related is the tangos and the tango(and if there is a relation). I see no relation besides,I dont know...4/4 time signature.
In flamenco there are several types of tango, from Cadiz, Sevilla, Jerez, Malaga and Granada. According to my book, research has shown that they originate from Cadiz and Seville, possibly from 19th century dance forms and bear no relation at all to the Argentine Tango.
Borges himself points out that there is no relation between Flamenco (including Tangos) and the Argentine Tango "...the tango did not arise from the riverbank slums where, as everyone knows, the six strings of the guitar were sufficient" - The History of Tango (1955)
Having lived in Argentina all his life, Borges is contrasting the Tango which is "born in the brothels" with the music he was used to (probably Flamenco since there is another passing reference to enjoying the "drone of the guitar" in another text).
(P.S. For those of you who haven't read it, he ultimately praises the dance form and he was informed by other experts of Tango's Brothel origin).
to explain how come flamenco has guajiras( I think guajira is cuban,right?
I think I've seen another explanation about tango, Ill try to find it. But to your question about guajira I can tell you that it belongs to what is called "cantes de ida y vuelta" - return songs like in return ticket. The spanish went to latin america and brought their own music with them. Centuries later other spaniards went to latinamerica to visit and brought back with them new music that had evolved from mixing traditional american music with the spanish music, and that again was "aflamencado" which means that it was changed to flamenco by playing and singing it the flamenco way. The Guajira, they say, came back to Spain with the spanish soldiers that lost the war in Cuba in 1898. Other examples of cantes de ida y vualta are colombiana, rumba, vidalita and I think there are more. I'll be back. Ellen
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El Corazón es el que manda cuando la duda está en la mente.
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Ellen 
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