Flamenco and Tango - Solace through the fiery passion
Flamenco and Tango - Solace through the fiery passion
"Music is your own experience, your thoughts and your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn." - Charlie Parker
Introduction:
Perhaps nothing describes the musical forms of Flamenco and Tango better; more so for they are indeed the embodiment of the experiences, the thoughts and the wisdoms of the respective clans. And this is where The Bird had hit his most perfect note, unless the Flamenco and Tango musicians didn’t live the subject of their music, the world wouldn’t have experienced the melody that has, till now, swayed the hearts of the countless millions worldwide.
An account of the Yore:
We all agree that Flamenco is a musical form much older than Tango that first appeared only during the middle 1800’s in Cadiz, an ancient port city in southwestern Spain, it didn’t take much time for spreading over to Jerez, Triana and Málaga. Now, all those raising their eyebrows in a rather confused manner, for them, it is not the Argentine Tango that found shelter in the European ballrooms that we till now spoke about; Tango Flamenco is a different entity altogether, but nevertheless important to define the peripheries of the discussion. There are, however, contradictions; it’s the Tango-Tientos family that rules the roost in this regard, the most prominent one being regarding the innovators - it is still shrouded in mystery whether Enrique el Mellizo from Cádiz or Diego el Marrurro from Jerez innovated the Tientos, a derivative of slow-paced tango.
Isolations and Introspections:
If we have to draw the fine dividing line between Tango and Flamenco, the following facts are of great help:
* Tango shares the feelings of the participants whereas Flamenco only expresses.
* A flamenco dancer is always the center of attraction and leads the Cante (song) and the playing of the guitar. It is dark in its expressions though very much invigorating. In Tango, it’s all about sharing and communicating with the other performers and we can find a similarity with the call and response theory.
* Flamenco never allows the partners mutual touching; leading a gesture and following it is a matter of how well the suggestions are taken by the other performers.
Flamenco also relies heavily on the expression created by the arms and the hands. Tango, on the other hand doesn’t allow these except for poses like the Corte or Salida Americana.
But again, one cannot possibly deny the similarities that co-exist with the differences; the feel of the music (an old world Latin feel) comes first in this aspect; secondly, it’s the postures. Both put a special emphasis on the projection of the upper body both outward and forward - from shoulders down to the mid-stomach. However, if wants to know where these two art forms met, it is possibly the Cuban Habanera, but that’s a different story. For now, let us narrow down our perspective to a few essential points before we end this discussion - while a pulsating, steady and driving strum characterizes Tango, Flamenco’s expression is carved by lilts and paused strums elongating certain beats only to compensate by shortening the others to create that certain remote (nostalgic) feel.
About the Author
Mariah Clara is a singer, song writer, and dancer. Her tracks can be heard on http://www.ucombo.com/profile.php?username=MariahClara Ucombo is a site to share user-uploaded original music and discover raw talents.
Author Mariah Clara
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