Milonga Otros Buenos Aires

You just can’t find domestic help like this today (but my cleaning lady is a mean cumbiana)

What does it say about English speakers that in Facebook, when adding an event, if your default language is Spanish, “Dance” is an option, but if it is English, the closest thing you get is “Listening Party”.  Really? Isn’t it a bit presumptuous of Facebook to assume that if you are ‘English’ you would prefer to just sit on you ass and tap your feet, but if you are ‘Spanish’, then you’re gonna dance? I wonder what option they offer if your language is Farsi!?

Regardless, whether your ‘english’,’spanish’, or ‘ basque’, you can come and swing dance this friday.

Whiskey & Swing

(All whiskey drinks 2 for 1)
Feb 11, 2010, Friday
$10
Plus
Classes by the Meistras of Swing,
Eugenia Della Latta
and
Agustina Zero-Setien
http://www.otrosbuenosaires.com/
Every Friday 23:00 – 4:00
Independencia 572

Classes 21:30 – 22:30 (includes Entrada)

Well, I never finished my last post with was detailing how MOBA has become a Swing Bar… Suffice to say, it is.

This is our first night of Swing, so I am anxious to see how it turns out.  I am optimistic, for many reasons.

Swing is the polar opposite of Tango, it seems.  They both evolved is a similar fashion, a fusion of sounds that arose from the ghettos in two countries that has opened their doors to world.  Ironically, Tango, a music of sadness,  loss and nostalgia,  has it’s root in the immegrants who came to Argentina to start a new life, while Swing, a music of celebration and joy, grew out of the black slaves who life’s were that of misery and suffering.  Go figure!

I love tango!  but tango, and tango dancers (in BA) are not really a ‘happy’ crowd.  Just go to any milonga and see for yourself!  While Swing dancers seem to be having way too much fun!

WhenI started MOBA, the idea was to create a place where tango can be fun, happy, exciting…  well, I am a Yankee from NYC, so I think I can do anything   After a year of trying to drag tangueros, kicking and screaming, into MOBA for a little fun, I realized I was being foolish.  Tangueros really do enjoy the sadness!  Swing dancers, on the other hand, seem to be having a great time!

So, when we decided to let a few Swing dancers into MOBA, and the place quickly was packed with ‘happy feet’… well, my eyes were opened!

There are countless venues in BA to dance tango.  Granted,  99% of them play the same music, but, they seem to be giving the customer what they want.  There are few places to dance Swing in BA.  So, in the original spirit of bringing a bit more joy into the world, MOBA (now called OBA) is cozying up to the Swingers, and the best part is I don’t have beg and plead Swingers to come!  What a concept!

Otros Buenos Aires
Bailar Alternativa

Swing Night at OBA
Ene 22, 2010, Viernes

Yes! This Friday is Swing Night at OBA! As the night goes on the swingin’ starts jumpin’! So, if you’re hep to the jive, you’ll want to be there!!

Si! Este viernes es noche de Swing en MOBA, donde a medida que pasa la noche el Swing empieza a bombar!! Si tenes fuego en los zapatos, vas a querer estar ahi ( y si no tenes fuego, veni igualmente a ver como sacan humo los bailarines)

Plus Musica de

http://www.otrosbuenosaires.com/

Todo las Viernes 23:00 – 4:00
Independencia 572

Clases 21:30 – 22:30 (incl Entrada a Milonga)

Tell a milonguero that it is possible for tango to evolve is like telling an Argentine that Dulce de Leche was actually invented in Chile.  Be prepared for a fight!

the other day I was at a milonga with a dear friend of mine, a woman who runs a traditional milonga in BA.  I was admiring one of the dancers when she stated, as if reading my mind, “que feo!” referring to that same dancer.  “Really!?” I replied. “I hope I am that good some day”.  She then began to lecture me on how his ‘nuevo’ style was an insult to tango, and that all nuevo teacher are just greedy opportunists catering to tourists and selling otu their own culture.

OK, yes… I should have known better than to  engage in a ‘conversation’.  I reminded her that tango, as she refers to it, had it’s own evolution as well, and if she wanted to be a purist, then the Bandonion itself is not an authentic to tango as the roots of tango proceed the German immigrants that introduced it.  I also pointed out the hypocritical irony that the ‘original’ tango was the result of world cultures fusing together in the melting pot of BA… just as nuevo tango is a fusion of cultural influences that changed tango from around the world, a world that the original tango artists were more than happy to introduce tango to.  Paris. NYC, London… these were the ideal destinations of the tango greats.  So, basically, my argument to her was 1) tango has continued to evolve and 2) if the creators of tango didn’t want anyone in the world to know about it they should have kept it a secret!

Her response was a bit drastic, but quite predictable… “Nothing you can say will ever change my mind.  I will not listen to any arguement… and don’t ever come to my milonga again!”

okaaaaay.

BUT! That is really not the point of this post.  The point is another thing that traditional tango and nuevo tango has in common.  When the military was in power in Argentina, milongas were mainly underground.  The government know that to erode the sense of nationalism that worked against them, they needed to import the ‘modern’, ‘progressive’ pop culture of the west. Tango music was no longer played on the radio.   Instead you heard Rock and Roll.

Milongas were closed down.  So, they went underground, like the SpeakEasy’s of the roaring 20’s in the states, and the jazz/swing clubs of Nazi Germany.

After the dictatorship fell, and the new government brought back some of the old culture that was lost, milongas were allowed to open.  Being that milongas were culturally ‘grandfathered’, the state came up with a special classification for milongas that allowed them to exist under much easier circumstances than say, a caberet.

This exists today, and the law states very clearly that in order to be a milonga at least 70% of the music must be ‘tango’ music.  They are very unclear as to what the legal definition of ‘tango’ music is…

(ok, I will finish this later as I have to go set up MOBA righjt now… stay tuned)

Este viernes, MOBA se enorgullece en presentar al espontáneo y talentoso conjunto “Musicantes Porteños”, referente de la música contemporánea rioplatense y el tango acústico. Los esperamos, como siempre, con toda la buena onda, deliciosa comida y tragos de MOBA.

This Friday, MOBA is proud to present the spontaneous and talented group “Musicantes Porteños”, a standard in Argentine contemporary music and acustic tango. We’ll see you there, as always, for all the delicious food, great drinks and good times at MOBA.

Milonga: 23 hrs-4 hrs.
Clases (varios estilos) 21.30-23 hrs.
Concierto: 0 hrs.
15 5051 5801 // otrosbuenosaires@gmail.com