Tango
The great Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges was a tango enthusiast and something of a historian of the music. "My informants all agree on one fact," he wrote, "the Tango was born in the brothels." Borges's informants were a little presumptuous, perhaps, for nobody can exactly pinpoint tango's birthplace, but it certainly developed amongst the Portenos - the people of the port area of Buenos Aires - and its bordellos and bars. It was a definitively urban music: a product of the melting pot of European immigrants, criollos, blacks and natives, drawn together when the city became the capital of Argentina in 1880. Tango was thus forged from a range of musical influences that included Andalucian flamenco, southern Italian melodies, Cuban habanera, African candombe and percussion, European polkas and mazurkas, Spanish contradanse, and, closer to home, the milonga - the rural song of the Argentine gaucho. It was a music imbued with immigrant history. In this early form, tango became associated with the bohemian life of bordello brawls and compadritos - knife-wielding, womanizing thugs. By 1914 there were over 100,000 more men than women in Buenos Aires, thus the high incidence of prostitution and the strong culture of bar-brothels. Machismo and violence were part of the culture and men would dance together in the low-life cafes and corner bars practising new steps and keeping in shape while waiting for their women, the minas of the bordellos. Their dances tended to have a showy yet threatening, predatory quality, often revolving around a possessive relationship between two men and one woman. In such a culture, the compadrito danced the tango into existence. The original tango ensembles were trios of violin, guitar and flute, but around the end of the nineteenth century the bandoneon , the tango accordion, arrived from Germany, and the classic tango orchestra was born. The box-shaped button accordion, which is now inextricably linked with Argentine tango, was invented around 1860 in Germany to play religious music in organless churches. One Heinrich Band reworked an older portable instrument nicknamed the "asthmatic worm", which was used for funeral processions as well as lively regional dances, and gave his new instrument the name "Band-Union", a combination of his and his company's names. Mispronounced as it travelled the world, it became the bandoneon. In Argentina, an early pioneer of the instrument was Eduardo Arolas - a man remembered as the "Tiger of the Bandoneon". He recognized its immediate affinity with the tango - indeed, he claimed it was an instrument made to play tango, with its deep melancholy feeling which suited the immigrants who enjoyed a sentimental tinge in their hard lives. It is not, however, an easy instrument, demanding a great deal of skill, with its seventy-odd buttons each producing one of two notes depending on whether the bellows are being compressed or expanded. Vicente Greco (1888-1924) is credited as the first bandleader to standardize the form of a tango group, with his Orquesta Tipica Criolla of two violins and two bandoneons. There were some larger bands but basically the instrumentation remained virtually unchanged until the 1940.
your food is yummyisabella says "i think yalls food is super dooper yummy keep up the good work
" whatsamanth says "nothing. you can survive on your own. dont go there its a horrible place." what you needkatie says "bring lots of food and water. try to bring non perishable food. and bring warm and cold clothes. you will need it." Buenos Aires City of DesignBob Frassinetti says "In August 2005 Buenos Aires was appointed City of Design by the UNESCO. This is recognition the city of “good airs” shares with other top notch design areas of the world such as Berlin, Montreal.
This appointment evidences recognition towards what Buenos Aires is doing in this particular area, and it cannot be understood if not put in perspective to the recent boom that took place in this area recently. BA features a constant flow of movement in terms of design, from mind-blowing creations to average regular, items the broadness of the design movement in the Argentine capital provides a wide rainbow of options featuring something for every taste.
Buenos Aires has been among the firsts of the American Continent to take upon the challenge of design together with Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Mendoza in Argentina –as well-. The turning point in contemporary design in South America can be dated at the end of the 1950s and all throughout the 60s. The decade of 1960 was a strong decade for innovation, creation and design in the deepest sense of the words. The Arts in general had a strong input back then, and design was not an exception, from aesthetics to usefulness, Argentina has been taking upon the challenge of designing new and innovative objects ever since. After a couple of decades of ups and downs, ins and outs, always in tune with the general panorama of what was going on in our country, today, Buenos Aires is breeding and furthering some interesting aesthetic and conceptual approaches to objects.
In terms of industrial design today in Argentina, there are at several different disciplines working in an avant-garde creations and innovating in theory and practice in this sense. The range goes from industrial products to vehicles, furniture and lighting, making of Buenos Aires a design spot pretty much hyper-comprehensive in terms of design for the visitors.
An interesting insight on design in Buenos Aires is provided by worldly known Argentine architect and designer Ricardo Blanco in his book entitled Crónicas del diseño industrial en la Argentina – Chronicles of the Industrial Design in Argentina-, where he reconstructs the path of evolution thru means of a particular historical perspective and journey. Not aiming to cover the entire historical process, but more in the sense of providing an organized insight into the world of useful aesthetics, Blanco attest to evidence the intention and cultural bases of the Argentine design path.
Thru means of the current literature and the ever growing production of industrial design objects Buenos Aires takes upon new airs of discovery, as it mutates from the traditional city of beef and tango to a much more interesting and amusing spot of arts, design and aesthetics… And all in all, in the meantime we explore the new inputs of design we can always stop to enjoy the delightful Argentine cuisine and culture, but now in a broader and richer way.
Bob Frassinetti, Buenos Aires, Argentina" GanjaFaith says "look for ganja at all times"
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