my uy tips

Much is written about Tango and La Cumparsita. I don’t want to invent the wheel new ! But the story is so interesting and a great part of Urugayan history, that I like to present it to you. Besides that I have so many music sheets and other pictures in my collection that it
is worth to post it here. Some of them, no one of my readers have ever seen before.

La Cumparsita – History.

     Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodriguez (1897 – 1948)

„La cumparsita“ is a tango written in 1916 by the Uruguayan musician Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodriguez, with lyrics by Pascual Contursi and Enrique Pedro Maroni. It is among the most famous and recognizable tangos of all time. Roberto Firpo, director and pianist of the orchestra that premiered the song, added parts of his tangos „La Gaucha Manuela“ and „Curda Completa“ to Matos carnival march „La Cumparsita“, resulting in „La cumparsita“ as it is currently known.

     Roberto Firpo (1884 – 1969)

The title translates as „the little parade“, and the first version was a tune with no lyrics. Later, Pascual Contursi wrote words to make the most popular version of the song. The lyrics begin: „The little parade of endless miseries…“

(1888 – 1932)     (1887 – 1957)

The song was originally a Argentinan carnival march, whose melody was composed in early 1916 by an architecture student in Montevideo, an 18-year-old man named Gerardo Hernan Matos Rodriguez, the son of Montevideo’s Moulin Rouge nightclub proprietor Emilio Matos. Matos nickname was Becho.

   Matos Rodriguez nicknamed „Becho“.

On 8 February 1916, Matos Rodriguez and his friend Manuel Barca had shown orchestra leader Roberto Firpo the music in the cafe called La Giralda. Firpo looked at the music and quickly determined that he could make it into a tango. As presented to him it had two sections; Firpo added a third part taken from his own little-known tangos „La gaucha Manuela“ and „Curda completa“, and also used a portion of the song „Miserere“ by Giuseppe Verdi from the opera Il trovatore.

Firpo, playing the piano, with his band. Interesting, how they put a stage together.

Years later, Firpo (May 10, 1884 – June 14, 1969) reported the historic moment as follows:

„““ In 1916 I was playing in the cafe La Giralda in Montevideo, when one day a man was accompanied by about fifteen boys, all students, to say he brought a carnival march song and they wanted me to review it because they thought it could be a tango. They wanted me to revise and tweak the score that night because it was needed by a boy named Matos Rodríguez. In the 2/4 [march time signature] score there appeared a little [useful melody] in the first half and in the second half there was nothing. I got a piano and I remembered my two tangos composed in 1906 that had not had any success: „La gaucha Manuela“ and „Curda completa“. And I put in a little of each. At night I played the song with „Bachicha“ Deambroggio and „Tito“ Roccatagliatta. It was an apotheosis. Matos Rodríguez walked around like a champion… But the tango was forgotten, its later success began when the words of Enrique Maroni and Pascual Contursi were associated with it. „““

The oldest known music sheet of La Cumparsita, 1917, drawn and designed with elements
of „art nouveau“ and „art deco“.

 
Original score (partitura) from 1917 and another sheet with musical attachments.

A „Star“ was born.

Firpo recorded the song in November 1916 for Odeon Records.  He used the recording studio of Max Glücksmann in Buenos Aires, and employed two violinists, one bandoneon player,  Juan Bautista „Bachicha“ Deambrogio, and one flute player to join him as bandleader on the piano. The song was pressed as the B-side of a 78 rpm release, and had only a modest success, fading in familiarity after several years.

  
Left: The Odeon release from 1916, on B-side, song by Francisco Canaro, with modest success.
Right: The Odeon release a few years later, on A-side with artist Carlos Gardel, became a famous Tango hit.

Firpo only knew that the name of the young composer was Gerardo. It was only later that the full identity of the author was known. He was young, educated, well mannered and sensible. He was also a bit naive. He sold for 20 pesos (about US$ 10,– in this time) his rights of authorship to the Breyer publishing house. After some moderate success the composition was forgotten.

This, most famous,  poster was printed by „Breyer Hermanos“.
Later, unchanged, used as a title page of music sheets.

Lyrics to the song were written by the Argentine Pascual Contursi in 1924, and soon became a hit. This version of the song is considered the most widely known tango song in the world, closely followed by „El Choclo“. Contursi recorded the song under the title „Si Supieras“ („If you knew“).

Matos Rodriguez, with fellow travelers, on his journey from Montevideo to Europe.

Living in Paris at that time, Matos Rodríguez discovered, that the song was a big hit, when he talked with Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader Francisco Canaro, who was playing the tune at Paris engagements as „Si Supieras“. Canaro told Matos Rodríguez the song was „all the rage by all the orchestras“. Matos Rodríguez spent the next two decades in various court battles over royalties, and finally succeeded in ensuring, that „La Cumparsita“ was re-established as the title of the song. However, Contursi’s lyrics became intimately associated with the song. See the new lyrics further down.

 
The great Urugayan band leader Francisco Canaro on top of his career, 1920’s-1930’s.

Matos travelled widely throughout Europe and stayed in Paris for a time, as well as working as Uruguayan consul to Germany. In 1931, he collaborated on the film score for Luces de Buenos Aires, shot in Joinville-le-Pont, France, and starring renowned tango vocalist Carlos Gardel.

               The movie poster from 1931 with Carlos Gardel.

Carlos Gardel was born at just the right time, on the 11th of December 1890. The recording and motion picture industries were just starting to make their impact on the world. Gardel had movie star good looks and a sonorous baritone voice. His death occured at the peak of his career and popularity, at the age of 44 in a tragic accident, the 24th of June 1935.
The world in general mourned; in Argentina and Uruguay he attained a cult status that exists to this day.

  Very rare:  Signed postcard and without his famous smile.

Canaro formulated a binding agreement in 1948, one which would end all the lawsuits from and with Matos Rodriguez about La Cumparsita rights. He determined that 20 percent of all royalties would go to the estates of the lyricist Contursi and his business partner Enrique P. Maroni. The other 80 percent of recording royalties would go to the estate of Matos Rodríguez. Canaro established, that future sheet music printings would show Contursi’s lyrics in addition to less well-known ones written by Matos Rodríguez, and no other lyrics.

               
Francisco Canaro, right, walking on Plaza Independencia Montevideo.
Francisco Canaro, called mentor of Matos Rodriguez, early 1950’s.

Born as Francisco Canarozzo November 26, 1888 in Uruguay.
Died December 14, 1964 (aged 76) in Argentina.
Francisco Canaro, alias Pirincho,  is one of the most popular tango artists:
His recordings,  tangos and milongas, are noted as singly beautiful and melodic.

  Francisco Canaro.

His beginnings are muddled with those of tango history. So much so that a radio program of mid 50s had coined a phrase to refer to any extremely old event: «when Canaro already had his orchestra». His fortune gave birth to a common saying: «He’s got more money than Canaro», in allusion to somebody’s opulence. It is said that once when Canaro and Gardel met at the races, the latter asked him 500 pesos (an amount then enormous) to bet on a horse, but asking the former to forget about this debt: «I’m poor, and you’ve got all the money here.» Because compared with Canaro, even Gardel was poor.

Canaro and Gardel, posthumous Oscar winners.

                  
This is the original movie poster „Il Postino“, „The Postman“, released 1994. It won
the 1995 Oscar with the original music from Canaro and Gardel.
However, since the release of Kevin Costner’s post-apocalyptic film of the same name,
the film has gone by the title Il Postino: The Postman.
The film’s score, composed by Luis Enríquez Bacalov, won the Academy Award (Oscar)
for Best Music (Original Dramatic Score).

Please read  „Tango Uruguay 5“ in a few days. Stay tuned !!!

As we learned already in the post „Tango Uruguay 2 – Milonga“, Milonga resulted from a fusion of many cultural dances, including the Cuban Habanera, the Mazurka, the Polka and the Brazilian Macumba. In addition to this, there were two very significant influences:
the Candombé and the Payada. Influences which based the Milonga and the Tango.

The Candombe.

It is important to understand the Candombe (pronounced can-dom-bey) because it forms the very basis of milonga – and thus tango as a whole.

                  
Two Bantu’s: A Bantu dancer (left) and the most well known Bantu member Nelson Mandela (1918-2013).

To do so, we must cast our eyes away from Uruguay and Argentina for a slight moment, to Africa. When the Spanish colonized South America, millions of African slaves were introduced there centuries before tango was created. More than two thirds of these slaves came from the Eastern and Equatorial region of Africa called Bantu.

     The kingdom of Congo, part of Bantu around 1630.

The Bantu area is a very large area of Africa, which had over 450 distinct ethnics groups, 20 languages and 70 dialects (reference: Montevideo census of 1812). It is rather tragic then that the entire ancestral dance and music heritage of the Bantu region, from which millions of people were enslaved, is encapsulated and mashed together into a single word… but there it is: Candombe.

  Candombe dancers, no embrace, around 1820.

Candombe is the single word that fuses all the drum-based black dance and music from that area and era. These slaves – interestingly enough – called their drums tango, and also used this term for the name of the place where they performed the Candombe. The dances themselves were also called tangos!!!

Candombe dancing, no embrace, around 1830.

Buenos Aires was itself a major hub for African slaves, who also brought along their Candombe to that area. Even after slavery was abolished, in 1853, the Candombe flourished. The local population who danced with the descendants of  slaves, added their own touches – in particular the embrace – and the Candombé evolved into the Milonga.

Early 1900’s sheet music, Candombe evolved into Milonga.

La Payada.

The word „milonga“ (in the African language Quimbunda) is the plural of „Mulonga“, which means „word“. Hence milonga means „words“.

  A Payada, candombe dancing, early 1800’s.

To further explain the derivation of milonga, we note that gauchos (early Argentinean and Urugayan cowboys) roamed the rural area known as Pampa. These gauchos gathered and organized la payada de contrapunto (payada is pronounced pah-jah-dah, and essentially means singer) – which even to this day exist! This was a gathering of people in an open place, where the payadores competed through improvisation with guitars, in which one would start a song about any subject that came to mind, often death, God or love, and the other would retort with verses. Follow more information and a pic further down.

    La Mama Vieja and  El Gramillero, 1950’s photograph.

The black slaves, who attended these payadas but who did not understand the songs, started to call them milongas – in other words, „many words“. Eventually these events were termed „milongas“, and people started going to a milonga rather than a payada.

Wonderful street art of Candombe in Colonia del Sacramento.

The word ‚milonguero‘ was originally used to describe the gauchos who went from town to town competing in payadas.The payada is competitive composing and singing of verses native to Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brasil, and parts of Paraguay, also called paya in Chile. It is a performance of improvised ten-line verse called Décimas usually accompanied by guitar. The performer is called a „payador“, and in performances two or more payadores will compete to produce the most eloquent verse, each answering questions posed by the other, often insulting. The durations of these verse duels can be exceedingly long, often many hours, and they end when one payador fails to respond immediately to his opponent.

Payada in a pulperia (bodega, grocery store) about 1840’s by Carlos Morel, a prominent Argentine painter.

The names of those ancient milongas related to the areas where they were danced: „Milonga Campera“ or „Milonga Surena“. „Campera“ means „from the country side“, and „Surena“ means „from the south“.

  Festival „Dia Nacional del Candombe“ in Montevideo.

Common Origins.

African-Uruguayans organized candombe dances every Sunday and on special holidays such as New Year’s Eve, Christmas, Saint Baltasar, Rosary Virgin and Saint Benito. They would set a fire to heat the drums and play candombe music, specially during the night in certain neighborhoods such as Barrio Sur and Palermo in Montevideo. The typical characters on the parade represent the old white masters during slavery in old Montevideo city. It was a mockery to their lifestyle with a rebel spirit for freedom and a way to remember the African origins. Two pictures down here – Carnival in Montevideo.

In Uruguay.

In the third decade of the 19th century the word candombe began to appear in Montevideo, referring to self-help dancing societies founded by persons of African descent. The term means „pertaining to blacks“ in Kikongo. In Montevideo it meant more than a dance or a music or a congregation, but all of the above. Candombe the dance was a local fusion of various African traditions. A complicated choreography included a final section with wild rhythms, freely improvised steps, and energetic, semi-athletic movements. Candombe in Uruguay includes a music troupe playing Uruguayan Candombe in a special dance parade called “Desfile de Llamadas”, through the Sur and Palermo neighborhoods in Montevideo.

Urugayan Candombe Music for collectors.

A Candombe Group.

A full Candombe group, collectively known as a Comparsa Lubola (composed of blackened white people, traditionally with burnt corks) or Candombera (composed of black people), constitutes the cuerda, a group of female dancers known as mulatas, and several stock characters, each with their own specific dances. The stock characters include:

La Mama Vieja:  the Old Mother.
A „Mama type of women“, wonderful dressed in colorful, historic dresses.

  The Old Mother, always wearing a scarf.

El Gramillero:  the Herb doctor.
An ancient black man, dressed in top hat and frock coat, carrying a bag of herbs.

  The Herb Doctor, always wearing a white beard.

El Escobero:  the Broomsman.
He has to be an expert candombero and graceful dancer, who performs extraordinary
feats and of juggling and balance with his broom.

  The Broomsman.

La Mama Vieja and El Gramillero are dancing mostly together in the center of the group,
while El Escobero is dancing alone upfront of the group, leading the way.

Drawing from an Uruguayan children’s book „How to learn Candombe“. It shows the Broomsman, the Herb Doctor and the „Old Mama“ – here in a modern version of the „Central Dancer“, which is an influence from Brazilian carnival. And a child with a „dancing exercise“ performance.

Candombe is performed regularly in the streets of old Montevideo’s south neighborhood in January and February, during Uruguay’s Carnival period, and also in the rest of the country. You can hear exercising the candombe drums almost everywhere in Uruguay.

  Antique Candombe drums, highly sought after by collectors.

Uruguayan Candombe.

Inscribed in 2009 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, UNESCO. The candombe is a source of pride and a symbol of the identity of communities of African descent in Montevideo, embraced by younger generations and favouring group cohesion, while expressing the communities’ needs and feelings with regard to their ancestors.

  African community dancing Candombe.

The music of candombe is performed by a group of drummers called a cuerda. The barrel-shaped drums, or tamboriles, have specific names according to their size and function:
Chico, small, high timbre, serving as the rhythmic pendulum.
Repique, medium, embellishes candombe’s rhythm with improvised phrases.
Piano, largest size, its function similar to that of the upright or electric bass.

  The Tamboriles or Tambores.

A cuerda at a minimum needs three drummers, one on each part. A full cuerda will have 50–100 drummers, commonly with rows of seven or five drummers, mixing the three types of drums. A typical row of five can be piano-chico-repique-chico-piano, with the row behind having repique-chico-piano-chico-repique and so on to the last row.

Rows and rows of drummers during Carnival Montevideo.

Tamboriles are made of wood with animal skins that are rope-tuned or fire-tuned minutes before the performance. They are worn at the waist with the aid of a shoulder strap called a talig or talí and played with one stick and one hand.

  Fire tuning of the drums just before marching.

We could go on and on to expand the theme of Tango, Milonga and Candombe.
Especially as we dig deeper into history and ancient stories and traditions. I will end with a fourth part of Tango Uruguay with the most famous Tango of all times, the Urugayan tango „La Cumparsita“. Stay tuned to part 4.

How it all began.
Tango is inseparable connected with Milonga or Candombe. To understand Milonga, we have to understand the difference between Milonga – the „place of dancing“, or the „event of dancing“ and Milonga – the „music itself or the style of dancing“.

  Very early Milonga record with sheet music cover.

It is worth noting that modern-day Argentineans also use the word „milonga“ as slang to mean „many words“. For example a phrase might go something like „No vengas con esa milonga“ – „Do not come with such a long complaining discourse“ or „La vida es una milonga“ – „Life is a milonga“ (meaning life is a long drama).

  Rare Urugayan Milonga record.

The milonga is the predecessor of the modern tango, which began as an urbanized folk dance.The earliest tangos were in fact mostly titled tango criollo para piano and were milongas rather than true tangos, with ensembles consisting of the bandoneón, flute and guitar.

Milonga is a 1999 Italian  film directed by Emidio Greco.
For his dancing performance Giancarlo Giannini won the Globo d’oro for best actor.

Milonga dance is dancing to Milonga music.

Milonga dance incorporates the same basic elements as Tango but permits a greater relaxation of legs and body. Movement is normally faster, and pauses are less common. It is usually a kind of rhythmic walking without complicated figures, with a more humorous and rustic style in contrast with the serious and dramatic Tango. This is the dancing style you will mostly see in open clubs, bars, cafes or on the streets in Uruguay. Most people still will call it Tango, but it’s Milonga.

  Music sheet and Lyrics  for a typical Milonga.

In a book published in 1883, Ventura Lynch, a noted contemporary student of the dances and folklore of Buenos Aires Province, noted the influence the Afro-Argentine dancers had on the compadritos, who apparently frequented the Afro-Argentine dance venues, „the milonga is danced only by the compadritos of the city, who have created it as a mockery of the dances the blacks hold in their own places“.

      
Tangos – Milonga Africane – written for the Compadritos.  And some compadritos preparing for the show.

Distinctive elements added from candombe were quebradas, improvised, jerky, semi-athletic contortions, the more dramatic the better, and cortes, a suggestive pause, or sudden break in the figures of the dance.

  Record Cover with dances of Tango and Milongas.

Unlike in the then „Tango“ of that group, however, where these movements were danced apart, they were now danced together. Jose Gobello suggested that the mazurka was also altered in the districts close to the docks. This Africanized milonga-tango, as well as the habanera and mazurka, was frowned upon, and found wholly unacceptable by some sections of Argentine high society.

Milonga evening in a Milonga bar.

  Go and dance a Tango during a Milonga at Cafe Berlin.

Milonga is also a term for a place or an event where tango is danced. People who frequently go to milongas are sometimes called milongueros. The term milonga can also refer to a musical genre or a style of dance related to tango. The music played is mainly tango, vals and milonga (as the musical genre). Milongas are also the events where people meet to dance.

„Milonga“ event in Denver, Colorado, also showing the music which will be played, „Vieja Milonga“.

Most milongas are held on a regular basis (usually weekly), and they often begin with dancing classes and sometimes demonstration dances. Usually, three to five songs of a kind are played in a row (this is called tanda) followed by a short musical break (called cortina) to clear the dance floor and facilitate partner changes.

  Notice the sign „La Milonga Portena – Salon de Tango“.

There are a number of informal rules that dictate how dancers should choose their dancing partners and navigate the floor. Very often, as an Uruguayan rule, the band plays at the end of a Milonga, the tango „La Cumparsita“. See part 4 of these posts.

  Milonga is  everyone’s dance, in dance halls or on streets of Montevideo. Often mixed up with Tango.
But – who cares, as we call all that Tango, as always. Important is to have that dancing mind, right ?

According to José Gobello (President of the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo, Buenos Aires, the word milonga comes from of the South West African Bantu language Kimbundu and is the plural of „Mulonga talking“. In this original sense it means milongas (plural used), in today’s dealings Spanish, still mean „lies and deception“. If you are in Buenos Aires visit the Historic Museum at the Academia Lunfardo.

  Motivating emblem of the Academia Porteña del Lunfardo.

On the one hand the Milonga goes back to the African American Candombe, on the other hand, its lyrics are a development of improvised payadas of the Gauchos, often with antiphonal singing. Just to sum up, we can say that people go to Milongas and dance tango, vals or milonga. That means you can dance Milonga to Milonga music during a Milonga event in a Milonga bar. Confused ?

  Milonga at Centro Cultural Patas Arriba, Avellaneda Arg..

Collecting Tango – Milonga music sheets.
Down here some examples from the authors collection:

One famous and well known Milonga song is:
„Milonga Sentimental”, 1931, (composer: Sebastián Piana, lyrics: Homero Manzi).
Sebastián Piana is considered the father of the modern milonga with his Milonga Sentimental.
I like to introduce you, in three languages, to this historic Love Song.

Milonga Sentimental.

  Original „Milonga  Sentimental“ sheet music from 1931.

Spanish:

I
Milonga pa‘ recordarte,
milonga sentimental.
Otros se quejan llorando,
yo canto por no llorar.
Tu amor se secó de golpe,
nunca dijiste por qué.
Yo me consuelo pensando
que fue traición de mujer.
Varón, pa’ quererte mucho…

Refrain:
Varón, pa’ quererte mucho, varón,
pa’ desearte el bien, varón,
pa’ olvidar agravios porque ya te perdoné.
Tal vez no lo sepas nunca,
tal vez no lo puedas creer,
tal vez te provoque risa verme
tirao a tus pies!

II
Es fácil pegar un tajo pa‘
cobrar una traición,
o jugar en una daga
la suerte de una pasión.
Pero no es fácil cortarse
los tientos de un metejón,
cuando están bien amarrados
al palo del corazón.(Refrain).

III
Milonga que hizo tu ausencia.
Milonga de evocación.
Milonga para que nunca
la canten en tu balcón.
Pa’ que vuelvas con la noche
y te vayas con el sol.
Pa’ decirte que sí a veces
o pa’ gritarte que no. (Refrain).

Milonga Sentimental – perfectly presented by Carlos Gardel in 1933.

German:

I
Milonga, um dich zu erinnern,
Milonga der Gefühle.
Andere klagen mit Tränen,
ich singe, um nicht zu weinen.
Deine Liebe versiegte plötzlich,
niemals sagtest du warum.
Ich tröste mich mit dem Gedanken,
dass es Verrat der Frau war.
Manns genug, um Dich sehr zu lieben…

Refrain:
Manns genug, um Dich sehr zu lieben,
Manns genug, um dir alles Gute zu wünschen,
Manns genug, um Beleidigungen zu vergessen,
weil ich dir schon verziehen habe.
Vielleicht wirst du es nie erfahren,
vielleicht kannst du es nicht glauben,
vielleicht lachst du darüber,
wenn du mich zu deinen Füßen liegen siehst.

II
Es ist leicht,
mit dem Messer zu stechen,
um einen Verrat zu rächen,
oder mit dem Dolch um eine Leidenschaft zu wetten.
Aber es ist nicht leicht,
die Fesseln einer leidenschaftlichen Liebe
zu durchschneiden, wenn sie fest um
den Pfahl des Herzens gebunden sind. (Refrain).

III
Milonga, die durch deine Abwesenheit entstand,
Milonga der Erinnerung,
Milonga, damit man sie dir niemals als Ständchen singt.
Damit du mit der Nacht zurückkommst
und mit der Sonne wieder fortgehst.
Um dir manchmal Ja zu sagen
oder Nein zu schreien. (Refrain).

Newly printed Sheet Music from 1937.

English:

I
A sentimental milonga,
Just to remember you by.
Others complain by crying;
I sing so that I don’t cry.
Your love dried up for some reason,
You never told me the tale.
I comfort myself by thinking
It was a woman’s betrayal.
A man, one who really loves you…

Refrain.
A man, one who really loves you,
A man, yes I am the one.
A man, who’ll forget you wronged me;
I forgive you what you’ve done.
Perhaps you will never know it,
Perhaps you will not believe,
Perhaps you’ll be laughing
when you See me lying at your feet.

II
It’s easy to get your vengeance
With the sharp blade of a knife,
Or, on a passing fancy,
To gamble on your life.
But when it’s loving that holds you
It’s hard to cut apart
The tentacles that so tightly
Are tied around your heart. (Refrain).

III
Milonga to bring back old memories,
A song that your absence made.
You’ll never hear this milonga
Sung as a serenade.
You will come back in the nighttime
And with the sun you’ll go.
Sometimes a „yes“ I’ll whisper
Or else I’ll shout a „no. (Refrain).

  Milonga Sentimental presented by Julio Iglesias 1992.

Even Regarding the song tells us that it was created to commemorate a love affair. Constant topos of tango lyric. However, while the lyric remains in this Tango poetry in macho style self-pity (and often grief „dies“), it finds in the milonga Poetry in the lilting rhythm of musical genres consolation to get over and over again on a failure:
„Yo canto por no llorar (I sing so I can not cry).“

You certainly can call the Milonga the merrier sister of Tango. Expect part 3 of this post.