zur Tangogeschichte - 8

Die frühe Aufnahmen und der Aufstieg des Tangos:

"

The first 30 years of the 20th century sum up the creative process of the Tango both in technical and musical terms. Primitive mechanical systems acoustically recorded early music. The first electrical recordings started in 1926. These were undoubtedly the best decades of tango, a time of amazing production both in terms of quantity and quality of songs played by numerous performers. For the first time, tango became successful outside its birthplace, reaching audiences in Europe and the rest of the Latin America and North America. Great Composers such as Rosendo Mendizabal, Angel Villoldo, Ernesto Saborido, Eduardo Arolas, Ernesto Ponzio, Agustin Bardi, Gerardo Matos Rodriguez, and Vicento Greco created some of their best work during this period. They composed timelss classics such as 'El entrerriano,' 'La cumparsita,' 'El choclo,' 'La morocha,' 'Don Juan,' 'El lloron,' 'Que noche,' 'La cachila,' and 'Ojos negros.'

The world's most prominent recording companies set up shop in Buenos Aires, and Argentina’s own recording companies started to grow at a very fast pace. Tango was the world's favorite social dance. The tango as an exotic novelty took Europe by storm. Musicians travelled to Paris, and many stayed there. Skilled dancers found job opportunities in the City of Lights as dance instructors for rich Parisian socialites.

"

Alberto Paz & Valorie Hart, Gotta Tango

zur Tangogeschichte - 7

Der erste Weltkrieg und Tango:
"
In 1912, President Raymond Poincaré of France had confessed to Enrique Laretta, the Argentine Minister, that the French were indifferent to the threat of war. Two years later, in August 1914, when war fever suddenly gripped the country, Ricardo Güiraldes* was shaken by the patriotic frenzy in Paris; he felt that all his respect for Europe had been destroyed. 'What a great word is civilisation', he said bitterly, 'and a what a crushing reality is instinct'. […]

The Exodus of South Americans accelerated during the German invasion of France. […] A number, however, stayed behind, having volunteered to fight for France: the artist José García Calderón died at Verdun two years later. In that autumn of 1914, even the tango was swept up for patriotic service. Back in Argentina, Eduardo Arolas rapidly composed the tango 'El Marne' during Joffe's great defensive battle.

The horrors of the Great War made laisure of every kind more urgent and febrile. Young man coming back on leave tried to forget the trenches in a few dizzy hours at a night club or dance hall, while the women who danced with them were only too aware that they might never see their partners again. In the fashionable London circle led by Lady Diana Cooper, the parties of the war years became known as the 'dances of death'.

It was during the war that the first films featuring the tango appeared, all made in Argentina. In 1915 came Nobleza gaucha, […]. The following year, the great Carlos Gardel featured in Flor de Durazno, a silent film in which he appeared dressed as a sailor. In 1917 came the first film devoted entirely to the tango – and appropriately called El tango del muerte.“
Simon Collier (et.al.), Tango
-----

* ein argentinischer Schriftsteller