Luis Trapasso

Luis in Lo de Celia (Sept 2001)

February 20, 1941 –

Luis hasn’t been present at his milonga Entre Tango y Tango for several weeks.  He had major surgery in August.  While he is recuperating, others are in charge of Wednesdays and Fridays in Centro Region Leonesa.

Luis has organized other milongas–La Portenita in Salon Kass and one in Mi Club on Suipacha for a very short time with Ricardo Suarez.  He began Entre Tango y Tango in Lo de Celia, then moved to Leonesa and later in Plaza Bohemia.  He returned last year to Centro Region Leonesa.

Of all the large salons in Buenos Aires, his milonga on Fridays has the highest level of dancing with milongueros.  This is the place where Hugo Belvisi, Roberto Bonavato, Osvaldo Centeno, Miguel Angel Balbi, Alito Candamil, Ricardo Suarez, Carlos Alberto Rodriguez, and Pedro Sanchez go to dance.

Julio Ale

September 29, 1932 –

He used to be a regular at all the afternoon milongas like Pavadita, El Arranque, and Caribean. Julio, like so many other men his age, doesn’t go to dance very often. It has been a while since I’ve seen him or danced with him.

Julio’s daughter-in-law is a filmmaker. About six years ago they showed up on a Friday night at Club Gricel to film for a documentary about tango. It took a bit of convincing the owner to allow her to film the milongueros talking with Julio on camera. I’ve never seen the film since it was made for television in Denmark. It was Julio’s film debut.

Four years ago, a young man from Montreal wanted to learn tango from Julio, and I danced with them during the class. I filmed Julio talking about his life in tango and what he wanted to share with his young student.

 

 

Rodolfo Cesar Indegno

May 8, 1931—September 23, 2008

I will never be able to hear a tango of Juan D’Arienzo without thinking of Rodolfo. That was his favorite orchestra with singer Alberto Echague.

Rodolfo was born in Villa Urquiza and danced as a young man in all the downtown confiterias and cabarets of Buenos Aires. He served as a pilot in the Air Force for 25 years. I got to know more about him during visits the last three months of his life. He lived the last several years in a geriatric center where he was able to come and go as he pleased.

Rodolfo died single with no surviving family. He had one female companion who took care of him for many years. She arranged for his burial at Chacarita cemetery. I accompanied her to his gravesite on Wednesday morning.

Rodolfo disappeared from the milongas during June, but returned on July 9 to Lo de Celia when he felt better. He danced that day for the very last time.

 

Hector Guaraldi

September 21, 1936 –

I danced with “Coco” last week in Lo de Celia.  He was surprised that I remembered his name and that his birthday was coming up soon.  We danced a tanda of Carlos Di Sarli, and it was wonderful.

He has been teaching with Susana Minana before her milongas on Thursday and Sunday evening in Salon El Pial where there is a crowd of 400+.  El Pial has one of the largest dance floors in Buenos Aires, so there is always room to dance.

Omar Vega

February 13, 1959 — September 19, 2008

As I am writing this post, his friends and colleagues are gathering in Palermo Viejo to pay their respects to Omar who died yesterday at a hospital in Buenos Aires.

After dancing at the milonga Glamour at the corner of Boedo y Carlos Calvo, our group headed over to Café El Aeroplano at the corner of San Juan y Boedo where Homero Manzi wrote the lyrics for Sur in 1948.  The old café was completely renovated and is now known as Esquina de Homero Manzi.

Omar Vega, Daniela Gewelke, Ricardo Gallo (Sept. 25, 1997)

Carlos Bugarin

Cacho and Hugo (July 1, 2000)

February 5, 1936 – November 20, 2007

Yesterday, I called Hugo Belvisi for his birthday. During our conversation about his birthday plans with friends and family, I asked about Cacho Bugarin. I expected him to say he is well, but Hugo told me that he died a few months ago. This took me by surprise since I had seen Cacho last year at Centro Region Leonesa on Dia del Amigos. That was the last time I talked with Cacho.

I called his wife Eva to tell her that I just had learned of Cacho’s death. I recalled the night we went to Salon Canning with Cacho and Eva. My partner asked Cacho to dance with me. After the first dance, Cacho asked what orchestra was playing. Eight years ago, I didn’t know all the tango orchestra styles, so I attempted a guess by process of elimination. I knew the orchestra wasn’t Di Sarli, or Troilo, or Pugliese, or D’Arienzo, etc. I didn’t know. Cacho told me we were dancing to Enrique Rodriguez. When I listen to a tanda of Rodriguez I always remember dancing with Cacho.

Cacho was part of the group of milongueros who got together on Saturdays for lunch. His favorite orchestra was Miguel Calo with Raul Beron. He lived ten years after surgery for cancer. He fell ill suddenly with an infection and failed seven weeks later. His friend Pepe was listening to tango on the day he fell ill and left a phone message for Cacho about a recording of Miguel Calo. Eva has that message saved on her answering machine.

 

 

 

 

 

Hugo Belvisi

September 18, 1936 –

Hugo was always part of the Saturday luncheon group of milongueros who gathered at the homes of Mario, Chiche and Miguel Angel. While they were talking, I was filming or taking photos. I couldn’t follow their conversations in those days, but I felt privileged to attend.

Hugo has “swing” when he dances. He knows the music so well and never does anything contrived. It’s a pleasure just to watch him glide across the floor. There is no wasted movement—only pure feeling and rhythm.

 

Hugo, Miguel, Antonio and Hector (Pompeya--Nov 2002)

 

Roberto Segarra

September 16, 1920 —

He is nothing short of amazing on the dance floor. I first met Roberto and his dance partner in February 2007, when I attended Susana’s milonga in Salon El Pial. They invited me to their table to ask me where I’m from since it was obvious that I was the only foreigner. That started an interesting conversation with Roberto who admitted his age. They were two of the best dancers at Susana’s milonga. They placed thirteenth in the finals of the II Campeonato Metropolitano de Tango Salon, but only made it to the semifinal round of the VI Campeonato Metropolitano when they danced at Club Sunderland in June 2008.

Roberto goes regularly to dance at Lo de Celia, and he dances every tanda.  I danced with him one night in Cabrera Soho. I was out of breath at the end of a vals tanda, but he wasn’t.  You wouldn’t believe how strong he is. He goes to the milongas daily and dances for hours. He told me that he is celebrating his birthday with his son and grandson.

Roberto had his driver’s license renewed for another year and is learning how to use a computer!

Si soy asi

I keep my clock radio tuned to 92.7FM Dos Por Cuatro so I wake to tango music and listen throughout the day while at my desk. One evening I heard this tango that caught my attention with its cheerful lyrics. I made a note of the title and then researched it on the Internet at TodoTango.com where I found the lyrics and listened to the 1964 recording by Charlo. There are those who believe that all tangos have sad lyrics. Nothing could be further from the truth. Tangos for the milonga are three-minute poems about life, love, etc. You don’t have to know lunfardo* to understand them, although they include metaphors for life. This particular tango isn’t for dancing, but it expresses the true sentiments of many men. The following is my translation of the first stanza of Si soy así. You can read the lyrics while listening to the 1933 recording by Carlos Gardel with two stanzas.

If I am so
What am I going to do?
I was born handsome
And in a hurry to love
If I am so
What am I going to do?
With women I can’t restrain myself.
For this reason I have
the hope that someday
I will play a symphony
in which your illusion dies.

If I am so
What am I going to do?
It is my destiny
that sexual attraction makes me unfaithful.
Where I see skirts
I don’t focus on their color
married, widowed or single
For me all women are pears
In the tree of love
And if I see you flirting in the street
With your porteno eyes and swiveling hips
I dress you in the camouflage of my compliment of my flower.

__________

*lunfardo: street slang that originated in the conventillos and developed in prisons so that the guards didn’t understand what the inmates were talking about. Today it is an integral part of the porteño dialect. The Academia Porteña del Lunfardo was established December 21, 1962.

Academia Portena del Lunfardo, Estados Unidos 1379

Chatter

The monthly tango magazine B. A. Tango—Buenos Aires Tango has a regular column entitled, “Mentime que me gusta” –Lie to me, I like it. Women contribute the comments they receive from men in the milongas for publication. This column has appeared for eight years, and there is no end to the romantic and poetic verse men come up with in the moment. Tito Palumbo publishes eight or ten submissions each month, and women receive two entradas for every published submission.

What’s all the chatter in the milongas? I’m certainly not advocating an end to these sweet lies. However, it seems to me that conversation has taken a priority over dancing. The chatter during the tandas drowns out the music. The deejays have to pump up the volume so it can be heard over the conversation. Then the dancers talk even louder. They talk while dancing as well as between dances. Three weeks ago I walked out of a milonga for this reason. I was ready to scream and left instead after only one tanda. Even the organizer was contributing to the noise level, as she stood on the edge of the floor chatting, oblivious to its impact on dancers nearby.

I got this straight from a milonguero who talked to me about the codes. A milonguero doesn’t initiate conversation. The rule “ladies first” applies in this situation. The topic of conversation is limited to the music—the orchestra, singer, lyrics, etc. and nothing more. A milonguero may ask, “bien?” after dancing for the first time with a woman, but that’s all. If she doesn’t speak, he keeps his mouth shut. There is nothing awkward about standing without speaking. Our attention should be on the music. Conversation isn’t mandatory between dances. It should be brief in a low voice so that it is private.

Tango recordings are short—two to three and a half minutes long. I have seen and heard dancers talking for the entire three minutes of a tango while still on the floor. This is a strong indication they are not in the milonga to dance, but to meet someone. Tango is a means to an end for them. I have been able to hear conversation going on in the center of the floor while I am seated at my table. It’s no surprise that all the chatter isn’t private as it should be. 

I would like to see respect for tango return in the milongas. Proper behavior and dress used to be the standard in most of the milongas. People went to listen to the music and dance. Organizers set the tone of a milonga. Unfortunately, many of them are more interested in the income than providing a place for the enjoyment of tango.

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Free subscriptions to B. A. Tango—Buenos Aires Tango and the Guia Trimestral are available in digital format (pdf file) at abatango@yahoo.com.