Which frequent of the Florida street, didn’t know that well-known bar, in which between a “Torino” and a “San Martín”, with or without an olive, he was conscientiously attended with the rhythmic turns of a sleepy tango, whose notes spread among the regulars by the orchestra, in the form of a mythical chorus.

“El American Bar”, was of a special nature. With the physiognomy of an almost aristocratic establishment, kept inside effervescences from the shore area.

To the beat of the tango in fashion, in a hidden room, moved their bones both men and women, until their exhaustion imposed the return to the aperitif.

It seems like the owner of such an original bar, despite his efforts and innovations, went into trouble, declaring himself bankrupt.

Undisputable testimony of the presence of tango and of being danced in this place in the underground, but not with prostitution.

Was it located in a neighborhood by the shore? No, it was in the very heart of downtown Buenos Aires: Florida and Tucumán. Was it an establishment for prostitutes and villains? No, it was “almost aristocratic” as the journalist says, which was logical due to its location. The presence of tango is dated after the “conquering” of downtown Buenos Aires by “heroically” musicians, according to autobiographical testimonies after 1910? No, the article is from mid 1908. See La Razón of 05-06-1908 “The bar of the tangos – Escape of its owner”.

Note having taken place in that year the closing down of the establishment, being famous from before that, due to the performance of tangos. We don’t know since when, but it could not be recently because it is presented as a traditional activity, that identified the bar. It adds this approach the necessary times to function, to go to ruin, and to bankrupt, to which we must add the usual extended times of the judicial process.

If the owner had never gone to bankrupt, there would be no reference about it and we would not have this evidence. In how many downtown businesses, economically prosper, and for that reason not interesting as news were tangos performed? This is a pressing question left.

And what happened in the downtown restaurants? The following document starts saying that to one of them arrived one night a customer, that

even though by his aspect, he would be alright in any place, he was very properly served.

An argument took place, and when the calm returned,

The orchestra marks the beats of a tango, and the public returns to indifference

It’s obvious that by the careful service and by having an orchestra livening up the place, it was not a pey but a restaurant of a certain category. In which year took place this? Surprisingly, in 1904! See El Pais #1469 of 13/01/1904 p.2 c.6 “Police – In a restaurant”.

Of this, it follows that the public was indifferent, both to the argument and to the performance of a tango. The journalist is not surprised either of the integration of tangos in the repertoire, proving habit and not exception.

We see that these testimonies contradict the much extended belief that, to listen to tangos before 1910 you had to go to La Boca. More specifically, to the surroundings of the corner of Suarez and Necochea. This would be a classical example of “half of the truth”, caused by confusing the biographies of some characters with the history of tango itself. Since the first exponents of the tango community put their feet downtown not earlier than that year, it’s supposed that until then there was no tango except in the outskirts.

But such a migration is valid for them that were starting to be prepared enough for that context, not valid for the tango itself. This music was deeply-rooted downtown since at least fifteen years before, in the hands of professional musicians with solid academical knowledge. For example, the members of the pits in theatres or as we have seen performed in bars and restaurants.

And why the typical quartets of guitar, bandoneon, flute and violin performed only in the outskirts? Due to the low quality of their performances, that could satisfy a not very demanding audience of the cafes in La Boca, but not to the customers of downtown bars and restaurants... We must remember that the orchestras livened up the tea, vermouths and meals in these places, and they performed not only tangos, but also valses, classical music, and opera music. And they were formally dressed. To imagine the contrast, it’s enough to imagine the look of those quartets, for example in the drawings of the memoirs of Canaro.

We must reiterate that the orchestras that livened up the theatre dances and of big halls where tango predominated had dozens of member directed by a prestigious director with orchestration knowledge. Obviously, all of them professionals with solid academical knowledge. Tango was a lot more than an exclusive patrimony of badly living people or musical illiterates as The Bates describe. It wasn’t even confined to the outskirts.

And last we can stress the irreplaceable importance of the music record as a taste diffusing vehicle and an element standardizing the tastes or preferences. Maybe due to the mentioned ignorance of the quantities involved, an erroneous importance is given as a propagation factor to the performance of certain orchestras in certain cafes. Without denying that they were popular, the proper discographies allow to establish around 350 tangos recorded between 1902 and 1909. Let it be understood 350 themes, which were

In front of this figures, distributed as we saw in the NATIONAL context, very little can have added to the popularization of the genre, the most hard-working of the orchestras, performing in front of a handful of regulars in this or other café, often with only reach inside that neighborhood. Compare this with a phonograph playing in the patio of a conventillo, while dozens (maybe hundreds) of heterogeneous souls of all ages and nationalities listened to it, willing or not. And speaking of ages, kids were not allowed into cafes… However through those recordings they were habituated to listen to tangos.

Note that with just a handful of realities, it is obvious the inconsistency of the “history” usually narrated.

 

Enrique Binda.