The Brazilian Tango

  O Tango Brasileiro                   El Tango Brasileño                Ney Homero da Silva Rocha

It might sound surprising to refer to Brazilian tango, because the idea most people have, including Brazilians, is that tango is exclusively an Argentine rhythm or, at the most, an Uruguayan one. But actually, tango music was also played and composed here in Brazil simultaneously with its inception in the River Plate basin. 

This might perhaps explain why so many Brazilians love tango and feel delighted with the music and dance style which is increasingly disseminating in our country, reproducing the same phenomenon of several decades ago, that is, when Argentine tango became well known in several European, American and Asian countries. 

When tango started in the River Plate area, that is, in Uruguay and Argentina, but also here in Brazil, the influences which gave rise to the “Creole tango” later called “Argentine tango” were the same as those of Brazilian tango. 

The main European influences came from the Polish mazurka, the Bohemian polka and waltz, the English country-dance, the Scots’ schottische, the tango from Andalucia in Spain, amongst others, and the main African influences such as the Uruguayan candombe, which is similar to the Braziliam candomblé. The Latin American influences have their roots in the country music, specifically the “milonga” with was sung by the “payadores” (that is, the gaucho singers) and the Cuban habanera, which was the “Creole” music style in Cuba, which greatly influenced the tango origins, following the same melodic line as the Brazilian “lundu”. 

Between 1850 and 1895, tango continued to develop with these influences, both in the River Plate area as well as in Brazil. Around 1870 tango compositions created in Brazil were basically performed with the same instruments used in porteño and Uruguayan tangos, that is, guitar, flute, violin, piano and a small tambourine.  Of African origin were the percussion instruments of that time; in addition, the drums used in the early original tangos were no longer used; the same happened to tambourines some time later. 

Several tangos were composed by that time in Brazil and in the River Plate region, and in 1895, according to Horacio Ferrer, the first “Creole” tango for piano was launched in Buenos Aires. We can appreciate this in a historical recording which accompanies Ferrer’s compact disc in his book “El Siglo de Oro del Tango” Manrique Zago Ediciones, Buenos Aires, 1996. When we listen to that composition we can ascertain the incredible musical similarity with our “chorinhos” for piano, which were performed here in Brazil at that time by Ernesto Nazaré and Chiquinha Gonzaga, as well as other contemporary musicians. Later on, Nazaré amended several of his 93 scores, and thus the original tango rhythm was substituted by that of “chorinho”, mainly due to pressures of the recording industry, which wished to mold Brazilian tango in the patterns of “chorinho” and “samba”.

By that time, Brazilian composer Chiquinha Gonzaga created and performed several tangos, tango-choros, waltzes, mazurkas, gavottes, polkas and habaneras. 

More recently, quite a few Brazilian composers became involved in tango, such as Lina Pesce, David Nasser, José Fernandes, Nelson Gonçalves and many others. Not to speak of the Southern region of Brazil, in Rio Grande do Sul, where the River Plate and “gaucho” influences can be appreciated in several milongas and Brazilian tangos. 

This may also explain why great Argentine performers and creators such as Francisco Canaro and Mariano Mores, as well as the musical group “Familia Lima” in Brazil, usually perform “chorinhos” in tango rhythm and vice-versa, as is the case of our Tico Tico no Fubá, a typical “chorinho” adapted to tango, and later on again as “chorinho”, in order to evidence their original similarities. This may also explain why Argentines have a real admiration for our “chorinho” music, which they regard as being “a lovely rhythm”. 

Argentine “Creole” tango got  increasingly identified with its porteño roots, and thus gained its unique and singular personality, leaving behind its original similitude with the Brazilian “chorinho”, mainly through the use of the bandoneon, as the main and emblematic tango instrument, which thus became linked forever to tango music. 

The theme is a very interesting one. Therefore, I suggest visitors who wish to know more about Brazilian tango to read the book: “Tango Uma Paixão Porteña no Brasil”, which can be bought  from "Bar Temático de Tango" at: Bardetango, e-mails: bardetango@bardetango.com.br and neyhomero@bardetango.com.br. You may also place your order by telephone: (+55 21) 2439 7536; (tel/Fax); cel.: 8151-8406. Comments are also welcome. 

My best “tanguero” wishes to you all. 

English translation: Cristina Otálora