Tango is one of Argentina’s most iconic musical genres, but its history is much deeper and more complex than one might think. Over the years, tango has evolved from a popular musical genre in the neighborhoods of Buenos Aires to an artistic genre appreciated worldwide.
Tango has its roots in the fusion of various musical genres and cultures, including African candombe, Cuban habanera, and Argentine milonga. By the late 19th century, tango began to be performed in the streets and bars of the poorest neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, such as La Boca and San Telmo. It was in these places where tango culture developed, with its own social norms and codes of behavior.
In its early years, tango was looked down upon by Argentina’s upper class, who considered it a vulgar and dangerous genre. However, over time, tango gained popularity and began to be performed in more prestigious venues. In the 1910s, tango became a trend in Paris and other European cities, where Argentine dancers and musicians were considered exotic and exciting.
During the so-called Golden Age of tango (between 1935 and 1955), the genre reached its artistic peak. During this time, tango was played in large orchestras and performed in theaters and concert halls. The most famous singers and musicians of the era, such as Carlos Gardel and Astor Piazzolla, created some of the genre’s most emblematic works.
In the 1950s, tango began to lose popularity in Argentina due to the arrival of other musical genres, such as rock and pop. However, tango remained very popular in other countries, especially in Europe and Japan.
In recent decades, tango has experienced a revival in Argentina and elsewhere in the world. New generations of musicians and dancers have reinterpreted the genre, blending it with other musical styles and creating new forms of expression.
Today, tango remains an important part of Argentine culture and is admired by people worldwide. The music and dance of tango are a unique form of artistic expression that reflects the history, passion, and identity of a country and its people.
La Boca and the Tango : Caminito, Boca Jrs Stadium, La Boca
This neighborhood owes its name to the fact that it is precisely in this area where the mouths of the Riachuelo are located, which flows into the Río de la Plata. It is one of the most colorful neighborhoods in the City and is characterized by the infinity of tourists who visit it, seeking to experience a bit of tango and appreciate the Buenos Aires “firuletes”
La Boca: a bit of history
This emblematic neighborhood owes its name to the fact that it is precisely in this area where the mouths (boca in Spanish) of the Riachuelo are found, where its waters flow into the Río de la Plata. Many historians agree that La Boca is the place where Pedro de Mendoza founded the city of Santa María de los Buenos Aires, in 1536. For several years, the mouth of the Riachuelo was the natural port of Buenos Aires, but due to problems such as the shallow waters, the sandbanks and the considerable rises and downspouts, among others, the port moved further north of the City.
Where the neighborhood of La Boca is located today was a hostile, swampy, desolate area with periodic floods. But, at the end of the 19th century, a vigorous and growing Italian community with a preponderance of Genoese origin began to settle there, which, little by little, gave life and personality to the neighborhood. Over time, other groups of immigrants, Spaniards, Greeks, Germans and some scattered groups of French and Saxons were incorporated.
The neighborhood was a place for passing sailors, with which numerous grocery stores were opened. The Italians who inhabited the place were more and more until in 1882 a group of Genoese signed an act that they sent to the King of Italy informing him that they had constituted the Republic of La Boca. Upon hearing this news, the then president, Julio Argentino Roca, immediately had the Genoese flag raised at the site removed and ended the conflict.
La Boca was characterized by being a neighborhood of funny, noisy and melancholic inhabitants. They spoke the xeneixe dialect, that of the Genoese, as if they were in their land. They were hard-working and supportive, they came to form numerous community support institutions, published newspapers and founded sports and cultural clubs. Given its great sensitivity for art, singers, musicians, poets and visual artists have been born in the neighborhood, many of whom have occupied significant places in the popular feeling.
Within its limits there is an exemplary staff of volunteer firefighters, well known and valued for their great work, professionalism and work in the community. Most of the houses were and are made of wood and sheet metal, this makes the fires frequent and threatening. In such a context, the task of the firefighters was and is fundamental.
La Boca presents a particular architecture, wooden and sheet metal houses, both with iron balconies that are still preserved along the streets of the neighborhood. Its corrugated sheet metal facades are combined with the wood carpentry enriched by various moldings. The colors of the houses represent an innumerable variety that comes from the leftover paint that the sailors brought home, as the paint was expensive, and the scarce quantity to paint the entire house of the same color, was used to the last drop , therefore, the frames were first painted until it was exhausted, to then go to the walls and paint as far as possible. In addition, the horizontal lines were and are a characteristic of La Boca, long overlapping planks in the wooden houses and the grooving of the veneers.
Caminito
Caminito in La Boca is one of the most emblematic walks in the city and one of the must-see attractions for those who visit it. With its typical tin “conventillos” in the La Boca neighborhood, which display its walls painted in different colors, it is also an open-air museum almost 150 meters long. Its sinuous layout is due to the fact that it follows the course of a stream that flowed until the beginning of the 20th century. The area was popularly known as “Puntin” (short for “bridge” in Genoese dialect).
For a long time it was part of the railway route to Ensenada (one hour from Buenos Aires) until in 1928 the branch was closed and the track became an abandoned alley. It was thanks to the initiative of several neighbors, among whom was the painter Benito Quinquela Martín (one of the main benefactors of the neighborhood and whose work is commemorated through the colors of the houses of La Boca), that in the 1950s He recovered the land to turn it into a pedestrian walkway and a museum street, in which works by different artists were added little by little.
In 1959, at the initiative of Quinquela Martín, it was baptized with the name of the famous tango “Caminito”, composed by Juan de Dios Filiberto and Gabino Coria Peñaloza and premiered in the carnivals of 1926.
La Bombonera, the Boca Juniors Stadium
One of the most famous football clubs in Argentina is the Club Atletico Boca Juniors, or Boca Juniors, and also just Boca. Boca Juniors was founded on Monday, April 3, 1905, when a handful of young Italian immigrants living in the neighborhood, Esteban Baglietto, Alfredo Scarpatti, Santiago Pedro Sana, and the brothers Juan and Teodoro Farenga, met in Plaza Solís to give birth to the legendary institution. The colors blue and yellow, taken from the flag of a Swedish ship, moored for those days in the waters of the Riachuelo. For its part, River Plate was founded on May 25, 1901, also in the La Boca neighborhood, due to the merger of two pre-existing clubs called “Santa Rosa” and “La Rosales”. After discussing several proposals, they decided to call it “River Plate”, apparently, because one of the partners had seen some sailors set aside some boxes, with the inscription “The River Plate”. In those years, River had its field next to the Riachuelo in the block formed by Pinzón, Gaboto, Aristóbulo del Valle and Pedro de Mendoza streets. Later, he moved to Palermo, where he had his own stadium, but over the years the club grew in popularity and had to move, in 1938, to the Belgrano neighborhood, north of the City, where its facilities are located. At present, The River Plata stadium is located in the Núñez neighborhood.
