Walking the streets of Buenos Aires you may notice the LACK of people from nations other than Europe and the Americas.
You’ve seen her at a milonga: brassy bottle blonde hair, between too much sun, too many cigarettes and too much plastic surgery it’s difficult to determine her age—maybe 50 leaning toward 70 trying to look 30. She’s wearing, shall we say … something ‘memorable’ and it reveals her tucks and lifts and undergarments. She is Buenos Aires. She has black roots and her parents were purchased from another country. She was a slave, a whore. She wants to move to a wild African rhythm but the years have taught her, pressured her, to maintain composure. The proper dance halls of Paris, and Europe, taught her some manners:—refinement, finesse, taught her how to hide, how to lie, how to sell.
Argentina’s first ever president may have been mulatto. Graduates of Argentine education don’t seem to know for sure. It’s possible that references to him as having been mulatto may have been more metaphorical than literal.
During the Spanish domination or Argentina, boatloads of African slaves were introduced to the country. In some provinces, they comprised about 50 percent of the population. They had a major impact on the national culture. But many of them died during the War of Independence and due to other factors. Currently, Afro-Americans comprise less than one percent of the total population of Argentina.
You can hear black roots in the candombe, canyengue and milonga rhythms. More recently, with the newer tango, you can hear a bit of the black roots revival. This is the music that inspires me to move.
