Most conversations online and off line about the new art form known as tango
nuevo has for the most part centered around form and function. This
two-pronged discussion usually evolve into a discussion about teachers, style,
musical preference, authenticity, etc...
One think often missed in these passionate exchanges is that the nuevo
"phenomenon" is not a passing fluke... it is here to stay.
Nuevo can not be understood from looking at its outer most manifestation -
dance and music. Instead Nuevo MUST be understood for what it REALLY is. A
social movement within an art form to repudiate, deny, change, or to simply
cope with 'MUFA'.
The nostalgia, longness, and deep sadness embedded in the Tango lyrics, poetry,
life style, music and dance in each generation becomes more and more a foreign
concept to newer generations. Under such conditions (cultural distance from
the isolation felt by immigrants during the turn of the 20th century) nuevo's
proposed changes away from an almost foreign sense of loss is not so difficult
to understand.
Nuevo IMHO is just that -- a cry from the new generation of artist trying to
infuse a new set of emotions in this beautiful art form. Such cry is bound to
find sympathizers from all sides (young, old, etc...).
Personaly I am just fine with the nostalgia, melancholy, and longness that
Tango evokes. For I like many of my European ancestors find myself stranded as
an immigrant on a land far from the cultural roots of my childhood.
Amaury
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