MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Tango and candombe declared intangible cultural expressions by Unesco

Tango academies and tourism have become a world craze

Two of Uruguay’s most typical cultural expressions, tango and candombe (*) were declared on Wednesday part of the world's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, UNESCO.

The sensual passionate tango dance originated in the River Plate cities of Montevideo and Buenos Aires and the presentation was jointly submitted by Uruguay and Argentina to the Unesco convention which began Tuesday in Abu Dhabi.

Unesco said heritages seeking approval, transmit from “generation to generation” and give “communities and groups a feeling of identity”.

It added that tango “embodies and encourages diversity and cultural dialogue”.

“We are so happy. It’s wonderful” said Uruguay’s head of Culture Department Hugo Achugar.

Buenos Aires City Culture Secretary Hernan Lombardi said he was ”very proud that the music and dance of the tango have now been safeguarded for humanity”. He added it was “a homage to all those who toiled and kept tango alive for generations, to those who trusted oral tradition, passing on the poetry, dance and music from generation on generation”.

Both Uruguay and Argentina have long fought over each other's claim as the birthplace of tango, which arose in both countries in the late 1800s. The popularity of the dance has since spread to Europe, North America and Japan. The two countries put aside their squabbles for a joint bid to get tango on Unesco list of cultural traditions to be safeguarded and protected.

The decision means Uruguay and Argentina are committed to promote “specific safeguard plans” for which they will have access to a special “financial assistance” from a Unesco fund created for intangible cultural heritage.

Tango origins are traced to the late 1880s when the River Plate was virtually flooded by poor, needy European immigrants. The music and the lyrics in the local argot rapidly spread as a symbol of the underclass. The leit motiv of the lyrics are love, solitude, melancholy and daily survival in the poor quarters of the two River Plate main cities Buenos Aires and Montevideo.

However the music has spread to the rest of the world and tango schools and dance halls have proliferated in Europe, Asia and the rest of the Americas.

“Germans and Japanese are whom most like the music and quicker to pick it up”, according to Fernando Clavier who runs a tango school in Montevideo.

Candombe is an Afro-American dance and musical expression brought by the black population to the River Plate.

(*) See special article on the Afro descendents cultural tradition