Modern Tango World N° 10 (Athens, Greece) | Page 37

In 2010, a 100% Roman bimonthly magazine, La Doble Hoja
del Tango, began publication. It continued for eleven editions
until December 2012, in a format similar to that of a daily
newspaper, with an ubalanced editorial content focussed
on the historical-cultural component of tango rather than
being purely informational. It is important to point out this
project was based on free distribution. It was sustained by
contributions from sponsors whose ads were hosted on the
pages of the magazine. As soon as the development of so-
cial networks has made paper ads obsolete, sponsors could
reach their public with more agile and economic tools. This
lack of funds forced these magazines to progressively reduce
their contents xubstantially and eventually led to its closing.
With regards to tango books, there is the usual collection
essays and manuals focused on history and technicalities. But
durtheing roaring years of the Roman tango, there has been
a rich production of narrative books, both novels and stories
set in the typical places of the tango in Rome. The earliest
of these stories, Tanto di Cappello by Antonio Lalli, was pub-
lished in 2009. It is a collection of stories and anecdotes that
captures the memory of the origins of Roman tango, when
it had not yet reached the peak of success.
The literary contribution of the Roman author, Nicola Vice-
conti has been focused on the social and human reflections
of the tragedy of the Argentine diasopa. In 2010, one of his
first novels was named after the most famous tango, Cump-
arsita. It is a journey between Argentina and Italy in which
tango surrounds the story of existential dramas and murky
mysteries.
More recently in 2017, Tango Teheran, written by Ermanno
Felli, tells the story of an Italian boy who, through the genu-
ine values of the tango expsed by the master Teté Rus-
coni, fills the existential voids of his unsatisfactory life to find
love in Teheran, a city in which Argentine tango can only be
danced in clandestine places.
Among the female voices worth mentioning is the Calabrian
author Anna Mallamo and her book, Lezioni di Tango, a re-
portage on the academic world that revolves around the
dance. The sory is presented from the sensitive but ironic
eye of a beginner.
I, myself, have produced collections of short stories — The
woman who danced the tango clockwise, I’m going to buy the
tango shoes and the recently published, TanguEros - stories of
tormented dancers. This latest collection shows how tango act-
ing as a trigger to motivate the characters to reach their goals
going beyond the border between reality and fantasy.
— 37 —
TO SUBSCRIBE, CLICK HERE