Tango y Cultura Popular ® English Edition TyCP Special | Page 67

which is , fortunately enough,
beyond explanation unless
you have your heart wide
open instead of your head.
Whenever I see them cut,
paste and support blindly,
without objection, completely
closed to debate these new
“Experts’ brilliant ideas” which
are a bunch of rocket phrases,
“Scientific” essays, marketing
resources, that put Tango and
its people under a microscope
slide.
Those gurus I reject, in honor
to my love for true Tango
people, the ones that cultivate
and transmit it, wearing plain
milonguero’s clothes, not
robes, as I express on the
appendix of my book Al Petiso
le gustaba Tanturi:
“Not to the social climbers,
or opportunists, or
fashion followers, or Art
transhumants, or sociocultural
activities nomads, or lovers of
the exotic.
Not to those people, that
prefer to watch Tango’s
brave oceans from its shores,
without even daring to set
foot in its waters.
I recall those who have kept
alive the sacred flame of our
citizen being, to those that
later chose Tango because
is one of the most beautiful
and touching expressions
known. To young people who
embraced Tango dancing
as a girlfriend, and to the
older ones, astonished after
“discovering” that, which had
always been part of their daily
lives.
And I mean those of us who chose to
rescue... and protect... and divulge this
authentic cultural patrimony, that defines
us, describes us, justifies us, and gives
account of our origins and evolution as
urban beings. To the guardians of a genre
that, being unable to defeat it from outside,
some intend to weaken from within. Let
God confuse them, as the Babel people...”
We have too many... too many... too many
“Experts” in Tango. Whoever wants to wear
the title, feel free to do so.
As Alberto Castillo said: “Tango is Tango if
it’s got milonga, never mind if it’s today’s or
yesterday’s old or new”
So well, I felt I had to say it... and I did.
I have never been “politically correct”
and won’t start now, at this old age.
Ángel Mario Herreros
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