Sephardic Tango: A Renewed Tradition

• In Event: Jewish Tango and Diasporic Dancing

Abstract

Tango is a musical and poetic genre that became a national and cultural symbol of Argentina. The role of Jews in its development, performance and promotion is considerable, and genres such as Yiddish tango and Ghetto tango are already broadly acknowledged. But tango also became a part of the Sephardic repertoire in the Balkans during its internationalization phase in the early 1930s. Several songs received lyrics in Ladino, or vernacular Judeo-Spanish, and acquired “a recognizable place in the tradition and life of the Sepharadim.” (Weich-Shahak 2000)

Today, as tango makes a comeback around the world, the conflation, or negotiation, of an Argentine and Sephardic identity takes place in Buenos Aires proper, as Sepharadim in Argentina enrich and revitalize the Sephardic poetic-musical repertoire by composing original tangos in Ladino or translating traditional ones not only from afar, but right in the region of La Plata.

This paper will observe how tango is used to enlarge the linguistic repertoire of Judeo-Spanish and affirm a Jewish, Sephardic and Latin American identity.

Author

• Monique Rodrigues Balbuena, University of Oregon