For a sip of tango

Abstract

A popular song, symbol of the courage of living and an epic tale of nostalgia, the tango has spread, privately in its beginnings, among working classes first, and lavish ballrooms later. It has finally perpetuated its celebratory breath in singers’ voices and in the sensuality of dance, and it has settled not only into public life, but also into the interest of cultural studies. Originally from the Río de la Plata –Argentina–, the tango is universal, and it has been danced by gangsters, Argentine people of today and Hollywood movie stars. Love, oblivion, nostalgia, party, deceit, bullies’ childish tears, all those emotions are either explicitly or metaphorically stated through expressions related with wine and champagne, the drink that accompanies the praise of lust, the pain of absence, and the desire for oblivion. The wine-champagne-drink provides the lexicon to express those emotions, which are thus purified, evaporated, sedimented. The convergente of emotional and linguistic units motivates the search for the dynamics that are encouraged in a song.