Saudi Arabia has experienced significant social and political transformations lately. Who would have predicted tango lessons in Riyadh, or Argentinian tango classes taught by a female Saudi instructor?
Tango is a form of Arab modernism, particularly in the Arab Gulf. Workshops, concerts and festivals are happening around the region, interlacing Arabic-speaking cultures with the tango world of Buenos Aires.
It is not just in Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman are involved in the relationship between music and dance. Egypt, Syria, Türkiye and Lebanon have long been entangled with the tango cultural form, which draws on dance, music and poetry.
It is a new Arab world where men and women can dance together without fear or veil. Interestingly, in 2009, a Unesco summit in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, recognised the tango dance as ‘Immaterial’ Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
According to the literature, the tango beat existed as early as 711. Most scholars agree that the official origins of tango in Buenos Aires occurred in the 1880s. The literature suggests that tango music emerged from a blend of various rhythms.
It is associated with melancholy and nostalgia for belonging. It developed as poor people’s music in the working-class neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay.
A cross-cultural melancholy brought about by the large influx of immigrants from Syria, Lebanon and Palestine to Buenos Aires, Brazil and Mexico. All were displaced from their culture, homeland and family.
By 1913, tango had become popular worldwide. Tangomania was at its height shortly before World War I.
It reached the silver screen in 1921. Since then, tango has been immortalised in films as an art form and storytelling. The silent movie and epic war drama, The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921) inspired a tango craze and fashion trend. Tango Bar (1935) was the last film the tango singer Carlos Gardel made. He died in an airplane crash the same year.
Tango elements are present in famous films such as Scent of a Woman (1992), Moulin Rouge (2001) and Chicago (2002). Evita (1996) transforms tango into a political metaphor, whereas Shall We Dance (2004) uses it as a catalyst for personal transformation.
Returning to the Arab world, the lyrics of “Aatini al Nay wa Ghanni” (“Bring me the flute and sing”) can be interpreted as the consolidation of an Arabicised Argentine tango back in 1964. Although this song is musically based upon “La Cumparsita,” the lyrics are an adaptation of an excerpt from Kahlil Gibran’s Arabic poem al Mawakib (The Processions), published in 1919.
By the 1950s, Lebanese singer Fairouz had translated and performed the well-known tangos La Caminito and Poema in Arabic. One of my favourites is Tango Ya Zanbak.
To better understand tango as a cultural bridge between South America and Arab countries, one has to read the stories of Amal El Atrache, known as Asmahan and her brother, Farid El Atrache. Tango’s Arab heritage can also be traced back to Eugenio Majul, whose parents were Syrian and Lebanese; Maria de La Fuente, of Arab lineage; and Fairuz, of Lebanese origin.
The straight-backed, strolling, and crossing-floor tango dance characterises the construction of a liberal modern Arab society; the twisting of the legs is reserved for stage dance performances.
Tango is a thriving business in the region. Attire and footwear are part of the strategy for social integration. Never before has tango been danced by so many people and in so many different places as it has today.
Tango is celebrating its 10th anniversary in Oman. The first public event occurred in October 2015, followed by a Christmas celebration with tango performers at a local hotel. Tango classes have previously been offered in Muscat since early that year.
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