Murga porteña

What is the murga ?

The murga is a phenomenon of the carnival, occurring once a year. AN integral phenomenon where different elements are valued equally : the dance, the music, the picturesque words, and the clothes. Its history is old, as old as that of the carnivals. The first manifestations of the murga or the comparsas are tied to the presence of Negro slaves. The aristocracy later took part, creating the first official carnival in late 1850’s. During the beginning of the twentieth century, the carnival was mainly composed of Spanish and Italian immigrants who went into the street with horse drawn milk wagons decorated as carriages. (The aristocracy began to withdraw.) In recent years, the murga came out of the carnival to be present year round. Her songs and music are used to protest the difficult social situation of the Argentine people. Her lyrics reflect the present problems of the country.

Tango’s heritage

In the murga, we can clearly see the black heritage of Argentina ; the negritude in all its splendor is conserved in the murga. Moreover, many important tango dancers are also important murga dancers, which gave them the possibility of liberal expression, leaving aside all prejudices and codes of popular dances in order to train their spirit and their body in the magic trance of this dance. The murga porteña, "the tango’s catharsis," is where tango’s controlled passion explodes in limitless expression until the highest jump of a "matanza" (last part of the murga sequence where the dancer, accompanied by a bass drum and symbal, creates energetic jumping figures). The murga is a part of tango which awakens.

Juan Carlos Caceres, with a distinct look toward the past, opens a new door for today’s tango. His themes renew the tango spirit and allow for the first time the murga portena to enter the world’s milongas. Ariel Prat , author, murga musician and dancer, is the first to bring to Paris this art, this tango of protest, this murga expressing to the world the sentiments and longings of the people... the same people that more than a hundred years ago created the magnificent dance called ’Argentine tango.’

Lessons for today’s tangueros

The murga gives us something essential - contact with the earth and grounded beat, a calm deep rhythm, one of the more difficult concepts for a tanguero to master. Also very useful are the relaxed body and uninhibited movement. Working with a free body is essential for any dancer. The murga offers us these elements that are not always evident in tango : rhythm and grounding, and lack of inhibition. The murga opens a new door to creativity.