A visit to La Boca today, mainly to visit the museum where Benito Quinquela Martin, the Argentinian painter, made his home decades ago, and where he painted his evocative scenes of La Boca: factories, smoke stacks, hazy air, flaming sunsets, burning wrecks, glowing furnaces, crowded harbour...but most of all ships, barges, sail boats, row boats...and stevedores going about their back breaking work under atrocious conditions.
His museum is hardly visited by the crowds of tourists, which populate El Caminito, maybe 100 yards away, to watch tango shows and buy souvenirs...an oasis of beauty in the Chaos of La Boca.
Benito Quinquela Martin
Iconic Painter of La Boca Maritime Scenes
Better than any description on my part, who this painter was in real life and how his paintings captured the La Boca environment of the early 20th Century, here is a short video (with the appropriate Gardel Tango 'Caminito') illustrating his life and art.
All of his paintings show incredible contrast of light and dark....
Benito
The museum is located in Quinquela's old house, a building several stories high, which at one time also served as a school. Quinquela carried his love of colour not only to the walls of his home, but also to furniture, appliances, including pots and pants, even the burners of his gas stove were painted in different colours....
Quinquela had a very modest beginning, and experienced the hard live of settlers of La Boca first hand. He was born (a guess by people who found him) March 1, 1890, an orphan, adopted by an Italian father and an Indigenous mother. He worked as a child in his father's 'carboneria', coal yard....but he had a passion...painting, which brought him international recognition.
Taking a bit of an 'adventurous' ride in a rowboat on the Riachuelo...one may get an idea how Quinquela was inspired to use his vibrant colours...
His house, now museum, is spacious and airy....this photo shows the size of some of his pieces.
Next celebration of his life and art: 9 March 2016....paint the streets of Boca....I may just go and grab a brush and join the fun!
Benito Quinquela Martin died Jan 28 1977, he is buried in Chacarita Cemetry (same one where Carlos Gardel has his last rest) in a coffin, he painted himself a year before his death.
"Quien vivió rodeado de color no puede ser enterrado en una caja lisa"
"He who lived surrounded by colour cannot be buried in a plain box."
On the cover of the coffin was a painting of the port of La Boca....
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Nothing better, than to start a pleasant Saturday afternoon heading to a milonga for a couple of warm up tandas of Tango...
Definitely NOT my shoes, albeit would I ever love to wear those and despite them be able to dance longer than maybe 30 seconds...
So one heads off to Teatro Colon after a spot of tango, and refreshes oneself at Le Petit Colon, a 'Café Notable' of Buenos Aires, a block away from Le Gran Colon, the theatre.
At the Corner of Diagonal Norte and the Edge of Plaza Lavalle, in plain sight of El Obelisco, is le Petit Colon.
Elegance of a bygone era, the Petit Colon evokes images of the early 20th century, with ladies and gentlemen of La Belle Epoque having a few tete a tetes for their 'cinque a siete' entertainment. Nothing much appears to have changed, except the clientele and staff of course.
Main Part of the Café, wood panelling, sculpted ceilings, real rattan upholstered chairs, carved wooden bar and doors, inlaid floors and antique light fixtures (now electric not gas)...waiters in formal uniform...
The counter of Café Petit Colon
Table top inlay....Petit Colon Icon
From the engraved and curtained windows and enjoys a view of Plaza Lavalle with Los Tribunales in the background
Chandelier at the entrance of Petit Colon
Heavy Leather upholstery and embroidered wall paper...
All that comfort invites to linger....I had a cafecito cortado and a media lunes dulce, which is served with appropriate elegance....napkins, a small glass of mineral water to wash the strong coffee down one's throat, impeccable service.
My destiny was Teatro Colon, which staged as Part of the Summer Festivel a gratis concert of classical waltzes on an open air stage at spacious Plaza Vaticano beside Teatro Colon. Start time 8 p.m.
I had enough time (I thought) beforehand to buy myself a ticket for an upcoming performance (all Tschaikovsky concert) and wander over to Plaza Vaticana.
Well, I had hoped to be early enough to secure one of the plastic chairs, the city lines up by the hundred for listeners to enjoy free of charge. But....with an hour to go before start up, not only every single chair was taken (many brought their own folding garden chairs) but every surface that could serve as seating was occupied as well....popular event obviously.
Plaza Vaticano, empty, with Teatro Colon in the background. The plaza can accommodate a couple of thousand people - or more....
Today's Program of 'El Gran Vals', the Great Waltz, must be very popular, live performance of the theatre's philharmonic orchestra led by Mario Perusso, guest conductor.
Mario Perusso - Conductor
THE PROGRAM
“EL GRAN VALS” CARL MARIA VON WEBER
(ORQ. HECTOR BERLIOZ)
INVITACIÓN A LA DANZA JOHANN STRAUSS (H)
A ORILLAS DEL HERMOSO DANUBIO AZUL FRANZ LISZT
VALS MEFISTO NO. 1 RICHARD STRAUSS
VALSES DE “EL CABALLERO DE LA ROSA”, OP. 59 DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH
VALS DE LA SUITE DE JAZZ NO. 2 MAURICE RAVEL
LA VALSE
Thousands of people, more of them standing than sitting...which brings its own set of challenges. Most of the crowd was surprisingly silent when the orchestra played. But, kids being kids, they kept up their conversations at kid volume of voices, cell phones provided the odd 'percussion' back up, and one collie border dog managed to yip in time and tune with the beat of 'The Blue Danube'. It sounded as if he liked it....
Flat surfaces were definitely at a premium. I had 'settled down' on a wide stone elevation, together with a whole army of other people...numbers increased during the program with a few 'upgrades' going on, each time a prime peace of concrete became free when a spectator left. Other listeners just 'bum hopped' into the open space, and the beat went on.
Not my photo, but this may have been the view from 'above' - except today's crowd was probably larger than this one. The night was balmy, with a moon trying to outshine the city lights (which worked today - how fortunate after rotative electricity cuts put the city into temporary darkness during the just past heat-wave). Puddles left over from the rainstorm of the previous night had dried up, and as a result, the concrete plaza fixtures serving as make shift seating were relatively 'dust free'.
The Orchestra.....fortunately the temperatures had dropped, as playing in 36 degree heat (that's how hot it was a few nights earlier) would be rather a challenge for string instrument players especially....sticky fingers, and expanding wood...
Hard to beat the atmosphere of an open air classical concert, with a backdrop of the magnificent façade of Teatro Colon, soft night breezes, and a clear (for Buenos Aires) sky...
The video....or at least a sample....with a request for a pardon about the less than perfect audio track...my location in the plaza did not lend itself to 'high quality' recording....but, here it is.
La Glorieta, in Belgrano, at the north end of Buenos Aires, is a historic Music Pavilion, which used to sit atop of Los Barrancos, the ravine, back in 1910.
Since then the barranco has been filled, creating a slightly inclined park and a large terminal for 'collectivos'. La Glorieta remains, surrounded by greenery, and at present by construction fences and small dirt piles....the brick pavement surrounding the pavilion is being renovated. Nevertheless, each summer evening La Glorieta turns into a 'pista de milonga'. Entry is by donation to 'la gorra', the hat. It's a popular venue, if it does not rain, for many Portenos to get their tango fix.
La Glorieta in 1910, still topping the edge of a now disappeared ravine.
La Glorieta, glorious under her night illumination
La Glorieta
Milongueros y milongueras enjoying a warm summer evening dancing on marble tiles.
Mochilas (backpacks), shoe bags etc are 'parked' on a blanket in the middle of the floor, there is no 'guardaropa' and leaving one's gear hanging from the wrought iron enclosure invites ever present thieves to serve themselves.
One recognizes many of the same faces, dancers who regularly attend other milongas. The atmosphere is more relaxed, everyone stands around the edge of the pavilion and chats, or sits on the wrought iron railing during 'cortinas' (Pauses between tango sets), people invite each other to dance often without deploying a 'cabeceo'.
Instead of wearing suits and ties, as some milongueros do at regular milongas (for some an after work interlude before going home to spouses and kids), many turn up in casual clothing with their esposos/esposas, girlfriends and loved ones in tow. Women wear anything from short shorts (matched with very high heels) to glitter clothing.
I danced a couple of hours, some tandas with acquaintances from other milongas, others with 'unknowns'. I had the dubious pleasure of being invited by one Porteno, who assured me that he 'does not dance like everyone else here'. Truer words never spoken: half the tangos I spent in 'mid air' trying to look 'graceful', while my forceful and enthusiastic partner executed his 'tango escenario' tricks, which involved a lot of lifting (he must have watched Juan Carlos Copes once too often) and hooking of legs. Well, a more 'conservative' milonga with a pleasant dancer and a number of enjoyable valses and tangos made up for the one 'surprise' performance.
Leaving around 10 p.m., I negotiated the various construction dirt piles (one changes one's shoes sitting on the marble steps of the Glorieta) still sticky from the day's earlier rains, to take a 'collectivo' back to Palermo. Still early for Buenos Aires, I walked a couple of doors past my domicile, and stepped into Los Cardones, la Pena Folklorico.
The Program of Los Cardones, a popular 'Salteno' hang out for dinner and folklore dancing and singing, especially on weekends. Viernes, Friday, the 20th...ok lets see what goes...
Carol Retamoso (left) La Saltena, which leads the dance ensemble since years, as well as teaching chacarera, zamba, gatito y escondido during the week, treated patrons to various example of Argentine Folk Dances.
The Place is open since ten years, and has not lost any of it's popularity.
Carol and her team...
Some of the evening's performance strumming and singing their repertoire.
I enjoyed a glass of wine and a 'pizzetta', very small pizza (which was cold) and enjoyed the contrast from TANGO to FOLKLORICO....one symbolic of Buenos Aires, the city, and the other representative of Argentina, the country.
A pretty good start for a weekend....temperatures had dropped by about 10 degrees from 36 to 26 degrees. A heavy duty overnight thunderstorm with heavy rains, helped cooling off the city, which felt like a furnace night and day for two weeks. A bailar a bailar, que la vida se va.....
Carlos Gardel, el Idolo del Tango, in one of his many films dating back to the Thirties, dancing - what else - Canyengue.....
Canyengue, an old form of dancing tango, if not the first style to hit the dance floors of old La Boca and San Telmo, is still alive and experiencing a kind of 'renaissance' in Buenos Aires and a few countries around the Globe.
Buenos Aires, staged the annual Tango Canyengue Week in February 2016.
Put on by MOCCA (Movimiente Cultural Canyengue Argentino) and staged by an enthusiastic team of canyengueros, especially six Maestros, it offers an enthusiastic group of students to learn during eight hours of classes, practice during 'Penas' and Milongas, as well as watch Canyengue Performances.
The Flyer.....
Maestros from left to right..
Maria Laura Collavini, Manolo Gallego (83 yrs) Nelda Lewis - (middle: Mary Isabel Aragon, organizer of Milonga Solidaria) - Gustavo Negrotto, Roxina Villegas, Junior Abreu (Brazil)
Some of the group of students hailing from around the Globe:
Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Rumania and the United Kingdom
How' it's done....
Abrazo Canyenguero
The classes were instructive and fun, the airconditioning in the class rooms - less fun. As a matter of fact, it was - Buenos Aires fashion - not working at all. Canyengue Week unfortunately coincided with one of Buenos Aire infamous heat waves, and la 'termica' (perceived temperature) reached 30 degrees - even during the evenings. Ceiling Fans stirred the hot air around, and one of them had to be 'immobilized' as it seemed on the verge of joining the class happening below it.
Classes were a test in perseverance and perspiration....but, we all hung in there regardless...working through abrazos, caminatas, little jumps here and there, kicks and twists. All to the regular 2x4 beat of Canyengue. Every beat has the same impact, whereas in tango only beat 1 and 3 are emphasised, and 2 and 4 are almost 'silent'.
Senor Canyengue, the workshop canine, participated in everything, except the the 'official' Milongas at Salon Canning and La Nacional. He quietly observed all classes and practicas, without voicing a single complaint, never wearing his doggie tango shoes, which were obviously made for the females of the canine species. But, instead 'warming' a few laps above the ambient furnace heat, whenever someone sat down to rest...
For the 'Pena Canyenguera', a kind of open party, pub, milonga affair, the class room was decorated for the occasion - with the help of students and maestros alike.
Hand made garlands hanging from the ceiling, chairs and tables come out of the back rooms, and lovingly prepared table decorations are placed on each 'mesa'....all turned the bare room into a little 'festival hall'...60 pesitos Argentinos got you in (students participated gratis..they danced and worked there way in) and one enjoyed ALL tango rhythm tango, milonga and valce. Solely Canyengue could turn boring even for the most ardent aficionado...
The kitchen 'at the back', staffed by a young couple, feed the hungry with home made cakes, hot empanadas, sandwiches, and other delicious tidbits. Cold beer, wine, soft drinks and water kept the perspiration flowing....
The 'sorteo' a kind of 'lottery' for the winning entry tickets to the 'Pena' surprised a few lucky dancers with little gifts...I had misplaced my ticket of course...
Los Maestros taking the honours after three great performances at La Pena, Salon Canning and La Nacional.....
All pupils received their 'Certificate', now we are licensed Canyengueros...
Senor Canyengue missed out on his certificate - AGAIN!!!
Last Day of Canyengue Week....Valentine's Day...one wears red
...and everyone is a Happy Valentine's Day Canyenguero....
A little change from 'serious' tango, this week was a delight, despite the suffocating heat, which almost paralyzed dancers and instructors alike, kept Buenos Aires steaming in its own juices, and put almost 300,000 of its inhabitants into the dark - no electricity. We were lucky - all classes and performances had ELECTRICITY....
