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Syllabus Tango Culture: Poetry Music Dance Theatre and Cinema - 23967
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Last update 16-07-2018
HU Credits: 2

Degree/Cycle: 2nd degree (Master)

Responsible Department: Musicology

Semester: 1st Semester

Teaching Languages: Hebrew

Campus: Mt. Scopus

Course/Module Coordinator: Prof. Edwin Seroussi

Coordinator Email: edwin.seroussi@mail.huji.ac.il

Coordinator Office Hours: Tue. 12:00-13:00

Teaching Staff:
Prof Edwin Seroussi

Course/Module description:
The course is designed to provide students with an introduction into the complexity of tango as a cultural phenomenon, as a whole consisting of discrete musical works, images, body movements and cinematographic representations. Since its birth on the outskirts of the two big cities on the shores of Rio de la Plata, Buenos Aires and Montevideo, among a multicultural immigrant society, the tango has grown to become one of the first global genres of popular music of the early 20th century. This global dimension will be explored in all its components.

Course/Module aims:
We will discuss multidisciplinary aspects of tango, starting with a critical study and analysis of musical and textual repertoires, key figures in the field, reception processes, the creation of icons in global spaces, the connection between art and national and post-national culture, gender relations and identity politics.

Learning outcomes - On successful completion of this module, students should be able to:
• A deep understanding of Tango as a whole consisting of music, poetry and dance
• Familiarity with the main figures in the history of Tango
• Ability to analyze the phenomenon of Tango critically, including the identification of different styles
• Familiarity with the academic literature in various fields that discuss Tango from different perspectives

Attendance requirements(%):
90

Teaching arrangement and method of instruction: In addition to weekly readings, the course will include intensive guided listening of music clips and films as well as live encounters with tango artists.

Course/Module Content:
1) Introduction: Tango as a culture
2) The social, political and cultural background of Argentina at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, a culture of immigrants.
3) Introduction to the music of tango
4) From popular culture to elitist culture - the Golden Age
5) From dance to song: The literature of the tango and the image of Carlos Gardel
6) Tango and gender
7) The Bandoneon: Lesson with the player Eduardo Abramson
8) Modern Tango: Astor Piazzolla and the post-junta period
9) Global Tango
10) Global Tango: The Jewish and Hebrew connections
11) The presence of Tango in Western art music
12) Tango in Cinema 1: Argentinian cinema from the 1930s until today
13) Tango in Cinema 2: Tango’s reception in Hollywood and in Global Cinema
14) Tango today: between blossoming and crisis

Required Reading:
Archetti, Eduardo P. 1999. Masculinities: football, polo, and the tango in Argentina. Oxford: New York University Press: Berg, 1999. GV 706.34 A73

Azzi, María Susana, Le grand tango: the life and music of Astor Piazzolla. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ML 410 P55 A99 2000 ůîĺřéí

Azzi, María Susana. “Multicultural Tango: The Impact and the Contribution of the Italian Immigration to the Tango in Argentina.” International Journal of Musicology 5 (1996): 437–53.

Bergero, Adriana J. 2008. Intersecting tango: cultural geographies of Buenos Aires, 1900-1930, translated by Richard Young. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. F 3001.3 B543 2008 ůîĺřéí

Castro, Donald S. 1989. “The Soul of the People. The Tango Poets of the 1920s and 1930s and their use of Popular Language”, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 8: 231-251.

Castro, Donald S. 1990. “The Soul of the People: The Tango as a source for Argentine Social History”, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 9: 279-296.

Castro, Donald S. 1998. “Carlos Gardel and the Argentine Tango: The Lyric of Social Irresponsibility and Male Inadequacy,” in: Washabaugh, William (ed.), The passion of music and dance: body, gender, and sexuality. Oxford: Berg, pp. 63-78. GV 1595 P37

Castro, Donald S. 1999. “The Massification of the Tango: The Electronic Media, the Popular Theatre, and the Cabaret. From Contursi to Perón, 1917-1955”, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture 18: 93-121.

dCorradi, Juan E. 1997. “How Many Did It Take to Tango? Voyages of Urban Culture in the Early 1900s.” Outsider Art: Contesting Boundaries in Contemporary Culture. Ed. Vera L. Zolberg and Joni Maya Cherbo. London: Cambridge UP, pp. 194– 214. NX 456 O83

Czackis, Lloica. 2009. "Yiddish Tango: A Musical Genre?" European Judaism 42, no. 2: 107-121.

D’Lugo, Marvin. 2008. “Early Cinematic Tangos: Audiovisual Culture and Transnational Film Aesthetics”, Studies in Hispanic Cinemas 5/1-2: 9-23.

Feldman, Hernán. 2006. “Stepping Out the Bounds: The Tragedy of the Milonguita in the Tango Song”, Latin American Cultural Studies 15/1, pp. 1-15.

Ferrer, Horacio Arturo. 1996. El siglo de oro del tango: compendio ilustrado de su historia. Buenos Aires: Manrique Zago Ediciones. GV 1796 T3 F39 ůîĺřéí

Goertzen Chris and María Susana Azzi. 1999. “Globalization and the Tango,” Yearbook for Traditional Music, Vol. 31, pp. 67-76.

Hopkins, Lori. 2002. “The Transatlantic Tango: Sally Potter’s The Tango Lesson,” Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 21, pp. 119-130.

Pellarolo, Sirena. 2008. “Queering Tango: Glitches in the Hetero-National Matrix of a Liminal Cultural Production,” Theatre Journal 60, no. 3: 409-431.

Russo, Juan Angel y Santiago Marpegan. 1987. Letras de Tango (con biografías y comentarios), Buenos Aires.

Savigliano, Marta. 1995. Tango and the Political Economy of Passion. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

Taylor, Julie M. 1976. “Tango: Theme of Class and Nation,” Ethnomusicology 20, no. 2: pp. 273-291.

Taylor, Julie M. 1987. “Tango,” Cultural Anthropology 2, no. 4, pp. 481-493.

Vila, Pablo. 1991. “Tango to Folk: Hegemony Construction and Popular Identity in Argentina”, Studies in Latin American Popular Culture, 10: 107-140.

Viladrich, Anahí. 2006. “Neither Virgins nor Whores: Tango Lyrics and Gender Representations in the Tango World,” Journal of Popular Culture 39, no. 2: 272-293.


Additional Reading Material:
Cannata, David Butler. 2005. “Making It There: Piazzolla's New York Concerts,” Latin American Music Review / Revista de Música Latinoamericana 26, no. 1: 57-87.

Collier, Simon. 1980. “The Tango Made Flesh: Carlos Gardel,” History Today 30, no. 10: 36-41.

Collier, Simon. 1986. The Life, Music and Times of Carlos Gardel. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. F 2848 C64 ůîĺřéí

Jakubs, Deborah. 1984. "From bawdyhouse to cabaret: The evolution of the tango as an expression of Argentine popular culture," Journal of Popular Culture 18, no. 1: 133-145.

Kohan, Pablo. 1999 "Tango: I. Orígenes." Diccionario de la Música Española e Hispanoamericana, ed. Emilio Casares et al. Madrid: Sociedad General de Autores y Editores.

Kuri, Carlos. 2008. Piazzolla: La música límite. 3rd. edition, Buenos Aires, Corregidor.

Luker, Morgan James. 2007. “Tango Renovación: On the Uses of Music History in Post-Crisis Argentina,” Latin American Music Review 28, no. 1: 68-93

Pelinski, Ramón Adolfo, and Pierre Monette (eds.). 1995. Tango nomade. Montréal: Triptyque.

Course/Module evaluation:
End of year written/oral examination 0 %
Presentation 0 %
Participation in Tutorials 10 %
Project work 60 %
Assignments 30 %
Reports 0 %
Research project 0 %
Quizzes 0 %
Other 0 %

Additional information:
The course is open to students of Arts Institute, the Department of Latin-American Studies and Cultural Studies. Students from other Departments will be accepted pending consultation with the instructor. The course does not require the ability to read music, although it is desirable.
 
Students needing academic accommodations based on a disability should contact the Center for Diagnosis and Support of Students with Learning Disabilities, or the Office for Students with Disabilities, as early as possible, to discuss and coordinate accommodations, based on relevant documentation.
For further information, please visit the site of the Dean of Students Office.
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