Hashem 1

Name: Karim A. Hashem

SID: 900120592
Date: 23/2/2017
Instructor: Dr. Pawel Kuzma
Milonga (Place Music Dance)
According to Oxford dictionary, Milonga has three different meanings. However,
all three meanings refer to similar things. Milonga could be a place where people dance
in a ballroom. It could also mean the dance itself or a piece of music written in milonga
style. The origin of the word, itself, is from Brazilian Portuguese, which meant angry or
repetitive words, or witchcraft. Later it was referred to a lively dance.
Milonga, the dance, was influenced by several dances from different cultures.
There are many dances that influenced milonga, including Macumba from Brazil and the
Polka. However, The two dances that had significant influence on it were the Candombe
and the Payada. During the Spanish colonization of South America, millions of African
slaves were moved from a region in East Africa called Bantu. Bantu had a lot of people
with different ethnic groups, languages, and even dialects. The entire music and dance
traditions that people in Bantu had was referred to by one word, Candombe. They also
had a name for their drums, which was tango. Tango was also used to name the place
where Candombe was performed in. After the abolishment of slavery in 1853, people
began to change in Candombe till it evolved into Milonga.
Early Argentinean cowboys used to sing in rural areas known as Pampa. Payada
means singer. Singer used to compete with songs and guitars. These types of songs were
improvisational songs. The song could be about anything that came to the mind of the
singer, but they usually sang about Death, God, or Love. When the slaves attended these
payadas, they didnt understand the lyrics of the songs. Therefore, they called them
milongas, which meant words to them. Later these events were name milongas instead of
payadas.
Even though Milonga is improvisational, it has the following attributes. It is a
fast-paced dance. It incorporates many of the steps in tango, however, in tango, one can
step on any beat, while in milonga one must step on every beat. Also, it differs from
tango in its pattern which is 2/4 rather than 4/4. Still, Milonga is not a single styled dance.
It has several styles, but the two distinct ones are Milonga Lisa and Milonga con Traspie.
In Milonga Lisa, the dancer steps on every beat of the music, while in Milonga con
Traspie, the dancer uses trips or changes of weight in either double time or three steps per
two beats. In 1931, Sebastian Piana, father of modern milonga, composed Milonga
Sentimental, which opened many possibilities for later composers to follow in his steps.
In my opinion, Milonga as a music and dance is of fast pace. The dancers seem
too strict and focused. Compared to tango, Milonga lack a bit when it comes to passion,
but shows how skillful the dancers are. I believe that Milonga dancers could be more
 Hashem 2

skilled than tango dancers. Yet Tango is more popular. Even though the dancers may
seem strict or focused, Milonga music has a happy rhythm.

Links to Milonga:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpvVMvPVmN8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41aEgrY9S1M