Photo by BIlly Kingsley
Professor of History and resident tango expert Simon Collier's latest book
is a colorful illustrated history of Buenos Aires' gift to the dance floor.
Just a few blocks from Music Row, a British academician
researches dance moves you won't find on Second Avenue.
He travels worldwide to lecture about Argentina's gift to the
dance floor. He is a member of the National Academy of the Tango
in Buenos Aires and boasts a vast tango musical library.
Meet Vanderbilt's tango expert ‹ Simon Collier, director of
Vanderbilt's Center for Latin American and Iberian Studies.
Collier, who is also a professor of history, is co-author and
advisory editor of "¡Tango!". Described by Collier as a "serious
coffee table book," "¡Tango!" was released last fall by the
London-based publishing company Thames and Hudson. Co-written with
three other authorities on the oft sensual and exotic Argentine
dance, the book is unique among its English counterparts in that
it is an illustrated history, says Collier. French and German
translations have also appeared.
Lavishly filled with color photographs and featuring a
striking cover, the book tells the story of one of popular
culture's most distinct dances. Even its title begs to be
annunciated with an exotic flair.
"I do believe it is the most exciting form of popular
dance,"
says Collier, who attributes tango's survival to the quality of
the dance and its music.
Tango emerged during the late 1800s and early part of this
century in the poorer parts of the booming metropolis of Buenos
Aires, says Collier, whose section of the book covers the birth of
tango from the 1880s to 1920s.
"The story of the tango is closely linked with the story of
the city [of Buenos Aires] at a time of great expansion when large
numbers of immigrants were pouring in," Collier says with a
British brogue. "It illustrates the kind of cultural developments
that can flow from places where populations mix."
Buenos Aires is a port city, and Collier likens it to other
musical birthplaces such as New Orleans, Liverpool and Memphis.
Although tango mania peaked in the 1940s, the dance continues
to garner interest in the United States and internationally,
Collier says.
In the United States, the East and West Coasts and Chicago
are hot spots for the tango, says Collier. In Argentina, many
youth are taking tango lessons in renewed interest in a colorful
part of their past.
Collier, who joined Vanderbilt in 1991, says his interest in
tango began as a hobby about 20 years ago but is now one of his
two main research areas. He continues to research the history of
Chile, the South American country he has lived in longest. A book
on Chilean history is coming out this year.
Collier makes interesting comparisons between Nashville's
musical offerings and tango.
During the dance's golden age of the 1930s and 1940s many
Argentinians' livelihoods were tied to the music and dance, just
as country is big business for many Nashvillians, he notes.
In addition to the striking dance of the tango, the lyrics to
tango songs are not to be overlooked, Collier says.
"They are like little poems that are quite clever and often
revolve around melancholy subthemes," he says, just as country
songwriters often deal with lost love and bad luck.
Collier's book has already attracted much interest in Paris
and London. Since its fall release in the United States, Collier
says he has received calls from reviewers across the country.
Collier's introduction to the realm of tango literature was a
book he authored in 1985 on Carlos Gardel, the most famous and
best-loved tango singer of the 20th century.
"That sort of established me as a figure in the tango world,"
he says. "I can only describe that as just enormous fun."
Although Collier admits to being a very poor tango dancer,
his love for the dance and its music is evident. He continues to
lecture about the tango internationally.
"I actually enjoy talking about it partly because it's an
opportunity to play records," he says. "And it's a fun subject."