The port as a space of dialogue in Tango and Fado: a Geocritical approach

Abstract

In recent years, different Argentinian artists have gathered Tango and Fado in their repertoires, two musical and poetical genres which boom took place during some part of the Twentieth Century. Singer Karina Beorlegui is the outstanding figure of this movement, since she has promoted activities such as the Fado Tango Club (2008-2018) and the Festival Porteño of Tango and Fado (2012, 2014, 2017, 2019). The chosen songs usually belong, on one hand, to the Tango-song period, and, on the other, to the Fados known as traditional Fado and Fado-song. Consequently, the mixed repertoires of Tango and Fado propose a rereading of the tradition of both genres and promote the dialogue between them. Those who have thought about the possible convergences between Tango and Fado have highlighted, fundamentally, certain poetic affinities and their condition of having been developed in port cities (Beorlegui, Vera Sepúlveda, Gouveia). In this context, the purpose of this article is to consider the lyrics of Tango and Fado as Port Poetics, and the port city as a heterotopia (Foucault, Westphal) in which its identity is based. Our starting point is the hypothesis that the port could be conceived as a matrix of meaning in the poetic structure of these songs. In fact, the port city could become a category of analysis that exceeds its territorial aspect, because by definition the port is a bridge and a passage through which the influence of the sea advances, models the urban land and, consequently, the relationship of the individual with space.