URU - 2012 - #035 - SERIE - TANGO

Uruguay - 2012 - Tango, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind

Options:

SERIE --- 9,70 EUR
STAMP 1 --- 7,00 EUR
STAMP 2 --- 7,00 EUR
STAMP 3 --- 4,00 EUR
SE-TENANT HORIZONTAL TOP --- 10,00 EUR
SE-TENANT HORIZONTAL CENTER --- 10,00 EUR
SE-TENANT HORIZONTAL BOTTOM --- 10,00 EUR
SE-TENANT VERTICAL LEFT --- 10,00 EUR
SE-TENANT VERTICAL CENTER --- 10,00 EUR
SE-TENANT VERTICAL RIGHT --- 10,00 EUR
BLOCK --- 28,00 EUR
FDC not Sent --- 11,50 EUR
FDC Sent on First Day (3 Covers) --- 25,00 EUR
COVER Sent on First Day (3 Covers) --- 15,00 EUR

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Issue information:

Country: Uruguay
Date: November 23th, 2012
Printed: 15.000 copies of each one

Stamp Shape and Size: All Rectangular [39 mm. x 27 mm.]
Perforation: Circular
Gum: Water Activated

Block Configuration: 3 series [3 x 1] or [1 x 3], 9 stamps [3 x 3]
[ [STAMP 1, STAMP 2, STAMP 3]
[STAMP 2, STAMP 3, STAMP 1]
[STAMP 3, STAMP 1, STAMP 2] ]
Block Shape and Size: Rectangular [147 mm. x 127 mm.]

FDC Type: Normal
FDC not sent Shape and Size: Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
FDC sent on issue day Shape and Size: 3 x Rectangular [165 mm. x 105 mm.]
Cover Shape and Size: 3 x Rectangular [241 mm. x 159 mm.]

Catalogue information:

Michel: No Data Available
Ivert: No Data Available
Scott: No Data Available
Stanley & Gibbons: No Data Available

Topics:

Issue:

This serie of 3 stamps it was issued to commemorate another year since the music an the dance of tango was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind on October 1st, 2009, by UNESCO, the the specialized agency of United Nations (UN) for education, science, and culture.

This is the second time that a serie with this topic is released by Uruguayan Post Office, and for the similarities with the previous one of 2011, date of issue at end of November, three stamps se-tenant composition with swapped positions in the block, it seems to be a regularly issued one, as the one of cruisers, and the other of Spring, so surely for a few years more we will be seeing new ones of this series.

Then, the differences with the previous series are that, first, the block now has a common rectangular shape, instead of the very peculiar and creative one that has the previous issue that has the shape of a bandoneón, the most characteristic instrument of Tango Music. Second, that now the serie presents two musicians, Francisco Canaro and Edgardo Pedroza, and the third stamp honours the participation of the music instrument double-bass, also named contrabass, in the music of tango, when in the 2011 serie, musicians were shown in all the stamps. Finally, the third difference is that the stamps has different value, being the ones of the musician more expensive than the one of the double-bass, instead of the regular priced stamps of 2011 serie.

Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay (collectively, the "Rioplatenses"). It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneóns. Earlier forms of this ensemble sometimes included flute, clarinet and guitar. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music and dance have become popular throughout the world.

Even though the present forms developed in Argentina and Uruguay from the mid 19th century, there are records of 18th and early 19th century Tango styles in Cuba and Spain, while there is a flamenco Tangos dance that may share a common ancestor in a minuet-style European dance. All sources stress the influence of the African communities and their rhythms, while the instruments and techniques brought in by European immigrants in the 20th century played a major role in its final definition, relating it to the Salon music styles to which Tango would contribute back at a later stage.

The first Tango ever recorded was made by Angel Villoldo and played by the French national guard in Paris. Villoldo had to record in Paris because in Argentina at the time there was no recording studio.

Early tango was played by immigrants in Buenos Aires, where many argue the tango was born. The first generation of tango players was called "Guardia Vieja" (the Old Guard). By the end of the 19th century, this blend of salon, European and African music was heard throughout metropolitan Buenos Aires. It took time to move into wider circles: in the early 20th century it was the favorite music of thugs and gangsters who visited the brothels, in a city with 100,000 more men than women (in 1914). The complex dances that arose from such rich music reflects how the men would practice the dance in groups, demonstrating male sexuality and causing a blending of emotion and aggressiveness. The music was played on portable instruments: flute, guitar and violin trios, with bandoneón arriving at the end of the 19th century. The organito, a portable player-organ, broadened the popularity of certain songs. Eduardo Arolas was the major instrument of the bandoneón's popularization, with Vicente Greco soon standardizing the tango sextet as consisting of piano, double bass, two violins and two bandoneóns.

Like many forms of popular music, the tango was associated with the underclass, and the better-off Argentines tried to restrict its influence. In spite of the scorn, some, like writer Ricardo Güiraldes, were fans. Güiraldes played a part in the international popularization of the tango, which had conquered the world by the end of World War I, and wrote a poem ("Tango") which describes the music as the "all-absorbing love of a tyrant, jealously guarding his dominion, over women who have surrendered submissively, like obedient beasts".

One song that would become the most widely known of all tango melodies also dates from this time. The first two sections of La Cumparsita were composed as a march instrumental in 1916 by teen-aged Gerardo Matos Rodríguez of Uruguay.

Tango soon began to gain popularity in Europe, beginning in France. Superstar Carlos Gardel soon became a sex symbol who brought the tango to new audiences, especially in the United States, due to his sensual depictions of the dance on film. In the 1920s, tango moved out of the lower-class brothels and became a more respectable form of music and dance. Bandleaders like Roberto Firpo and Francisco Canaro dropped the flute and added a double bass in its place. Lyrics were still typically macho, blaming women for countless heartaches, and the dance moves were still sexual and aggressive.

Carlos Gardel became especially associated with the transition from a lower-class "gangster" music to a respectable middle-class dance. He helped develop tango-canción in the 1920s and became one of the most popular tango artists of all time. He was also one of the precursors of the Golden Age of tango.

Gardel's death was followed by a division into movements within tango. Evolutionists like Aníbal Troilo and Carlos di Sarli were opposed to traditionalists like Rodolfo Biagi and Juan d'Arienzo.

The "Golden Age" of tango music and dance is generally agreed to have been the period from about 1935 to 1952, roughly contemporaneous with the big band era in the United States.

Some of the many popular and influential orchestras included the orchestras of Juan d'Arienzo, Francisco Canaro, and Aníbal Troilo. D'Arienzo was called the "Rey del compás" or "King of the beat" for the insistent, driving rhythm which can be heard on many of his recordings. "El flete" is an excellent example of D'Arienzo's approach. Canaro's early milongas are generally the slowest and easiest to dance to; and for that reason, they are the most frequently played at tango dances (milongas); "Milonga Sentimental" is a classic example.

Beginning in the Golden Age and continuing afterwards, the orchestras of Osvaldo Pugliese and Carlos di Sarli made many recordings. Di Sarli had a lush, grandiose sound, and emphasized strings and piano over the bandoneón, which is heard in "A la gran muñeca" and "Bahía Blanca" (the name of his home town).

Pugliese's first recordings were not too different from those of other dance orchestras, but he developed a complex, rich, and sometimes discordant sound, which is heard in his signature pieces, "Gallo ciego", "Emancipación", and "La yumba". Pugliese's later music was played for an audience and not intended for dancing, although it is often used for stage choreography for its dramatic potential, and sometimes played late at night at milongas.

The later age of tango has been dominated by Ástor Piazzolla, whose Adiós nonino became the most influential work of tango since Carlos Gardel's El día que me quieras was released in 1935. During the 1950s, Piazzolla consciously tried to create a more academic form with new sounds breaking the classic forms of tango, drawing the derision of purists and old-time performers. The 1970s saw Buenos Aires developing a fusion of jazz and tango. Litto Nebbia and Siglo XX were especially popular within this movement. In the 1970s and 1980s, the vocal octet Buenos Aires 8 recorded classic tangos in elaborate arrangements, with complex harmonies and jazz influence, and also recorded an album with compositions by Piazzolla.

The so-called post-Piazzolla generation (1980-) includes musicians such as Dino Saluzzi, Rodolfo Mederos, Gustavo Beytelmann and Juan Jose Mosalini. Piazzolla and his followers developed Nuevo Tango, which incorporated jazz and classical influences into a more experimental style.

Tango development has not stopped here. The following examples are not filed under "Tango Nuevo" since such classification is usually done with hindsight rather than when still undergoing development. These recent trends can be described as "electro tango" or "tango fusion", where the electronic influences are available in multiple ranges: from very subtle to rather dominant.

Stamp 1:

The first stamp selects the Uruguayan musician Francisco Canaro, and hounour him because of his prolific work as composer, violinist, and mainly because of his remarkable work as tango orchest leader.

The stamp design shows him two times, one in foreground, and the other in the background leading his tango orchest and enlightened by a halo. Then only a brief legend with his name, and dates of birth and death, completes the stamp design.

Francisco Canaro, whose real name was Francisco Canarozzo born at November 26th, 1888 in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, and passed away on December 14th, 1964 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He was a well-known Uruguayan violinist and tango orchestra leader.

His parents, Italians emigrated to Uruguay, and later, when Francisco Canaro was less than 10 years old, they emigrated to Buenos Aires (Argentina) in the late nineteenth century. Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, in 1888. As a young man and found work in a factory, where an empty oil can would, in his skilled hands, become his first violin.

Performing in seedy bars initially, he ultimately forged a career that spanned many decades, and his orchestra was one of the most recorded. His introduction to the tango came by orquesta típica leader Vicente Greco in 1908, and in 1912, he composed Pinta brava (Fierce Look). Canaro composed the music for the 1915 Argentine classic, Nobleza gaucha, and later was romantically attached to Argentine actress and tango vocalist Ada Falcón, but the relationship, which began in the early 1920s, grew apart a decade later.

Canaro was active in the cause of intellectual property rights from 1918 onwards, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Argentine Society of Composers and Songwriters (SADAIC), in 1935, purchasing the downtown Buenos Aires lot where its headquarters were built. He performed in Paris with his orchestra in 1925, and a success among local audiences, he remained in Europe for a decade. Becoming a naturalized Argentine citizen in 1940, much of his recorded music is in the classic salon style of that decade, but he is also considered a member of the old guard, and some of his later recordings contributed to the transition to concert tango.

His orchestra became a fixture on Argentine radio during the 1940s and early '50s, though for many contemporary dancers and listeners, his early golden age recordings remained the best in their genre. Canaro authored his memoirs, Mis 50 años con el tango (My Fifty Years with the Tango) in 1956, but later developed Paget's disease, and was forced to retire. He died in Buenos Aires in 1964.

The picture of Canaro's orchestra shown at background, is one taken on 1930 and in the stamp only a fragment of it is shown. The original picture shows the full "Orquesta típica sinfónica Francisco Canaro" as it was in 1930, and three members of it are missed at right, and two more are missed at left. Names of the members of the orchestra, both shown and not shown were not found.

Also in the picture, four bandoneons are clearly shown, in the back the double-bass or contrabass could be seen too, and although barely visible, some violins could be spotted in the picture.

Stamp 2:

The second stamps honours Edgardo Pedroza, another uruguayan musician, this time a bandoneon player, composer, and codirector of the tango orchest "Puglia - Pedroza" with the pianist José Puglia.

The design of the stamp shows him on foreground, and on background it is shown a picture of a vinyl disc with the single of this orchest "Arriba los tricolores", that is a candombe song, and was sung by Luis Luján.

The single "Arriba los tricolores" was the most popular of the production of the orchest of Edgardo Pedroza, because it refers to the second team in both, supporters and awards wons, from Uruguay, the "Club Nacional de Futbol", so it popularity was not based in the reduced market of tango lovers, and take the greater one of the soccer fans. In fact this single, as previously stated, is a candombe song, not a tango one, which makes the election of this single for the stamp more controversial yet. The most possitive explanation of this song selection, could be to also honour the music of candombe, that coincidentally was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind by UNESCO at the same time it was declared Tango with this distinction.

Edgardo Pedroza was born in Carmelo, a city of Uruguay in department of Colonia, on July 14th of 1926, and passed away in Montevideo, Uruguay, on November 29th, 2000. He was one of the greatest and renowned interpreters of tango that had Uruguay.

He received its first guidance on musci from his father, studying guitar and bandoneon. Then, he started his career in the late '30s in their hometown, and in 1942 he integrates with pianist Hilary Salgán and violinist Manlio Francia, a trio to accompany the singer Carmen Duval, in that experience was in which he begins to acquire interpretative maturity.

Later he moved to Montevideo where he integrates the orchestra of Hugo di Carlo as bandoneon player and arranger, musical task in which it was one of the most wante in the orchest of our country, because of the quality of his sound combinations, variations and voices distribution.

In 1951 he decided to integrate a binomial with pianist José Puglia, and both made an orchestra decidedly with the characteristics of the new tango sound, that in those years began to take shape. They liked to define their music as a "classic tango, without exaggerated vanguards movements".

In the 50s the orchestra Puglia-Pedroza was one of the most solid, occupying an important cycle in the history of tango in Uruguay. In their composition there were prestigious musicians like bandoneón players Reinaldo Rosello and Carlos Aguete, the violins of Moses Lasca and Pedro Severino, the doublebass of Domingo Puglia bass and the voices of Oscar Nelson and Luis Alberto Fleitas.

Puglia and Pedroza made many performances in Montevideo and also some tours in Brazil, where the bandoneon settled in Porto Alegre, finally returning to our city in 1991. Health problems kept him on the sidelines of the activity on stage, but continued teaching and arranging music for various ensembles.

He composed several tangos, being his more known ones: "Nocturno campero", "A Horacio Salgán", and "Flor amarga"

Club Nacional de Football is a sports institution from Uruguay, founded on May 14, 1899 in Montevideo, as a result of the fusion between Uruguay Athletic Club and Montevideo Fútbol Club.

Nacional team is identified with the white, blue and red colours, and that is why are sometimes called "tricolores", that means with three colours.

Stamp 3:

The third stamp is mainly dedicated to the double-bass or contrabass musical instrument, that was the last instrument added to tango orchestras, and since with its entrance, tango music, as we know it, found it most powerful and deepest sound.

The desing, besides the picture of a stylized contrabass crowned with the legend "Contrabajo protagonista del tango", in english "Contrabass protagonist of tango", that catch the focus of the viewer, it also includes a stave with bass clef, as it is this clef which is used for writting contrabass sound in music language, and even, and completely out of the topic, it adds, near the top-left corner, the logo of "Expo Rio Grande 2012", an international philatelic exhibition that took place some days after the issue of this serie in "Ciudad de Rio Grande", the southernmost province of Argentina, "Tierra del Fuego".

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, bass fiddle, bass violin, doghouse bass, contrabass, bass viol, stand-up bass or bull fiddle, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument of the violin family in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2

The double bass is a standard member of the string section of the orchestra and smaller string ensembles in Western classical music. In addition, it is used in other genres such as jazz, 1950s-style blues and rock and roll, rockabilly/psychobilly, traditional country music, bluegrass, tango and many types of folk music. A person who plays the double bass is usually referred to as a bassist.

The double bass stands around 180 cm (six feet) from scroll to endpin, and is typically constructed from several types of wood, including maple for the back, spruce for the top, and ebony for the fingerboard. It is uncertain whether the instrument is a descendant of the viola da gamba or of the violin, but it is traditionally aligned with the violin family. While the double bass is nearly identical in construction to other violin family instruments, it also embodies features found in the older viol family.

Like many other string instruments, the double bass is played either with a bow (arco) or by plucking the strings (pizzicato). In orchestral repertoire and tango music, both arco and pizzicato are employed. In jazz, blues, and rockabilly, pizzicato is the norm, except for some solos and also occasional written parts in modern jazz that call for bowing.

When playing the double bass, the bassist either stands or sits on a high stool and leans the instrument against the bassist's body with the bass turned slightly inwards in order to more easily reach the strings. This stance is also a key reason for the bass's sloped shoulders, which mark it apart from the other members of the violin family, as the narrower shoulders facilitate playing of the strings in their higher registers.

The double bass is a transposing instrument and sounds one octave lower than notated.

In standard Western musical notation, the staff, or stave, is a set of five horizontal lines and four spaces that each represent a different musical pitch—or, in the case of a percussion staff, different percussion instruments. Appropriate music symbols, depending upon the intended effect, are placed on the staff according to their corresponding pitch or function. Musical notes are placed by pitch, percussion notes are placed by instrument, and rests and other symbols are placed by convention.

The absolute pitch of each line for a non-percussive stave is determined by the placement of an appropriate clef symbol at the appropriate vertical position on the left-hand side of the staff. For example, the treble clef, also known as the G clef, is placed upon the second line (counting upwards), fixing that line as the pitch first G above 'middle C'

A clef is a musical symbol used to indicate the pitch of written notes. Placed on one of the lines at the beginning of the stave, it indicates the name and pitch of the notes on that line. This line serves as a reference point by which the names of the notes on any other line or space of the stave may be determined. Only one clef that references a note in a space rather than on a line has ever been used.

There are three types of clef used in modern music notation: F, C, and G. Each type of clef assigns a different reference note to the line on which it is placed.

The use of three different clefs makes it possible to write music for all instruments and voices, even though they may have very different tessituras (that is, even though some sound much higher or lower than others). This would be difficult to do with only one clef, since the modern stave has only five lines, and the number of pitches that can be represented on the stave, even with ledger lines, is not nearly equal to the number of notes the orchestra can produce. The use of different clefs for different instruments and voices allows each part to be written comfortably on the stave with a minimum of ledger lines. To this end, the G-clef is used for high parts, the C-clef for middle parts, and the F-clef for low parts—with the important exception of transposing parts, which are written at a different pitch than they sound, often even in a different octave.

When the F-clef is placed on the fourth line, it is called the bass clef. This is the only F-clef used today, so that the terms "F-clef" and "bass clef" are often regarded as synonymous.

This clef is used for the cello, euphonium, double bass, bass guitar, bassoon, contrabassoon, trombone, baritone horn, tuba, and timpani. It is also used for the lowest notes of the horn, and for the baritone and bass voices. Tenor voice is notated in bass clef when the tenor and bass are written on the same stave. Bass clef is the bottom clef in the grand stave for harp and keyboard instruments. The contrabassoon, double bass, and electric bass sound an octave lower than the written pitch; no notation is usually made of this fact, but some composers/publishers will place an "8" beneath the clef for these instruments on the conductor's full score to differentiate from instruments that naturally sound within the clef.

Finally, the international philatelic exhibition: "Expo Rio Grande 2012", took place from November 27th, 2012 to December 1st, 2012, in the "Centro Cultural Yaganes", placed on the city "Ciudad de Rio Grande", located on the southernmost province of Argentina, "Tierra del Fuego".

The exhibition was opened for philatelist of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay, and it was sponsored by the "Federación Interamericana de Filatelia (FIAF)", the interamerican philately federation.

The logo of the exhibition shows the face of an indian over a plant leaf on the left, and a map southern region of Argentina in the right one, spotted with which seems to be the southern crux.

Block:

The block is beautifully decorated with a background of a composition in a stave around the stamps, the legend "Tango Patrimonio Cultural Inmaterial de la Humanidad", that means "Tango Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humankind", as it was declared by UNESCO, and it design is completed with four contrabass icons to show the inks used in printing.

FDC:

The Cancelation of the FDC also shows the legend with the declaration of UNESCO, names the two musicians honoured in the serie, and displays in the center of his design the figure of a double-bass.

If you consider that there are another topics in this stamp, that were not spot in this review, you are encouraged to telling me about them, so please do not hesitate to post a comment. I would appreciate your help very much.