Results tagged “Tango” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Silbo Gomero is a whistling language that developed on the island of La Gomera, one of Spain's Canary Islands off the northwest coast of Africa. The island is difficult to traverse due to its very steep hills and deep ravines. La Gomera's inhabitants, tired of yelling at each other, long ago invented a phonetic language based on whistling, and for centuries this form of communication worked very well. Then came telephones, and the whistling language fell into disuse.

Saving Silbo Gomera became the goal of busuu.com, an online community for learning languages, which produced this video as part of a worldwide campaign. Their efforts were successful. Yesterday UNESCO declared the language to be an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

Also making UNESCO's list was the sultry music and moves of the Tango. This is thanks to a bit of cooperation between Uruguay and Argentina, who have long bickered over who laid claim to its origins. The two countries put their arguments aside in order to petition UNESCO for the special status, and they now stand to receive funding to safeguard the cultural tradition. There were 76 designations made this year, and include the Chinese Dragon Boat festival, Aubusson tapestry-making in France, and the traditional Nigerian harvest festival know as the Ijele masquerade. The entire list is fascinating, be sure to take a look.

Thanks to French blogger Kirsten Winkler for the whistling tip!

Every trip should have a soundtrack, so we've asked CJ Fahey with Nat Geo Music to select artists from their catalog whose songs will inspire you to get going.


It's no surprise that one of the sexiest videos we've got at Nat Geo Music is a tango-electronic song from the French-Argentine group Gotan Project; after all, tango got its start as a dance performed in brothels in Buenos Aires in the late 19th century and today is synonymous with romance.

"Diferente" by Gotan Project shows how you might find tango danced today in a Buenos Aires milonga. This video highlights two dances: the obvious one on the dance floor, and the implicit dance of stolen glances and budding romance between the featured (gorgeous) couple.

Tango has inspired poets and artists for generations. Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges has noted the passionate, almost combative interaction between dancers: "The tango is a direct expression of something that poets have often tried to state in words: the belief that a fight may be a celebration." And tango legend Enrique Santos Discépolo touches on tango's inherent melancholy: "The Argentine tango is a sad thought that you can dance."

A trip to Buenos Aires is a trip to the heart of tango. If you go to Argentina, or for that matter Uruguay, pick up some records by contemporary tango groups like Gotan Project and Bajofondo, or legends like Astor Piazzolla and Carlos Gardel. And don't forget your dancing shoes.

[Video, Free Buenos Aires]