One of the Latin genres that is currently on the rise is tango, so it is common to find more and more people linked to it. There are even many who have made tango one of the most important passions of their lives, as in the case of Carlos Álvarez Guevara, with whom we have had the fortune to talk exclusively about this and other interesting topics.   

Childhood with a tango singer mother   

Carlos’ contact with tango began during his early childhood thanks to his mother, who was a tango singer and dancer.   

Carlos describes his early live in El Salvador and points out that, back then, there were no cassettes or CD players with which to listen to music, so people had to make do with what they heard on the radio. His mother went to a well-known radio station to take part in singing competitions.   

It is then that the boy would listen to his mother rehearse for the competitions with old tango songs, which made him memorize them perfectly and be able to sing them in full. The rest is history.   

How Carlos sees tango today   

Today Carlos is a tango and salsa dancer, a genre that has also been important in his musical journey. However, he sings the songs he dances to at amateur level.   

For many years, he left aside music to devote himself to become a mechanic, a job from which he recently retired after more than 40 years of hard work. It was when he turned 45 that he fully resumed his love for tango and enrolled in dance classes to remember everything he had learned with his mother. 

This is why Carlos says that he is much more professional in dancing than in singing, since he dedicated much more time and effort to the former to become an expert in the field. Dancing, of course, is accompanied by singing, but it has less hierarchy in terms of the artist’s priorities.   

He has reached such a level of excellence in these disciplines that some friends of his put him in touch with Eduardo Guilarte, director of International Salsa Magazine, so that he could talk to us and his talents would become better known.    

Time dedicated to mechanics and dance   

Regarding the time dedicated to his formal work and dancing, Carlos claims he never had any problems, since he knew how to organize very well in this aspect. 

He always devotes his time to dance on weekends, days where he frequented, and still frequents, nightclubs with friends with whom he dances and spends very pleasant moments that clear his mind of everyday life.   

In addition to that, he also has a karaoke machine at home with which he also sings and practices his repertoire to delight anyone who wants to hear him on any nightclub stage.   

What Carlos has learned from tango   

Just as Carlos has been dedicated to singing and dancing tango, he has also invested time in learning about its history to give more depth to the knowledge he has about this genre and he wanted to share with us a little of what he has learned.  

He told us that one of the things he was most fascinated to learn is that tango has roots from many places and times around the world, although nowadays it is seen as an Argentine genre. Something that many do not know is that it has its origins in the arrival of Africans in the ”New World”, which played a fundamental role in the emergence of tango in Argentina and Uruguay, which were under Spanish rule.    

Both countries were transit ports for slave traffic, so the new inhabitants of these places brought with the their music and customs, which were mixed with the local music and customs to give rise to what is known today as tango. 

A very interesting detail he told us is that, when European sailors stopped in these countries and went to bars to look for drinks and some company, so the ladys in these places danced tango to seduce and provoke them. At that time, this kind of music was perceived as the lowest level of society to the point that the Catholic Church demanded its parishioners not to dance tango, but it turns out that the genre was pleasing to the people and nothing could be done about it.    

In the end, puritans had no choice but to embrace this wonderful dance and, today, people of all social classes, ages and races enjoy it without any complex.   

The lyrics and references of tango    

Since Carlos has very extensive knowledge of everything about the genre and its lyrics, we wanted to know what he has studied about it.    

‘‘Tango can be many things at the same time. It can touch on issues related to the moral conduct of the individuals and, like many Latin genres, it also serves to mock and criticize politicians. It can also be an ode to love, spite and regret for having lost the loved one” Carlos shared with us on the subject.    

‘‘This genre can deal with many subjects at the same time, but one of the most recurrent is frustration with failed love and I don’t think that will change in a long time” said Carlos.   

Regarding the issue of the greatest artists who have inspired him to dance and sing tango, he mentioned Carlos di Sarli, Carlos Gardel, Oswaldo Pugliese and Enrique Rodríguez.   

What Carlos feels at singing and dancing tango   

Carlos describes listening to any tango song as ”listening to your own national anthem in a foreign country”. For him, listening to any piece sung by his parents in the past is a source of pride and takes him back to the most beautiful moments of his childhood. 

Carlos pointed out that ”when you are driven by loving emotions and some thoughts are trapped, you can express them through singing and dancing, which is what I always do”.    

The artist pointed out that he loves this world and it is one of the things that fills him the most in life, so he is grateful to be able to talk about it in International Salsa Magazine and express what it makes him feel to the world. 

Read also: Bolivian guitarist Gabriel Navia and his love for music