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 By Pedro Figari, Candombe rhythm a.k.a Cayengue/Canyengue according to Lauro Ayestaran, Uruguayan Historian, et.al.Uruguayan historians explain that Cayengue was the name of a room designated for ceremonial dancing for blacks. This room was among others which Afro Argentinians used for Candombe rituals. The Candombe among Afro Argentines was a collective term for spiritual and religious practices accompanied by dance and music. The Candombe and its street celebrations and marches were outlawed following the ousting of the general and president Juan Manuel de Rosas in 1860. Then, the Candombe celebrations retreated to closed quarters in Buenos Aires. The term "Cayengue" was assigned to the Candombe walking step, as briefly discussed by the Uruguayan historian Alejandro Ayestaran. The Candombe step would refer to the dragging of the left foot, accompanied by the swagger of the shoulders performed with cadence. The term Cayengue in Tango music reappeared in Buenos Aires about 1910, coinciding with the year when the production of piano scores for tango music reached its highest. This time the word Cayengue or Canyengue was used to describe a way to play tango music instruments with drumming rhythms. This type of music was played particularly in the neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires by two local musicians: The violin player Ernesto Zambonini a.k.a "El Rengo", and the pianist Prudencio Aragon a.k.a "El Yoni". The Afro Argentinian Historian Nestor Ortiz Oderigo describes the Cayengue rhythm in the music as played with typical African rhythms such as: pauses, parallel rhythms, and syncopations. Furthermore, Oderigo Ortiz expands on the Candombe music roots, and tracks down its music familiarity with the Cake Walk, and the Habanera, and the Tango with the Charleston. On the dance of the Cake Walk and Candombe, Oderigo Ortiza relates that the walking step and posture of dancers shared the reclined torsos, and the legs lifted in the air. |
 By Pedro Figari, Bailongo, circa 1900This picture is worthed a personal testimony of the influence of African dances in the Tango. Many people nowadays believe that Tango was formed in the streets of Buenos Aires, but there is no reference to the people who lived in the rooms adjacent to the military barracks. This mix of people in their majority soldiers and women descendants of Afro Argentines created the first forms of the Tango dance and music. |
 Pedro Figari, Painter of Blacks, 1861 - 1938. Blacks and Indians were his main characters and the colonial settings were his points of reference.Pedro worked as a lawyer and took many cases on behalf of blacks and indians working many times pro-bono |
 By Carlos Genovese, Painting: Patio de Tango, no date avaliable |
 By Fernando Guibert, Painting: Tan Tan de Candombe |
 By Fernando Guibert, Painting: Inspiracion (Inspiration) |
 By Fernando Guibert, Painting:Tango |
 By Fernando Guibert, Painting: Bailando in the piringuidin |
| From: Figari, Pedro. Tango y candombe en el Rio de la Plata, 1861-1979: 8 dibujos de Pedro Figari, 8 dibujos de Fernando Guibert: testimonio de un pasado histórico. Montevideo?: Libreria Colonial, 1979 |