Carlos Szwarcer
disappearance Coffee and Izmir Bar
- Loss of Cultural Heritage of Buenos Aires -
By Carlos Szwarcer
E xpulsados of Spain, in the late XV, the Sephardic (1) began a new phase of his long and winding history. English soil, in which for generations had cradle and grave, was raised again and again, not only by those who went into exile but his own offspring. They, their children, and children's children, century after century, they maintained their traditions in new towns and cities, in districts so different and distant. His background was a unique mixture of nostalgia and hope for the place where Christians and Muslims lived together with the passion for a golden past, and the longing that accompanies the uprooting.
The Judeo-English descent, free-spirited, restless and lively, went belly mainland in search of a place in the world. Wandered in deserts, villages and cities to settle in other places and in the forced departure, however, Sefarad (2) was sealed forever in their culture and memories.
Meanwhile, the Ottoman Empire was in the tens of thousands of Sephardic immigrants positive energy and by providing a supportive housing. The Sultan himself opened the door inviting them to stay, and this new crossroads of the Judeo-English history had become accustomed to other ways and customs. In cities like Tangier, Tetuan, Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Istanbul, Izmir and many others to sit their real, grew and multiplied as to validate the scriptures and, mostly, recreated their lives with some pride Hispanic.
If the Sephardim arrived in America from the beginning of English rule, and spread the new continent under various names, New Christians, Marranos Portuguese, Jewish - Portuguese, crypto, etc., Argentina began to be increasingly significant presence from the late nineteenth century and the first two decades of the twentieth century. The Preamble to the Constitution of 1853, assured the immigrants that this was for the people of Argentina and "... for all men in the world that wish to dwell on Argentine soil ...".
In this context, significant changes occurred in Argentina, Buenos Aires, the capital, weighted as "La Reina del Plata", is growing dramatically and becomes the receptacle a profuse mixture of cultures. In one of its neighborhoods, Villa Crespo, Gurruchaga located on the street, stood proud and exotic legendary Café Izmir, which left the deepest traces in collective memory.
The beginnings of Izmir is located in a tenancy Gurruchaga 432-436. On one of the rooms and three of its rooms, its owner, the Spaniard Laureano Alvarez, built a shop by 1932. At the time it was leased to Haim Danon, who became Café lzmir naming it in memory of his hometown. It was the end of that decade when Alejandro Rafael Alboger, Sephardic, took charge of goodwill, beginning a long career of twenty years behind the counter. Also a native of Izmir (Smyrna), Turkey, and was born on October 30, 1902, had arrived in Buenos Aires in the early '20s. Shoe Shine at the historic Café Tortoni, Avenida de Mayo 800, then the same waiter and maitre d 'in the following decade, began to operate that other site characterized by ethnic diversity. With his quiet good nature, but strong personality, he became the host able to maintain a delicate balance between the parishioners.
coexisted in the neighborhood of Villa Crespo representatives of the three monotheistic religions, so that some of the common theological disquisitions on lzmir were reported by Leopoldo Marechal, in his novel Adam Buenosayres: Abraham the Jew, the Muslim and Christian Jabil Abdalla defended their differences concerning the Messiah. "... The three men held a lzmir Coffee table and the discussion in the Syrian language mingled with other voices ring in that room as oversaturated with strong anise and tobacco. Next to the window, struck a musician abstracted, as in dreams, the strings of a harp inlaid black mother of pearl .... " (3)
In truth, harmony between different communities of the neighborhood was a common fact remembered by many testimonies which confirm the good treatment of them. Motion, variety, flavors, voices and melodies were becoming, from the early twentieth century, the street Gurruchaga in a picturesque imitation of an alley of Izmir. The stories of its former inhabitants the recall as "pedestrian, a fair, a Persian market" where "people went here and there," "in peace, without hate." It was an unavoidable step for vendors who hoarded their sidewalks their "TAV" and "dogfish" (4), overflowing with delicacies: Reshad (eight-shaped sweet with sesame seeds), mulupitas (round, vanilla kind), sham Mali (semolina crackers with sugar and half covered with almond jelly), boyos (sort of round pie puff: chard, cheese or eggplant), burekitas (small pie filled with cheese, eggs or eggplant, covered with sesame), kadaif (dessert with syrup, filled with walnuts), baklava (walnut cookies with sweet jelly), etc. . (5). In Gurruchaga was given this mixture where the exaltation of life acquired its finest.
Coffee and offered Izmir Bar a scope for magic, dreams and sensuality. Recreation site of a crowd often humble, the regulars, Sephardic men, mostly, they amused themselves by playing cards, the table (similar to backgammon), chatted among themselves, with Greeks and Armenians, both in djudezmo (Ladino) (6) and Turkish (common language within the Ottoman Empire). All pleasured themselves in this fascinating Babel orchestra the rhythm of the oriental (mandolin, oud, kanun-stringed instrument played with plectrums ", tambourine, small-dumblek-drum, violin, etc.) And with the sinuous curves belly dancers who danced to the sound of chiftetellis (7).
invading the local music and rhythm came to the village, including snuff smoke and shisha (pieces of meat, accompanied by a concoction like a salad in a pita-bread-Arab , cut in half). Other specialties were the meze (small plates kind of minced typical: white cheese, olives, radishes, cucumbers, egg-hard-jamin, etc.) And, of course, the Raki (aniseed).
On the walls of the room, decorated with arabesques and drawings of palms that simulated an oasis in the desert, small mirrors shining diamond. Dancing silhouette images golden ocher and remembered the "Thousand and One Nights", adding the environment, without doubt, a degree of exoticism. Remembered as an enjoyable and observed: "... the Café lzmir at the time was important ... tradition ... a relic of Buenos Aires, Villa Crespo. There sat big people of our community, on their way to the temple .. . for a coffee. Also the community of Armenia, Greek, Muslim hatred ... there was ... in peace ... at that time were all respected, friendly venue ... it was ... concerned. " (8)
Towards the end of an era.
Towards the end of an era.
Alboger With the death in April 1965, his two sons tried for four years to maintain the initial characteristics. Closed and a wonderful, golden cycle. In November 1969, the Spaniard Jesus Rodriguez bought the goodwill and the seventies attended the gradual disappearance of the old "Turkish" (9). "Oriental spirit" no longer existed, and the regulars, except for a small group, were different: office workers and builders in the area. The reasons for this metamorphosis were several: the change of ownership, style, society, etc.. And far from dawn, pasta disks, the orchestras odalisques, proverbs and sayings in djudezmo, began to languish and close its oxidized shutters before 18 pm.
Café Izmir We talked about the "place to socio-cultural representative for the community, the stories were lived there as" an intangible and Intangible realized an identity rooted in the past, with memory at present, reinterpreted by successive generations ": these words that perfectly describe what are the requirements set out by the Directorate General of Heritage of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires for a place to be" Cultural Heritage ". Was assessed as "... at the heart of Buenos Aires "(10) and, with absolute justice, named one of 39 City Cafés Notables by the Commission for the Protection and Promotion of cafes, bars, Confectioneries Billiards and Notables of the city of Buenos Aires, as well as quoted in the list of "emblems Buenos Aires "The Guide of Buenos Aires Total. (11) finally closed their shutters on October 9, 2000.
Reflections on Cultural Heritage defense
Reflections on Cultural Heritage defense
Demolished in late April 2004, Café Izmir was another "victim of bureaucracy" - expressed various media - and the ill will the property owners who would not talk either with the Government of the City or with citizens concerned about the integrity of the heritage of cosmopolitan Buenos Aires. The Promoter Group APH (Historic Protection Area) of Villa Crespo (12) presented proposals that respected the particular project of erecting a building while preserving the historic landmark.
Meanwhile, on 1 April 2004, the Directorate General of Heritage answer the Group APH: Café "deserves to be listed with the rank of interim protection" and adds an assessment report of building in which the Management believes the same "... high cultural value, social and symbolic, which must be added the typology because it is one of the last examples of traditional coffee bar and the City of Buenos Aires. "(13) The same unit, finally, on November 18 2004, APH Group was informed that "building permits and demolition approved" made it "impossible to comply with our request (for interim protection.)
In any case, the outrage against this symbol of Buenos Aires culture is the result of the lack of consistent legislation, accompanied by a lamentable apathy installed in much of the public that notes with their arms crossed the destruction of their most beloved landmarks. It would be absurd to oppose the progress, advancement, to improve the quality of our lives because it is absolutely logical and necessary to be at the height of the times, supporting, for example, the downsizing of cities according to the needs of our time, but not at any cost. There are few voices raised against the subjugation of the tangible cultural heritage remains that are left.
To be fair to those who do react and struggle to defend both their roots and the history of the place they were born, not make the mistake to generalize, but in light of the events that occur inevitably indicate that a large part of society is shown asleep at least as oblivious or ignorant of their rights and obligations with regard to the defense of his past. We observed the demolition of our most treasured landmarks, then regret, as if these events should occur and inevitably fatal. It should be noted here that most of the duties vested in our institutions, our representatives: national government, municipalities, communities, etc., Which should address the future we want to discuss on the basis of the past that sustains us. These are the areas identified to create, promote, encourage adequate protection projects, hear the voices of warning and develop appropriate tools to safeguard the cultural heritage, voting just laws, reach consensus, to respect the history and places that make sense and explain the idiosyncrasies of a people.
The truth is that, despite the grandiloquent titles of some conservation programs, there is little that is saved, despite the willingness and management officials trying to live up to responsibility which gives them their charge, sometimes limited by a mammoth bureaucracy or lack of funds allocated for the sector.
The devastation and Bar Café Izmir is just a cog in a long chain of mistakes. As the media does not always expose this type of problem, and in this case just reacted, moved, when the bulldozers had already begun to act. Imported report in the midst of falling bricks and dust rose. This drama became newsworthy for "a touch of color," served the purpose of transmitting a few words mourners for radio listeners or television images leave certainly impressive, for the rating or display in the print media a final photo to remember.
This
has been the end of "Coffee and Izmir Bar, a site where they spent anthology by various waves of immigration that contributed with their hard work and their dreams of peace, the formation of polychromatic national of Argentina. (14) insist: "Citizens must be guardians of memory that we identify with a territory and a way of being ... (and cite) the wise words of the writer Frederic Mistral:` The more deep-rooted trees are always those who grow higher. '"(15).
In some ways the contribution of cultural background familiar with the idiosyncrasies of his village, his city, his country, what makes us who we are, remember where we came from and preserve what we receive from our ancestors, traditions, customs, places we identified, is a mandate that must be present in this complex process in which globalization and identity are two sides of the same coin. With the demise of representative buildings such as Café Izmir - that characterized the cultural diversity, peaceful coexistence and identity of Buenos Aires - there is no doubt that every society has been disregarded suffering mutilation of physical memory. There has been an irreparable loss, has been a great void. Let everyone think about the attitude we have when one is in danger of disappearing part of our history.
1) Jews who inhabited the Iberian peninsula.
2) The name given to Spain.
3) Marechal, Leopoldo. "Adam Buenosayres." Buenos Aires. 1994. Metro Ed. P 91.
4) containers: djudezmo (Ladino).
5) Shaul, Moshe and others. "The Sephardic Gizado. Recipes komidas "Sephardic. Iber Ed Fund. 1995.
6) speaks of the Sephardim. Variously referred djudezmo, Ladino, Judeo-English, Old Castilian, espanyol, Spaniard, etc.. Language of the Judeo-English of the fifteenth century and their descendants maintained, with slight variations, depending the region, in each village where they settled after the expulsion.
7) Music rhythm, Turkish and Greek, often in the Ottoman Empire.
8) Claims textual Sephardic oral testimony taken by the author of the article.
9) This refers not to the Ottoman Turks but the Sephardim and different ethnic groups that lived in the Ottoman Empire (Turkish) and who emigrated to Argentina. They are generically called "Turks" for having the passport of that country.
10) Spinetto, Horacio. "Cafés in Buenos Aires." Buenos Aires. 1999. Government of the City of Buenos Aires. P 5.
11) Open City. "The Total Guide to Good Aires. " Buenos Aires. 2000 Year 1. No. 1. P.5.
12) Composed of architects Vivian and Maria Marta Balanovsky Lupano and historian Carlos Szwarcer.
APH Promoter Group (Historic Protection Area) of Villa Crespo actively managed to preserve historical landmarks as the "Conventillo of the Dove" and "Café Izmir. On the latter tried to stop the demolition before the Interpretive Planning Department, the Ombudsman and the Directorate General of Heritage of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires.
13) Note No. 324-DGPAT-2004
14) Szwarc, Carlos. "The Café Izmir. Everything is history. No. 422. September 2002. Buenos Aires. Argentina.
15) Szwarc, Carlos. "Insult to Cultural Diversity." Journal of Cultural Studies ECSC. Year II. No. 20. June 2004. Córdoba. Argentina.
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Carlos Szwarcer
Curriculum Summaries
historian and journalist. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. - Conductor and Producer of the "This is another History" in FM.88. V. López. 1992-1994. - Guest Column History block on "The Refugio de la Cultura ", AM. América.1994-1995 Radio. - Journalistic coverage of cultural, political and educational. 1992-1995. - Researcher historic scripts of shows and documentaries, development and selection of Ephemeris for the production of programs Radial. - Researcher historic neighborhoods and institutions in Buenos Aires. - Writer: articles, essays, fiction, etc., published at home and abroad. - Member of the APH Group (Historic Protection Area) of Villa Crespo. 2003 - 2004. - made in private conferences, institutions under the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (Historical Institute of the City of Buenos Aires, Committee on Protection and Promotion of the Browns Notables of the city of Buenos Aires) and in international meetings on the history of Buenos Aires and its relation to immigration, customs, traditions and cultural diversity. - Participation in the venture, "Heritage of the Barrios", Directorate General of Heritage (the Ministry of Culture of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires) with text and images for the definition of Neighborhood Landmark incorporated as teaching materials for educational institutions and general disclosure. Sponsored by the OEI (Organization of American States). 2003-2005. - Coordinator on several visits to historical landmarks neighborhood within the enterprise "Buenos Aires neighborhoods ... They open their doors", organized by the Directorate General of Heritage - Ministry of Culture of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (now Ministry of Culture). 2003 -2006. - Contributor: Todo es Historia (Buenos Aires. Argentina) Revista Cuadernos del Tortoni (Buenos Aires. Argentina), Buenos Aires Cultural (Buenos Aires. Argentina). Journal of CECA (Centre for Cultural Studies. Córdoba. Argentina). Letras-Uruguay (Uruguay Montevideo.). Estate (Madrid. Spain). Be shown (Journal of the Institut Europeen Sepharade. Brussels. Belgium), among other means.
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