探戈中的阳春白雪与下里巴人

通俗艺术是适合大众口味，需求，教育水平等等的艺术。高雅艺术是自以为或假装为比老百姓的品味更高且技术难度也高的艺术。阳春白雪，和者盖寡，因其技巧和音域为大多数人所不能及。下里巴人则音域适中，技巧容易，所以人人能唱。

然而，认为复杂困难的艺术比简单容易的艺术要高级的观点是有失偏颇的。简单的线条可能比复杂的造型更优美。简单的摄影可能比复杂的绘画更雅致。流行歌曲可能比歌剧中的歌曲更好听，虽然它比较容易唱。许多时候，东西之所以美丽恰是因为它简单。留白看着舒服。停顿产生情调。简约反映典雅。无言表达更多。过犹不及。简单并不意味着艺术上稍差一筹。容易也不等于技术上逊色。恰恰相反，间约容易需要更多的功底。在我看来，那些能让艺术显得简单而容易的艺术家比那些让艺术变得复杂而困难的艺术家要高超。

之所以如此，还因为艺术，尤其是通俗艺术，是为大众服务的。阳春白雪和为艺术的艺术是背时的观念。如果一首流行歌曲是大多数人唱不了的，这流行歌曲有什么价值？如果一种社交舞只有少数能跳，那还是社交舞吗？阿根廷探戈是一种社交舞。它原是个下里巴人的舞，由牛仔，水手，移民和街女所创造。今天它在阿根廷仍是个草根舞蹈。大多数跳探戈的人都是普通人。他们热爱探戈，因为它是一个简单，优雅和亲切的舞蹈，适合老百姓的口味和能力。恼人的是那些自名不凡者高人一等的态度，他们想把探戈变成只有精英才能享受的阳春白雪。我不认为人民大众喜欢这个主意。探戈的魅力和明天，我相信，将继续留在它的易学易跳之中。最终，通俗艺术总是比阳春白雪更受大众喜爱。

Highbrowism and Populism in Tango

Popular arts are arts suited to the tastes, needs, educational level, etc., of most people. Highbrow arts are arts considered or pretending to be of highly cultivated tastes/skills superior to those of the ordinary people. A highbrow song finds few singers because its technique and range are beyond the reach of most people. A popular song, on the other hand, is less in range and technique; therefore, everyone can sing it.

The notion that complicated/difficult arts are superior to simple/easy arts, however, is an erroneous one. A simple line can be more graceful than an intricate figure. A simple photograph can be more tasteful than a complicated painting. A pop song can be more beautiful than an opera song, although it is easier to sing. Very often, things are beautiful because they are simple. Margin brings comfort. Pause creates mood. Simplicity reflexes elegance. Silence often expresses more. Too much is as bad as not enough. Simple does not mean artistically inferior. Easy does not mean less skillful. On the contrary, it takes much sophistication to achieve simplicity and ease. Those who make arts simple and easy, in my opinion, are better artists than those who make arts complicated and difficult.

This is so also because arts, especially popular arts, are for people. Highbrowism and art-for-art’s-sake are obsolete ideas. What’s the value of a pop song if it is beyond the reach of most people? What’s the value of a social dance if only few can dance it? Argentine tango is a social dance. It was a lowbrow dance created by gouchos, sailors, immigrant workers and prostitutes. It is still a grass roots dance in Argentina today. Most people who dance tango are ordinary people. They love tango because it is an intimate, simple and elegant dance suited to the tastes and abilities of the common people. What is annoying to them is the chauvinist attitude of those who consider themselves above the crowd and want to make tango a highbrow dance only the elite can enjoy. I don’t think people want that. Tango’s charm and tomorrow, I believe, will remain in its dancer-friendliness. In the end, populism always triumphs over highbrowism.