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Tango
is a style of syncopated ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4
time that originated among European immigrant populations of
Argentina and Uruguay (collectively, the "Rioplatenses").
It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta
típica, which includes two violins, piano, doublebass, and
two bandoneons. Earlier forms of this ensemble sometimes
included flute, clarinet and guitar. Tango music may be purely
instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music is
well-known across much of the world, along with the associated
tango dance.
Origins
Even
though the present forms developed in Argentina and Uruguay
from the mid 19th century, there are records of 19th and early
20th century Tango styles in Cuba and Spain, while there is a
flamenco Tangos dance that may share a common ancestor in a
minuet-style European dance. All sources stress the influence
of the African communities and their rhythms, while the
instruments and techniques brought in by European immigrants
in the second half of the 20th century played a major role in
its final definition, relating it to the Salon music styles to
which Tango would contribute back at a later stage.
The
first Tango ever recorded was made by Angel Villoldo and
played by the French national guard in Paris. Villoldo had to
record in Paris because in Argentina at the time there was no
recording studio.
Early
tango was played by immigrants in Buenos Aires. The first
generation of tango players was called "Guardia Vieja"
(the Old Guard). By the end of the 19th century, this blend of
salon, European and African music was heard throughout
metropolitan Buenos Aires. It took time to move into wider
circles: in the early 20th century it was the favorite music
of thugs and gangsters who visited the brothels, in a city
with 100,000 more men than women (in 1914). The complex dances
that arose from such rich music reflects how the men would
practice the dance in groups, demonstrating male sexuality and
causing a blending of emotion and aggressiveness. The music
was played on portable instruments: flute, guitar and violin
trios, with bandoneón arriving at the end of the 19th
century. The organito, a portable player-organ, broadened the
popularity of certain songs. Eduardo Arolas was the major
instrument of the bandoneón's popularization, with Vicente
Greco soon standardizing the tango sextet as consisting of
piano, double bass, two violins and two bandoneons.
Like
many forms of popular music, the tango was associated with the
underclass, and the better-off Argentines tried to restrict
its influence. In spite of the scorn, some, like writer
Ricardo Güiraldes, were fans. Güiraldes played a part in the
international popularization of the tango, which had conquered
the world by the end of World War I, and wrote a poem
("Tango") which describes the music as the
"all-absorbing love of a tyrant, jealously guarding his
dominion, over women who have surrendered submissively, like
obedient beasts".
One
song that would become the most widely known of all tango
melodies[5] also dates from this time. The first two sections
of La Cumparsita were composed as a march instrumental in 1917
by then 17-year-old Gerardo Matos Rodríguez of Uruguay.
*
1920s and 1930s, Carlos Gardel
Carlos
Gardel, perpetual symbol of the tango "Por Una Cabeza"
(1935) by Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Le Pera. Sung by Carlos
Gardel.Tango soon began to gain popularity in Europe,
beginning in France. Superstar Carlos Gardel soon became a sex
symbol who brought the tango to new audiences, especially in
the United States, due to his sensual depictions of the dance
on film. In the 1920s, tango moved out of the lower-class
brothels and became a more respectable form of music and
dance. Bandleaders like Roberto Firpo and Francisco Canaro
dropped the flute and added a double bass in its place. Lyrics
were still typically macho, blaming women for countless
heartaches, and the dance moves were still sexual and
aggressive.
Carlos
Gardel became especially associated with the transition from a
lower-class "gangster" music to a respectable
middle-class dance. He helped develop tango-canción in the
1920s and became one of the most popular tango artists of all
time. He was also one of the precursors of the Golden Age of
tango.
Gardel's
death was followed by a division into movements within tango.
Evolutionists like Aníbal Troilo and Carlos di Sarli were
opposed to traditionalists like Rodolfo Biagi and Juan
D'Arienzo.
*
Golden Age
The "Golden Age" of tango music and dance is
generally agreed to have been the period from about 1935 to
1952, roughly contemporaneous with the big band era in the
United States.
Some
of the many popular and influential orchestras included the
orchestras of Juan D'Arienzo, Francisco Canaro, and Aníbal
Troilo. D'Arienzo was called the "Rey del compás"
or "King of the beat" for the insistent, driving
rhythm which can be heard on many of his recordings. "El
flete" is an excellent example of D'Arienzo's approach.
Canaro's early milongas are generally the slowest and easiest
to dance to; and for that reason, they are the most frequently
played at tango dances (milongas); "Milonga
Sentimental" is a classic example.
Carlos
Gardel, Mural painting by Carlos Páez VilaróBeginning in the
Golden Age and continuing afterwards, the orchestras of
Osvaldo Pugliese and Carlos di Sarli made many recordings. Di
Sarli had a lush, grandiose sound, and emphasized strings and
piano over the bandoneon, which is heard in "A la gran
muñeca" and "Bahía Blanca" (the name of his
home town).
Pugliese's
first recordings were not too different from those of other
dance orchestras, but he developed a complex, rich, and
sometimes discordant sound, which is heard in his signature
pieces, "Gallo ciego", "Emancipación",
and "La yumba". Pugliese's later music was played
for an audience and not intended for dancing, although it is
often used for stage choreography for its dramatic potential,
and sometimes played late at night at milongas.
*
Tango nuevo The later age of
tango has been dominated by Ástor Piazzolla, whose Adiós
nonino became the most influential work of tango since Carlos
Gardel's El día que me quieras was released. During the
1950s, Piazzolla consciously tried to create a more academic
form with new sounds breaking the classic forms of tango,
earning the derision of purists and old-time performers. The
1970s saw Buenos Aires developing a fusion of jazz and tango.
Litto Nebbia and Siglo XX were especially popular within this
movement. In the 1970s and 1980s, the vocal octet Buenos Aires
8 recorded classic tangos in elaborate arrangements, with
complex harmonies and jazz influence, and also recorded an
album with compositions by Piazzolla.
The
so-called post-Piazzolla generation (1980-) includes musicians
such as Dino Saluzzi, Rodolfo Mederos, Enrique Martin Entenza
and Juan María Solare. Piazzolla and his followers developed
Nuevo Tango, which incorporated jazz and classical influences
into a more experimental style.
*
Neo-tango
Tango development has not stopped here. The following examples
are not filed under "Tango Nuevo" since such
classification is usually done with hindsight rather than when
still undergoing development... These recent trends can be
described as "electro tango" or "tango
fusion", where the electronic influences are available in
multiple ranges: from very subtle to rather dominant.
Tanghetto
and Carlos Libedinsky are good examples of the subtle use of
electronic elements. The music still has its tango feeling,
the complex rhythmic and melodious entanglement that makes
tango so unique. The Tango Saloon incorporates other elements
such as spaghetti western music, jazz, Cuban music, classical
chamber, improvisation and experimental electronics into their
tango. Gotan Project is a group based in Paris, consisting of
musicians Philippe Cohen Solal, Eduardo Makaroff and Christoph
H Muller. They formed in 1999. Their releases include Vuelvo
al Sur/El capitalismo foráneo (2000), La Revancha del Tango
(2001), Inspiración Espiración (2004), and Lunático (2006).
Their sound features electronic elements like samples, beats
and sounds on top of a tango groove. Tango dancers around the
world enjoy dancing to this music, although many more
traditional dancers regard it as a definite break in style and
tradition. Still, the rhythmic elements in Gotan Project's
music are more complex than in some of the other "electro
tango" songs that were created afterwards.
Bajofondo
Tango Club (Underground tango club) and its follow-on album
"Supervielle" are examples with a stronger
"electro" feeling than Gotan Project. Bajofondo
Tango Club's beats are more regular, more dominant. The
rhythms are less complex but the tango feeling is still there.
Other examples can be found on the CDs Tango?, Hybrid Tango,
Tangophobia Vol. 1, Tango Crash (with a major jazz influence),
NuTango. Tango Fusion Club Vol. 1 by the creator of the
milonga called "Tango Fusion Club" in Munich,
Germany, Felino by the Norwegian group Electrocutango and
"Electronic Tango", a various artists' CD. In 2004,
a music label, World Music Network, also released a collection
under the title The Rough Guide to Tango Nuevo.
*
Musical impact
The tango has become part of the repertoire for great
classical musicians. One of the first classical interpreters
to do this "cross over" was the baritone Jorge
Chaminé with his Tangos recording with bandoneonist Olivier
Manoury. Since then, al Tango, Yo-Yo Ma, Martha Argerich,
Daniel Barenboim, Gidon Kremer, Plácido Domingo and Marcelo
Alvarez have performed and recorded Tangos.
Some
classical composers have written tangos, such as Isaac
Albéniz in España (1890), Erik Satie in Le Tango perpétuel
(1914), Igor Stravinsky in Histoire du Soldat (1918), and John
Cage in Perpetual Tango (1984). The influence of Piazzolla has
fallen on a number of contemporary composers. The "Tango
Mortale" in Arcadiana by Thomas Adès is a striking
example as is the orchestral Totentango by Matthew King.
Many
popular songs in the United States have borrowed melodies from
tango: the earliest published tango, El Choclo, lent its
melody to the fifties hit Kiss of Fire. Similarly Adiós
Muchachos became I Get Ideas, and Strange Sensation was based
on La Cumparsita.
Astor Piazzolla -
The New Tango
History
of Tango
Tango
as a distinctive dance and the corresponding musical style of
tango music began in the working-class port neighborhoods of
Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Montevideo, Uruguay; the area of
the Rio de la Plata.
Origin
of the word There are a number of theories about the origin of
the word "tango". One of the more popular in recent
years has been that it came from the Niger Congo languages of
Africa. Another theory is that the word "tango",
already in common use in Andalusia to describe a style of
music, lent its name to a completely different style of music
in Argentina and Uruguay.
Origin
of the dance The dance form derives from the Cuban habanera,
the Uruguayan milonga and candombe, and is said to contain
elements from the African community in Buenos Aires,
influenced both by ancient African rhythms and the music from
Europe.
Even
though the present forms developed in Argentina and Uruguay
from the mid 19th century, there are earlier written records
of Tango dances in Cuba and Spain, while there is a flamenco
Tangos dance that may share a common ancestor in a
minuet-style European dance.[5] All sources stress the
influence of the African communities and their rhythms, while
the instruments and techniques brought in by European
immigrants played a major role in its final definition,
relating it to the Salon music styles to which Tango would
contribute back at a later stage, when it became fashionable
in early 20th century Paris.
In
Argentina, the word Tango seems to have first been used in the
1890s. In 1902 the Teatro Opera started to include tango in
their balls. Initially tango was just one of the many
available local dances, but it soon became popular throughout
society, as theatres and street barrel organs spread it from
the suburbs to the working-class slums, which were packed with
hundreds of thousands of European immigrants. The development
of the Tango had influences from the cultures of several
peoples that came together in these melting pots of
ethnicities. For this reason Tango is often referred to as the
music of the immigrants to Argentina.
During
the period 1903 - 1910 over a third of the 1,000 gramophone
records released were of tango music, and tango sheet music
sold in large quantities. In 1910 the bandoneon was
introduced to Buenos Aires from Germany and it became linked
inextricably with tango music from then on. In 1912, Juan
"Pacho" Maglio was very popular with his recorded
tangos featuring the bandoneon accompanied by flute, violin
and guitar. Between 1910 and 1920, tango featured on 2,500 of
the 5,500 records released.
By 1912,
dancers and musicians from Buenos Aires and Montevideo
travelled to Europe and the first European tango craze took
place in Paris, soon followed by London, Berlin, and other
capitals. Towards the end of 1913 it hit New York in the USA,
and Finland. These exported versions of Tango were modified to
have less body contact ("Ballroom Tango"); however,
the dance was still thought shocking by many, as had earlier
been the case with dances such as the Waltz. In 1922
guidelines were first set for the "English"
(international) style of ballroom tango, but it lost
popularity in Europe to new dances including the Foxtrot and
Samba, and as dancing as a whole declined due to the growth of
cinema.
As
the dance form became wildly popular with upper and middle
classes around the world, Argentine high society adopted the
previously low-class dance form as their own. In 1913, tango
began to move from the dark side of town to elegant dance
palaces. In 1916, Roberto Firpo, an extremely successful
bandleader of the period, cemented the arrangements for
standard tango sextet: two bandoneons, two violins, piano and
double bass. Firpo heard a march by Uruguayan Gerardo Matos
Rodríguez and adapted it for tango, creating the popular and
iconic La Cumparsita.
In
1917, folk singer Carlos Gardel recorded his first tango song
Mi Noche Triste, forever associating tango with the feeling of
tragic love as revealed in the lyric.
Classically-trained
musicians weren't associated with tango music until Julio De
Caro, violinist, formed an orchestra in 1920 and made the
tango more elegant, complex and refined, as well as slowing
the tempo somewhat. With Pedro Laurenz on bandoneon, De Caro's
orchestra was famous for over a decade.
In
Argentina, the onset in 1929 of the Great Depression, and
restrictions introduced after the overthrow of the Hipólito
Yrigoyen government in 1930 caused Tango to decline. Its
fortunes were reversed as tango again became widely
fashionable and a matter of national pride under the
government of Juan Perón. Tango declined again in the 1950s
with economic depression and as the military dictatorships
banned public gatherings, followed by the popularity of Rock
and Roll. The dance lived on in smaller venues until its
revival in the 1980s following the opening in Paris of the
show Tango Argentino The Broadway musical Forever Tango and in
Europe Tango Pasión followed. A big tango boom started all
over the world. After over 20 years beeing closed the
historical Café de los Angelitos where in 1917 Carlos Gardel
has signed his contract with Odeon reopened on 19 june 2007
with the show named "El Tango" by Nicole Nau &
Luis Pereyra
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