Tango (1880–2026)

In the late 19th century Buenos Aires and Montevideo took in hundreds of thousands of immigrants, mostly Italian and Spanish. In working-class districts and on the city outskirts, their music blended with the Cuban habanera, the Argentine milonga and Afro-Argentine and Afro-Uruguayan rhythms. Out of this mix came tango, first played by small groups of flute, violin and guitar.

In the early 20th century the bandoneon, a small button concertina of German origin brought by immigrants, took its place in the bands: its deep, plaintive sound became the voice of tango. Tango triumphed in Paris around 1913, then returned to Argentina with the glow of that success. In 1917 Carlos Gardel sang Mi noche triste, often regarded as the first “tango song”: from then on, tango told stories of lost love and nostalgia.

The 1940s were the golden age of the big orchestras (orquestas típicas) that got all of Buenos Aires dancing. Then Astor Piazzolla created tango nuevo, fed by Bach, jazz and modern music, for listening rather than dancing.

The tango rhythm is easy to recognise: a strongly marked 4/4, often split 3+3+2, crisp accents (marcato), dramatic slowings and stops. The habanera rhythm, heard for example in the left hand of Scott Joplin’s Solace, is one of its ancestors.