Tango is a form of dance that has many different types and styles. One of the world’s most popular dance forms, it has a rich history and an amazing charm. It has its origins in 18th-century Buenos Aires and Montevideo. They are the capital cities of Argentina and Uruguay respectively. In the 18th century, Tango was the favorite dance of slaves, European immigrants, and the working class.
Soon, this dance form became one of the most popular and influential dances in the South American region. It expanded out of this region later on and became popular in Europe and the rest of the world. Tango comprises a unique dance and its corresponding style of music, which also carries the same name.
Origin of the word ‘tango’
There many theories for providing an explanation about how the word ‘tango’ came into existence. One says that this word has its origins in the languages spoken in Niger and Congo in Africa. Another theory says that people used this word much earlier in Andalusia, Spain. It was used in Uruguay and Argentina to describe an entirely different style of music.
The Tango has greater influences of the ancient African rhythms and European music. It is derived from the Cuban ‘habanera’, Uruguayan ‘candombe’, and Argentine ‘milonga’. The African rhythms are believed to have been influenced by candombe, which has jerky and energetic movements.
Milonga, on the other hand, was a combination of the European polka and the Spanish-Cuban habanera. It is also believed by many that the European ‘mazurka’ had a role in the development of tango.
Development in the 19th and 20th centuries
You’ll find early written records of this dance form in Spain and Cuba. However, the present forms are believed to have been developed in the mid-19th century in Uruguay and Argentina. All the records mention an influence of the African communities and their musical rhythms in tango. European immigrants also played a major role by bringing in the techniques and instruments.
Later, tango contributed immensely to the Salon music styles. They were in fashion during the early 20th century in Paris. The word ‘tango’ was first used in Argentina during the late 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, Teatro Opera started including tango in their events. This dance form initially started off as one of the many dances that were practiced by the Argentinian people.
It soon gained massive popularity throughout the Argentinian society. Performers spread it from the suburbs to the slums inhabited by the working class. Among the people living in these slums were the European immigrants. During the early 20th century, one-third of the 1,000 gramophone records that came out were of tango music.
The bandoneon, which had come from Germany, became an inseparable part of tango music during this time. Juan ‘Pacho’ Maglio became immensely popular with his recorded tangos. They featured the bandoneon, which was accompanied by guitar, flute, and violin. Of more than 5,000 records released between the first two decades of the 20th century, tango featured on 2,500.
Popularity in Argentina
Tango had started gaining a lot of fame as a dance form in different parts of the world. People from the upper and middle classes had wholeheartedly embraced this form of dance. Earlier, people belonging to the high society had adopted this reportedly low-class dance form as their own. In 1913, tango had started moving from the darker areas of towns to the elegant dance venues.
A highly successful bandleader of the time, Roberto Firpo, took this dance form to greater heights in 1916. He did this by setting the standard tango sextet, which comprised two violins, two bandoneons, double bass, and piano. Firpo heard a march by Gerardo Matos Rodriguez of Uruguay and adapted it for tango. Thus, he created the iconic and famous La Cumparsita.
Carlos Gardel recorded Mi Noche Triste, his first tango song, in the year 1917. This French-born Argentine singer associated tango with the feeling of tragic love forever with this song. Some songs were recorded in the early 20th century under the name of tango, but they weren’t so popular.
Things changed when the song El Sonido de la Milonga came out in 1921. It brought tango to the fore once again and it was properly introduced to people as a form. Julio De Caro, who was a violinist, came up with an orchestra and brought elegance to tango in 1920.
He changed the time signature of most tango pieces to make them a lot more refined. De Caro’s orchestra remained famous for more than a decade.
Popularity in United States and Europe
When tango traveled from Buenos Aires to Europe and the United States, it took the form of ‘ballroom tango’. The traveling musicians and dancers from Buenos Aires made this dance form extremely popular in Paris. Soon it became a favorite among many in Berlin, London, and other capital cities. By the end of 1913, it gained a lot of popularity in Finland and New York.
In the early 1920s, guidelines were formulated for the first time for the English style of ballroom tango. Despite this, it couldn’t become much popular in Europe owing to the emergence of new dance forms. Two of these new dance forms were Samba and Foxtrot. Later, the growth of cinema had an adverse affect on the popularity of dances.
The decline of tango and revival
Tango went into a decline with the Great Depression making its presence felt everywhere. The Hipolito Yrigoyen government lost its power in 1930 and this dance form declined further during the 1950s. Some of the major reasons were the economic downturn and the military dictatorship’s banning of public gatherings.
For almost three years, tango was practiced only by the male dancers among themselves. This practice was also subject to prohibition owing to a ban on public gatherings. As a result, rock and roll gained more popularity among the masses. Over the next decades, the smaller venues were instrumental in keeping this dance form alive.
Tango went through a revival during the 1980s with the opening of the show Tango Argentino in Paris. Another show that became an instrument for tango’s revival was the Broadway musical Forever Tango.