The modern Argentine tango music is identified with the Bandoneon, a portable accordion with buttons instead of keys. Until the early 20's, however, the Bandoneon was not a frequent or obvious member of tango bands. The use of aluminum frames allowed the Bandoneon to be even lighter & (more important) much louder. The American tango did not exist until the mid-teens of this century, when the tango was imported from France, mostly by way of England. It was then that the Bump Bump Ba-Bump Bump rhythm was introduced with the advent of the American tango. The heavy European emigrations to Argentina in the early teens must have had many influences on the tango, both musically & the dance. Between (as I recall) 1911 & 1913 the population of Buenos Aires increased from 2 million to 8 million people. The ratio of men to women was 10 to 1. Life was Hell in many ways for the emigrants in the teens. The sad lyrics of early tangos reflect that. About 40% of those emigrants were Italian, and the language & the culture of Argentina was influenced by them. As for tango, there are many elements in opera, for instance, that match Argentine tango music. However, Powers does not see such an influence. Tango music has been used & modified by Europeans, perhaps more than Americans. In the 30s it was very popular in Italy. It is the national music of Finland. Kurt Weill was influenced by it, & wrote several, the best-known being "The Sailor's Song" ("Der Matrosensagen"). Tango music has since been influenced by other waves of music from Europe & the U.S. Astor Piazzola, for instance, toward the end of his life brought jazz elements into tango. Dance No one is sure where the Argentine tango dance came from, though there are various myths about it. There is little evidence that gauchos had anything to do with it, though that's part of the myth. There IS an Argentine national dance called the Gaucho dance (along with a half dozen or more other names), but it has very little musical commonality with the Argentine tango. As for dancing, no one is sure whether the real gauchos even danced. The myth also has the tango dance coming out of brothels in turn-of-the-century Buenos Aires. That seems more likely, given the sexiness of the early Argentine tango, but again there's little historical evidence. The milonga is a bouncy, swaggering dance much danced in the barrios which has some of the elements of polkas. It is more clearly a pre-cursor to the tango. The African-derived candombe has many musical elements in common with the milonga, but few in common with the dance. The Argentine tango must have been influenced by European dances imported during the waves of immigration, especially the early teens. Then in the early teens Argentina returned the favor, & tango became the rage in France, then shortly thereafter in England, then America. Each country shaped it further, the Anglos especially removing risque elements & simplifying the dance. Some early American dance masters taught the foxtrot but called it tango. (One dance teacher referred to the tango as the "tangle," which I've often thought is as good a derivative of "tango" as any!) In Argentina tango was looked down upon by the middle & upper classes as belonging to the barrios & brothels. Then in the mid-teens French enthusiasm for the tango caused it to become fashionable. Tango in Argentina was developed further, made more elegant. Hollywood also influenced it. It gained more theatrical elements, & many of the older Argentines one meets on America today learned a variant of the American tango instead. This "tango viaje" can still be seen danced in Chile & Uruguay, among other neighbors of Argentina. Today In the 50's tango music & dance began to languish, but like many operatic heroines is taking forever to die. In a dramatic last-minute rescue, in 1985, the touring French dance review "Tango Argentino" struck New York by storm. Tickets were so frantically pursued that it returned to NY in early '86 for several months, toured Europe, the rest of America & Japan & South America, leaving enthusiasts in its wake. Finland, for instance, has more than 2000 tango clubs, and the Japanese are in love with the dance too. The tango has become a small but strong industry in Argentina & has become one of its influential exports, being shaped yet again by its enthusiasts.

RAMON Gomez: Interpretacion del tango The tango did originally evolve in Argentina, Buenos Aires specifically. There are two schools of thought as to it's connection with Spanish dances like the Habanera etc. One believes that the habanera, tango andaluz, and milonga (creole/gaucho dance) contributed to the early rythmic development of the tango. The controversy arises when discussing the influence of candombe (African-Argentine music) on the tango. Some Argentinians oppose that viewpoint strongly on racial, cultural grounds, who knows ! The milonga was influenced to some degree by blacks in argentina being a creole dance. Milonga is an afro-brasilian word meaning "words", in argentina it came to represent a large, joyful, unruly gathering, very often associated with bordellos located near military barracks. Singing and dancing was popular at these gatherings, the chief instruments here were the guitar, drum and later the flute. It is believed that the dance evolved from these gatherings. Whites in Argentina emulated these dances which they saw during carnaval, and they continued the tradition of the dances. The higher classes abhorred this dance form because it was mainly done by the urban poor, creoles, immigrants and it was strongly linked to the prostitution houses in Buenos Aires. Even the language of the early tango songs is very crude called lunfardo, associated with thieves, criminals and such. It was taken to Europe where it became very popular, especially in Paris. Apparently it was then brought back to Argentina before WWI, and was changed somewhat and became more socially acceptable. An interesting point I found was about the conflicts between the creoles and the new immigrants arriving in Argentina. The creoles were comopeting with the immigrants for jobs, women and were frustrated. The tango was theirs however, and they showed it off to the immigrants. The immigrants were accepted if they could do the complicated footwork and body movements. I think you could see these furtive elements in tango today. When the tango became socially acceptable, it evolved highly in its music and song. Carlos Gardel was the man who made the tango popular, songwise. His other names were Charles Romauld, and he sometimes used his mothers lastname Gardes (accent acute on e). In 1893 he went to Argentina with his mom. Initially, he sang a lot of street music and changed his name to Gardel (to sound more creole). Gardel made the tango widely acceptable and is seen as the person who made the tango an absolutely Argentinian artform. Just a short note on the music, early tango music was more joyous and it later became influenced by the duels/conflicts between the creoles and the immigrants so it was more about pain then, with the use of the bandoneon (an Italian accordion type instrument), the music began to be sad. What about tango love songs? I'll leave that to soemone else to explore. Probably the result of Gardel's influence. [Someone mentioned that it was originally danced by women only, that is the tango andaluz from andalusia in Spain.] Other music exists to heal wounds; but the tango when sung and played is for the purpose of opening them, for the purpose of sticking your finger in the wound and to tear them until they bleed Nobo Komagata: According to a fascinating video, "Tango Bar", it seems the dance (Argentinean Tango) originated from a dance (probably Milonga) among the poor in Argentina. I don't thing there is any particular inventor of Tango. The music may have originated in Andalucia, Spain before the dance (source "The Complete Book of Ballroom Dancing by Richard Stephenson). But I am not sure about the credibility of the account. These are what I believe at this time but not 100%. I also found a book, "El Tango y Sus Circunstancias by Fernando Assuncao (Spanish). It has a bibliography containig dozens of books. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to read it. komagata@eniac.seas.upenn.edu M.Sequerth It is my understanding the original Tango was indeed spanish. However, it was not the form that we use today. Originally the Tango was danced by women alone. When the dance was brought to the west (Argentina) it took on the form that closely resembles that which we dance today. The modern form was influenced by the Creole (French), Indian and Black cultures of the "west". When it returned to Europe it was danced in the cafes and scorned as a "peasants" dance. Later 1910???? it gained social acceptability. This is the way I remember it. Some of my chronology may be in error but, the dance did originate in Spain, and later brought to the new world. I hope this helps. marks@igor.tamri.com Nicole Stefaniuk I heard from my instructors that the tango was developed in Argentina. It was danced by men who were working in the fields for weeks on end, then came into town for wine and women. They grabbed the woman as close to them as possible (hence the body position), but they smelled bad (hence the woman's arching away). Even if this isn't true, it's a cute story. (stefan@snoopy.usask.ca)President, University of Saskatchewan Ballroom Dance Club Stephen Zisk According to my several sources (all secondary), the Tango was not "invented" but developed around the turn of the century from several earlier dance forms, principally the Milonga, a faster dance, and the Habanera, slower. Some Tango music still has undertones of these two earlier forms. As for the Milonga and Habanera, these apparently arose from a mix of African, South American, and European (possibly Italian) music and dance patterns. The Tango was brought to Europe via Marseilles, and was "made respectable" by a number of different exhibition dancers, so it might be argued that a Frenchman or Spaniard had some part in "inventing" the more socially respectable forms of the dance. Ironically, it took European "respectability" to bring the dance out of the slum bordellos and bars into respectable circles in Argentina.