Can anyone tell me clearly about tango histroy? It is a minefield.?

Question

I want to know the real version, not the romantic versions in the guides that really do not seem to know ans make it all such a mystery

Answer 1

From http://www.buenosairesstay.com

Buenos Aires Tango

There is much written about the origins of tango in Buenos Aires and the history of tango, but one thing is sure, ‘When you watch the tango, you watch the very essence of Buenos Aires.’  

We can be sure that “milonga” (dance establishments) and “the milonga” (a form of dance) predate tango. The word, tango, is most likely derived from the Spanish Andalusia Tango used to describe music of the same period.  The word tango is less likely a homophone of the Spanish “tambor” meaning drum, also used by Spanish America to describe the hypnotic beat of South America’s slaves.

So, it seems safe to assume that milongas and milonga dance are one of the starting points and main influences of tango dance in Buenos Aires.  Tango dance would later evolve and formalise with European dance and musical influences into a more conservative coupled dancem palatable to discerning portenos (people of Buenos Aires port) and European taste. Tango would take Europe by storm in the late part of the IXX and early XX centuries.

The population mix when tango emerged in Buenos Aires supports a wide variety of ‘tango theocracies,’ but nobody really gets to the bottom of tango’s mysterious origins, rather many experts  point to a lack of evidence that makes tangos exact origins too difficult to call.  

The tango of the early XX century is characterised by melancholy lyrics and smooth ballroom steps - the duple metre (2/4) into 4/4 and 4/8. This is the tango most of us know and I found cringe-worthy before my adventures in Buenos Aires.

Late IXX and XX century tango music and tango dance in Buenos Aires are surely nothing like the wondrous beats and frenetic dances you can imagine emerging in the courtyards of San Telmo’s imposing colonial houses crammed full of poor immigrants or on the shantytown corners of La Boca.  The dance and music from Buenos Aires’ conventillos must have been rich cultural collaborations that formalised and found their way to bohemian dance establishments in the early IXX century.

In the early and mid IXX century the population of Buenos Aires was heavily weighted in favour of men.  Buenos Aires is a port and therefore the main point of reception for sailors, traders and immigrants from all over Europe. This thriving port also included creoles and mulatos; the first a mixture of European and native Indians and the latter, African South Americans brought to Buenos Aires as slaves.

What are we told about the tango?  

“A ballroom dance, musical style, and song. The tango evolved about 1880 in dance halls and perhaps brothels in the lower-class districts of Buenos Aires, where the Spanish tango, a light-spirited variety of flamenco, merged with the milonga, a fast, sensual, and disreputable Argentine dance; it also shows possible influences from the Cuban habanera.”  

I am sure that all the above are true, but what do we now know? We have described Buenos Aires as a wonderful melting pot of cultures and people.  We know how wonderfully musical and talented are African and South American tribes.  We know Buenos Aires was a world apart from so-called civilised societies of the day and their musical and dance evolutions.  We know Buenos Aires (South America?), is without doubt the home of modern coupled dance. We can look at the later development of music and dance in North America and find African-American influence in popular music that betray some tango beats.  We can be almost certain that prostitution and homosexuality, as in most ports, were main sources of entertainment, but the latter was exacerbated by the lack of women and meant that Buenos Aires became a rather interesting mix of predominately male entertainment.  We can find some accounts by visitors of the day that describe Buenos Aires as an ‘Inferno.’  

It is very easy to imagine Latin and African beats, and their exotic dance styles merging seamlessly  in the Buenos Aires’ predominantly poor and masculine society; throw in heaps of testosterone and the origins of tango dance no longer seem such a mystery to me.

There is much written about the origins of tango in Buenos Aires and the history of tango, but one thing is sure, ‘When you watch the tango, you watch the very essence of Buenos Aires.’  

Tango Buenos Aires

Andrew McCance - [e-mail]

Answer 2

Tango is a social dance originating in Uruguay and Argentina. The musical styles that evolved together with the dance are also known as "tango".

Early tango was known as tango criollo, or simply tango. Today, there are many tango dance styles, including Argentine Tango, Uruguayan Tango, Ballroom tango (American and International styles), Finnish tango, Chinese tango, and vintage tangos. The Argentine tango is often regarded as the "authentic" tango since it is closest to that originally danced in Argentina and Uruguay, though other types of tango have developed into mature dances in their own right.

Music and dance elements of tango are popular in activities related to dancing, such as figure skating, synchronized swimming, etc., because of its dramatic feeling and its cultural associations with romance and love.