The Return of Ta ngo
Mirka, February 26,2024
In the nineteen sixties, Argentine tango was nearly finished. Nevertheless future would demonstrate it was too early to mourn it. It is evident that now in the XXI century, it is not that difficult to find opportunities to learn and practice this dance almost anywhere in the world. It appears to almost dominate the social dance scene. Dancing tango came back with demographics of dancers that are different than that of the sixties. The tango world is taken over by the young generation of tango fanatics. Actually, it is quite astounding to see so many young people taking classes and enjoying the dance of their great-grandfathers. One may ask why has the tango come back to life after so many years of neglect?
“why h
a s the ta ngo come ba ck to lifea fter so ma ny yea rs of neglect?”
“… they preserved the nost
a lgia , roma ncea nd dra ma of the old ta ngo music”
It is partly because Tango has been trying and was finally successful in reinventing itself. Hector Piazzola was one of these early inventors that produced nice listening music but it was not that popular with dancers. In the last decades, tango orchestras such as Gotan Project or Otros Aires were very successful. To a large degree, they preserved the nostalgia, romance and drama of the old tango music. Just compare their tango nuevo music to that of the orchestra of Osvaldo Pugliese. It is obvious that tango music is still changing and that young people take ownership of this transformation.