Tracing Tangueros: Argentine Tango Instrumental Music. By Kacey Link and Kristin Wendland.

Abstract

‘Tango is a sad thought that is danced’ (Enrique Santos Discépolo, cited and translated, p. 11). Tango has been popular internationally since the early twentieth century: its romanticized imaginings of risqué, low-life origins gripping people’s hearts across diverse social classes and cultures. Adopted in new environments, it has retained certain of its idiosyncrasies, whether in France, Finland, or Japan. But what gives Argentine tango music its essence? Can these idiosyncrasies be distilled and identified? In this book, Link and Wendland try to do just this by examining the music, and tracing the performance and compositional techniques of tango from late nineteenth-century Argentina through to the present day. Crucially, they distinguish between tango as a genre that accompanies popular social dancing, and the development of ‘a refined tango suitable for listening’, identified with the 1920s and the start of the guardia nueva era (p. 45). Their focus on listening shifts the beginning of tango’s Golden Age forward from the 1920s to 1932, the post-Golden Age to 1955, and tango’s rebirth to 1990. This revised timeline presents a fresh perspective that highlights tango’s importance as a music to be listened to: ‘Our view of the beginning of the Golden Age corresponds to the expansion of tango orchestras established primarily for listening, such as those of Fresedo and De Caro, and the formation of orchestras that functioned primarily as dance bands, such as that of Caló. Both changes occurred in 1932’ (p. 52). Accordingly, the role of tango orchestras and ensembles is emphasized—and reflected in the volume’s title. Although the early history of tango dance has received considerable attention, serious engagement with the musical dimension has long been overdue.