Argentine tango history. History of tango

03.03.202127.05.2017

Tango is a direct expression of what poets try but cannot express in words: struggle can be pleasure and celebration.

Nowadays tango can be easily learned - in almost every city there are studios and schools that teach incendiary dance. Moreover, tango is considered classical dance and is included in the program of many dance competitions. But this was not always the case.

Initially, tango was danced in bars, cafes, gambling houses and "quilombos" (places intended for prostitution). Later, so-called “dance houses” appeared, which provided girls for dancing and entertainment.

We need to remember that, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, everyday dances were performed in such a way that the partners stood opposite each other at a distance. These types of dances were usually designated by the word “contradanza” (Italian). At the same time, the dancers’ movements across the space of the site were, in some way, linear. The contacts of the partners with each other were reduced only to the contact of hands at certain moments of the dance. There were also “circle dances”, in which movement took place in a circle.

"Minue" (with the emphasis on the last "e") was a very popular household dance during colonial times in Argentina. The habanera dance, one of the predecessors of the tango, was also of the contradanza type. The word “contradanza” itself could come from the English term “country dance” (literally, “country dance”), transformed into the French Contredance, and then into the Italian Contradanza. Mozart and Beethoven wrote “contredanze” (German). And already the Viennese waltz and quadrille replaced the contradancer from the ballrooms.

The Viennese Waltz was the first dance in the world to use true close-up positions, and the Polka was the second dance in Europe to use this controversial new technique.

Polka butterfly 19th century.

IN European society There was conflicting opinion towards this, considered immoral, way of dancing, and people carried this opinion with them when they emigrated to Argentina.

If I'm not mistaken, sometime around 1850, when the Paris Opera was going through difficult economic times, its director had the bold idea of including the Viennese Waltz in some productions as an experiment. The idea was a great success, and a curious audience again filled the theater. Paris, being the center of the arts and refined taste, gradually made this dance of "close embrace" acceptable to the rest of the world.
In the future, it is in this historical context that we need to consider the place of tango during its emergence, and in the subsequent period 1880-1910, as well as the question of why men were forced to dance with men.\

The Viennese Waltz was the first everyday dance to use the “close position.” This is the way we dance these days... and we think it is the most logical way to dance as a couple... however, back in the day... in the second half of the 19th century, such public closeness of bodies was considered scandalously obscene. It took society many years to gradually accept it as the norm.

Now, we come to the period when tango was born, in 1880, or shortly before that. The outskirts of Buenos Aires, bars, gambling establishments, brothels... single men spend their time socializing, drinking, gambling, looking for "romance" in the company of women of dubious reputation, trying out the moves of these new dances... milongas and tango. We can imagine that in such places and under such circumstances, any experimentation with dance movements was acceptable, regardless of good or bad taste, ambiguity or even outright obscenity. We must remember that in those days even just dancing against each other, when right hand a man touching his partner's back was a little too much... and then a dance appeared in which there are close embraces, cheek to cheek, chest to chest, legs reaching between the partners' legs, in a long conversation about love and passion, with grabs, flirting glances and stroking... , in a word, writing a prologue to the love story that will soon follow.

Initial themes often included hints of sex and obscenity. When tango became a social norm, the dance and its lyrics were purified or completely changed. Some elements of these themes are still present in the dance, although they have lost their original meaning. For example, the name of the most famous tango “El Choclo” (corn cob) had a phallic meaning
The author of the tango "EL CHOCLO" was Angel Villoldo.

A small digression.
Angel Villoldo, musician and poet, was born February 16, 1861 and died October 14, 1919. His full name- Angel Gregorio Villoldo Arroyo/Angel Gregorio Villoldo Arroyo. Nicknames: A. Gregorio, Fray Pimiento, Gregorio Gimenez, Angel Arroyo, Mario Reguero.

He is called the "Father of Tango".
This is somewhat of an exaggeration of the title, since there were many circumstances that gave rise to this music. But Villoldo's influence at the very beginning of tango and his participation in the development of tango rightfully gives him this well-deserved title.

Together with Alfredo Gobbi and his wife, the Chilean Flora Rodriguez, parents of the violinist Alfredo Gobbi, he travels to France to create a phonogram, being hired by "Gath & Chaves", one of the largest Argentine shops of that period.
This event gave a huge boost to Argentine music in Europe, and subsequently many of these recordings were also sold in Buenos Aires. But Villoldo also occupies an outstanding place as a composer. Examples of his works are the tango "El Portecito", "El esquinazo", "La budinera", "Soy tremendo", "Cantar eterno", later, in 1917, recorded by the duo "Gardel-Razzano".
Local orchestras treated all these compositions favorably and included them in their repertoire.

But undoubtedly the most important tango was “El choclo”. Important because of its melody and rhythm, which were in fact very indicative and characteristic, even before the existence of the tango “La cumparsita”.

How true this is is confirmed by the following story. During the First World War, Argentine journalist Tito Livio Foppa was on the German front. When at an official reception a musician played the “national anthem” on the piano in his honor, it turned out that he was actually playing the tango “El choclo,” which he mistook for Argentine patriotic music.

Another fundamental tango, "La morocha", has a simple
lyrics.

Villoldo created it in a hurry for the composer Enrique Saborido, who successfully performed this tango in 1906 on the Fragata Sarmiento, a cruise for army cadets. And this tango is considered the first tango to gain popularity in Europe.
Villoldo, a wonderful poet and musician, left a huge number of works, including such works as "El Torito", "Cuidado con los cincuenta", "Una fija", "Yunta brava", "El Cachorrito", "Pineral", " El Pimpollo", "Trigo limpio", "La bicicleta", etc.

These poor suburbs were called arrabals, and it was here that the fusion of several musical and dance forms took place. The bipartite Cuban habanera and its European variant, the Andalusian tango, introduced by Spanish dancers and not related to ordinary tango, collided with such creations of the rural Argentine hinterland as the payada (poetic improvisation, often performed to a simple guitar accompaniment) and the raunchy, syncopated milonga, which The songs quickly turned into a dance popular among the Arrabal population. Then the milonga intertwined with the Afro-Argentine candombe, a rhythmically complex, uninhibited dance that the compadritos adopted from the black residents of Buenos Aires. From this explosive mixture were born the music and dance now known as tango.

At first, tango did not go beyond the confines of brothels in Arrabal, so high society treated it with contempt. But thanks to organ grinders and immigrant musicians who began to include these new, exciting melodies in their repertoire, it gradually penetrated into numerous cafes and onto the streets of the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires, inhabited by a more respectable public. Around the turn of the century, the guitar began to be replaced by the bandoneon, invented by the Germans - in combination with strings, its voice gave tango a special sound, characteristic only of it. Like jazz, it was a fundamentally new music. And although it combined already known styles, it was more than the sum of its parts.

Respectable families and women of good reputation did not want to participate in this act in any way, and the women in the brothels had to pay for it... so if a man wanted to practice this new dance, he had only one option... another man.
Groups of men would come together to practice, improvise, and innovate, creating new movements and new steps in the process. This approach helped the rapid development of this dance.

Being a good dancer meant then (and even now) a reliable way to attract women's attention... men practiced in their environment so that they could then surprise and arouse the admiration of women and other men.
…Thus, men dancing with each other had nothing to do with homosexuality.

The next scenario on the agenda was “el patio de los conventillos” (communal dormitories). These “conventillos” provided shelter to thousands of poor immigrants who arrived from all over Europe (most of all from Italy and Spain), and some from the Argentine “outback”. These were long open spaces, bordered on both sides by rooms and kitchens. As a rule, the bathrooms there were shared.
It took many years for tango to spread in these "communal apartments" because their residents were, for the most part, decent people who did not want their families to be exposed to this sinful music and dance. Saturday evenings and Sundays were devoted to celebrating weddings, births, baptisms, and other celebrations. It was on such occasions, little by little, that someone would ask the musicians to play a tango, and then, someone would dance once such a dance, cleansed of sinful movements, for example, “Cortes and quebradas” - a simplified version, which was also at first tolerated with disgust , but later became very popular.

It took even longer for tango to reach the homes of middle and upper class families. Young men from such families made it a habit to visit the suburbs in search of excitement and adventure, returning home excited by their dissolute experiences. They began teaching this extraordinary new dance to their sisters, neighborhood girls, and other female members of their extended Argentine families, such as cousins and aunts. They were also taught a “purified version” of the dance.

If you think about the fact that Saborido sold about one hundred thousand copies of his tango “Yo soy la morocha” (I am that brunette) in the first few months of 1906, then you can determine that the tango was performed quite often, including respectable girls who placed the rhythms of this dance between the waltz “Blue Danube” and “Good Eliza”.

A little later, singer Flora Rodriguez recorded “La Trocha”. First on the cylinder, then on the disk, and also on rolls of perforated paper for the “pianola” (a piano that plays itself when two pedals are pressed). The theme of "La Morocchi" was quite innocent and therefore easily accepted. Thus, tango gradually moved from the margins to interior spaces Argentine home.

The next stage was the "patios" (courtyards) of the "conventillos" (communal apartments), and eventually the dance settled inside the homes of the middle and upper class of Argentina. Tango was still a pariah, the illegitimate son of pimps and disreputable women, dressed as a compadrito beggar.

The latent eroticism, coupled with the barely veiled sexual overtones of the choreography, was the undisputed dominant feature of early tango. The first poems to this music are replete with allusions to meetings in dating houses. Unfortunately, there are no recordings of early tangos from the 1880s and 1890s. Poems, including completely obscene ones, were often the fruit of improvisation. However, as it spread to immigrant areas, the dance began to take on new features. The melodies and verses interspersed with Italianized argot (lunfardo) sounded a sharp longing for the Old World, combined with the bitterness of disappointment and dashed love hopes that became the lot of those who moved to Latin America from overseas. However, in the first decade of the 20th century, when tango had already largely lost its provocatively sexual overtones, representatives of the wealthier circles of Argentine society still disliked this dance for its “low” origin.

Argentine poet Leopoldo Lugones denounced him as “a reptile crawling out of a mess.” The attitude towards tango changed dramatically for the better when it was heard and seen in Paris. European high society did not share Argentine prejudices, and by the beginning of the First World War, the passion for the new dance, like an outbreak of an epidemic, swept from Paris to Rome and from Madrid to London. After the Parisians acquitted tango, the Argentine elite repatriated it and made it their fetish.

In 1914, the Minister of Public Education L.A. Kasso sent out a formidable circular to the trustees of educational districts prohibiting educational institutions x Russia the very mention of tango. He wrote: “In view of the clearly obscene nature of the new, widely popular dance called “tango” and the information subsequently received by the Ministry of Public Education about individual attempts to teach it to students, I humbly ask Your Excellency to take the strictest measures to ensure that the said dance is not taught in educational institutions of the educational district entrusted to you, and equally, that students of both male and female educational institutions do not attend dance classes in which the shamelessness of “tango” is taught...

Despite the Great Depression, the period 1930-1950 became the "golden age" of tango. Many ensembles were created, which included outstanding composers and tango performers who have become classics of the style today: Annibal Troyo, Osvaldo Pugliese, Astor Piazzola and many others.

The more tango was banned, the more popular it became. Twentieth-century music is full of many different variations of the tango, from the joyful to the melancholy. Tango is poetry filled with passion, joy, pain and longing. The main theme of tango is unhappy, sometimes tragic, but always passionate love and spiritual fragmentation.

The next stop on this pilgrimage will be Europe.

Argentina developed very quickly between 1880 and 1930. The entire city of Buenos Aires was completely rebuilt during this period. The old colonial Spanish city, with one-story buildings and narrow streets, was replaced by a metropolis with wide avenues, beautiful parks and buildings of French and Italian architecture.

The country became one of the ten richest nations in the world, a position it held until the early 1950s, when paralysis and economic decline began... a situation that was destined to last for the next 30 years (until 1985, when world authorities determined that the country is a “developing market economy country”).

During this period of rapid development, the richest were in the habit of traveling to Europe at least once a year. They had large houses in Paris or London. Their receptions were regularly attended by nobility, celebrities and the rich. The French coined the phrase "he's as rich as an Argentine" to refer to extremely wealthy people. The sons of these people remained in Europe to study. It was they who introduced the Parisian nobility to Argentine tango. Tango immediately became a universal hobby.

Everyone started organizing parties with orchestras from Argentina, tango lessons and milongas. Women's fashion had to change to accommodate tango movements. The very bulky dresses of that time were replaced by lighter and looser ones. One famous clothing designer had a significant amount of unclaimed orange material. He decided to call the color of this textile “Tango Orange”. The material was sold out immediately, and the couturier had to order a new batch. Tango became the dance of the day. From Paris, it instantly spread to other large capitals: London, Rome, Berlin, and finally to New York.

And then, Tango returned to Buenos Aires, but already dressed in a tuxedo, and was greeted there as his favorite child. What a change!

The etymology of the word “tango” has not yet been fully clarified, but scientists agree that the dance itself and the accompanying music originated in Argentina at the end of the 19th century, when a stream of emigrants from Europe, including Italy, poured into the country. New arrivals naturally settled in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, congregating in the slums on the outskirts of these port cities. There they mixed with representatives of the Argentine "bottom", including famous compadritos - pimps and other petty criminals, heroes of local legends.

Milonga, according to José Gobelo (founder of the Accademia del Lunfardo, considered an authority on the subject of tango), is a word from the African Quimbunda language, being the plural form of the word mulonga. "Mulonga" means "word" in this language. Thus, "milonga" means "words." In 1872, when José Hernandez published his most famous book, Martin Fierro (which describes in verse the life of a gaucho, an Argentine cowboy), the term milonga had already taken on the meaning of a gathering where one could dance. A decade later, in 1883, Ventura Lynch wrote: “On the outskirts of the city, the milonga is so generally accepted that it is danced at all gatherings of people, it can be heard performed to the music of guitars, accordions, combs and paper, and street musicians play it with a flute orchestra, harps and violins. It is also danced in cheap casinos around the markets in 9/11 and Constitution Squares, during other dance events and funeral processions.”

Nowadays, milonga has several meanings: a style of music, a dance, a public place where one can dance, as well as its original meaning (a lot of words, or a long story). For example, in the phrase “no me vengas ahora con esa milonga” (“don’t start all this chatter now”).

As for the term “tango”, there is no consensus on its origin. When we turn to the prehistory of tango, everything becomes covered in a thick fog.
The word “tango” appeared much earlier than the dance with that name. At first, the word appeared outside of Argentina, on one of the Canary Islands, and in other parts of America, with the meaning of “a gathering of blacks for dancing, for playing drums; also, the African name for this drum.” The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy of Letters, published in 1899, defines Tango as “The fun and dance of the Negroes or the lower classes in America,” and also gives a second meaning of the word: “Music for this dance.” Here we must remember that for the Spanish world, America is an entire continent, and not just the USA. In this case, the dictionary spoke about the Spanish part of America, excluding the USA and Canada.

This dictionary gives a dubious etymology for the Latin word "tangir" (to play instruments). In Latin, “ego tango” means “I play.” It was natural to try to find a Latin origin for the word, although this etymology clearly has no bearing on its Argentine meaning. The 1914 edition of the dictionary gives the etymology of "tangir" or "tangere" - "to play or touch". Later editions removed this etymological reference.
Music historian Carlos Vega explains that in Mexico, back in the 18th century, there was a dance called tango. This dance was performed alone or by partners separately, not as a couple. The archives of the Holy Inquisition in Mexico make reference to the "ancient tango" in 1803. To some Mexican song.

The Dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy of Letters, 1925 edition, defines tango in the same way as in previous editions, but without the Latin etymology, and adds: "Dance high society, imported from America at the beginning of this century." Once again, Tango has gone all the way from the "lower classes" to the "high society". The dictionary includes two more meanings: "music for this dance" and also "Honduran drum". It was only in the 1984 edition that the word tango was defined as an Argentine dance.

*It seems that the African origin of the word Tango is accepted by most erudite scholars. Ricardo Rodriguez studied the languages of slaves transported to Argentina. These were tribes from the Congo, the Gulf of Guinea and southern Sudan. Tango means “closed space”, “circle”, “a certain private space, the entrance to which must be asked.” Slave traders called the places where black slaves were kept, both in America and Africa, the word Tango. Those places where slaves were sold also received this name. We could discuss this topic in more detail, but... I'm afraid to bore you.

In short, the most likely original meaning of the word "tango" is an enclosed space where blacks gather to dance, and later - this dance itself.

To understand the character and soul of tango, it is necessary to get acquainted with the history of the emergence of this amazing dance, a dance with a sad and eccentric, truly human history.

Origin of Tango.

There are several assumptions about the origin of the word “tango”:
Congolese dance "lango"
god of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe "Shango",
the Bantu word “tamgu”, meaning dance in general or “tango”, which in the Congo means “closed place”, “circle”, a word that later came to be called the places where slaves were collected before loading onto a ship.

It is believed that not only the word, but also the dance owes its origin to the Afro-Creoles who lived in Buenos Aires and Montevideo (important transit points of the slave trade), where it arose at black dance parties - “sociedades de negros”, presumably from the Candombe dance. Kandombe was a ritual dance combining elements of the Bantu and Catholic religions. The dancers lined up and walked towards each other. The transition consisted of five choreographically defined scenes, which were performed not in pairs, but as a group dance. Since during black holidays things often led to bloody fights, these events were soon banned by the administration; this confrontation continued during the resettlement of Europeans to Argentina. Thus, black dance parties began to take place indoors. Couples danced without close embraces, the dancers moved away to the beat, imitating the gestures of the original candombe. This new dance was adopted by the “compadrites” living in the suburbs and brought it to the saloons, where until then only the traditional milonga was danced.

With the creation of the first "sociedades de negros" at the beginning of the 19th century in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the word "tango" began to be used to refer to both these societies and their dance parties. What was played at these parties had little in common with the music that had spread through expatriate circles in the Rio de la Plata since the mid-19th century. In the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, different cultures merged into one new one, with which the new settlers identified themselves, and the tango we know appeared.

When comparing tango with candombe, the music of the black population of Buenos Aires, it is clear from the instruments used how little these musical styles have in common. None of the many percussion instruments that form the basis of candombe have ever been used in tango.

Tango and candombe are united by a rhythmic formula that, in principle, underlies all Latin American music that has undergone African influence. This rhythmic formula also influenced three musical styles that were the immediate predecessors of tango:
Afro-Cuban habanera;
Andalusian tango;
milonga.

Habanera

Habanera, which originated around 1825 in the suburbs of Havana, is both a couples dance and a form of song. Musically, it is a mixture of Spanish song traditions with the rhythmic heritage of black slaves. As a result of constant contacts between the colony and the metropolis, the habanera penetrated into the Kingdom of Spain and around the 1850s. became popular throughout the country mainly thanks to folk theaters. Habanera came to Rio de la Plata from Paris. After it became a salon dance in Paris, it was enthusiastically received by aristocratic circles Latin America, the cultural space of Rio de la Plata, repeating everything that was fashionable in France.

Habanera was distributed by Cuban sailors in the port taverns of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. She instantly began to compete with the most fashionable dances of that era - mazurka, polka, waltz. It was also very popular in folk theater in the form of song couplets. The rhythmic basic structure of the habanera consists of a two-quarter bar, which in turn is composed of one stressed eighth note, one sixteenth note and two subsequent eighth notes (the first bars from Bizet's world famous opera Carmen: "Love child, child of freedom...").

This habanera rhythm was transferred to Andalusian tango and milonga. Since these three musical styles differ from each other only melodically, the public and composers often confused them even at that time. Tango Andaluz

Andalusian tango, which originated around the 1850s. in Cadiz, belongs to the classical forms of flamenco and is performed with guitar accompaniment. It is both a song form and a dance that was performed first by the woman alone and then by one or more couples, without the partners touching each other. However, the Andalusian tango did not come to Argentina as a dance. Here it was used only as a song or folk theater verses.

Milonga

Milonga, the Creole predecessor of tango, is itself a part of cultural history. The black population of Brazil retained the original meaning of the word "milonga" - "words", "conversation". In Uruguay, "milonga" meant "city singing", in Buenos Aires and its environs - "festival" or "dancing", as well as a place their implementation, and at the same time a “chaotic mixture”. This is the sense in which the word is used in Martin Fierro's epic. Soon this word began to be used to designate a special dance and song form, to which were added milonguera - a dancer in entertainment venues and milonguita - a woman working in a cabaret with a penchant for alcohol and drugs."

The rural milonga was very slow and served as musical accompaniment to the songs. The urban version was much faster, more mobile, and played and danced more rhythmically. Its obvious family connection with the music of Pampa folk singers. While tango is a more stylized urban music, leaving behind its folk heritage even before the 20s. XIX century, the milonga carries many features of Argentine folk music. They danced to the milonga, first of all, in the suburbs at the dance balls of the “compadrites”.

The first musical performances of habaneras, milongas and Andoluz tango.

Habanera, milonga and Andalusian tango occupied a significant place in the repertoire of trios and minstrels that toured in late XIX V. in the Buenos Aires area. These musicians were almost entirely self-taught, playing flutes, violins and harps at dances in the working-class neighborhoods, diners and brothels of the suburbs. News was learned only from payadores - a local variety of traveling minstrels. It was the songs of the payadores that gave rise to the song style, and later the dance, called milonga. The recordings of milongas performed by payadores that have reached us are extremely imperfect, but in those days the milonga was extremely popular among the inhabitants of the outskirts of Buenos Aires.

The harp was often replaced by a mandolin, accordion or simply a comb and was subsequently completely replaced by the guitar, which since the time of the Conquest has played a vital role as the national instrument of the gauchos and payadores. Soon the guitarist began to determine the harmonic basis on which the violinist and flautist improvised. Few of the musicians of that time could read music. Everyone played by ear and invented new melodies every night. What they liked was often repeated until a unique piece of music emerged. But since these melodies were not recorded, today it is not known exactly how they sounded.

The repertoire of minstrels was more than varied. They played waltzes, mazurkas, milongas, habaneras, Andalusian tango and, at one point, the first Argentine tango. Today it is impossible to say which trio played the first purest tango in which eatery in the city.

The earliest recorded tangos come to us from one of the most famous composers of the time, Rosendo Mendizábal. During the day, Rosendo Mendizábal taught girls from noble families to play the piano, and in the evening he met their brothers in such entertainment establishments as “Maria la Vasca” and “Laura”, and played tango. A classic early tango was, for example, "El entrerriano", written by Rosendo Mendizábal in 1897. The published scores of "Tangos para piano" give an idea of how joyful and energetic this music must have sounded.

At first, tango was fun, easy, and at times even vulgar. For a long time it remained the music and dance of the lower classes. The middle and upper classes did not recognize him. Tango, or what was understood by this word at that time, was played in a variety of places, on the streets, in the courtyards of working-class neighborhoods and in many establishments, from dance halls to brothels: "romerias", "karpas", "baylongs", “tringets”, “academies”, etc. “Academy” was an ordinary cafe where visitors were served by women and where a barrel organ played. There you could have a drink and dance with the ladies.

Tango musical instruments

The barrel organ was at that time one of the most important tools for disseminating young tango music. The Italians walked with her through the streets of the city center and the courtyards of working-class neighborhoods. Families of immigrants danced on Sundays at their holidays between a waltz and a mazurka once or twice and a tango. The Italian barrel organ is mentioned in the Argentine national epic "Martin Fierro". The tangos "El ultimo organito" and "Organito de la tarde" are mentioned there as "the voice of the outskirts". At first, tango was played on guitar, flute and violin. However, the bandoneon soon became the leading instrument. It is often said that the bandoneon is the soul of tango and tango itself owes its birth to this “instrument of the devil.” It should be noted that in those years the bandoneon as a musical instrument was still very far from perfect. It was a bellows, average in size between the bellows of a harmonica and an accordion. On the sides these bellows ended in wooden slats with rows of buttons. Playing the bandoneon was quite difficult. The bandoneon is an instrument whose sound resembles an organ. He added notes of drama to tango music. With his appearance, tango became slower, new tones of intimacy appeared for him, tango acquired that melancholic character with which the music of Rio de la Plata is still associated.

The bandoneon also accompanied the performances of tango singers. Thanks to the bandoneon, melodies that were not originally written as tango were turned into tango. A striking example of this is the famous "La Cumparsita", written in 1916 by Gerardo Rodriguez as a military march. When "La Cumparsita" turned into tango, it became the musical symbol of all carnivals. Another famous tango was written in 1905. This is "El Choclo" by Angelo Villoldo. "El Choclo" survived the decades, and in the 1950s, in a new arrangement and under a new name - "Fire Kiss" - it entered the American charts for a long time.

Thanks to the deep, sonorous voice of the bandoneon, tango became firmer, more intense, wider, and sometimes - although not always - more melancholic. The words accompanying the melody expressed the concern of people tired of life. Poets who wrote words for tango, as a rule, talked about fate, fate, trials, loneliness. There was also nostalgia for their distant homeland. The greatest singer Carlos Gardel is considered the tango of all times. Brown-eyed handsome man, a typical hero-lover, Carlos Gardel tragically died in a plane crash in the hot summer of 1935. His grave in the La Chacarita cemetery in Buenos Aires remains a place of pilgrimage for hundreds of admirers to this day.

Tango at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The last years of the nineteenth century. Europe is plagued by hunger and devastation. Young people, deprived of work, deprived of hope for a better life, leave their homes and move overseas in search of happiness, to South America. Thousands of such destitute people disembark from ships onto the piers of Buenos Aires, the new column of Argentina, or disembark on the dirty pier of Rio de La Plata.

Although in those years life in Argentina was easier than in Europe, young people who arrived here found themselves in the position of strangers and settled in poor, dirty neighborhoods on the outskirts of cities. Despite everything, the number of immigrants grew steadily and by 1914 already outnumbered the native inhabitants of Buenos Aires by a ratio of three to one. Approximately half of those who arrived were from Italy. About a third of the immigrants came from Spain. La Boca, the old port district of Buenos Aires, became where most of the arriving Italians settled. And it is with La Boca that the brightest pages in the history of tango are connected.

Immigrants from Europe tried to stick to the community, although it often did not save them from despair and collapse. All this was reflected in the songs, where sadness, loneliness and melancholy were mixed with hope and the desire for happiness. It was from these songs that tango was soon born in the narrow port quarters of Buenos Aires. With the arrival of immigrants from La Boca, the Argentine cowboys who had previously lived here soon disappeared; called "gaucho".

The vast majority of immigrants from Europe were young people - there were fifty times more of them than female immigrants. These young people were frequent visitors to the so-called "academies" - dance schools and "pregundines" - cheap cafes where you could dance with waitresses for an additional fee.

The ability to dance well became vitally important - after all, this was how a young man could impress a girl and attract her attention. Discarding the traditions of European dance, young immigrants actively sought their own ways of self-expression, creating a new dance style designed to conquer a woman’s heart.

The Universal Suffrage Act, passed in 1912, not only brought long-awaited freedom to the people, but also gave new impetus to the development of Argentine tango. Very soon, tango ceased to be the dance of poor people from the outskirts and began to conquer high society. Tango salons sprang up like mushrooms after rain in all the fashionable areas of Buenos Aires. Then the dance conquered North America and reached Europe. Tango was heard in New York, London, and Paris. Tango dancers quickly became fashionable.

Tango in the 20s

During the First World War, despite all its horrors and suffering, people did not forget about tango. The air of war was saturated not only with the smell of gunpowder, but also with the wind of change. Tango perfectly met the expectations of people dreaming of freedom, and therefore its popularity continued to grow. Finally the war ended and tango entered its golden years - the 1920s. And if tango was so popular in Europe and North America, then what can we say about Buenos Aires? People literally went crazy about tango here.

It should be noted that at that time the majority of the population of Buenos Aires were men. They say that the young woman had the opportunity to choose her chosen one from 20 applicants! Therefore, tango became a dance embodying duel and confrontation, and therefore the men of Buenos Aires were very lonely. Therefore, if you listen to tango lyrics, it will always be a woman, sadness and longing for her. For a male dressmaker, there were only short moments of intimacy with a woman. This happened when he held her in his arms, dancing the tango.

Heroes of the tango era.

In the 20s, some musicians completely switched to improving tango as a musical form. Every resident of Buenos Aires knew these people, their names became household names. Accordionists were swimming in gold. Dancers became another hero of the tango era.

The most famous tango dancer was the legendary El Cachafas (José Ovidio Bianquet). Performing in tandem with Carmencita Calderon, he brought the audience into ecstasy. Another outstanding pair of dancers were Juan Carlos Coles and Maria Nueves. They were deservedly considered the living embodiment of tango, and anyone who saw them on stage could not forget this until the end of their days.

Tango in the 30s.

Immediately after the military coup that took place in Argentina in 1930, a period of persecution of tango began. The new government, preoccupied and unsure of itself, saw in this dance a danger to itself. Tango seemed to be an overly freedom-loving and rebellious dance that had seized power from the military.

In Europe, tango was going through a period of transformation. Classic Argentine tango did not fit into new musical forms and ideas, and therefore its style quickly and harshly began to change. The track was replaced by a circle around the entire perimeter of the ballroom, the nature of the dance itself became faster, more angular, and tango music acquired an aggressive character. Percussion instruments, which had previously been used extremely rarely and then only in large orchestras, began to come to the fore in the orchestra. Among modern European dances, sharp head movements unusual for it were introduced into tango. A certain average began to emerge international standard dance, moving more and more away from the original.

Tango in the 1950s.

In Buenos Aires itself, the decline of tango took place in the 1950s. The aging President Peron was unable to manage the country, and the economy remained unstable. And the former immigrants no longer felt like such - they became one hundred percent Argentines. Thus, its important components disappeared from tango - nostalgia for the homeland, sadness, loneliness.

In a collapsing country there was no time for tango orchestras. Their golden 1940s have sunk into oblivion. Tango continued to be played by small groups of musicians, but now the audience only listened to the music - and did not dance.

In 1955, a military regime begins in Argentina. Tango is still disliked by the upper and middle strata of society, since tango is the dance of the poor, the dance of the people, the dance of free feelings.

Given this attitude, it is not surprising that in the 1960s musicians and composers began to develop "El nuevo Tango" - a style designed primarily for the listener, and not for the dancer. Nuevo Tango was listened to by many. Only a few danced. Tango continued to be played - already as concert music - by many orchestras, including the Oswald Pugliese orchestra, not only in Argentina, but also abroad.

In the 1980s, this orchestra made a world tour, after which a new interest in tango arose. A new generation has rediscovered both this music and this dance.

Worldwide "tangomania"

Tango turned out to be so viable that it quickly spread not only beyond the ports and streets of poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, but also beyond the borders of Argentina. At the beginning of the 20th century. tango and its music came into life European countries. This was the golden age of tango. Paris at the beginning of the century fell in love with tango at first sight, where it came thanks to several dancers from Argentina.

There was even a new word - “tangomania”, a fashion for tango dancing and everything connected with it: tango parties, tango drinks, cigarettes, clothes and shoes in the tango style (tuxedo for a man, a split skirt for a woman) and even a salad -tango. From Paris, tango spread throughout the world - to England, the States, Germany and Russia, although not unimpeded.

Tango in Russia.

In Russia, the dance also found its audience, although it was officially banned. But no matter how Argentine tango was banned, it became even more popular and loved by people. Russia also had its own tango. It became very popular in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, although dancing it was officially banned. In 1914, a decree of the Minister of Public Education appeared, prohibiting the very mention of “the dance called tango, which has become widespread,” in Russian educational institutions. And if you remember, the fate of tango at one time was shared by the waltz, the mazurka, and the polka. And in the 20–30s. V Soviet Russia it was also banned as a dance of “decadent” bourgeois culture. Although the predecessor of tango in Rus' by all criteria of dance criticism, technical specifications, manner of performance, musical accompaniment (harmonica, balalaika, tambourine) and much more, is the native Russian square dance. The only difference can be considered emotional fullness, because square dancing carries the idleness and gaiety inherent in the Russian people.

Despite the restrictions, tango became increasingly loved. Played gramophone records with Rodriguez's "Cumparsita", "Champagne Splashes", and "Burnt by the Sun" were passed from hand to hand. There were melodies by Oscar Strok, soulful tango performed by Vadim Kozin, Pyotr Leshchenko, Konstantin Sokolsky, Alexander Vertinsky... And then wartime tango and tango from Russian films. It was Russian tango.

More recently, tango was treated as a retro dance, a culture and style that has long since outlived its golden age. But today tango is returning to us again at the beginning of the new century in the original style as it was and is danced in Argentina. This is a new wave of tangomania, a new direction of neo-romanticism, when a man and a woman rediscover the charm and pleasure of dancing together. Argentine tango is danced all over the world, and it captivates everyone who touches it.

Conclusion

Tango has come a long way, but this path is still far from over. The history of this dance is full of legends, romance and nostalgic memories of times long past. Tango today remains a surprisingly vibrant dance, conveying the whole gamut of human feelings and experiences, hopes and disappointments. As they say in Argentina, "Esto es Tango". Tango is Tango.

Main varieties of tango:

Tango Salon:

Tango Salon is characterized by a more open position of the dancers in a pair compared to the “close embrace”. This space allows for a greater variety of tango steps, figures, turns and poses. This is a more refined and sophisticated style of tango performance and, like the Milonguero tango, is based on the principles of improvisation, leading-following, etc.

Tango Liso:

Tango Liso is very similar to simple steps, walking or promenade (kominada), as they are called in tango. This style uses only the most basic tango steps and figures, without a lot of turns, figures and rotations.

Tango Nuevo:

Tango Nuevo is a new direction of tango, it is an invention younger generation dancers in terms of the originality of steps. They strive to find their own unique style in tango, inventing original rotations with intertwining and displacement of legs, exquisite poses and supports. Tango Nuevo requires a lot of space to perform and is often danced in shows and never in milongas. Moreover, dancing complex figures next to couples dancing Milonguero is considered simply bad manners.

Tango Fantasy:

Tango Fantasy is the name of a staged tango that is performed in a show for the audience. This tango most often has completely different laws, in contrast to club (social) styles - the laws of the production and stage genre. This is a show in which the music and production dictate the steps, character and feelings. Tango “fantasy” is characterized by virtuosic performance technique, spectacular movements and figures.

Finnish tango:

The style originated in Finland in the mid-40s. XX century. Finnish tango gained its greatest popularity in the 1950s - 1960s, after the birth of Unto Mononen’s musical composition “Satumaa” (“Fairyland”), which became famous performed by Reijo

The most famous Finnish tango performers are Olavi Virta, Reijo Taipale, Eino Grön, Esko Rahkonen, Veikko Tuomi, Taisto Tammi, Rainer Freeman and others. This style was also used by Tapio Rautavaara, Henry Thiel, Georg Ots, and female vocal ensembles Metro-tyt

spread argentina dance composition tango

1. The emergence of tango
2. Conquest of Europe
3. Etymology of the words “Tango” and “Milonga”
4. "Lunfardo"

The Viennese Waltz was the first dance in the world to use true close-up positions, and the Polka was the second dance in Europe to use this controversial new method. There was conflicting opinion in European society regarding this, considered immoral, way of dancing, and people carried this opinion with them when they emigrated to Argentina. If I'm not mistaken, sometime around 1850, when the Paris Opera was going through difficult economic times, its director had the bold idea of including the Viennese Waltz in some productions as an experiment. The idea was a great success, and a curious audience again filled the theater. Paris, being the center of the arts and refined taste, gradually made this dance of "close embrace" acceptable to the rest of the world. In the future, it is in this historical context that we need to consider the place of tango during its emergence, and in the subsequent period 1880-1910, as well as the question of why men were forced to dance with men.

Now, we come to the period when tango was born, in 1880, or shortly before that. The outskirts of Buenos Aires, bars, gambling establishments, brothels... single men spend their time socializing, drinking, gambling, looking for "romance" in the company of women of dubious reputation, trying out the moves of these new dances... milongas and tango. We can imagine that in such places and under such circumstances, any experimentation with dance movements was acceptable, regardless of good or bad taste, ambiguity or even outright obscenity. We must remember that in those days, even just dancing against each other, when the man’s right hand touches the partner’s back, was a little too much... and then a dance appeared in which there is a close embrace, cheek to cheek, chest to chest, legs penetrating between the partners’ legs , in a long conversation about love and passion, with grabs, flirting glances and strokes..., in a word, writing a prologue to the love story that will soon follow.

Initial themes often included hints of sex and obscenity. When tango became a social norm, the dance and its lyrics were purified or completely changed. Some elements of these themes are still present in the dance, although they have lost their original meaning. For example, the name of the most famous tango, “El Choclo” (corn cob), had a phallic meaning.

Respectable families and women of good reputation did not want to participate in this act in any way, and the women in the brothels had to pay for it... so if a man wanted to practice this new dance, he had only one option... another man. Groups of men would come together to practice, improvise, and innovate, creating new movements and new steps in the process. This approach helped the rapid development of this dance.

…Thus, men dancing with each other had nothing to do with homosexuality.

It took many years for tango to spread in these "communal apartments" because their residents were, for the most part, decent people who did not want their families to be exposed to this sinful music and dance. Saturday evenings and Sundays were devoted to celebrating weddings, births, baptisms, and other celebrations. It was on such occasions, little by little, that someone would ask the musicians to play a tango, and then someone would dance once such a dance, cleansed of sinful movements, for example, “Cortes and quebradas” - a simplified version, which was also first transferred from disgusted, but later became very popular.

However, tango remained essentially a shameful, sinful element that was dealt with in secret. Politicians, both right and left, cursed him. For they did not want this new nation to be associated with such a “prostitute” dance. Then how did it happen that tango reached Europe? This is another story... Tango was born on the outskirts of the city, in bars, cafes, brothels; from here he moved inside the city, to the dance halls. The next stage was the "patios" (courtyards) of the "conventillos" (communal apartments), and eventually the dance settled inside the homes of the middle and upper class of Argentina. Tango was still a pariah, the illegitimate son of pimps and disreputable women, dressed as a compadrito beggar.

The next stop on this pilgrimage will be Europe.

And then, Tango returned to Buenos Aires, but already dressed in a tuxedo, and was greeted there as his favorite child. What a change!

How did Tango come about?

The history of the creation of Tango, where truth and beautiful fiction are closely intertwined, is so contradictory and vague that it is impossible to form a single idea about it.The first mention of Tango dates back to 1880. It is believed that it originated in the suburbs of the Argentine capital, presumably where the San Telmo district is now located.

In the last years of the 19th century, Europe was plagued by war, famine and economic uncertainty. Doubtful prospects and little hope for a stable life forced people to leave Europe and go to South America in search of a better life. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants settled in Argentina's new federal capital, the port of Buenos Aires. A huge number of people of different social status from completely different cultures, with their own orders and customs, suddenly found themselves in one place. Most of them were young men who had left their homeland, their families and lovers. Moreover, the ratio of men and women among them, according to various sources, ranged from 30:1 to 50:1. Despite the fairly high standard of living in Argentina at that time, the life of immigrants was by no means sweet. They were forced to live in squalid houses on the outskirts of the city, earning their bread through hard work. Difficult living conditions also left their mark on the culture they created. Despair, disappointment, sadness, nostalgia, longing, hope and longing tore at my soul and heart.

The main places of recreation at that time were taverns and brothels on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. Young men were frequent visitors to "akademiyas" (from "dance academy") and "pregundines" - poor cafes where waitresses could be hired to dance.

It is impossible to say with certainty from which dance Tango takes its roots. Various sources list various Spanish, African, and Cuban dances as the ancestors of the dance... Not without the influence of the Negro candombe - after all, it is not for nothing that the word “tango” itself, according to many versions, comes from “tambo” - an African drum, to which Ritual dances were performed. From the habanera this dance took on the somnambulistic fusion of bodies, from the milonga - a whimsical interweaving of legs, from the fandango - dazzling dizziness, and, finally, from the candombe - a double stomp echoing the beats of the African drum.

In conditions of a severe shortage of women, it was important for men to become good dancers. A man who could dance Tango well acquired a "macho" image and had the opportunity to choose a woman. Residents of Orilla, the poor outskirts of Buenos Aires, learned Tango movements from a pimp. At first, men danced alone or with each other, thus killing time waiting for “their turn” in dating houses.

Later, women in taverns also became familiar with the Tango and began dancing it with clients, among whom townspeople began to appear more and more often, secretly sneaking into the coveted “orilla.”

At that time, Tango did not have strict rules; its rhythm and form were still very vague. The composition of the orchestra was also uncertain: in outlying cafes it most often consisted of a violin, flute and harp (which was later replaced by a guitar), sometimes the violin and flute were supplemented by a piano. As for the bandoneon type of accordion, named after the German Heinrich Band who invented it, this instrument, brought to Argentina by sailors, appears in tanga ensembles only at the beginning of the 20th century and immediately occupies a dominant position. The sound of this instrument is reminiscent of an organ. He added notes of drama to Tango music. Its cracked timbre perfectly conveys the essence of this dance. With his appearance, Tango became slower, new tones of intimacy appeared for him.

The General Suffrage Act of 1912 brought new freedom to the people and driving force for Tango. From then on, not only the lower classes wanted to dance it. It became fashionable among high society to throw parties in honor of this dance, and tango salons were quickly founded in the upper-class areas of Buenos Aires. Word about him soon spread from South America to New York, London and Paris, where Tango tea parties became a craze.

The spread of Tango around the world brought certain changes to the nature of the dance. Tango made its first real leap in its development in the first years of the 20th century. It is associated with the first tours of tango orchestras and dancers to European countries and America.

The first Tango show in Europe took place in Paris, the trendsetter of world fashion, and soon after that in other European capitals. To say that the “early” Tango in Buenos Aires is an indecent dance is to say nothing. Very provocative, intimate, explicit, “physical”, he was a huge success in brothels and remained marginal, unacceptable to the upper strata of society. Once in Europe, Tango changed for the better. Now this is not a wild, animal passion, but a dance that is more restrained in appearance, but just as burning inside.

Not everyone liked this daring and sexy dance. In Paris, Cardinal Hamette declared: “Christians should not, in good conscience, take part in this.” On next year Pope Benedict XV also expressed dissatisfaction: "It is outrageous that this obscene, pagan dance, which is the murder of family and public life, is already danced in the Pope's residence." But in 1914, a couple of Romanians, students of the Argentine Casimir Ain, danced Tango in the Vatican, and the impressed Pope lifted his ban.

In 1914, Kaiser Wilhelm II banned his officers from dancing Tango in uniform, describing the dance as “lustful and offensive to public decency.” The Queen of England also stated that she refuses to dance this...

Russia also had its own Tango. It became very popular in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, although its performance was officially prohibited. Thus, in 1914, a decree of the Minister of Public Education appeared, prohibiting the very mention of “the dance called Tango, which has become widespread,” in Russian educational institutions.

However, nothing could stop the triumphant march of Tango. And in the early 20s it entered its golden era. In Buenos Aires, the popularity of Tango has reached unprecedented heights.

The years 1930-1950 became the "Golden Age" of Tango. This is a period of rapid development, the emergence of many new musical groups, which were the cradle of composers who later became classics of the style: Carlos Di Sarli, Astor Piazzolla, Osvaldo Pugliese, Carlos Gardel, etc. Their work still inspires millions of people around the world today.

The next surge in the popularity of Tango occurred in the 80s, when a number of shows were launched in America that revolutionized this dance throughout the world. "Forever Tango" - one of the most famous shows - began in New York in 1983. In Argentina, revival programs are being launched at the government level, documents related to the history of Tango are being restored.

At the beginning of the 21st century, UNESCO included Argentine tango on the list of World Heritage Sites.

December 11 - the birthday of the Argentine singer and actor, "King of Tango" Carlos Gardel - is celebrated throughout the world as International Tango Day.

At the end of the 19th century, the Argentine port city of Buenos Aires became extremely popular among emigrants. From different countries People from Europe came here in search of a better life. These people brought with them various musical instruments from their native countries: violins, guitars, flutes, and of course they carried the musical traditions of their countries. And so, in Buenos Aires, as a mixture of different cultures and trends in music, a new dance is formed and developed - tango. In it, African rhythms of tangano, Argentine milonga, Havana habanera, Spanish flamenco, ritual dances of Indians, Polish mazurka, German waltz merged together in a dance of longing for an abandoned homeland, unhappy love, passion and loneliness.

Tango is a unique fusion of traditions, folklore, feelings and experiences of many peoples, which has a long history.

Where did tango come from? The most fantastic theories are built about the origin of dance, music and the word "tango", stretching all the way to the Land of the Rising Sun. Some believe that the word "tango" is based on a Latin verb "tanger"– touch, others consider it to have originated from spanish word "tambor"- drum. More likely is the theory published by Vincente Rossi in 1926 in the book "Cosas de negros"( Black affairs). Rossi was the first to point out that the word "tango" may come from one of the African dialects.

Buenos Aires and Montevideo were for many years important transit points for the slave trade. There are several assumptions about what served as the basis for this word: Congolese dance "lango", god of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe "shango", Bantu word "tamga", meaning dance in general or "tango", which in the Congo means "closed place", "circle", a word that later came to be used to describe the places where slaves were collected before being loaded onto a ship.

It is believed that not only the word, but also the dance owes its origin to the Afro-Creoles who lived in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, where it arose at black dance parties - "Sociedades de negros" presumably from a dance candombe.
Kandombe was a ritual dance combining elements of the Bantu and Catholic religions. The dancers lined up and walked towards each other. The transition consisted of five choreographically defined scenes, which were performed not in pairs, but as a group dance. Since during black holidays things often led to bloody fights, these events were soon banned by the administration. Thus, black dance parties began to take place indoors. Couples danced without close embraces, the dancers moved away from each other in time, imitating the gestures of the original candombe. This new dance was adopted by the “compadrites” living in the suburbs and brought it to the saloons, where until then only the traditional milonga was danced.

With the creation of the first "sociedades de negros" at the beginning of the 19th century in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the word "tango" began to be used to refer to both these societies and their dance parties. What was played at these parties had little in common with the music that had spread through expatriate circles in the Rio de la Plata since the mid-19th century. In the ports of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, the most diverse cultures merged into one new one, with which the new settlers identified themselves, and the tango we know appeared.

Tango and candombe share a rhythmic formula that in principle underlies all African-influenced Latin American music, from Uruguay to Cuba. This rhythmic formula also influenced three musical styles considered the immediate predecessors of tango: Afro-Cuban habanera, Andalusian tango and milonga.

Habanera , which originated around 1825 in the suburbs of Havana, is both a couples dance and a form of song. Musically, it is a mixture of Spanish song traditions with the rhythmic heritage of black slaves. As a result of constant contacts between the colony and the metropolis, the habanera penetrated into the Kingdom of Spain and around the 1850s. became popular throughout the country mainly thanks to folk theaters. Habanera came to Rio de la Plata from Paris. After it became a salon dance in Paris, it was enthusiastically received by the aristocratic circles of Latin America, the cultural space of Rio de la Plata, repeating everything that was fashionable in France.

Habanera conveyed this rhythm tango Andaluz And milonga . Since these three musical styles differ from each other only melodically, the public and composers often confused them even at that time.

Milonga, the Creole predecessor of tango, is itself a part of cultural history. The black population of Brazil retained the original meaning of the word "milonga"- “words”, “conversation”, In Uruguay “milonga” meant “city singing”, in Buenos Aires and its environs - “festival” or “dancing”, as well as the place where they were held, and at the same time a “chaotic mixture”. This is the sense in which the word is used in Martin Fierro's epic. Soon this word began to be used to designate a special dance and song form, to which were added milonguera- dancer in entertainment venues and milonguita- a woman working in a cabaret with a penchant for alcohol and drugs"

The rural milonga was very slow and served as musical accompaniment to the songs. The urban version was much faster, more mobile, and played and danced more rhythmically. Its family connection with the music of the Pampa folk singers is obvious. While tango is a more stylized urban music, leaving behind its folk heritage even before the 20s. XIX century, the milonga carries many features of Argentine folk music. They danced to the milonga, first of all, in the suburbs at the dance balls of the “compadrites”.

Milonga, habanera and Andalusian tango occupied a significant place in the repertoire of the trio, which toured at the end of the 19th century. in the Buenos Aires area. These musicians were almost entirely self-taught, playing flutes, violins and harps at dances in the working-class neighborhoods, diners and brothels of the suburbs. The harp was often replaced by a mandolin, accordion or simply a comb and was subsequently completely replaced by the guitar, which since the time of the Conquest has played a vital role as the national instrument of the gauchos and payadores. Soon the guitarist began to determine the harmonic basis on which the violinist and flautist improvised. Few of the musicians of that time could read music. Everyone played by ear and invented new melodies every night. What they liked was often repeated until a unique piece of music emerged. But since these melodies were not recorded, today it is not known exactly how they sounded.
The repertoire of such groups was more than varied. They played waltzes, mazurkas, milongas, habaneras, Andalusian tango and, at one point, the first Argentine tango. Today it is impossible to say which trio played the first purest tango in which eatery in the city.

The emergence of tango can be more or less accurately traced from the moment when musicians playing for dancers recorded the music they performed. These were primarily pianists playing alone in elegant salons. Unlike their anonymous colleagues from the suburbs, they had a musical education, exchanged notes, created their own style and recorded compositions.
The earliest recorded tangos come to us from one of the most famous composers of the time, Rosendo Mendizábal. During the day, Rosendo Mendizábal taught girls from noble families to play the piano, and in the evening he met their brothers in such entertainment establishments as “Maria la Vasca” and “Laura”, and played tango.

Tango, or what was meant by it at that time, was played in a variety of places, on the streets, in the courtyards of working-class neighborhoods and in many establishments, from dance halls to brothels: "romerias", "karpas", "baylongs", " tringetahs", "academies", etc. "Academy" was an ordinary cafe where visitors were served by women and where a barrel organ played. There you could have a drink and dance with the ladies.

In all these places at that time you could hear tango. Classic early tango was, for example, "El entreriano" written by Rosendo Mendizábal in 1897. Published scores" "Tangos para piano" give an idea of how joyful and energetic this music must have sounded.

At first, tango was fun, easy, and at times even vulgar. For a long time it remained the music and dance of the lower classes. The middle and upper classes did not recognize him.

At the beginning of the 20th century. Among the tango instruments, the bandoneon appeared, an instrument whose sound resembles an organ. He added notes of drama to tango music. With his appearance, tango became slower, new tones of intimacy appeared for him, tango acquired that melancholic character with which the music of Rio de la Plata is still associated.

In the 20s XX century An economic crisis began in Argentina. A huge number of people lost their jobs and the people of Buenos Aires, the porteños, became very sad people. It should be noted that at that time the majority of the population of Buenos Aires were men. They say that the young woman had the opportunity to choose her chosen one from 20 applicants! And so the men of Buenos Aires were very lonely. Tango became a dance for men, based on confrontation, a duel over a woman. Tango lyrics are also about a woman, sadness and longing for her. For a porteño man, there were only short moments of intimacy with a woman. This happened when he held her in his arms, dancing the tango. At these moments, the man was overcome by love, and this feeling reconciled him with life.

Tango turned out to be so viable that it quickly spread not only beyond the ports and streets of poor neighborhoods of Buenos Aires, but also beyond the borders of Argentina. At the beginning of the 20th century. tango and its music entered the life of European countries. This was the golden age of tango. Paris at the beginning of the century fell in love with tango at first sight, where it came thanks to several dancers from Argentina.

There was even a new word - "tangomania" fashion for tango dancing and everything connected with it: tango parties, tango drinks, cigarettes, clothes and shoes in the tango style (tuxedo for a man, a split skirt for a woman) and even tango salad. From Paris, tango spread throughout the world - to England, the States, Germany and Russia, although not unimpeded. Pope Pius X spoke out against the new dance, the Austrian emperor forbade soldiers to dance it in military uniform, and the Queen of England said she refused to dance “this.” But in 1914, a couple of Romanians, students of the Argentine Casimir Ain, danced tango in the Vatican, and the Pope lifted his ban.

Russia also had its own tango. It became very popular in St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century, although dancing it was officially banned. In 1914, a decree of the Minister of Public Education appeared, prohibiting the very mention of “the dance called tango, which has become widespread,” in Russian educational institutions. And if you remember, the fate of tango at one time was shared by the waltz, the mazurka, and the polka. And in the 20–30s. in Soviet Russia it was also banned as a dance of “decadent” bourgeois culture. Despite the restrictions, tango became increasingly loved. Played gramophone records with Rodriguez's "Cumparsita", "Champagne Splashes", and "Burnt by the Sun" were passed from hand to hand. There were melodies by Oscar Strok, soulful tango performed by Vadim Kozin, Pyotr Leshchenko, Konstantin Sokolsky, Alexander Vertinsky... And then wartime tango and tango from Russian films. It was Russian tango.