In the deepest recesses of Buenos Aires in the 1800s, there came to be an amalgamation of African, Spanish and Uruguayan music and dance which shaped up to become one of the sexiest dances in the world, the Tango!
The tango, one of the most vividly dramatic and sensual dances ever to have graced the earth, put Argentina on the map for its dance culture! This spectacular dance is founded on dramatic moves and formed by intimate communications between the partners, who are so in tune with each other that they can read the moves the other is going to make and react accordingly! However, when the tango first appeared, it was not a form of intimacy and was often performed only be men!
Argentina had a lot of immigrants from most parts of Europe who picked up on the tango in the late nineteenth century, and so, it became popular as a dance for the common man. Danced in festivals and fetes in jam-packed halls, the tango became an intimate and close social dance. However, the music of the tango was always most popular within Argentina, where more that one third of sheet music and records sold until the year 1920 had the tango essence!
Also, the dance itself started getting linked with Mi Noche Triste, a tragic love song by Carlos Gardel. Then, classical musicians took up the tango and gave it a new look of elegance by lowering the tempo. This led to the fall of the tango up to the 40s, until it was restored to its former glory by the patriotic zeal of Argentina’s Perón years! After this, it fell in popularity once more as the concept of rock n roll began, and Argentina’s economy steadily diminished.
The tango’s final revival occurred in the 80s, after which the music of the tango was amalgamated with some pieces of popular music such as jazz, which gave the tango a somewhat old-new sound and feel. The music combinations of the tango by artists such as Tom Waits, Portishead and Gotan Project has led to the Tango Nuevo enjoying a new generation of spectacular dancers!
No comments:
Post a Comment