Tango was born in the late 19th century in the poor port districts of Buenos Aires and Montevideo as a fusion of the European, African, and Creole traditions of immigrants. Its soul is the instrument bandoneón (a type of concertina), whose mournful, “breathing” voice became the symbol of the genre.
Tango music combines passion and melancholy, a sharp “broken” rhythm and dramatic expression. In its “golden age” (1930s–40s), tango became a mass culture of Argentina with large orchestras. And the composer Astor Piazzolla in the second half of the 20th century created the “new tango” (tango nuevo), raising the genre to the level of concert art music. Tango is one of the most emotional arts in the world, recognized by UNESCO as part of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity.
