Internationally, Argentina is known mostly for the tango, which developed in Buenos Aires and surrounding areas, as well as Montevideo, Uruguay. Folk, pop and classical music are also popular, and Argentinian artists like Mercedes Sosa and Atahualpa Yupanqui contributed greatly to the development of nueva canción. Rock nacional has also led to a defiant rock scene in Argentina.

Table of contents
1 Cuarteto
2 Chamamé
3 Tango
4 References

Cuarteto

Cuarteto, a form of dance music, became popular in Argentina during the 1940s, beginning with the genre's namesake and innovator, Cuarteto Leo, and was re-popularized in the 1980s.

Chamamé

Chamamé arose in the northeastern region Corrientes, an area with many settlers from Poland, Austria and Germany, many of them Jews. Polkas, mazurkas and waltzes came with these immigrants, and soon mixed with African and Amerindian musics. Chamamé emerged from this mix, becoming closely associated with the native Guaranís. The 20th century saw limited international popularity for Chamamé, though some artists, like Argentinian superstar Raúl Barboza, became popular later in the century.

Tango

Tango arose in the brothels, bars and port areas of Buenos Aires, where descendants of Europeans, Africans and South American natives mixed, racially and culturally. The result, tango, came about as a fusion of disparate influences including: Early tango was the music of the thugs and gangsters who visited the brothels of a city with 100,000 more men than women (in 1914). The complex dances arose as men danced in groups, expressing machismo and sexual desire, leading to the aggressive and competitive mood of the dance form. The music was played by flute, guitar and violin trios, with bandoneón arriving at the end of the 19th century. Eduardo Arólas was the major instrument of the bandoneón's popularization, with Vicente Gréco soon standardizing the tango orchestra as consisting of two violins and two bandoneóns. Like many forms of popular music, the tango was associated with the underclass, and the well-off of Argentina tried to restrict its influence. In spite of the scorn, some, like writer Ricardo Guïraldes, were fans. Guïraldes played a major part of the international popularization of the tango, and wrote a poem ("Tango") which describes the music as the "all-absorbing love of a tyrant, jealously guarding his dominion, over women who have surrendered submissively, like obedient beasts". Tango soon became the first of many Latin dance crazes to gain popularity in Europe, beginning in France. Superstar Rudolph Valentino soon became a sex symbol who brought the tango to new audiences, especially in the United States due to his sensual filmic depictions of the dance. In the 1920s, tango moved out of the lower-class brothels and became a more respectable form of music and dance. Bandleaders like Roberto Fírpo and Francisco Canaro dropped the flute and added a double bass in its place. Lyrics were still typically macho, blaming women for countless heartaches, and the dance moves were still sexual and aggressive.

Carlos Gardél, a Frenchman from Toulouse, became especially associated with the change from a lower-class music of gangsters to a respectable middle-class dance. He helped develop tango-canción in the 1920s and became one of the most popular tango artists of all time. He helped inaguarate the Golden Age of tango, which ended after his death from a plane crash in Colombia.

Gardeél's death was followed by a division into movements within tango. Evolutionists like Troilo and Di Sarli were opposed to traditionalists like Biagi and Juan D'Arienzo. The later age of tango has been dominated by Astor Piazzolla, a New Yorker, who became famous after appearing in Carlos Gardél's El dia que me quieras was released. During the 1950s, Piazzolla consciously tried to make a pop form of tango, earning the derision of purists and old-time performers. The 1970s saw Buenos Aires developed a fusion of jazz and tango, alongside tango-rockéro, mixing tango with rock and roll. Litto Nébbia and Siglo XX were especially popular in this development.

References

  • Fairley, Jan and Teddy Peiro. "Vertical Expression of Horizontal Desire". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 304-314. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
  • Fairley, Jan. "Dancing Cheek to Cheek...". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 315-316. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
  • Fairley, Jan. "An Uncompromising Song". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific, pp 362-371. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0