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.
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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:
- Milónga - songs of the rural gauchos
- Habanera - Cuban music
- Polka and mazurka - Nordic music
- Contradanse - Spanish music
- Candombé and percussion music - African music
- Flamenco - from Andalucia
- Italian folk music
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.