Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. A virtuoso bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with a variety of ensembles. In 1992, American music critic Stephen Holden described Piazzolla as "the world's foremost composer of Tango music".
The most distinctive music of Uruguay is to be found in the tango and candombe; both genres have been recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Uruguayan music includes a number of local musical forms such as murga, a form of musical theatre, and milonga, a folk guitar and song form deriving from Spanish and italian traditions and related to similar forms found in many American countries.
The music of Argentina includes a variety of traditional, classical and popular genres. One of the country's most significant cultural contributions is the tango, which originated in Buenos Aires and its surroundings during the end of the 19th century and underwent profound changes throughout the 20th century. Folk music was particularly popular during the 20th century, experiencing a "boom" in popularity during the 1950s and 1960s thanks to artists such as Atahualpa Yupanqui and Mercedes Sosa, prominent figures of the Nuevo cancionero movement. In the mid-to-late 1960s, the countercultural scene of Buenos Aires originated Argentine rock, considered the earliest incarnation of Spanish-language rock for having an autochthonous identity that differed from that of England or the United States. It was widely embraced by the youth and since then has become part of the country's musical identity as much as traditional music. According to the Harvard Dictionary of Music, Argentina also "has one of the richest art music traditions and perhaps the most active contemporary musical life.
Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries from a combination of Argentine Milonga, Spanish-Cuban Habanera, and Uruguayan Candombe celebrations. It was frequently practiced in the brothels and bars of ports, where business owners employed bands to entertain their patrons. It then spread to the rest of the world. Many variations of this dance currently exist around the world.
The Tango Lesson is a 1997 drama film written and directed by Sally Potter. It is a semi-autobiographical film starring Potter and Pablo Verón, about Argentinian Tango.
Tango is a style of music in 2
4 or 4
4 time that originated among European and African immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay. It is traditionally played on a solo guitar, guitar duo, or an ensemble, known as the orquesta típica, which includes at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass, and at least two bandoneóns. Sometimes guitars and a clarinet join the ensemble. Tango may be purely instrumental or may include a vocalist. Tango music and dance have become popular throughout the world.
Modern tango music includes several different types of tango.
Argentine tango is a musical genre and accompanying social dance originating at the end of the 19th century in the suburbs of Buenos Aires. It typically has a 2
4 or 4
4 rhythmic time signature, and two or three parts repeating in patterns such as ABAB or ABCAC. Its lyrics are marked by nostalgia, sadness, and laments for lost love. The typical orchestra has several melodic instruments and is given a distinctive air by the bandoneon. It has continued to grow in popularity and spread internationally, adding modern elements without replacing the older ones. Among its leading figures are the singer and songwriter Carlos Gardel and composers/performers Francisco Canaro, Juan D'Arienzo, Carlos Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, and Ástor Piazzolla.
Tanghetto is an Argentinian neotango and electronic tango music project created and led by musician and producer Max Masri. Winner of the Gardel Award and four times nominated to the Latin Grammy Awards. It's based in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
María Amelia Baltar, better known as Amelita Baltar, is an Argentine singer, one of the leading voices of tango, that appeared in the 60's to be considered, along with Susana Rinaldi, as a modern counterpart of older divas such as Libertad Lamarque and Tita Merello. She is mostly known for her collaboration with composer Astor Piazzolla and writer Horacio Ferrer, specially as first performer of their song “Balada para un loco”. She starred in places such as Olympia (Paris), De Kleine Komedie (Amsterdam), Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall, Cocoanut Grove at Ambassador Hotel or Ginásio do Maracanãzinho and shared the stage with celebrities such as Charles Aznavour, Franck Pourcel, Henry Mancini, Gerry Mulligan, Gary Burton and Chick Corea.
Pablo Ziegler is a Grammy Awards winning Argentine composer, pianist, arranger based in New York City. He is an exponent of nuevo tango, and has worked extensively as Ástor Piazzolla's regular pianist from 1978 until Piazzolla's retirement for health reasons in 1989. During their collaboration, they performed with Milva, Placido Domingo, Gary Burton among others. He played with Piazzolla's re-formed Conjunto 9 in 1983 for his Teatro Colón concert with the Buenos Aires Philharmonic. In 1985 Ziegler composed the music for the film Adios Roberto, and in 1990, he established the New Tango Quartet.
Neotango is a distinct genre of tango which goes beyond it both in music and in dance. It is a global movement in which the music includes tracks from all over the world, instrumental and vocal, distinct from the tango in that it includes only modern music recorded in the last 30-40 years, and can be danced using the tango's biomechanics. As a dance form it is still evolving. It is a 'living' globalized tango dance form of the 21st century.
Mariano Chicho Frúmboli is an Argentinian tango dancer. He is regarded as one of the founders of tango nuevo, and he is best known for his musicality and creativity while improvising.
Carlos Libedinsky is an Argentine musician, composer and, producer. Born in 1961, he is most renowned for his neo-tango project, Narcotango.
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher who contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.
Antonio Agri was an Argentine violinist, composer and conductor prominent in both the tango and classical music genres.
Pablo Zinger is a conductor, pianist, writer, composer, arranger, lecturer and narrator, specializing in the music of Ástor Piazzolla, tango, Spanish zarzuela, and Latin American vocal and instrumental music.
Horacio Arturo Ferrer Ezcurra was a Uruguayan-Argentine poet, broadcaster, reciter and tango lyricist. He is particularly well known for having composed the lyrics for tangos by Astor Piazzolla, such as Balada para un loco and Chiquilín de Bachín.
The Octeto Buenos Aires was a legendary tango group formed in 1955 by the Argentine bandoneon player Astor Piazzolla. In 1958 the Octeto was disbanded and Piazzolla returned to New York City with his family where he struggled to make a living as a musician and arranger in the next stage of his career that would prove to be so ground-breaking in the history of tango.
Enrique Mario Francini was an Argentine tango orchestra director, composer and violinist who played in various tango ensembles including the Orquesta Francini-Pontier and Ástor Piazzolla's Octeto Buenos Aires.