NOTES ON THE MUSIC

BACKGROUND

The Tango is a Latin American song and dance genre that reached the height of its popularity in the 1930s. The precise origin of the word ‘tango’ is shrouded in debate, although in 19^th century Spain and Latin American countries, it designated various types of dances and songs. Other references claim the Tango to have African origins, the word meaning ‘African dance’. ‘Tango’ was used by black slaves to refer to their percussion instruments - drums especially. Another ancient origin could be in the Spanish word taner, ‘to play an instrument’. The word was later adopted to refer to the carnival events themselves.
The most direct antecedents of the tango were found in the Cuban contradanza and habanera.
Despite these various origins, the tango as a form metaphorically ‘travelled south’ through Spain and onwards to Argentina to became the most popular dance form of Buenos Aires. It started life as ‘low born’ music - the music of the slums (of the arrabal region in particular) and took on the form of an earthy and sensual dance. The music exuded strong feelings of sensuality, passion and the romantic element of the tragic too. Its dervish and dramatic nature imbued the music with the sense of the ‘dance of death.’
The Tango is essentially the music of exiled people and the musical themes often centre on broken love, the sadness for having left a country behind for a new life, as well as a desire and passion for life! By 1910, the Tango had hit Paris - a city at the cutting edge of new fashion and culture and quickly became associated with high society, spreading in popularity as a dance form to the cultured saloons in Europe. London and American cities soon welcomed this exciting new music!

NOTES ON THE MUSIC

Musical style
This is a complex music created by the diverse mixture of cultures and influences of black African slaves as well as the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and French settlers in Buenos Aires and Montevideo. It is the music of exiled people, settling for a new (and hopefully prosperous) life in a new country. Rhythmic elements of the Tango mix the Milonga rhythms with native Argentinian music.

Melody
A vital ingredient in the Tango. The melodies are full of romantic expression. Long, lyrical melodic lines are often built on pentatonic scales (five note scales) and can also be modal too. The melodic lines are effectively passed around the various instruments for contrast.

Rhythm
The single most important defining element of the tango is in its rhythm - after all this is music of dance! Two features can be detected in the music:

• (i) Cuban dance rhythms of the Habanera features in many Tangos. This is a dotted quaver-semiquaver - two quavers rhythm - with the emphasis on the fourth quaver of the bar.
• (ii) The use of the 3:3:2 (beat groupings in patterns of 3+3+2).This is the Latin American Clave rhythm.

Harmony
Harmony is quite straightforward (often just three or four chords) and is often modal, commonly using the mixolydian and aeolian modes:

 

mixolydian mode



aeolian mode

Texture
The prevailing texture is one of melody dominated homophony (i.e. melody with supporting accompaniment). The chordal accompaniment was provided by the bandoneon (a type of accordion with 38 keys for high notes and 33 for low register) and/or piano.


 
The melody is assigned often to the violin in instrumental tangos and to the voice in tango songs.

Timbre
The prevailing timbre is that of the reed-like accompaniment of the bandoneon and piano playing chords over which there is a strong sense of a melodic line played by the violin (or flute). The melody line can often be doubled too.

Pitch
The treble pitch can be quite wide ranging in terms of the melodic part – often sweeping up and down in expressive romantic yearnings. The bass however is relatively modest in range. Extreme low notes do not feature as the bass function is to provide the chordal support.

Structure
There are three quite different types of tango:

• 1) A 4/4 dance with strong 4-to–the-floor rhythm.
• 2) A 3/4 Tango Waltz (often fast)
• 3) A 2/4 Milonga with syncopated rhythms. This was a type of tango associated with the Gauchos (Argentinian cowboys)

However, all the above three forms could adopt a slow, medium or fast tempo. For example, there are slow, fast and very fast Milonga tangos!

Instrumentation:various

The first ensembles performing tangos were called tercetos (trios) of violin, flute and guitar (or most commonly, the bandoneon).



Tangos were also written for piano solo and voice and piano.
From 1900, the new trios were for piano, violin and bandoneon.
Vicente Greco standardised the ensemble called the orquesta tipica criolla of violin, flute, guitar and bandoneon.
Following this, larger bands evolved, sometimes incorporating up to 4 bandoneons, a full string section, and piano
During the 1930s and 1940s vocal duets were added to the instrumental groups. Under the influence of Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992), there were even larger orchestral arrangements replete with percussion. The tango was supported by the government who encouraged these large tango ensembles. Under Piazzolla, the Tango left the dance saloons for the concert hall! This growth in size of instrumentation has parallels in the music of Jazz during the first 40 years of the twentieth century. The small Jazz combos of the 1920s evolved into large scale swing/big bands of the 1930s!