The tango first surfaced outside Argentina during the ragtime dance craze of the arly teens, when it became the latest rage in London, Paris and new York. Ironically, at that moment back home it was a dance of the bars and brothels, not something to be done in polite society. At first the notieriety it received abroad was an embarrasement to the Argentines. But eventually this international attention helped bring the tango into the country's proper salons and ballrooms and finally to become a major part of the Argentine identity. I hope the same may occur with these gorgeous, intriguing piano pieces from the tango's early years, which have yet to be fully appreciated. I believe the tango will be remembered as one of our century's most important musical innovations - perhaps on par with ragtime, jazz and rock-and-roll. It's possible that the book you are holding (Argentinean Tangos for Keyboard) may become one of the primary resources for future musical historians. If you are astonished by the first claim, please witheld judgement until you've played through the gorgeous, intriguing music in this volume. The second claim is based on the fact that this is the first extensive collection of early tango piano music ever published outside Argentina. It's amazing such wonderful music, born at the turn of the century, should remain innaccessible outside its native land for almost 100 years. But perhaps lack of easy access to the music is one reason why the tango has remaines so stereotyped, romantic, elusive and misunderstood. The tango is above all dance music. The dance and its music were born and evolved together in the final decades of the 19th century in the slums in the outskirts of Buenos Aires and in neighboring Montevideo, Uruguay (just across the Rio de la Plata). During its earliest years, from about 1880 to 1900, few tangos were recorded or comitted to paper. But during this final quarter of the 19th century was born a new generation of musicians who would soon take tango beyond its simple beginnings. These are the composers of the guardia vieja, the old guard. From about 1900 to 1920 they developed the tango into one of this century's most romantic and beautiful music forms. During the early years tangos might be played by a solo pianist in a cafe, or by a duo or trio with flute, violin, guitar or bandoneon. But publishers discovered that tango partituras, piano sheet music, could sell to tens of thousands of copies. Despite the fact that the guardia vieja composers played many different instruments, piano scores became the vehicle for capturing the evolution of the tango as the composers experimented with its form. his sheet music also served as charts for the early groups, somerimes containing lines for other instruments. Many of the early composers were self-taught, played by ear, and had to rely on friends to notate their music on paper. Some were part-time musicians, supporting themselves in other trades. And many played other instruments. By the late teens hundreds of composers had published literally thousands of tangos in Buenos Aires and Montevideo, though many tunes were printed in very small runs. Around 1920 the vocal tango became much more prominent, initially propelled by the popularity of folksinger Carlos Gardel. An entire genre of vocal tango music evolved with lyrics that might be compared to our country-western music. During he 1920s as the tango became more widely accepted, bands expanded to meet this rising popularity. Eventually the duos, trios and quartets of the early days grew to become the Argentine equivalent of our swing-era big bands - tango orchestras with 20 pieces or more, featuring entire sections of bandoneons and strings. Both the expansion of the orchestras and the rise of vocal tango give the music a very differentstyle after about 1920.
By Bill Matthiesen @ www.milonga.org
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