50 Fun Facts About Tango

Tango originated in the 1880s along which river, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay?

It grew out of Argentine milonga, Spanish-Cuban habanera and Uruguayan candombe in the poor port districts.

In what kind of establishments was early tango most often danced?

Buenos Aires in 1914 had 100,000 more men than women, which is why men often practised the dance together.

In 2009 UNESCO added tango to which of its lists, on a joint proposal by Argentina and Uruguay?

The approval came on 31 August 2009.

One theory derives 'tango' from shangó, god of thunder in which West African religion?

Rivals include Spanish tambor (drum), Portuguese tanger (to play) and the Kongo word ntangu (sun, hour).

In colonial Buenos Aires the words 'tango' and 'tambo' were used as synonyms for what?

A 1789 complaint by cabildo official Manuel Warnes urged authorities not to allow 'dances and gatherings as those of the tango'.

When tango spread abroad around 1900, in which city did the first European craze take hold?

By the end of 1913 the dance teachers who had introduced it were banished from the city for its 'sexual overtones'.

Under which Argentine leader's first government did tango become a matter of national pride in the late 1940s?

Mariano Mores's Taquito Militar premiered during a Perón speech in 1952, sparking a row over 'cultured' versus 'popular' music.

Why did the military dictatorships' bans on public assembly in the late 1950s hurt the dance?

Rock and roll, which needed no such gatherings, benefited indirectly.

Which tango style, born in crowded 1950s downtown clubs, uses close embrace, small steps and syncopated footwork?

The suburban family-club style, from Villa Urquiza and Devoto, favoured long elegant steps instead.

Which French-based group's 2001 album La Revancha del Tango helped launch electrotango?

Bajofondo Tango Club followed in 2002 and Tanghetto's Emigrante earned a Latin Grammy nomination in 2004.

English ballroom tango was first codified in October 1922 to be danced at what tempo?

That is about 120 beats per minute in 4/4, and it was to be danced only to modern tunes.

Ballroom tango's head snaps, absent from Argentine tango, were introduced in 1934 under which dance's influence?

They caught on in Germany and then England, delighting spectators but not competition judges.

Finnish tango is distinctive for being performed almost exclusively in what?

Its melancholy suits Finnish folk poetry, and it has no kicks or aerials at all.

Which Finnish town hosts Tangomarkkinat and calls itself the second city of tango?

Held since 1985, it draws over 100,000 fans a year, and the town has a Tango Museum.

Brazil's own tango tradition evolved into which dance, sometimes called 'Brazilian tango'?

Ernesto Nazareth and Chiquinha Gonzaga were its leading composers, and it fed into choro too.

Which Colombian city became a tango capital and was where Carlos Gardel died?

Colombia also hosts the Colombia Tango Festival in Manizales.

For which tournament did Adidas introduce its ball named 'Tango', likely as a tribute to the hosts?

The design returned as Tango Málaga for Spain 1982 and at the 1984 and 1988 European Championships.

The first Queer Tango Festival, challenging the male-leader convention, was held in 2001 in which city?

In the early 1900s men often danced together anyway, because there were far more male dancers than female.

In tango from the River Plate, what is a gancho?

The boleo, by contrast, lets momentum carry the leg into the air; both are foreign to ballroom tango.

What is the tango dancer's frame or hold called in Spanish?

It means 'embrace' and can range from chest-to-chest close to an open V.

Which instrument, a type of concertina, is the signature sound of tango ensembles?

Unlike accordions it has no register switches, and its two hands have different timbres.

Which German instrument dealer gave his name to tango's signature squeezebox?

It was meant for church and popular music before emigrants and sailors carried it to Argentina around 1870.

How many of tango's signature squeezeboxes were shipped from Germany to Argentina in 1930 alone?

World War II wrecked German manufacturing and ended mass production for good.

A traditional tango ensemble is known as what?

It has at least two violins, flute, piano, double bass and at least two bandoneons.

The first generation of tango players in Buenos Aires is known by what name?

The Old Guard's music was the favourite of the thugs and gangsters who frequented brothels.

The 1903 tango 'El Choclo' was first recorded by 1906 in which US city, since Argentina had no studios?

Villoldo himself recorded it in Paris around 1908.

Which Afro-Argentine musician wrote the first copyrighted tango score, "El entrerriano" (1896)?

The first tango group, from the early 1870s, was the Afro-Argentine duo of Casimiro Alcorta and 'the mulatto' Sinforoso.

The Golden Age of tango is generally dated to which period?

It ran alongside the American big band era, with orquestas típicas of a dozen or more players.

Which bandleader was called 'Rey del compás', the King of the Beat, for his driving rhythm?

'El flete' is the classic example; Troilo and di Sarli led the rival 'evolutionist' camp.

At which Montevideo café, later a Tango Museum, was 'La cumparsita' first performed?

It stood on the ground floor of the Palacio Salvo; the 1916 tune was written by Uruguayan Gerardo Matos Rodríguez.

What does the title 'La cumparsita' mean?

The original was instrumental; the later lyrics by Argentines Contursi and Maroni became more popular than the composer's own.

Carlos Gardel, the most famous tango singer of all, was born in which French city?

A 1967 Uruguayan theory placed his birth in Tacuarembó, but his birth certificate was located in 2012.

Gardel's nickname 'El Zorzal' compares him to which bird?

He was also 'El Mago', 'El Morocho del Abasto' and, ironically, 'El Mudo' — the Mute.

How did Carlos Gardel die in June 1935?

Two Ford Trimotors collided at Medellín; his lyricist Alfredo Le Pera and two of his guitarists died too.

Who was Gardel's long-time lyricist and collaborator on classics such as those in his 1930s films?

He died alongside Gardel in the Medellín crash.

In which Buenos Aires cemetery was Gardel finally laid to rest?

His body travelled from Colombia via New York and Rio, and lay in state for two days in Montevideo, where his mother lived.

What is the name of Piazzolla's new form of tango, blending jazz and classical elements?

He was a virtuoso bandoneonist who played standing up with one foot on a chair.

In which Argentine seaside city was Astor Piazzolla born in 1921?

His family moved to Greenwich Village in New York when he was four, and he met Gardel there in 1934.

Which Paris teacher told Piazzolla in 1954 that his future lay in tango, not classical music?

He had tried to hide his tango compositions from her, thinking his destiny was in the concert hall.

Piazzolla's 1959 piece Adiós Nonino was written after which event?

'Nonino' was the family nickname of Vicente Piazzolla; Astor got the news while performing in New York.

Piazzolla joined which great bandoneonist's orchestra in Buenos Aires in 1939, aged 18?

He was hired as a stand-in for the ailing Toto Rodríguez and stayed.

In which 1992 film does Al Pacino, as a blind colonel, dance a tango in a New York hotel ballroom?

The scene was set at the Pierre Hotel's Cotillion Ballroom, and Pacino won the Best Actor Oscar for the role.

In which 1993 sequel do Raul Julia and Anjelica Huston tango until the champagne corks pop?

Their dance literally burns the floor.

Which 2001 musical film features 'El Tango de Roxanne'?

Chicago's contribution to the genre is 'Cell Block Tango'.

Zbigniew Rybczynski's 1981 animation Tango won which prize in 1982?

Tanghi Argentini, a later Belgian short, was also Oscar-nominated.

Which two touring Argentine stage shows sparked UK milongas in the early 1990s?

Anglo-Argentine dancer Andrew Potter followed Forever Tango to London and started the city's first milonga.

Gardel's 1917 recording of 'Mi noche triste' is credited with creating which form?

The sung tango put lyrics at the centre of a music that had been largely instrumental and danced.

A 1967 theory claimed Gardel was really born in Tacuarembó, a town in which country?

A Gardel museum was even built there, but French birth and baptism records confirmed Toulouse, settled for good when the birth certificate surfaced in 2012.

Which four orchestras are considered the representative schools of Argentine tango music?

All four bandleaders descended from Italian immigrant families; Piazzolla later moved tango from the dance floor to the concert stage.

Which 1983 Paris stage show starring Juan Carlos Copes and Maria Nieves sparked the revival abroad?

Staged by Claudio Segovia and Hector Orezzolli, it introduced a generation of foreigners to the improvised social dance.