Argentine Tango is a magical cocktail of music, romance and poetry. It originated as “the voice of the people”, a way to let out the feelings and thoughts of the marginated. It is generally accepted that Tango was born in the port city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in the late 1880’s, when the country was undergoing a massive immigration, as a result of the second industrial revolution in Europe.

The intermixing of African, Spanish, Italian, German, British, Polish, Russian and native-born Argentinians, created a melting pot of cultures. Each borrowed dance and music from one another, from polkas and waltzes Russians and Germans, to habaneras from Cuba and the candombe rythms from Africa. Some say that the word Tango comes from the sound of the beating of the African drums “tan-go”; others, say it comes from the Latin words: tanguere (to touch) and tangir (to play an instrument).

Most of the immigrants that entered Argentina in those times were poor single men, hoping to earn their fortunes in the newly expanding Argentina. Actually, the nostalgia in the Tango reflects their profound sense of loss and longing for the people and the places they left behind.

Tango was most likely born in dance venues attended by “compadritos”: young men, mostly poor port workers, wanting to trascend their working class status - like immigrants and port workers, who had a sense of rootlessness.

Some say Tango orginally represented a duel between two men for the favors of a woman in establishements where dance took place, like bars, dance halls and brothels. These very proud, tough ‘compadritos’ would show their manlihood through these dangerous encounters. It was in those locations where the African rythms met with the Argentine ‘milonga’ (a fast-paced polka), and soon new steps were invented and took hold.

Because this seductive dance was so daring, the Argentine government banned it from being danced in public and turned it into ‘the forbidden dance’ for the higher societies. As with most things forbidden, everyone wanted to find out more about it!

So, in the early 1900’s, the wealthy sons of the Argentine higher society families, who had secretly experienced the Tango in Buenos Aires, made their way to Paris. They introduced the Tango in a society eager for innovation and not entirely averse to the risquée nature of the dance. At the same time, in 1912, the Universal Suffrage Law passed in Argentina. This legitimized many of the lower class cultural mainstays, including Tango. And, by 1913, Tango had become an international phenomenon in Paris, London and New York. There were: ‘Tango Teas’, Tango train excursions and even orange was made the official Tango color.

Even Americans were dancing Tango, although some ladies were given to wearing ‘bumpers’ to protect themselves from rubbing a bit too closely against their male partners.

In 1918, Carlos Gardel, known as “the voice of Tango” (the ‘Elvis’ of Tango), sealed the internationalization of Tango by taking it to the top in Paris and New York, where he lived and worked professionally.

During WWI, and soon after it, there was a need to express and connect with others who spoke different languages and were from different cultures: Tango became the ‘International Language of Cultures’. However, in Argentina, in 1930, Tango lost a bit of its popularity when the military coup ended the right to vote and, once again, it silenced ‘the voice of the people’ - it silenced the Tango.

Still, and soon after that, wealthy intellectuals, far removed from the working class, began writing new lyrics for Tango, making it more romantic, less nostalgic and with a less threatening air. Internationally, Tango continued to evolve, and more and more people danced the Tango.

In 1946, in Argentina, Juan Perón, Evita Perón’s husband, rose to power. Tango reached a pinnacle as both he and his wife embraced it wholeheartedly. Then, around 1952, and coinciding with the death of Evita, Tango, again, fell from the mainstream spotlight. Also, American rock-n-roll invaded the popular scene, and took over.

However, in the late 1980’s, Tango experienced a renaissance with Broadway shows like: “Forever Tango” and “Argentine Tango”, as well as with the popularity of the music of Argentine composer and musician Astor Piazzola, who lived between Buenos Aires, New York, and Paris, and modernized Tango music, at the same time that he kept its cultural ethnic roots intact.

Today, Argentine Tango is a bridge to connect with other people and cultures, an elixir that fills the heart with hope and passion.