In the previous article we saw that the tango culture in Buenos Aires had been brought to an unexpected standstill in the mid 1950s due to the politics of the region. But was that the only factor, or were there other forces in play?

By the 1950s tango was being danced in various forms around the world, and so it would be easy to assume that it had reached a critical mass and that nothing could get in its way. But the events in Buenos Aires had coincided with two significant changes in global culture which contributed to the decline of tango everywhere – the mass availability of television, and the rise of rock and roll.

Argentina

In the first half of the twentieth century most clubs, bars, venues, and social gathering centres in Buenos Aires  featured live dance music played by the orquestas tipica that were so popular across Latin America. Much of the music that they played, especially in Buenos Aires, would have been tango music, and whilst the arrival of the singers triggered a slight shift towards listening rather than dancing the popularity of tango continued unabated. But television and radio brought the new and exciting phenomenon of rock and roll music to the masses, and suddenly the old Orquestas Tipica were no longer the only option.

With nowhere to dance and the traditional bands struggling to find a purpose in this new situation, audiences started to look towards the new music for inspiration and excitement. Rock and roll was seen as exciting and rebellious, and was extremely popular with the younger generation as it came from a spirit of freedom and liberation that was associated with the USA at the time.

With tango venues closed and the orquestas tipica starting to drift apart, tango could offer little in the way of resistance to this new musical movement. Tango was seen as ‘old’, and although it still had its supporters they were in the minority when compared to the growing tide of popularity seen for the more modern beats.

The rise of rock and roll however was not unopposed by the authorities. The rebellious youth movement was seen as a challenge to the military dictatorship, and they actively tried to suppress it. Rock and roll specifically appealed to the sort of people that opposed the extreme government restrictions, and this was considered to be a potential threat by the government. But whilst gatherings and performances could generally be controlled, broadcasting and listening to music were much harder things to restrict. New radio stations were launched that catered to the rock and roll audience, such as Radio Libertad and Radio El Mundo, and the music continued to spread. It even inspired the creation of a new musical movement known as Rock Nacional, a Spanish language musical genre that took its influences from early rock and roll. Bands in that genre released Spanish language versions of American tracks before writing their own original compositions in the style of the popular global groups, and this began a youth culture of its own that survives to this day.

As has been mentioned, holding a Rock and Roll concert was no easier than running a tango milonga, as all gatherings regardless of their purpose were subject to the same draconian restrictions. But youth culture was determined – maybe more determined than the tango dancers of the time – and they found ways to meet and share the music in private homes and in small rooms behind bars. Finding space away from the eyes of the government to meet and play a few records was a lot easier than organising even a small milonga, and so the counter-culture thrived. There were occasional public concerts although these risked the attention of the authorities. But in 1958 even Bill Hailey (and his Comets) managed to make an unexpected appearance in Buenos Aires as part of their South American tour, and successfully played to an organised crowd. Information about how they achieved this without being stopped by the authorities is hard to find, but it is reasonable to assume that their global popularity worked in their favour as the government would have faced international repercussions if anything had happened to them!

Without the restrictions that affected milongas so badly it is almost certain that tango would have adapted to incorporate the new musical style in some way. It had begun with fast African drum-heavy rhythms, shifted to the folk styles played on harps and flutes, adapted to the music of the orquesta tipica of the late 19th century, and then adapted again when the singers arrived and changed the pace of the music once more. It had incorporated the European waltz rhythm into its structure as tango vals, and although it is less well known it had also begun to incorporate the foxtrot as an alternative that was halfway between vals and tango. There is no reason to assume that tango would have been unable or unwilling to adapt again, perhaps starting with electric guitars in the orquestas tipica and making more use of drums to provide the rhythm, and maybe then by developing a tango-specific form of popular music that drew elements from rock and roll, swing, pop. and anything else that came along. It would have had no trouble with the ballads that were around at the time, and both blues and soul music share so much of their DNA with the angsty lyrics of early tangos that little adaptation would have been necessary.

The Rest of the World

Tango was in recession in Buenos Aires, but what about the rest of the world? The Cold War between west and east was nearing its peak but despite that it was a time of relative positivity. World War II had finished, and dance halls across Europe and North America were filling up again. So what happened to tango?

The popularity of tango in Europe and North America had been supported by the continuous flow of tango dancers travelling back from Argentina and bringing new ideas along with them. This however was a relatively minor influence compared to the ballroom dancing world, and their more structured and regulated forms were preferred in most of the dance halls and schools. They had adopted tango in the two forms of American Ballroom Tango and English (later International) Ballroom Tango, and that is what was being danced in most places, and whilst the Argentine original tango was known, it was the music that was being used for the ballroom dancers that was its predominant influence.

In very much the same way that Buenos Aires had its clubs with the orquestas tipica and a strong prevalence of tango music, Europe and the USA had dance clubs with live bands that played their own specific style of music. Big Band and Jazz styles were common, with bands adapting the popular tracks to suit the waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, and other ballroom dance styles. This continued all the way through the first half of the twentieth century with little changing other than the structure of the bands and the quality of the recordings being made.

Then Rock and Roll arrived, and it travelled around the world at the speed of radio. One minute the latest in dance music was Syd Lawrence and Ted heath, and the next they had been replaced by Chuck Berry and Fats Domino. The change was profound, not the least because anyone could enjoy dancing along to this new music without having to go through all the trouble of learning how to foxtrot or waltz! It was democratising, accessible, and although there was the inevitable resistance from the older and more established part of the dance community it was clear that rock and roll was here to stay.

Tango

Tango may have been pushed aside but it never disappeared completely. The ballroom versions of the dance continued around the world, using a few of the more recognisable pieces of tango music – such as La Cumparsita – for most of their performances. In Argentina there were still adherents to the old ways and they kept the dance alive albeit out of the public eye.

Tango music suffered more, however, as with no-one to perform to the orquestas tipica had little choice but to disband and find something else to do. The flow of new tango music almost came to a complete standstill, and without the likes of Osvaldo Pugliese who composed and performed music in the traditional style until his death in 1995, and Astor Piazzola who began to develop a new style of music for tango that was the origin of the name ‘tango nuevo’ (more about this later) there may well have been no new tango music created ever again.

Rock and roll began to peak, and the new styles of blues, pop – including Elvis Presley, and rock started to emerge. There was little interest outside of Argentina in seeking out the old traditional tango bands, and in Argentina itself there was nowhere for them to perform or to be heard anyway. Tango had effectively come to a standstill.

The Return

By the early 1970s the political situation in Argentina had changed again. But although the ban on public gatherings was lifted there was no rush to return to the milongas. Social life in the cities had changed so there were new places to go after work that were not centred on tango. Rock and Roll and other musical styles had taken over as the centre of entertainment life for the new generation, and tango had been pushed to the back seat.

Some small milongas did of course re-open, using rooms in people’s houses and in small spaces behind bars or clubs. But the momentum had been lost and it looked as though tango might never regain its original popularity. Those people that did start dancing again tended to use the old recordings from the Golden Age as their preferred music, but there was little interest in innovation any more and so tango began to settle.

For a while it looked as though tango in Argentina might end up as a footnote in the history books. But then in 1983 something remarkable happened. Hector Orezzoli and Claudio Segovia, two set designers from Argentina who were living in France at the time, decided to put on a show called Tango Argentino, hoping to create some interest in tango amongst their audiences.

It worked, and somewhat unexpectedly the world fell in love with tango.