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GUIDE TO LEARN ABOUT TANGO
WHAT IS TANGO?
Tango is a musical style and dance of the River Plate and typical of the cities of Buenos Aires in Argentina, and Montevideo, in Uruguay. It is a wholly urban music & dance and is famous internationally. Musically, it has binary form
(subject and chorus) and a time of four quarters (even though it is called the rhythm of 2 by 4 or in Argentine slang “dos por cuatro”).
 The traditional way of playing it is with a typical orchestra or sextet
and the central instrument is “bandoneon” a kind of hexagonal
accordion. The choreography is designed starting from the couple’s
embrace which is both highly sensual and complex. The lyrics are written
by using the local slang which is called “ lunfardo “ and usually
expresses despondency in “matters of love” ( las cosas del amor )
between a man and a woman and in this way it resembles somewhat the
Blues. It also touches on other subjects such as politics and humor.
Enrique Santos Discepolo, one of its greatest exponents defines Tango as
a “...sad thought which is danced...”.
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