National Geographic Music (National Geographic)

When Buenos Aires became the capital of Argentina at the end of the 19th century, the city was a melting pot of immigrants: Southern and Eastern Europeans, Africans, Jews and natives came together above all in the waterfront area of La Boca and in the slums. Influenced by the various musics of the immigrant nations and the milonga, a type of song cultivated by Argentine gauchos, the tango was born as the music of this city. At first it was a child of the gutter, the dance of the streets and bordellos, the song of people on the shady side of life. The tango reflected the dock workers' (portenos') feeling for life. Its subjects are melancholy, hopelessness and unfulfilled love; the melodies are rhythmic, passionate and sensual; the texts are blunt, frivolous, provocative and melancholy.

The new music from the tango's capital city rapidly conquered the world with representatives like Carlos Gardel and Anibal Troilo; this was maintained until the 1930s. In the 1950s Astor Piazzolla expanded the tango tradition, integrating classical music, jazz and free improvisation into it. This marked the birth of the "tango nuevo." Still, the subjects continued to be characterized by melancholy sensuality and morbid passion.

The bandoneon is the ultimate instrument giving expression to this feeling. Raul Jaurena, bandoneon artist from Uruguay and one-time flatmate and musical associate of Piazzolla, stands at the midpoint of the production, Amando a Buenos Aires. Jaurena counts among the most important representatives of the tango nuevo. He has been working with the German group Tango Five since 1998; this group has moved freely and fearlessly through the various musical fringe areas of classical, jazz, and world music for years, feeling at home in all of them; they have long been fascinated by tango. —Courtesy Calabash Music