After the 1950’s, tango goes through a phase of low popularity even though new artists of each expression continue to appear. A world phenomena that invaded every culture would take place in those times…
Rock & Roll was successful in every part of the world and it arrived in these lands to impose its trend and its codes with the cultural and musical revolution of the Beatles.
Tango started to be considered as “music heard by old people” and it lost its prestige. The world was changing as in a revolution and many people thought tango did not represent them because of the contents of its lyrics and its poetry.
Despite of said fact, in Buenos Aires there was always a tango being played and it generated new important artists in different environments. In the early 60s, Astor Piazzolla appeared on the scene. He was Aníbal Troilo’s band accordion player and he knew all the secrets of tango like no other. He took a whole new approach to tango, giving it a new sound and a provocative proposal that shocked people with its music and with Horacio Ferrer’s poetry that also marked new forms of expression. His music was rejected by the most orthodox tango players and he was not understood in his time, but the truth is that he caused a revolutionary change in tango, giving place to what was later called “tango avant-garde”. Nowadays nobody questions whether if it is tango or not as they used to, but the truth is that his great work is the music of a modern Buenos Aires that sounds in a different way, to the rhythm of the new times…
Within this search movement and new proposals gave place to new and talented artists as Horacio Salgán, Atilio Stampone and Raúl Garello who gave tango a new approach due to the originality of their music and musical arrangements.
The rebirth
During the 1980s, the highly successful “Tango Argentino” show made tango popular again and gave it back the place it deserved. This performance toured the world for more than ten years and marked the beginning of the mass internationalization of Tango.
This company, that was created and directed by Claudio Segovia, a producer, joined the talent and great creativity of the most important singers, performers and dancers from Buenos Aires. The world’s most important characters of the time, ranging from Hollywood actors to royals, presidents and musicians raved about it and fell in love with tango.
With the eternal curse of the Argentinian people of paying attention to what is successful overseas, tango experienced a rebirth in its homeland.