Argentine Tango is a dance originated in the poor neighborhoods of the largest cities in Argentina and Uruguay at the end of the XIX century. It represents the cultural mix of immigrants and the established population. In the 1800’s, Buenos Aires and Montevideo had a population of 25 % to more than 50 % of Africans each. They were servants of the most influential families of these cities and were more integrated to the life of these families and the society in general than the Africans of other societies like North America.
“Tangos” were called the black people celebrations and places of meeting since the beginning of the XIX century. Is in these places where the dance known today as tango began the development of its choreography and music. Other African terms directly related to tango are “milonga” and “candombe”.
“Milonga” is a Quimbanda expression that means “words” and referred originally to a kind of duel between two countryside singers called “payadores” that playing guitar will improvise verses of eight syllables with a structure type question/answer; while “candombe” is a Bantú word that referred originally to the rhythms and dances made by the Africans in their tango meetings and also to these meetings.

When they were given freedom (1853) they created several associations -kinds of unions- to help themselves, and placed them mostly in the area of the neighborhood of Montserrat. During carnival, they used to go out on the streets with bright colored costumes and big-feathered hats, dancing many hours to the monotonous rhythm of “candombe”— the music they played at these events. Different associations competed for the supremacy and this developed into bloody incidents in the streets. The repetition of the violence forced the police to close many of those associations in 1877. It was the end of black people’s carnival. The consequence of this was the creation of several dance centers where they developed a kind of couple dance called “tango” using the same choreographic elements they used before in their candombes. But that tango was not an embraced couple dance. They danced it separately.Other influence in the origins of tango comes from a typical character of the Argentine Pampas: the “gaucho”. (Read more)