Ebook: Tango: The Art History of Love

Robert Farris Thompson makes a case here for African influence on tango, something that will surely not go down easily with eurocentric porteños. But Bob builds his case slowly, methodically piling up evidence, etymological roots or words, gesture, dance. He points out the taste for innovation—something European dance and music was not known for. He names names and references, and in the end it’s hard to dispute, though no doubt some will try.

Other porteños will deny that tango has any Afro roots whatsoever— supposedly there are no blacks to be seen on the present-day streets of Buenos Aires. But as Bob points out, this was not always the case, and the crazy mixture of European, African and gaucho (often Andalusian) influences helped create a form that is still evolving today.