Nuevo tango
Encyclopedia
Tango Nuevo - either a form of music in which new elements are incorporated into traditional Argentine tango
, or an evolution of tango dance that began to develop in the 1980s. Tango Nuevo music and dance are examples of constantly changing forms of Argentine tango.
, the Tango Investigation Group (later transformed into the Cosmotango organization) founded by Gustavo Naveira
and Fabian Salas applied the principles of dance kinesiology
from modern dance
to analyze the physics of movement in Argentine tango. Taking what they learned from this analysis they then began to explore all the possibilities of movement within the framework of Argentine Tango. From the work of these founders of the Tango Nuevo movement, there was shift in all styles of tango away from teaching what to dance toward teaching how to dance.
Though widely referred to as a tango style outside of Argentina
, Tango Nuevo is not considered a style of dancing tango by the founders of the movement. It refers only to the method of analysis and teaching developed through the application of the principles of dance kinesiology to Argentine Tango. In 2009, Gustavo Naveira
published an essay New Tango in which he states, "There is great confusion on the question of the way of dancing the tango: call it technique, form, or style. The term Tango Nuevo, is used to refer to a style of dancing, which is an error. In reality, Tango Nuevo is everything that has happened with the tango since the 1980s. It is not a question of a style... The words Tango Nuevo express what is happening with tango dancing in general; namely that it is evolving." Therefore, as Gustavo Naveira
and the other founders of the Tango Nuevo movement have said, all styles of tango, which have now been influenced by the analysis of the dance, are all Tango Nuevo.
Despite the insistence by the founders of the Tango Nuevo movement that it is not a single style, it has become an accepted term by many that it is a separate and distinct style of tango. Considered by many as the most famous practitioners of tango nuevo are Gustavo Naveira
, Norberto "El Pulpo" Esbrés
, Fabián Salas, Esteban Moreno, Claudia Codega, Sebastian Arce, Mariana Montes, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
, and Pablo Verón. All of these dancers have highly individual styles that cannot be confused with each other, yet are all referred to by many as the tango nuevo style.
Critics of what some call the tango nuevo style claim that with all the emphasis being on the physics of the dance, that the connection to the music, the feeling, and the traditions of Argentine Tango have been lost to the newer generations of tango dancers. Referring to the newer generations of Tango Nuevo dancers, one of the founders of the Tango Nuevo movement, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
stated in an interview, "They are completely lost! I learned with the last great milongueros, I took the information directly from them... The problem is that we missed something in the teaching, I take total responsibility, and other colleagues should do so as well. I can’t pass on what I have learned. I was crazy about creating, because I saw a new vein in the evolution of the movement. I threw myself into that, and I lost the way to be able to pass on the tango essence that I have very much inside. Because of this I feel that lately there are a lot of people who don’t understand or know what the real essence of this dance is."
Critics of Tango Nuevo also say there is little difference in the way it is practiced than Show Tango. In an interview, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
said, "Today you do a volcada and a colgada and it is the same because they are there, commercially speaking, in the same package. Then, between doing a sandwichito or a volcada… people do a volcada! Because it’s more eye-catching... They are not going to make a sandwichito to enjoy that moment, but whatever shows them more and better."
In July 2009, Gustavo Naveira
wrote about Nuevo tango:
, ballroom and swing
.
and classical music into tango music
. The most important composer of this style was Ástor Piazzolla
who revolutionized tango in the 1950s by introducing new instruments such as the saxophone
and electric guitar
, and who brought new forms of harmonic
and melodic structure into the traditional tango ensemble. Tango nuevo includes the fusion of electronic and acoustic sounds. Some examples of tango nuevo music artists are Tanghetto
, Bajofondo
, Electrocutango
, Gotan Project
, Nuevo Tango Ensamble
, Ensemble Montréal Tango, Narcotango (album by Carlos Libedinsky
), Rodrigo Favela (Latin Tango) and Pablo Ziegler
.
Argentine tango
Argentine tango is a musical genre of simple quadruple metre and binary musical form, and the social dance that accompanies it. Its lyrics and music are marked by nostalgia, expressed through melodic instruments including the bandoneon. Originated at the ending of the 19th century in the suburbs of...
, or an evolution of tango dance that began to develop in the 1980s. Tango Nuevo music and dance are examples of constantly changing forms of Argentine tango.
Origins
Prior to the 1990s, Argentine Tango was taught with a didactic method; teaching tango by having students copy examples shown by the instructor. Emphasis was not given to how or why movement was done a certain way. Starting in the 1990s in Buenos AiresBuenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
, the Tango Investigation Group (later transformed into the Cosmotango organization) founded by Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher having contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.- Biography :...
and Fabian Salas applied the principles of dance kinesiology
Kinesiology
Kinesiology, also known as human kinetics is the scientific study of human movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, mechanical, and psychological mechanisms. Applications of kinesiology to human health include: biomechanics and orthopedics, rehabilitation, such as physical and occupational...
from modern dance
Modern dance
Modern dance is a dance form developed in the early 20th century. Although the term Modern dance has also been applied to a category of 20th Century ballroom dances, Modern dance as a term usually refers to 20th century concert dance.-Intro:...
to analyze the physics of movement in Argentine tango. Taking what they learned from this analysis they then began to explore all the possibilities of movement within the framework of Argentine Tango. From the work of these founders of the Tango Nuevo movement, there was shift in all styles of tango away from teaching what to dance toward teaching how to dance.
Though widely referred to as a tango style outside of Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
, Tango Nuevo is not considered a style of dancing tango by the founders of the movement. It refers only to the method of analysis and teaching developed through the application of the principles of dance kinesiology to Argentine Tango. In 2009, Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher having contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.- Biography :...
published an essay New Tango in which he states, "There is great confusion on the question of the way of dancing the tango: call it technique, form, or style. The term Tango Nuevo, is used to refer to a style of dancing, which is an error. In reality, Tango Nuevo is everything that has happened with the tango since the 1980s. It is not a question of a style... The words Tango Nuevo express what is happening with tango dancing in general; namely that it is evolving." Therefore, as Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher having contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.- Biography :...
and the other founders of the Tango Nuevo movement have said, all styles of tango, which have now been influenced by the analysis of the dance, are all Tango Nuevo.
Despite the insistence by the founders of the Tango Nuevo movement that it is not a single style, it has become an accepted term by many that it is a separate and distinct style of tango. Considered by many as the most famous practitioners of tango nuevo are Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher having contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.- Biography :...
, Norberto "El Pulpo" Esbrés
Norberto Esbrez
Norberto Esbrez is an Argentine tango dancer, choreographer and teacher.Dancer and teacher of tango nuevo. He is known as El Pulpo or octopus for his fluid and intricate leg moves. Esbrez created and named several tango movements including: ocho loco, sentada girada, elevador, or el elástico...
, Fabián Salas, Esteban Moreno, Claudia Codega, Sebastian Arce, Mariana Montes, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
Mariano Frumboli
Mariano Chicho Frúmboli is an Argentine Tango dancer. He is regarded as one of the founders of Tango nuevo, and he is best known for his improvisation skills.- Biography :...
, and Pablo Verón. All of these dancers have highly individual styles that cannot be confused with each other, yet are all referred to by many as the tango nuevo style.
Critics of what some call the tango nuevo style claim that with all the emphasis being on the physics of the dance, that the connection to the music, the feeling, and the traditions of Argentine Tango have been lost to the newer generations of tango dancers. Referring to the newer generations of Tango Nuevo dancers, one of the founders of the Tango Nuevo movement, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
Mariano Frumboli
Mariano Chicho Frúmboli is an Argentine Tango dancer. He is regarded as one of the founders of Tango nuevo, and he is best known for his improvisation skills.- Biography :...
stated in an interview, "They are completely lost! I learned with the last great milongueros, I took the information directly from them... The problem is that we missed something in the teaching, I take total responsibility, and other colleagues should do so as well. I can’t pass on what I have learned. I was crazy about creating, because I saw a new vein in the evolution of the movement. I threw myself into that, and I lost the way to be able to pass on the tango essence that I have very much inside. Because of this I feel that lately there are a lot of people who don’t understand or know what the real essence of this dance is."
Critics of Tango Nuevo also say there is little difference in the way it is practiced than Show Tango. In an interview, Mariano 'Chicho' Frumboli
Mariano Frumboli
Mariano Chicho Frúmboli is an Argentine Tango dancer. He is regarded as one of the founders of Tango nuevo, and he is best known for his improvisation skills.- Biography :...
said, "Today you do a volcada and a colgada and it is the same because they are there, commercially speaking, in the same package. Then, between doing a sandwichito or a volcada… people do a volcada! Because it’s more eye-catching... They are not going to make a sandwichito to enjoy that moment, but whatever shows them more and better."
In July 2009, Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira
Gustavo Naveira is an Argentine tango dancer and teacher having contributed to the detailed analysis of the movements of dancing to Argentine tango.- Biography :...
wrote about Nuevo tango:
Elements of tango nuevo dance
By the late 2000s, the Tango Nuevo dance included many improvised and led dance moves from Argentine tango. These new elements of tango are not characterized only by the type of embrace but include off-axis moves, playfulness, attention to rhythm and melody, emphasis on greater improvisational skill of woman in dance to name just a few attributes. Some dancers began to adopt elements of other dance forms such as salsaSalsa (dance)
Salsa is a syncretic dance form with origins in Cuba as the meeting point of Spanish and African cultures.Salsa is normally a partner dance, although there are recognized solo forms such as solo dancing "suelta" and "Rueda de Casino" where multiple couples exchange partners in a circle...
, ballroom and swing
Swing (dance)
"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, although the earliest of these dances predate swing jazz music. The best known of these dances is the Lindy Hop, a popular partner dance that originated in Harlem and is still danced today...
.
Music
One of the recent examples of the tango nuevo music was the incorporation of jazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
and classical music into tango music
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
. The most important composer of this style was Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Piazzolla
Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music...
who revolutionized tango in the 1950s by introducing new instruments such as the saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
and electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, and who brought new forms of harmonic
Harmonic
A harmonic of a wave is a component frequency of the signal that is an integer multiple of the fundamental frequency, i.e. if the fundamental frequency is f, the harmonics have frequencies 2f, 3f, 4f, . . . etc. The harmonics have the property that they are all periodic at the fundamental...
and melodic structure into the traditional tango ensemble. Tango nuevo includes the fusion of electronic and acoustic sounds. Some examples of tango nuevo music artists are Tanghetto
Tanghetto
Tanghetto is a musical group based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and one of the most important on the neo tango scene.The style of Tanghetto is a blend of tango and electronic music. Formed in 2001 by producer and composer/songwriter Max Masri . Then Max Masri asked guitarist and composer Diego S...
, Bajofondo
Bajofondo
Bajofondo is a "Río de la Plata" based music band consisting of eight musicians from Argentina and Uruguay. The band, which refers to itself as a "collective of composers, singers and artists", was formerly called "Bajofondo Tango Club", but shortened the name to "Bajofondo" after they felt their...
, Electrocutango
Electrocutango
Electrocutango is an electrotango project founded by Sverre Indris Joner, based in Oslo, Norway. Their album Felino was originally music created for TanGhost, a tango/theater performance based on Henrik Ibsen's play Ghosts, directed by Per-Olav Sørensen . The show was choreographed by famous...
, Gotan Project
Gotan Project
Gotan Project is a musical group based in Paris, consisting of musicians Philippe Cohen Solal , Eduardo Makaroff , and Christoph H. Müller .-History:...
, Nuevo Tango Ensamble
Nuevo Tango Ensamble
Nuevo Tango Ensamble is an Italian tango-jazz trio which was formed in 1999. The members are Pasquale Stafano who plays piano, Gianni Iorio on bandoneón and Alessandro Terlizzi on double-bass....
, Ensemble Montréal Tango, Narcotango (album by Carlos Libedinsky
Carlos Libedinsky
Carlos Libedinsky is an Argentine musician, composer and producer. He is most renowned for his neo-tango project, Narcotango.Before tango, Libedinsky transited through different genres, such as rock, pop, blues, medieval and renaissance music...
), Rodrigo Favela (Latin Tango) and Pablo Ziegler
Pablo Ziegler
Pablo Ziegler is an Argentine composer based in Buenos Aires and New York City. He is currently the leading exponent of nuevo tango, thanks to the skills and reputation he gathered while working extensively as Ástor Piazzolla's regular pianist from 1978 until the maestro's retirement for health...
.