Dance tour (1/5): Piazzolla and the tango

Discover Dance Toura series of articles featuring five musicians. What do they have in common? They create dance music, or music that makes you want to dance, and in 2021 they’re celebrating a birthday with round numbers.

This first article is dedicated to Astor Piazzolla, the talented bandoneonist and Argentine composer famous for his tango music. Today, he would have blown out his 100 candles.

Do you know what determined the invention of the tango as a musical genre? Certainly the popular desire for a new way of dancing. Like the dance of the same name, tango originated in Buenos Aires in the second half of the ^19th century. It blends several European musical forms (such as the waltz), Latin American music (habanera, milonga) and a rhythm of African origin (candombe). Initially, tango was orchestral music, with a majority of string instruments, but the piano soon took its place. The bandoneon was introduced in 1908 and became the genre’s instrument par excellence. Tango was soon sung as well.

Who was Astor Piazzolla? The young Piazzolla made his debut in Aníbal Troilo’s orchestra and took composition lessons with Alberto Ginastera. In the early 1950s, he seriously considered giving up tango to devote himself to classical music. He went to Paris to study the art of the string quartet with Nadia Boulanger. However, he struggled to find a personal musical style. After listening to one of his compositions, the French teacher and composer persuaded him to use popular music. But not only that! He had to enrich it with an advanced, contemporary language. That’s when it all clicked!

Thanks to his genius, Astor Piazzolla succeeded in revolutionizing the forms and colors of traditional Argentine tango. He created what would later become nuevo tango . What are the fundamental elements that inspired Piazzolla? The rhythmic language, the highly dramatic and passionate spirit, the vivid colors. His compositions are “almost” classical in structure and elaboration. But they also depart from tradition. But how? By integrating innovative musical elements such as the expressive tools of jazz music, dissonance and chromaticism.

Piazzolla also introduced instruments not used in traditional tango: the Hammond organ, flute, marimba, bass and electric guitar, drums and percussion. In May 1974, he brought out Libertango, one of his best-known records, with this set of instruments integrated with string instruments.

How did genre purists react? With harsh criticism, of course. They even defined him as “el asesino del tango” (the tango killer). But they failed to understand that, in reality, Piazzolla’s art definitively placed tango beyond time and space. He offered a cultivated and absolutely noble dimension to this tradition.

3’000 is the estimated number of compositions written by the Argentinian composer. 500 is the number of pieces recorded. His vast output includes works for orchestra, solo guitar and various other compositions. Several are still tango classics for Argentine audiences, such as Balada para un loco and Adiós Nonino, dedicated to his father on the occasion of his death.

Today, Piazzolla is considered one of the greatest composers of the ^20th century. He enjoys worldwide esteem and renown. His compositions are performed by major orchestras and famous classical musicians, as well as by many jazzmen. Throughout his career, Astor Piazzolla founded and directed numerous formations (orchestra, quintet, octet, nonet), choosing his own musicians, some of whom were close to jazz. He is an extraordinary bandoneonist and a most inspired bandleader. With his work, the Argentine musician has shown that tango can be an eternal expression of the human spirit.

In 2008, the President of the Argentine Republic, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, named the international airport in her hometown of Mar del Plata after Astor Piazzolla.

See and hear :

Podcasts:

• Astor Piazzolla in the bars
• Astor Piazzolla with Emmanuelle Honorin
• Play me the standard again… “Libertango” by composer & bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla (1974)
• Astor Piazzolla. Finding your voice