The first time when accordion was played in Argentina was the twentieth century. The accordion had many varieties and forms. José Santa Cruz was one of the first players of the accordion. The accordion he played was diatonic, but later changed to the bandoneon. A lot of variety was brought in the accordion by adding keys and altering the tonal sound.
Types of Music
Charmame is a style of music which was played on accordion. Before the evolution of the accordion this style of music was played on European instruments such as the violin and mandolin. But the charmame music was sometimes considered as "Servants music". But later on this conception was changed.
The popularity of folk music in argentina is also vast. Bagualas, candome, carnavalitos, chamamés, chacareras, cuecas, huaynos, milongas, payadas, tristecitos, vidalas, yaravies, zambas has a large number of followers.
Atahualpa Yupanqui, Ariel Ramirez, Jaime Torres (an excellent charango player), Mercedes Sosa, and groups like Los Chalchaleros have received worldwide recognition.
Now comes the period in which tango originated before or around 1880s. Most likely the tango was born in African-Argentine dance venues attended by compadritos, young men, mostly native born and poor, who liked to dress in slouch hats, loosely tied neckerchiefs and high-heeled boots with knives tucked casually into their belts.
It is written that the tango venues were also attended by young, poor, indigenous men from Argentina who eventually took the dance back to the slaughterhouse district of Buenos Aires, where it was introduced to poor dance venues, bars and brothels.
Groups of men would get together to practice, improvise and innovate, creating new moves and new steps. This approach allowed a rapid development of the dance. The themes always referred to the ordinary man and his problems, the city and memories.
Tango received international recognition in the early 1900s. London, Rome, Berlin and New York are the places were tango became really famous. The most important year in the history of tango is 1913 when everyone wanted to learn tango.
With tango came the change in fashion were the women gave up their victorian dresses for better movements in the dance. Tango was first introduced in Paris by the sons of wealthy families of Argentina. By the 1920s and 1930s tango received worldwide recognition. The dancers and singers travelled throughout the world and appeared in movies.
In the 1950s, tango suffered due to the economic conditions. During this time tango music reflected political feelings. Tango was then started to be considered subversive. The best way to learn Argentina's music is learning by practicing. You can take part in a workshop on Argentina's music or take regular Argentina's music classes.
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