Tango: Sex and Rhythm of the City

by Mike Gonzalez, Marianella Yanes

Born on the unlit streets of Buenos Aires, tango was inspired by the music of European immigrants who crossed the ocean to Argentina, lured by the promise of a better life. It found its home in the city’s marginal districts, where it was embraced and shaped by young men who told stories of prostitutes, petty thieves, and disappointed lovers through its music and movements. Chronicling the stories told through tango’s lyrics, Mike Gonzalez and Marianella Yanes reveal in Tango how the dance went from slumming it in the brothels and cabarets of lower-class Buenos Aires to the ballrooms of Paris, London, Berlin, and beyond.

 
Tracing the evolution of tango, Gonzalez and Yanes set its music, key figures, and the dance itself in their place and time. They describe how it was not until Paris went crazy for tango just before World War I that it became acceptable for middle-class Argentineans to perform the seductive dance, and they explore the renewed enthusiasm with which each new generation has come to it. Telling the sexy, enthralling story of this stylish and dramatic dance, Tango is a book for casual fans and ballroom aficionados alike.

Genres: Music

216 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Mike Gonzalez (born 1943) is a British historian and literary critic, who was Professor of Latin American Studies in the Hispanics Department of the University of Glasgow.

He has written widely on Latin America, especially Cuba and the Cuban Revolution of 1959. Gonzalez characterizes Cuba as a state-capitalist economy rather than socialist.

A long-time member of the British Socialist Workers Party, he testified in Tommy Sheridan's defence at the Sheridan defamation trial and HM Advocate v Sheridan and Sheridan. Gonzalez is also a member of Solidarity - Scotland's Socialist Movement, the party Sheridan formed after the split in the Scottish Socialist Party.

Reviews

[Josh · Rating 3 out of 5]

An enjoyable look at the dance from a social perspective. I learned the path the dance took to becoming an international sensation, and some parts of the setting: instrumentation, lyrics(!), and the social dynamics of this dance.

[Mills College Library]

793.33 G6436 2013