The 1950s saw enormous changes in popular music. In the US, rock and roll displaced an enormous number of popular genres, from yodelling to ballads. Outside the US, rock and roll also shifted local music off the stage. In Argentina,

In the last article in this series, we looked at how Tan Dun turned to his roots for inspiration when composing his first composition. In the same manner – though around four decades earlier – the Argentinean composer Astor Piazzolla

With his marriage to Dedé Wolff in serious trouble, Astor Piazzolla was finding solace in the arms of other women. “I am now seeing a youngish lass, divine,” he told a friend. The affair with the “youngish lass” was short-lived

Odetta Maria Wolff, affectionately known as Dedé, first laid eyes on Astor Piazzolla at a tea party in September 1940. She was not impressed at all, and found him “a rather ugly boy, round faced, who paid more attention to

Tango Revolution Without the shadow of a doubt, Astor Piazzolla (1921-1992) is the single most important figure in the history of the tango! While Carlos Gardel and Ángel Villoldo are credited with creating the “tango canción”—a subgenre that realistically reflected

Lasting around forty years with the glorious peak in the 1940s, a Golden Age of tango music was born with the rise of the “big four” composers: Juan D’Arienzo, Aníbal Troilo, Carlo di Sarli, and Osvaldo Pugliese. While Juan D’

Welcome on board! Let’s continue our musical journey in the second largest metropolitan area in South America and the capital of Argentina – Buenos Aires. I talked of the “big four” in the Golden Age of tango music between the

Histoire du Tango: III. Nightclub 1960 From Astor Piazzolla: Escualo (2015) Released by Harmonia Mundi Piazzolla: Histoire du Tango: III. Nightclub 1960A musical ambassador. The name of Astor Piazzolla is synonymous with the word tango. A musical ambassador who carried