Tango is one of the most genuine and original cultural expressions of the Río de la Plata. Born from the fusion of musical traditions of African origin and European and Creole rhythms and instruments, it is a faithful witness of the cultural history of the region.
The gestation of tango took place in both Buenos Aires and Montevideo. A tangible example is the work “La Morocha” composed in Buenos Aires in 1905 by the Uruguayan Enrique Saborido, and “Mi Noche Triste”, written in Montevideo by the Argentine Pascual Contursi in 1916.
Tango was declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in September 2009.
This music, which emerged at the end of the 19th century in the slums of Montevideo and Buenos Aires, has come a long way. Today tango is danced all over the world and international competitions are held. When we talk about tango we refer at the same time to the dance, the song and the musical genre itself. It is therefore a purely urban expression and one of the most genuine and original cultural manifestations of the Río de la Plata.

Tango was born as a popular dance with musical accompaniment. Later, music and lyrics became its protagonists, but this did not mean the abandonment of the original choreography of the dance, basically formed by the embrace of the couple with very sensual and complex steps.

From the appearance of the orchestra, lyrics or tango as a song began to have a remarkable boom, with creations of high poetic value, especially those written in the 1940s. As for the style, we could group the lyrics into comic, dramatic, humorous or lyrical. The songs speak of love feelings, peasant, urban, social, satirical and even philosophical themes. The great diversity of the language used in the songs shows the influence of different cultural traditions and also to a cultural phenomenon coming from low strata that gradually captivated enthusiasts of all social classes.

In its beginnings, tango music was performed only with flute, guitar and violin. With the passage of time and the consolidation of the genre, the “sextet” or “typical orchestra” will appear to become the classic form of tango interpretation. The “sextet” is composed of piano, two bandoneons, two violins and double bass. The orchestra can also consist of more instruments. The introduction of the bandoneon did not take place until the beginning of the 20th century, but it became an essential element.

In fact, tango is an authentically rioplatense product and son of miscegenation. Both countries, Uruguay and Argentina, which in the second half of the 19th century, when we were separated by only a few tens of years of having been part of the same viceroyalty, received more immigration than the number of inhabitants born in the place. Tango is an authentic result of this situation on both banks of the Río de la Plata. And as such, it was submitted by both countries to the Intangible Heritage of Humanity List, and confirmed by Unesco in 2009.

The tango is typically urban and the way of dancing it is recognized all over the world for its sensuality. The internationalization of the tango, which in principle was the result of the travels of Rioplatense musicians around the world, installed variants of tango in different countries of the world, as is the case of Finland, which contributed its own version with a form of tango with minor tones and where Seinajöki is considered the third city of tango after Montevideo and Buenos Aires.

This tango, which has been the soundtrack of countless films, was first performed on a street corner in Montevideo by Gerardo Mattos Rodríguez. Undoubtedly, it is the most known and interpreted tango in the world. But Uruguay has registered 17,000 tangos and has produced hundreds of poets, musicians and dancers who have written, created and performed on both sides of the Río de la Plata pieces that have traveled the world.