The Golden Age of Tango in Argentina was a time of prosperity – Argentina was among the wealthiest nations in the world – and a time when culture, the arts, music and literature flourished.

One of the earliest orchestras was led by Julio De Caro. De Caro was one of the first to produce the 4x4 sound that is a hallmark of Golden Age Tango and he was inspiration for many of those who followed including Pugliese, Troilo and Piazzolla.

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History has many Golden Ages - times when a culture is at it's peak. The Golden Age of Greece was from about 500 to 300 BC when the great monuments, art, philosophy, architecture and literature blossomed. The period for the Song and Tang dynasties in China (618 to 1280) is commonly referred to by historians as China’s Golden Age. The Golden Age of Couture is widely recognized as the years from 1947 to 1957 when the couture houses of Paris and London became the fashion capitals of the world.

Hollywood's Golden Age mirrors tango's

Perhaps the best analogy with tango music is the Golden Age of Hollywood,  when Hollywood movies were made by the dozen by the large studios. Generally said to begin with 'The Jazz Singer' in 1927 this movie was closely followed by such perennial greats as 'The Wizard of Oz', 'Gone with the Wind', 'Wuthering Heights', 'Ninotchka', 'Casablanca', 'King Kong' and 'Top Hat'. The Hollywood studio system declined in the late 1940s and died off with the arrival of television and legislation in the US that prevented the studios from owning their own theatres with exclusivity rights.

Christine Denniston , tango historian, writes “1935 is seen as the beginning of the Golden Age of Tango, and the next decade was one of astounding creativity on every front”.  The separation of the music and tango which began in the late 1940s, she says, was dealt a final blow in 1955 with the coup that ousted Perón.

Watch the dancers as the orchestra of Julio de Caro plays in this clip from the film ‘Las Luces de Bueno Aires’ – this is also an opportunity to see one of the earliest and best tango orchestras to make their mark on the Golden Age.

 

A recognised era

Many of the recognised leaders in playing, dancing, teaching and performing tango music today honour the Golden Age. A Google search on “Golden Age of Tango” brings up over 1.5 million results including::

• Stephen Brown whose website Tejastango is an indispensable guide to the beginner tango DJ. He  categorises the music using Golden Age to describe the orchestras from De Caro to Pugliese;

• Live365 Tango Radio who describe their playlist as “from early tango through Golden Age to contemporary…”;

• Argentinian author Horacio Ferrer who has written one of the most comprehensive books about tango titled ‘The Golden Age of Tango: An Illustrated Compendium of its History’.

The legacy of Pugliese

Osvaldo Pugliese formed his first orchestra in 1939 by which time he had played with many of the great musicians of the time, including Francisca 'Paquita' Bernado, who was the first popular female bandeon player. He also performed with Firpo, Maffia and Alfredo Gobbi.  In this clip you can enjoy Pugliese performing in the Opera Theatre in Buenos Aires in 1987. By this time he is greatly loved and honoured in the world of tango music. Here he is playing the beautiful waltz 'Desde El Alma'

The legacy of the Golden Age of Tango Music

The heyday of tango orchestras was a time when Argentina was a prosperous country. Musicians prospered, orchestras were created and disbanded with many of the leading players forming their own orchestras, movie stars danced tango - and those who loved to dance, and listen to tango, were spoilt for choice when it came to enjoying tango music. 

Those dancing tango today are enormously fortunate that so many of the tango orchestras of the Golden Age recorded their music and that much of this music is available.

Tango’s Golden Age has left a legacy of music that orchestras and musicians since have built on but we still return to this music of this period time and again because it is the essence of tango.

 

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