The birth of the Tango
The birth of the Tango is closely linked to Buenos Aires' rapid growth during the second half of the XIX century. In 1850 Argentina, five times as large as France, is a near empty country with 800,000 inhabitants only. A large scale immigration, almost exclusively made up of Europeans, mostly Italians, starts towards 1860 and only stops 15 years after World War II. By 1870, hundreds of thousands of immigrants cram near the port and in the suburbs of Buenos Aires (the city population grows from 187,000 inhabitants in 1870 to 663,000 in 1895). Contemporaneously, gauchos leave pampas, as estates are now fenced in. These few domestic exiles mix with Europeans exiles, sharing the misery of the have-nots of the Old World. Immigrants come themselves and have to wait for years before families can join them.
This world of single men hangs around bordellos, the only organized "community centers" of the suburbs, upon which country's political leaders have no hold. "Law" and order is enforced by pimps, corrupt cops and machos of every description. The fillies de joie are brought from inland, and later, "imported" from Europe ( Poland, Hungary). This melting pot gives birth to the first tango, developed from 1870 to 1890, a dance full of drive and fight rather than sentiment. Tangoing with a taxi dancer costs a few cents. Say Blas Matamoro in his History of Tango: the main purpose of the tango i to mime sexual intercourse between the pimp and his protégée, and it is mostly danced by brothel's patrons.
The Tango may also conjure up macho's street-fights. Men often dance it with each other to celebrate, or for lack of women.
