The Cambridge Companion to Tango

Tango music rapidly became a global phenomenon as early as the

beginning of the twentieth century, with about 30 percent of
gramophone records made between 1903 and 1910 devoted to it. Its
popularity declined between the 1950s and the 1980s but has since risen
to new heights. This Companion offers twenty chapters from varying
perspectives around music, dance, poetry, and interdisciplinary studies,
including numerous visual and audio illustrations in print and on the
accompanying webpages. Its multidisciplinary approach demonstrates
how different disciplines intersect through performative, historical,
ethnographic, sociological, political, and anthropological perspectives.
These thematic continuities illuminate diverse international perspectives
and highlight how the art form flourished in Argentina, Uruguay, and
abroad, while tracing its international and cultural impact over the last
century. This book is an innovative resource for scholars and students of
tango music, particularly those seeking a diverse international
perspective on the subject.

kristin wendland is Professor of Teaching in the Department of

Music at Emory University. With her research partner Kacey Link, she
has coauthored and published Tracing Tangueros: Argentine Tango
Instrumental Music (2016), and articles for Chamber Music Magazine
(2018), Naxos Musicology (2020), and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(2021).
kacey link is an independent scholar and pianist residing in Los
Angeles. With her research partner Kristin Wendland, she has
coauthored and published Tracing Tangueros: Argentine Tango
Instrumental Music (2016), and articles for Chamber Music Magazine
(2018), Naxos Musicology (2020), and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra
(2021).

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 Cambridge Companions to Music

Topics
The Cambridge Companion to Ballet
Edited by Marion Kant
The Cambridge Companion to Blues and Gospel Music
Edited by Allan Moore
The Cambridge Companion to Caribbean Music
Edited by Nanette De Jong
The Cambridge Companion to Choral Music
Edited by André de Quadros
The Cambridge Companion to the Concerto
Edited by Simon P. Keefe
The Cambridge Companion to Conducting
Edited by José Antonio Bowen
The Cambridge Companion to the Drum Kit
Edited by Matt Brennan, Joseph Michael Pignato and Daniel Akira Stadnicki
The Cambridge Companion to Eighteenth-Century Opera
Edited by Anthony R. DelDonna and Pierpaolo Polzonetti
The Cambridge Companion to Electronic Music, second edition
Edited by Nick Collins and Julio D’Escriván
The Cambridge Companion to the “Eroica” Symphony
Edited by Nancy November
The Cambridge Companion to Film Music
Edited by Mervyn Cooke and Fiona Ford
The Cambridge Companion to French Music
Edited by Simon Trezise
The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera
Edited by David Charlton
The Cambridge Companion to Hip-Hop
Edited by Justin A. Williams
The Cambridge Companion to Jazz
Edited by Mervyn Cooke and David Horn
The Cambridge Companion to Jewish Music
Edited by Joshua S. Walden
The Cambridge Companion to K-Pop
Edited by Suk-Young Kim
The Cambridge Companion to Krautrock
Edited by Uwe Schütte
The Cambridge Companion to the Lied
Edited by James Parsons
The Cambridge Companion to The Magic Flute
Edited by Jessica Waldoff

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 The Cambridge Companion to Medieval Music
Edited by Mark Everist
The Cambridge Companion to Metal Music
Edited by Jan-Peter Herbst
The Cambridge Companion to Music and Romanticism
Edited by Benedict Taylor
The Cambridge Companion to Music in Digital Culture
Edited by Nicholas Cook, Monique Ingalls and David Trippett
The Cambridge Companion to the Musical, third edition
Edited by William Everett and Paul Laird
The Cambridge Companion to Opera Studies
Edited by Nicholas Till
The Cambridge Companion to Operetta
Edited by Anastasia Belina and Derek B. Scott
The Cambridge Companion to the Orchestra
Edited by Colin Lawson
The Cambridge Companion to Percussion
Edited by Russell Hartenberger
The Cambridge Companion to Pop and Rock
Edited by Simon Frith, Will Straw and John Street
The Cambridge Companion to Recorded Music
Edited by Eric Clarke, Nicholas Cook, Daniel Leech-Wilkinson and John Rink
The Cambridge Companion to Rhythm
Edited by Russell Hartenberger and Ryan McClelland
The Cambridge Companion to Schubert’s “Winterreise”
Edited by Marjorie W. Hirsch and Lisa Feurzeig
The Cambridge Companion to Serialism
Edited by Martin Iddon
The Cambridge Companion to Seventeenth-Century Opera
Edited by Jacqueline Waeber
The Cambridge Companion to the Singer-Songwriter
Edited by Katherine Williams and Justin A. Williams
The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
Edited by Robin Stowell
The Cambridge Companion to the Symphony
Edited by Julian Horton
The Cambridge Companion to Tango
Edited by Kristin Wendland and Kacey Link
The Cambridge Companion to Twentieth-Century Opera
Edited by Mervyn Cooke
The Cambridge Companion to Video Game Music
Edited by Melanie Fritsch and Tim Summers
The Cambridge Companion to Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen
Edited by Mark Berry and Nicholas Vazsonyi
The Cambridge Companion to Women in Music since 1900
Edited by Laura Hamer

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 Composers
The Cambridge Companion to Bach
Edited by John Butt
The Cambridge Companion to Bartók
Edited by Amanda Bayley
The Cambridge Companion to Amy Beach
Edited by E. Douglas Bomberger
The Cambridge Companion to the Beatles
Edited by Kenneth Womack
The Cambridge Companion to Beethoven
Edited by Glenn Stanley
The Cambridge Companion to Berg
Edited by Anthony Pople
The Cambridge Companion to Berlioz
Edited by Peter Bloom
The Cambridge Companion to Brahms
Edited by Michael Musgrave
The Cambridge Companion to Benjamin Britten
Edited by Mervyn Cooke
The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner
Edited by John Williamson
The Cambridge Companion to John Cage
Edited by David Nicholls
The Cambridge Companion to Chopin
Edited by Jim Samson
The Cambridge Companion to Debussy
Edited by Simon Trezise
The Cambridge Companion to Elgar
Edited by Daniel M. Grimley and Julian Rushton
The Cambridge Companion to Duke Ellington
Edited by Edward Green
The Cambridge Companion to Gershwin
Edited by Anna Celenza
The Cambridge Companion to Gilbert and Sullivan
Edited by David Eden and Meinhard Saremba
The Cambridge Companion to Handel
Edited by Donald Burrows
The Cambridge Companion to Haydn
Edited by Caryl Clark
The Cambridge Companion to Liszt
Edited by Kenneth Hamilton
The Cambridge Companion to Mahler
Edited by Jeremy Barham
The Cambridge Companion to Mendelssohn
Edited by Peter Mercer-Taylor

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 The Cambridge Companion to Monteverdi
Edited by John Whenham and Richard Wistreich
The Cambridge Companion to Mozart
Edited by Simon P. Keefe
The Cambridge Companion to Arvo Pärt
Edited by Andrew Shenton
The Cambridge Companion to Ravel
Edited by Deborah Mawer
The Cambridge Companion to the Rolling Stones
Edited by Victor Coelho and John Covach
The Cambridge Companion to Rossini
Edited by Emanuele Senici
The Cambridge Companion to Schoenberg
Edited by Jennifer Shaw and Joseph Auner
The Cambridge Companion to Schubert
Edited by Christopher Gibbs
The Cambridge Companion to Schumann
Edited by Beate Perrey
The Cambridge Companion to Shostakovich
Edited by Pauline Fairclough and David Fanning
The Cambridge Companion to Sibelius
Edited by Daniel M. Grimley
The Cambridge Companion to Richard Strauss
Edited by Charles Youmans
The Cambridge Companion to Stravinsky
Edited by Jonathan Cross
The Cambridge Companion to Michael Tippett
Edited by Kenneth Gloag and Nicholas Jones
The Cambridge Companion to Vaughan Williams
Edited by Alain Frogley and Aiden J. Thomson
The Cambridge Companion to Verdi
Edited by Scott L. Balthazar
The Cambridge Companion to Wagner
Edited by Thomas S. Grey

Instruments
The Cambridge Companion to Brass Instruments
Edited by Trevor Herbert and John Wallace
The Cambridge Companion to the Cello
Edited by Robin Stowell
The Cambridge Companion to the Clarinet
Edited by Colin Lawson
The Cambridge Companion to the Guitar
Edited by Victor Coelho
The Cambridge Companion to the Harpsichord
Edited by Mark Kroll

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 The Cambridge Companion to the Organ
Edited by Nicholas Thistlethwaite and Geoffrey Webber
The Cambridge Companion to the Piano
Edited by David Rowland
The Cambridge Companion to the Recorder
Edited by John Mansfield Thomson
The Cambridge Companion to the Saxophone
Edited by Richard Ingham
The Cambridge Companion to Singing
Edited by John Potter
The Cambridge Companion to the Violin
Edited by Robin Stowell

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 The Cambridge Companion to Tango

Edited by
kristin wendland
kacey link

Published online by Cambridge University Press

 Shaftesbury Road, Cambridge CB2 8EA, United Kingdom
One Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006, USA
477 Williamstown Road, Port Melbourne, VIC 3207, Australia
314–321, 3rd Floor, Plot 3, Splendor Forum, Jasola District Centre,
New Delhi – 110025, India
103 Penang Road, #05–06/07, Visioncrest Commercial, Singapore 238467

Cambridge University Press is part of Cambridge University Press & Assessment,

a department of the University of Cambridge.
We share the University’s mission to contribute to society through the pursuit of
education, learning and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108838474
DOI: 10.1017/9781108974936
© Cambridge University Press & Assessment 2024
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions
of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take
place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press & Assessment.
First published 2024
A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Wendland, Kristin, 1956– editor. | Link, Kacey, 1981– editor.
Title: The Cambridge companion to tango / Edited by Kristin Wendland and Kacey Link
Other titles: Companion to tango
Description: New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2024. | Series: CCMC Cambridge
companions to music | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2023042943 (print) | LCCN 2023042944 (ebook) | ISBN 9781108838474
(hardback) | ISBN 9781108971423 (paperback) | ISBN 9781108974936 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Tango (Dance) – History. | Tango dancers. | Tango musicians. |
Performance practice (Music) | Tango (Dance) – Social aspects. | Tango (Dance) – History –
Cross-cultural studies.
Classification: LCC GV1796.T3 C27 2024 (print) | LCC GV1796.T3 (ebook) | DDC 793.3/
309–dc23/eng/20230921
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023042943
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023042944
ISBN 978-1-108-83847-4 Hardback
ISBN 978-1-108-97142-3 Paperback
Cambridge University Press & Assessment has no responsibility for the persistence
or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this
publication and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain,
accurate or appropriate.

Published online by Cambridge University Press