Various Artists - Bailemos Tango!: A Century of Tango on the Dance Floor

The popularity of tango comes and goes, but the "vertical expression of horizontal desire" has remained synonymous with passion, unrequited love, and nostalgia for more than a century. Popularized by Rudolph Valentino and Carlos Gardel, and more recently by Madonna and Julio Iglesias, and often celebrated by Hollywood and Broadway, the tango has been reinterpreted continuously with less fanfare by old and young musicians in Buenos Aires and beyond. Eschewing well-known tangos like "La Cumparsita" for more obscure selections that illustrate the varied styles of tango, Bailemos Tango! elegantly demonstrates how tango music has evolved from the 1920s through today. Compiled by a team of Argentine tango dancers and aficionados, the 19-track CD has a rich sound that is rootsy, not slick. It opens with a '20s instrumental number by Uruguayan bandleader Miguel Villasboas in the style of canyegue, a flamboyant rhythm danced with bent knees.

Subsequent tracks highlight the disparate musical styles that make up the tango: the Cuban-influenced milonga, the African beat of candombé, and the tango ballad, or canción, illustrated here by "Yira-Yira," one of Gardel's more obscure recordings. Other well-known talents included here are famed 1940s bandoleón player Aníbal Troilo, expressive pianist Osvaldo Pugliese, and tango modernist Astor Piazzolla. Bailemos Tango! ends with a contemporary tango played by Tangata Rea, a group of young Argentine musicians set on reviving the music and dance for their generation. As its title suggests, Bailemos Tango! will enrich the repertoire of dedicated dancers. For nondancers, it provides a sentimental education in the tango art, nice for quiet evenings at home with loved ones, but more appropriate for evenings spent yearning for them. --Judy Cantor Amazon.com

Good selection but maybe to many milongas

This album is supposed to be a tango dancing compilation, but actually it has more milongas and quick dances than formal tangos, is not bad if you like argentinian music, but you might expect more tangos. January 3, 2007

Tango review

This Cd has a nice selections of various tango beats like slow tango milonga and tango waltz February 4, 2006

Must buy this CD

I am very choosy when I pick my CD's. This one is a tango dancer's absolute must, in addition to the soundtrack to the "Tango" movie. February 28, 2005

A Tango Dancer's Tango CD -- must buy!

This compact disk is an invitation to dancers. It says "Let's Dance Tango! " In actuality, it is an anthology of danceable tango music with representation various periods of the 20th Century. It is compelling music. My wife wanted to dance in with me in the kitchen when she first heard «Luz Verde», a milonga by Luis Villasboas y su Orquesta Típica. The names of the performers are known to all tangeros, and include the great musicians in a range that includes Carlos Gardel, Anibal Troilo, Astor Piazzola, Osvaldo Pugliese, and the contemporary group Trio Pantango. A variety of styles of tango is presented, from the traditional Argentine tangos well suitable for dancing in close embrace to peppy milongas, a candombé, and an tango vals (tango waltz).

Tango is a music form that has evolved in the 20th Century. It is an organic, growing form that reflects the history of the people of Argentina and Uruguay and is influenced by other forces in world music. This CD brings together the good danceable music covering the 20th Century. I must confess that I am one of those "tango junkies" who will take a CD to wedding receptions, to the VFW dances, and to Sunday afternoon dances at a Masonic hall to request the music I love to dance to. This is the CD I take to those dances. Most disc jockeys will not let you have a whole set of four tangos, but they will let you have perhaps one or two tangos during the evening. My choice of tangos is on this disk. You will like this disk even if you are not a true milongero. You don't have to be a porteño to love this music. It is sweet, sensuous, sexy, romantic, and just all-around good for easy listening. September 23, 2000

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