Tango is a partner dance born in late-19th-century buenos aires from a fusion of european, african, and creole influences.
Tango originated in the immigrant neighbourhoods of Buenos Aires and Montevideo in the 1880s, fusing the Cuban habanera, the Andalusian tango, the Argentine milonga, and the rhythmic traditions of formerly enslaved Africans. Initially associated with the city's brothels and working-class dance halls, tango migrated to Europe via touring Argentine musicians around 1910 and became a Parisian craze, then a global one. The bandoneón — a German-invented button accordion — became the music's signature voice. The 1930s and 1940s were the 'Golden Age': orchestras led by Carlos di Sarli, Aníbal Troilo, and Juan D'Arienzo filled enormous dance halls. Astor Piazzolla's 'tango nuevo' from the 1960s onward took the form into the concert hall, controversially among traditionalists. Today, the social dance is alive in milongas across Buenos Aires and from Tokyo to Berlin; UNESCO inscribed it on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2009.