Tango is truly “many things to many people”: a dance, a song, a window on history; poetry, a brand, a symbol of the Argentine nation, a vivid manifestation of nostalgia; an experiment, a global cultural commodity, a mystery. The editor of this diverse collection notes in the introduction that “there are few popular cultural forms so thoroughly interdisciplinary as the tango” (p. 2), and the essays in this rich and multifaceted volume demonstrate the truth of that statement. Marilyn Miller sets the stage by first tracing tango's history through some well-worn facts about its origins as well as many other more enlightening contextual elements. This is a book to read carefully and to savor for each essay's distinctive take on the contemporary tango.
Tango Lessons consists of eight largely complementary chapters of broad range: a discussion of the “privileged space” (p. 33) of lunfardo in tango (by Oscar Conde); an...
