Tango y Cultura Popular ® English Edition TyCP Special | Page 8

by Héctor Negro The capability to evolve and renew through different periods has been one of Tango’s fundamental and permanent characteristics, which has allowed it to be updated according to changes and people’s sensibility. This is well known by those who distinguish the representative expressions of each epoch and the course of their evolution. Even the genre’s most common devotees and habitual listeners of its expressions can notice the variety of styles and expressive forms in the instrumental as well as the sung aspect. What isn’t usually highlighted, is that from its early stages, each contribution, each attempt to change, caused the consequential criticism and rejections from the moment’s “conservatism”. Testimonies abound in this regard and such questions have existed ever since Tango was born and consolidated its rhythm and structure. One of the most shaken arguments was the preservation of the “essence”, without clarifying what that “essence” actually meant, which on the other hand, was in constant change, as Tango itself was constantly changing. On Tango essence 08