From the Brothels of Argentina to the World Stage: The Complicated History of Tango
Latino USA
My Cultura, Futuro and iHeartPodcasts
4.8 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 10 October 2025
⏱️ 44 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Tango usually evokes images of a very regal couple: a man in a suit and a woman in a tight red dress, embraced in sensual moves. But the reality of the quintessential Argentinian music genre is strikingly different. Tango, in fact, was born in the brothels and dance halls of Buenos Aires’ lower cast and is rooted in Argentina’s African and queer subcultures. In this episode we’ll take you on a journey through tango’s history. It was first condemned by the elites and the Catholic church, threatened by the worldwide phenomenon of rock n’ roll, and buried by Argentina’s last military dictatorship. But then, in the 1980s and 1990s, it saw a revival. More recently, it’s being reclaimed by the very marginalized communities that first embraced it.
Latino USA is the longest-running news and culture radio program in the U.S., centering Latino stories and hosted by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Maria Hinojosa.
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Transcript
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