If you go and see an Argentine tango orchestra, there's a good chance that one or more musicians

on stage will be playing an instrument called a bandoneone.

It may look like a concertina or maybe a small accordion, but it's not the bandoneone

is its own whole thing and it's not easy to play.

Welcome to Strong Songs, a podcast about music.

I'm your host Kirk Hamilton and I'm so glad that you've joined me.

To talk about music played on accordion, music played on concertina, and on today's

episode, music played on the bandoneone.

Those synthesizers mean it's time for me to tell you that Strong Songs is entirely

listener supported, their links for PayPal, Patreon, and more are down in the show notes.

Each person who signs up really does make a difference, so if you like this show, I hope

you'll consider chipping in, becoming a patron, and helping me keep this thing going.

I'm so excited for today's episode, it's one that I've wanted to make for a long time.

We're going to be exploring the tango, one of the most exciting and interesting musical

styles out there, and true to tango music and tango dance, I'm not going to do it alone.

So let's put on our stilettos, find ourselves a partner, and hit the floor.

I will never forget the moment when I first registered tango as a style of music, a style

of dance that I might be interested in.

It was 1994, I was 14 years old, and I was in the movie theater watching Arnold Schwarzenegger

do his best James Bond parody in James Cameron's action comedy True Lies.

So Schwarzenegger's spy hero has undercovered a diplomatic function.

You're the beginning of the movie, and he finds himself face to face with Tia Carrera's

...