The origin of the word TANGO

Although the origin of the word “tango” is still a matter of discussion, the most accepted hypothesis indicates that it has its roots in the African languages of the enslaved people of Angola, Congo and Sudan brought to South America between the 16^th and the 18^th century, during the Colonial Period. At first, “tangó” designated the place where the African natives were imprisoned before they were shipped to their destination; later the term came to refer to the places where black people gathered to sing and dance in their exile. By extension, “tangó” would have become the word to designate the popular music played in brothels and taverns, environment where tango, as a specific music and dance genre, would be born at the end of the 19^th century.

            These words with an African origin (“tango”, “milonga”, “canyengue”) remind the legacy of one of the roots that shaped the popular culture of Buenos Aires. 

SOUTH AMERICAN BLACK PEOPLE
DANCING AND SINGING