Tango primarily describes the national dance of Argentina, but it is also the term for an elegant and sensual song and dance music. It became internationally popular in the 1910s and a variety of styles appeared, but the basis of them all remains the tango argentino, Argentina's premier musical export.
The roots of tango lie in the 19th-century slums of Buenos Aires. Rural Argentines had their milonga —the music of the gaucho—but in the cities they joined the immigrant population...