The Cabeceo

We've caught your eye across the milonga. Like any good tango, this starts with consent — nothing optional runs until you say so.Cookies only with your yes. What we store. ·

Skip to content
Tangopedia
Search
Search for “”
Find recordings of “”
OrchestrasSingersSongs
Browse

People

  • Orchestras
  • Orchestras today
  • Singers
  • Composers and lyricists
  • Musicians
  • Dancers
  • Couples

Music

  • Songs A–Z
  • Every recording
  • TangoValsMilonga
  • Radio
  • Tango By Year
  • The cover wall
  • Record labels

Time

  • Years
  • Eras
  • Decades
  • On this day

Places

  • Buenos Aires
  • Cities
  • Milongas tonight
  • Where an orchestra is danced

Events

  • Festivals
  • The Mundial

Ideas

  • Charts and maps
  • Listening lessons
  • New to tango?
  • Glossary
  • The map
ExploreContributeSign in

Term

Cortina

Key facts

A cortina is a short piece of music played between tandas at a milonga to signal that the tanda has ended., La cortina es una pequeña pieza o fragmento de música ligera que separa las tandas de una milonga., and The cortina confirms that the tanda is over, a social signal that it is time to change partners.††† Cortina: La cortina da tiempo para acompañar a la pareja a su mesa al final de la tanda. and Cortinas are used at many milongas in Argentina and Uruguay and increasingly elsewhere.††

In the videos

Moments and chapters of TangoTube's interviews and classes that name it, each opening at its time.

  • 0:31Explains that tandas as we know them, with cortinas, followed a period when ballrooms split time between a live típica (tango) orchestra and a jazz orchestra, each playing sets of about thirty to forty minutes with a changeover; recorded music on 78 rpm shellac discs then took over from live orchestras.Toto Faraldo Tengo una pregunta para vos Pepa Palazon Les tandas

Connected

From TangoTube's videos · our data

Dancers

  • Toto Faraldo
Data: recordings, facts and sources

Glossary meaning3

Glossary meaning A cortina is a short piece of music played between tandas at a milonga to signal that the tanda has ended.

Single source

Glossary meaning La cortina es una pequeña pieza o fragmento de música ligera que separa las tandas de una milonga.

Single source

Glossary meaning The cortina confirms that the tanda is over, a social signal that it is time to change partners.

Single source

Notes2

La cortina da tiempo para acompañar a la pareja a su mesa al final de la tanda.

Single source

Cortinas are used at many milongas in Argentina and Uruguay and increasingly elsewhere.

Single source

Listen

No recordings to play yet.

Ask Tangopedia

Answers only from cited facts, each with its source.

T
Tangopedia

An open, sourced encyclopedia of tango, built from the recordings themselves. Every fact links its source.

Free to read, for everyone. A membership keeps it growing. See the plans

200,142 sourced facts

Explore

  • Explore
  • Random article
  • Years and decades
  • Places
  • Topics
  • The whole map
  • DJs
  • Bibliography
  • Source collections

Contribute

  • Suggest a fact
  • Your activity
  • Suggest a topic
  • Live edits
  • Report a mistake

About

  • How it works
  • How we know
  • For agents and programs
  • Open data & API

Browse

People

  • Orchestras
  • Orchestras today
  • Singers
  • Composers and lyricists
  • Musicians
  • Dancers
  • Couples

Music

  • Songs A–Z
  • Every recording
  • TangoValsMilonga
  • Radio
  • Tango By Year
  • The cover wall
  • Record labels

Time

  • Years
  • Eras
  • Decades
  • On this day

Places

  • Buenos Aires
  • Cities
  • Milongas tonight
  • Where an orchestra is danced

Events

  • Festivals
  • The Mundial

Ideas

  • Charts and maps
  • Listening lessons
  • New to tango?
  • Glossary
  • The map

Our sites

  • TangoTube
  • TangoCloud

Legal

  • Terms
  • Privacy
© 2026 Tangopedia
EnglishEspañol
Every fact links its source