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Tango around the world

Chapter 1 of 22 · 1807–2009

Montevideo

Tango's other shore, where La Cumparsita was first played.

Montevideo

A dancer's tour

The word came early to Montevideo. A resolution of the Cabildo of 26 September 1807 is indexed in the Actas Capitulares under "tango", then a synonym of "tambo" for places where Black people danced.1 The tango took root in the now-vanished Calle Yerbal, in the barrio sur of the Ciudad Vieja and in the barrio Goes.1

On 19 April 1917, at the Confitería La Giralda on Plaza Independencia, Roberto Firpo and his orchestra played La Cumparsita in public for the first time, a tango by the 19-year-old Montevidean Gerardo Matos Rodríguez.2 The Palacio Salvo, inaugurated on 12 October 1928, stands where the café stood, and today the Museo del Tango of Montevideo is on the site.3

In 1998 the Uruguayan parliament declared La Cumparsita the "Himno popular y cultural del Uruguay".2 On 30 September 2009, at the request of Buenos Aires and Montevideo together, UNESCO declared the tango Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.1

The music of these years, most danced first

  1. La cumparsitaJuan D'Arienzosinger unknown
  2. UruguayaAníbal TroiloFrancisco Fiorentino, Alberto Marino
  3. Mi viejo MontevideoJuan D'Arienzosinger unknown

What happened, and where

  1. 1807

    Tango · es.wikipedia.org

  2. 1917

    La cumparsita · es.wikipedia.org

  3. 1917
    Confitería La Giralda

    La cumparsita · es.wikipedia.org

  4. 1928

    Palacio Salvo · es.wikipedia.org

  5. 1998

    La cumparsita · es.wikipedia.org

  6. 2009

    Tango · es.wikipedia.org

  7. 1807
    Montevideo

    Tango · es.wikipedia.org

Where the sources differ

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