The Tango Machine: Musical Culture in the Age of Expediency

233 Pages·2016·1.281 MB·English

by  Morgan James Luker

The Tango Machine
CHICAGO STUDIES IN ETHNOMUSICOLOGY
A series edited by Philip V. Bohlman, Ronald
Radano, and Timothy Rommen
EDITORIAL BOARD
Margaret J. Kartomi
Bruno Nettl
Anthony Seeger
Kay Kaufman Shelemay
Martin H. Stokes
Bonnie C. Wade
The Tango Machine
Musical Culture in the Age
of Expediency
MORGAN JAMES LUKER
The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
MORGAN JAMES LUKER is associate professor of music at Reed
College in Portland, Oregon.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2016 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2016.
Printed in the United States of America
25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5
ISBN-1 3: 978- 0-2 26-3 8540-2 (cloth)
ISBN-1 3: 978- 0-2 26-3 8554- 9 (paper)
ISBN-1 3: 978- 0-2 26-3 8568- 6 (e- book)
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226385686.001.0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Luker, Morgan James, author.
Title: The tango machine : musical culture in the age of expediency /
Morgan James Luker.
Other titles: Chicago studies in ethnomusicology.
Description: Chicago ; London : The University of Chicago Press,
2016. | Series: Chicago studies in ethnomusicology
Identifi ers: LCCN 2015049862 | ISBN 9780226385402 (cloth :
alk. paper) | ISBN 9780226385549 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN
9780226385686 (e-book)
Subjects: LCSH: Tangos—Argentina—History and criticism. | Popular
music—Argentina.
Classifi cation: LCC ML3465 .L85 2016 | DDC 784.18/8850982—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015049862
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992
(Permanence of Paper).
For my parents, with gratitude,
and to my kids, with love.

Me, a prophet? No!
I’m a worker like any other,
nothing more and nothing less. [. . .]
I’m nothing special,
a screw in the tango machine.
OSVALDO PUGLIESE (1905– 1995)

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Introduction: On the Values of Music in
Expedient Argentina 1
1 Expedient Soundings: The Genre Culture
of Contemporary Tango Music 33
2 Contemporary Tango and the Cultural Politics
of música popular 64
3 Tango among the Nonprofi t Arts 90
4 Tango as Part of the Intangible Cultural Heritage
of Humanity 120
5 “This Is Going to Be Good for All of Us”:
Tango and the Cultural Industries 148
Conclusion: He Sings Better Every Day:
Musical Culture in the Age of Expediency 174
Notes 187 Bibliography 197 Index 211