If you are just getting started in tango dancing, you probably are wondering where to buy music to practice to. This page will point you in a few good directions for good tango music that is suitable for dancing.
Streaming Sites
If you want to find tango music suitable for dancing on a streaming site, such as Pandora, Spotify, or Apple Music, search for the following orchestra leaders, who had the most popular dance bands during tango’s “Golden Age” (1935-55). We still play music from these artists for tango dancing, because no contemporary musicians have yet to equal them.
- Juan D’Arienzo
- Francisco Canaro
- Juan Di Sarli
- Anibal Troilo
- Osvaldo Pugliese
- Angel D’Agostino
- Rodolfo Biagi
- Edgardo Donato
- Miguel Calo
- Osvaldo Fresedo
- Enrique Rodriguez
Buying CDs
My current recommendation for a first CD is the following. Click the image to sample it on Amazon.com.
Other People’s Recommendation
Local Library
- Champaign Public Library has some tango music in their lending collection.
- And the U of I Music Library has a collection of more than 90 classic tango CDs that they do lend out. Here are my recommendations for what to listen to from this CD collection.
- U of I Library also allows streaming of some of their tango music collection (requires login).
Radio
- argentinetangoradio.com/ (Programmed by Balazs Gyenis, Budapest. The only online tango radio 100% dedicated to danceable tangos.)
Other
This archive page of music topics my old blog “The Topic is Tango” has some choice items of musical interest collected over several years. I will consolidate these things on a new page soon, but they are worth digging through now.