The orquesta tipica, the tango orchestra is made up of Bandoneóns, violins, piano, bass and someitmes guitar. The Bandoneón is the key to the tango sound. It was originally intended as an instrument for religious and popular music of the day in Germany. German sailors and emigrants to Argentina brought the instrument with them in the late nineteenth century. Read the bandoneón section of this page to learn more about this facinating instrument.

In the first years of the 20th century the first tangos were written like "El Choclo" and "La Morocha". Recording came in the 1910s and older songs, like "La Cumparsita" were arranged as tangos. Gardel recorded his first tango "Mi Noche Triste" in 1917, and became an enormous force in popularising tango. Early orchestras (pre 1920s) include Firpo, Fresedo and Canaro. In the 1920s two streams of music developed: the 'traditional', exemplified by Canaro, which concentrated on the rhythm and dancability, and the 'evolutionary', led by Julio de Caro and his brothers who explored harmony, melody, the fraseo, and created the modern sextet. These two steams continued into the Golden Age of Tango in the 1940s and 50s. The most popular bandleaders and composers in the traditional stream are Canaro, Tanturi and D'Arienzo, Biagi and De Angelis. The evolutionary school was developed by Troilo, one of the greatest composers and bandoneon players. We also find in this category, Carlo Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese, Miguel Caló, Salgan, Gobi, Piazzola, Francini and Pontier.

As the music developed it became less rigidly rhythmic, more harmonic and melodic. The melody across the underlying rythmn, became a central part of tango. Many interwoven layers of music can be picked out and danced to each with their own rhythm and feeling. However the orchestras generally kept the underlying time steady, except for maybe catching the dancers out sometimes with breaks and unexpected endings. The 'traditional' orchestras (e.g. Canaro, D'Arienzo) played it simple and pleased the dancers. Composers and players, in the evolutionary school such as Pugliese, Salgan and Piazzola were more interested in the music, and played for listening. Their music introduces spectacular pauses and accelerations. It was originally shunned by dancers, who thought it impossible to dance to. Of all modern tango musicians, Piazzola is the best known, and the person who tackled it musically, introducing new sounds and concepts. Born in New York, and trained classically, his music is often completely un-danceble in a salon, but he never intended it to be.

Back Stage with the Electro Tango band Otros Aires during their world tour in 2008. For their stop in Québec City, Francis and Nancy Bussière from L'avenue Tango in Québec city performed live on their music. The shows were at gorgeous "Théatre L'Impérial" the on the 24th and 25th of April.