This situation reminds me, of course, of the trouble Astor Piazzolla had with his brand of tango. The animosity that his music engendered speaks of the passion that Argentines share for the tango. Yet nowadays nobody but the most recalcitrant dinosaurs would dare call Piazzolla’s music anything other than tango.

But according to the Latin Academy’s rules, he would be not be admitted into the tango category: imagine, he used an electric guitar, hardly a traditional tango instrument at the time he introduced it. That’s 20% of his quintet’s orchestration! Piazzolla’s rhythmic concept, while rooted in tango, was entirely his own.

Well, let’s say it was only about 45% tango, being generous and the rest is in his particular non-danceable beat (ask around in the tango dance halls what they think of Piazzolla as tango dance music). His compositions? Well, he mostly wrote his own, unlike traditional artists, who rearrange from the standard repertoire, as I did on my CD. Piazzolla’s main influences were BГ©la BartГіk, JS Bach, Igor Stravinsky and Gerry Mulligan and so on. Mr.

Piazzolla, it’s clear, would not be in the tango category, according to the LARAS experts.