Italian-Australian Musicians, ‘Argentino’ Tango Bands and the Australian Tango Band Era
2011 © John Whiteoak, Context 35/36 (2010/2011): 93–110. Italian-Australian Musicians, ‘Argentino’ Tango Bands and the Australian Tango Band Era John Whiteoak For more than two decades from the commencement of Italian mass migration to Australia post-World War II, Italian-Australian affinity with Hispanic music was dynamically expressed through the immense popularity of Latin-American inflected dance music within the Italian communities, and the formation of numerous ‘Italian-Latin’ bands with names like Duo Moreno, El Bajon, El Combo Tropicale, Estrellita, Mambo, Los Amigos, Los Muchachos, Mokambo, Sombrero, Tequila and so forth. For venue proprietors wanting to offer live ‘Latin- American’ music, the obvious choice was to hire an Italian band. Even today, if one attends an Italian community gala night or club dinner-dance, the first or second dance number is likely to be a cha-cha-cha, mambo, tango, or else a Latinised Italian hit song played and sung in a way that is unmistakably Italian-Latin—to a packed dance floor. This article is the fifteenth in a series of publications relating to a major monograph project, The Tango Touch: ‘Latin’ and ‘Continental’ Influences on Music and Dance before Australian ‘Multiculturalism.’1 The present article explains how the Italian affinity for Hispanic music was first manifested in Australian popular culture in the form of Italian-led ‘Argentino tango,’ ‘gaucho-tango,’ ‘Gypsy-tango,’ ‘rumba,’ ‘cosmopolitan’ or ‘all-nations’ bands, and through individual talented and entrepreneurial Italian-Australians who were noted for their expertise in Hispanic and related musics. It describes how a real or perceived Italian affinity with Hispanic and other so-called ‘tango band music’ opened a gateway to professional opportunity for various Italian-Australians, piano accordionists in particular.
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