Tango Nuevo

Tango nuevo is the modernized form of Argentine tango created by *Ástor Piazzolla* from the 1950s onward. It keeps the bandoneón-led tango ensemble and the genre's rhythmic cells but subjects them to procedures borrowed from jazz and classical music: counterpoint and fugue, extended harmony, sudden tempo changes and improvisation. Piazzolla's aim was concert music rather than dance accompaniment, and his quintet format — bandoneón, violin, piano, electric guitar and double bass — became the style's standard instrumentation. Initially denounced by traditionalists in Argentina, tango nuevo became the internationally dominant form of tango composition.