David Thomas - The Tango Pioneers Vol. 2

David Thomas

Get to Know - The Tango Pioneers Vol. 2
Celebration of Tango Argentino: 1910 to 1919

 
221 pages, Softcover, 2024

For over ten years, retired British intelligence officer David Thomas has been intensively researching the history and music of tango argentino. With the three volumes of his series The Tango Pioneers, each just under 200 pages long and published in 2023, he now ventures into the origins, genesis and early years of Tango Argentino before 1935 - in other words, the time before the beginning of the Golden Age.

Volume 2, 'Celebration of Tango Argentino (1910-1919)', is structured in the same way as the first volume. Dancing is now illustrated by Davis in a lively and entertaining way in a separate chapter, primarily using Argentinean, European and American dance instructions.

One of the volumes' strengths is particularly helpful in these chapters dedicated to the musicians: Davis has compiled audio examples on his YouTube channel, which can be accessed via QR codes, so that you can very quickly form your own opinion of the pioneering days of the tango.
(Review by Olli Eyding in Tangodanza 100 - 4.2024)