Books about Argentine Tango

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This is a good place to start your search for tango books if you are dancing Argentine Tango and want to read more about it. 

Or are you looking for gift ideas for tango dancers, newbies, or do you wanna treat yourself? These tango books might be exactly what you are looking for in order to create happy faces not only under the Christmas tree.

You are only thinking about starting to dance Argentine Tango. “Strictly come dancing” has definitely a motivational effect on people in the UK and other countries to start learning Argentine tango.

With this series of blog posts: “Where to find …” I wanna help you to find your tango equipment (tango shoes, tango clothes, tango accessories, tango books & films and more).

Tango Resources – a Blog Post Series

The tango marketplace is a growing one. It might be possible that your favourite tango book is missing. In that case please drop me a line via info@movingexperience.eu. I am happy to add more books.

If you are selling/writing tango books I am happy to add yours in exchange for a back link and LIKES on Facebook (Tango DJ Bärbel Rücker & Moving Experience). Thank you in advance.

Explore more Information about Argentine tango »

Most of the links are Amazon Affiliate links which means that if you make a purchase through the link, I will get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

Tango Books by Michael Lavocah

With Tango Stories Michael Lavocah created a new genre of tango writing, an overview of the tango music of the Golden Age written for the dancer. It was rapidly embraced by the tango community all over the world as the dancer’s guide to tango music.

This book is available in four languages: English, German, French and Spanish. Turkish is in preparation.

Tango Stories: Musical Secrets

Michael Lavocah: Tango Stories: Musical Secrets
Paperback – 13 Dec 2014

In this unique book, Michael Lavocah takes you on a compelling journey through tango music. He introduces the key individuals who shaped tango history, telling their stories in a series of lively vignettes. Engaging, entertaining and passionate, Tango Stories: Musical Secrets has been embraced by tango dancers around the world as the definitive guide to tango dance music.

Tango Masters by Michael Lavocah

Tango Masters is a series of books by Michael Lavocah exploring the great dance orchestras of tango’s golden age. Troilo, Pugliese and Di Sarli are released, and D’Arienzo is scheduled for 2019. 

Explore the Tango Masters series »

Michael Lavocah: Tango Masters: Anibal Troilo: Volume 1. Paperback – 31 Jul 2014

In this book, the first in a series called Tango Masters, Michael Lavocah (author of Tango Stories, Musical Secrets) explains Troilo’s music to the modern dancing public. He introduces the musicians in the orchestra, helping you to hear them within the music, and then takes you through the dance recordings, paying special attention to the relationship between the music and the lyrics – a key factor to understanding this orchestra. Incorporating an invaluable discography, ‘Tango Masters: Aníbal Troilo’ allows the reader to follow Troilo’s journey as his music grows in sophistication, learning how to listen, and thus to feel, with more understanding and depth.

Michael Lavocah: Tango Masters: Osvaldo Pugliese: Volume 2. Paperback – 8 Sep 2016

This is Michael Lavocah’s second volume of the series Tango Masters, which explores the music of the great orchestras of tango’s Golden Age in depth.

Dive into the life and work of Osvaldo Pugliese. 

Osvaldo Pugliese (1905-1995) created a new style of tango music that was beautiful, warm and powerful – the most passionate and intense that tango has ever known. He formed his orchestra in 1939 from a cell in Argentina’s most notorious political prison. Standing firm against decades of persecution for his communist beliefs, he eventually led his musicians and his devoted fans alike to a triumphant night at one of the world’s grandest opera house.

Michael Lavocah: Tango Masters: Carlos Di Sarli: Volume 3. Paperback – 27 May 2018

After eighteen months of hard work, volume 3 of Tango Masters is here!

Carlos Di Sarli created the most elegant tango music ever known. Uniquely amongst the great orchestras, his final recordings are loved as much or even more than his early ones. Great waves of melody create a majestic feeling, although the music remains at heart quite simple, a combination which makes it a favourite of those who love to dance. Whilst the melody is carried by the violins, the heart of the orchestra is the piano of Carlos Di Sarli himself.

Tango Masters, Carlos Di Sarli tells the story of the man and his music. Listening guides to almost a hundred of Di Sarli’s songs help you to appreciate, love and dance to this beautiful and elegant music.

David Thomas

Getting To Know: Twenty Tango Orchestras by David Thomas and Marion Greenwood
Paperback – 1 Oct 2016

If you are interested in Argentine Tango and wanna know more about the different tango orchestras, David Thomas’ book is a good start. He will talk you through the main 20 orchestras you will be dancing to at the milongas. His style is entertaining and he offers playlists too.

Clive Harrison

Tango 500: A suggested library of five hundred tango songs arranged into tandas for dancing by Clive Harrison. Paperback – 3 Apr 2018

This book is about traditional tango dance music – that is, the music recorded by dance orchestras in Argentina between the late 1920s and late 1950s. It’s mainly a resource for new, inexperienced or even reluctant tango DJs – people who are taking responsibility for providing the music for dance events. It suggests a ‘starter collection’ of five hundred songs, arranged into ready-made tandas, intended to present the best orchestras and singers, and with the content weighted according to the relative importance of the different orchestras and representing their best periods.

Maria Oliva

María Oliva: I Am Tango. Biography of María Nieves. Paperback – 2016

After several months of interviews with María Nieves, the author of this book was able to shape a biography, and, with marvellous generosity, relinquished her first person voice to the dancer who transcended borders and represented Argentina to the world. In this book María Nieves is sensitively led to tell about her life: her darkest and her happiest moments.

Christine Denniston

Christine Denniston  (Author), Gloria Arquimbau (Foreword), Eduardo Arquimbau (Foreword): The Meaning of Tango: The Story of the Argentinian Dance. Hardcover – 27 Sep 2007

‘The Meaning of Tango’ traces the roots of this captivating dance, from it’s birth in the poverty stricken Buenos Aires, the craze of the early 20th century, right up until it’s revival today, thanks to shows such as Strictly Come Dancing. This book offers history, knowledge, teachings and in-sights which makes it valuable for beginners, yet its in-depth analysis makes it essential for experienced dancers. It is an elegant and cohesive critique of the fascinating tale of the Tango, which not only documents its culture and politics, but is also technically useful.

Veronica Toumanova

Veronica Toumanova: Why Tango: Essays on learning, dancing and living tango argentino: Volume 1. Paperback – 8 Sep 2015

If you are interested in Argentine tango you know that, as Veronica writes in one of her essays, “Tango, no matter your involvement in it, becomes a kind of a world separate from the rest, with its own particular joys, sorrows, difficulties, rules, goals and pleasures.” And in this world there are both happiness and suffering. Whether you are a total beginner or an experienced dancer, in Veronica’s essays you will discover a rich source of knowledge and inspiration as she tackles complex psychological, social and pedagogical issues in tango as a social dance and a performing art.

More Tango Books

Iona Italia

Alexandru Eugen Cristea

The author Alexandru Eugen Cristea on amazon.co.uk.

  • Tango MEMES (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)
  • Tango for Teachers: The tango matrix (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)
  • How To Teach Neo Tango (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)
  • How to teach traditional Tango (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)
  • Ennea Tango: Advanced Tango Concepts: Volume 1 (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)
  • Tango Lessons: The Music and the Dance: Volume 2 (Argentine Tango – for Teachers and Pupils) by Alexandru Eugen Cristea (Author)

Dimitris Bronowski

The author Dimitris Bronowski on amazon.co.uk.

  • Tango Tips by the Maestros: When more than 40 maestros decide to help you develop your tango by Dimitris Bronowski | 27 Feb 2020
  • The Archetypes of Argentine Tango: The Hidden Patterns That Shape Our Tango Lives by Dimitris Bronowski | 8 Nov 2025

Mauricio Castro

  • Tango: The Structure of Dance. The Key to its Secrets Revealed by Mauricio Castro (Author). Paperback – 1 Jan. 2000
  • Tango: the Structure of the Dance Vol 2 by Mauricio Castro (Author). Paperback – 21 July 2003
  • Tango Awareness by Mauricio Castro (Author). Paperback – 21 July 2003

Kacey Link

  • TRACING TANGUEROS: Argentine Tango Instrumental Music by Kacey LINK (Author). (Currents in Latin American and Iberian Music) Paperback – Illustrated, 3 Mar. 2016 | amazon.co.uk
  • The Cambridge Companion to Tango by Kristin Wendland (Editor), Kacey Link (Editor). (Cambridge Companions to Music) Kindle Edition | amazon.co.uk

Other books about tango

  • Twelve Minutes of Love: A Tango Story by Kapka Kassabova (Author). Paperback – 5 July 2012 | amazon.co.uk
  • Argentine Tango – Class Companion: The guide for students of Argentine Tango by Thomas Rasche (Author)
  • Tango Intoxication: Wit, Wisdom, Stories & Secrets of the World’s Most Intimate Dance by Batt Johnson
  • Tango Secrets: Your Ultimate Guide To Tango Dance & Culture by Educator X | 9 May 2021
  • The ABC of Argentine Tango: From the London Argentine Tango School by Leonardo Acosta | 19 Dec 2015
  • TANGO ABC 1.com: The Apprentice’s Best Companion to Mastering Argentine Tango by Jose E. Espinoza | 19 Apr 2024
  • tango = life, Tango Grammar – for dancers. by Unni Hermanzen, Lill Aarsund, et al. | 1 Jan 2012
  • Tango: The Art History of Love (With a Foreword by David Byrne) Robert Farris Thompson (Author), Paperback – Illustrated, 5 Dec. 2006 | amazon.co.uk

A Tango Book Is Missing?

Is your favourite tango book missing? 
Have you written a tango book yourself and would like me to add it to this list? 

Drop me (Bärbel Rücker) a line via email: info (at) movingexperience (dot) eu.

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