This is a recurring event: View all events in the series “Music Research Seminars”
Abstract
The roots of tango, which has become popular internationally since the start of the twentieth century, are closely associated with Argentina, especially the city of Buenos Aires.
However, when adopted elsewhere in the world, tango has often taken on rather different forms from its Argentine “roots”; adapting to new cultural environments and acquiring a distinctive new, albeit hybrid, identity.
In contemporary Japan, Argentine tango is widely performed in classical concert venues, tango Milonga parties, as well as expensive bars and restaurants that feature live tango bands every night.
Tango is now also popular among the younger generations of Japanese musicians.
Based on the new monograph, titled Tango in Japan: Cosmopolitanism beyond the West, written by this seminar’s speaker, Dr Yuiko Asaba.
This talk will explore the worlds of Argentine tango performance from its historical “beginnings” to its contemporary international popularity by looking at tango in Japan as a case study.
About the speakers
Yuiko Asaba is a Lecturer (equiv. Assistant Professor) in Music at SOAS University of London.
In her research, Yuiko examines aspects of migration, maritime history and globalisation surrounding popular music in and from Japan, with particular focus on Latin American genres.
She is the author of the monograph, Tango in Japan: Cosmopolitanism Beyond the West (University of Hawai‘i Press, 2025), and has published articles including in the East Asian Journal of Popular Culture and the Cambridge Companion to Tango.
Funded by the European Commission, Yuiko is currently developing her next book on Japanese tango performers in China, 1930s-1940s, and an edited volume on the Asia-Latin America musical relations.
Holding a PhD in Music from Royal Holloway, University of London, Yuiko is also a tango violinist and has worked as a member of the Orquesta Nacional de Música Argentina “Juan de Dios Filiberto” in Argentina, and Tango Orchestra Astrorico in Japan.
The Music Research Seminars hosted by the Department of Performing Arts at City St George's, University of London bring together world-leading artists, practitioners, and scholars in the broad fields of music and sound.
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