The popularity of tango comes and goes, but the "vertical expression of horizontal desire" has remained synonymous with passion, unrequited love, and nostalgia for more than a century. Popularized by Rudolph Valentino and Carlos Gardel, and more recently by Madonna and Julio Iglesias, and often celebrated by Hollywood and Broadway, the tango has been reinterpreted continuously with less fanfare by old and young musicians in Buenos Aires and beyond. Eschewing well-known tangos like "La Cumparsita" for more obscure selections that illustrate the varied styles of tango, Bailemos Tango! elegantly demonstrates how tango music has evolved from the 1920s through today. Compiled by a team of Argentine tango dancers and aficionados, the 19-track CD has a rich sound that is rootsy, not slick. It opens with a '20s instrumental number by Uruguayan bandleader Miguel Villasboas in the style of canyegue, a flamboyant rhythm danced with bent knees.

Subsequent tracks highlight the disparate musical styles that make up the tango: the Cuban-influenced milonga, the African beat of candombé, and the tango ballad, or canción, illustrated here by "Yira-Yira," one of Gardel's more obscure recordings. Other well-known talents included here are famed 1940s bandoleón player Aníbal Troilo, expressive pianist Osvaldo Pugliese, and tango modernist Astor Piazzolla. Bailemos Tango! ends with a contemporary tango played by Tangata Rea, a group of young Argentine musicians set on reviving the music and dance for their generation. As its title suggests, Bailemos Tango! will enrich the repertoire of dedicated dancers. For nondancers, it provides a sentimental education in the tango art, nice for quiet evenings at home with loved ones, but more appropriate for evenings spent yearning for them. --Judy Cantor

Gustavo Santaolalla is a talented multi-instrumentalist from Argentina who has been extremely involved in bringing new sounds to an age-old culture. Playing a variety of stringed instruments including the guitar, the guitarron, the charango, and the ronroco, Santaolalla bridges the gap between traditional musics and forward-thinking compositions. He reveals an unusually progressive vision filled with cascades of chiming sounds and the understated influences of Japan, Africa, and Eastern Europe, as well as Latin America. Accompanied by his associate Anibal Kerpel on vibraphone and melodia, Santaolalla has made an instrumental album of intense passion and evocative songwriting. Gustavo's rapid picking and constant strumming of strings provide a solid foundation for his melodic innovations as clusters of notes rise majestically and then quietly fall away. --Mitch Myers

This is a collection of invocations played on traditional Andean instruments. They are for the deities of INTI, the religion of the pre-Columbian peoples known as the Kechuas. The Kechua people have occupied the Altiplano region of South America (Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile and Ecuador) for thousands of years and still survive there today.

Jorge Alfano, a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina spent most of his life studying many forms of music and searching for the higher purpose in life. This form of music has led Jorge back home.

Note: Part of the proceeds from this recording go to Samana Wasi, a foundation which provides food, shelter and spiritual education for children and elderly in need.