African Night: The root of Tango

KALW | By Emmanuel Nado

Published March 4, 2025 at 6:00 AM PST

Tango dancer Jean-Pierre Sighé (left), speaking with KALW’s Emmanuel Nado (right), about the Afircan roots of Tango.

This conversation aired in the March 4, 2025 episode of Crosscurrents.

Click the button above to listen!

Did you know about the African roots of Tango?

KALW recently hosted a new edition of African Night at our live event space in downtown San Francisco. It was an evening dedicated to celebrating culture, community, and the power of connection.

The night was hosted by seasoned educator and multimedia producer Serge Ndjemba, and Emmanuel Nado, one of the producers and hosts of KALW’s Africa Mix.

In this excerpt from that vibrant night, Emmanuel speaks to long time Tango dancer, Jean-Pierre Sighé, about the cultural and historical ties between Africa and Tango.

Crosscurrents

Emmanuel Nado

Emmanuel Nado is at the forefront of promoting African music and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is from Cote d’Ivoire in West Africa, a country which for many years has been the crossroad of African popular music. As a journalist, promoter and radio producer, Nado is an active force in the African music scene in the U.S. In the early '90s, his published articles on African music and the artists were eye openers to many Bay Area African music aficionados.

See stories by Emmanuel Nado