[Tango-L] music; live or dead

[astrid]

> I want to know why some dancers seem attracted to live
> bands. I've heard, and danced to (or at least tried to
> dance to), Extasis, Tango Lorca, Tango Berretin, Color
> Tango, and Glovertango/Tosca.
>
> Glovertango is good dancing music (Tosca was their old
> incarnation; no bueno por bailar), Tango Berretin was
> good about two years ago, when I first heard them, but
> deteriorated quickly. Tango Lorca and Extasis have
> always been bad (for dancing), in my opinion.

I don't know any of the orchestras mentioned in the second paragraph, but
Color Tango happens to be Jose Luna's favourite music to do his shows to,
and that's what we got to hear in our lessons with him almost exclusively
for nearly 6 months, when he opened his first studio in Tokyo in 2001 or so.
And that is what he's got a theme song on his website, and you can maybe
also find a video clip of him dancing to that band with Laura Mangione on
www.lunadetango.com. Of course you won't like it, Michael, I imagine, as
Jose is certainly no milonguero but a dancer of fantasia.

> But it sucks trying to dance to it. I can't stand it.
> It's TORTURE. I don't want to work hard trying to
> interpret music into dance.
> And when I look at the dance floor at one of these
> events, it doesn't work. There is music, and there are
> people dancing, but the two don't go together at all.

> I stayed about 45 minutes, danced a couple tandas. The
> music SUCKED...... for dancing. He played 1960 and
> later Pugliese, and Piazzola-type stuff. Color Tango,
> etc..... I can dance to it, and he can, but nobody
> else in this city can. They can't even come close to
> interpreting this stuff into a dance.

Pugliese attracts a lot of the beginners, because it has such a dramatic
rhythm and is slow too, but it actually takes a lot of skill to really
interprete it. Esp. all the "stretchy steps" and the posture you need to
hold the tension of the music. That is why they usually play it late at
night in the better milongas, when only the diehards are left on the floor,
I suppose. Piazzola can be a fantastic experience with the right partner,
but I would never waste one of Astor's songs on an unmusical beginner.
Almost as frustrating as dancing a milonga with somebody who is dancing
tango by rote memory.
>
> His response was that it was a good "challenge" for
> them.

Yeah, right... But you better learn how to deal with that challenge before
you get out there. Still, if you are a creative dancer, this music is great
for experimenting.
>
. If one of these bands wants to learn how
> to play music just like DiSarli, D'Arienzo, Calo,
> Troilo, etc, from the '30s, '40s, 50s....that would be
> great. I could really get into it.

In my personal opinion, which I am sure has plenty of opposition, Di Sarli
sucks. I got an overdose of that when I had to do drills as a beginner, and
to me, Di Sarli's music is a real turn off. I feel almost allergic to it.
Often used by the first generation of tango dancers here, who are in their
Sixties and Seventies, because they prefer it slow. Or the
ex-ballroom-dancers.
Calo is great, again with the right partner, Troilo can be tricky, and
D'Arienzo is again totally wasted on the wide open embrace crowd who likes
Di Sarli and Pugliese. It really depends on your style, Michael.

Gotan Project and
> Narcotango have a couple things that are just "ok",
> but by and large their stuff is NOT to dance to. Might
> as well just take up break dancing and the fine art of
> "rap".

I love dancing to both of those bands, even though they only play certain
pieces at our milonga, but I always ask the young guy in black leather
pants, and the other young one with his very long legs to dance that with
me. The older dancers often let go of me and leave the floor with a look of
confusion on their faces when that music comes on, letting me know that they
will be back later for a different song they know how to deal with
rhythmwise.

> I know that many out there seem to love live music.
> And I will do my best to understand, and see it from
> your side, so I'm looking forward to reading your
> responses, either private or on the list. It may be
> that I am in such a minority that I must just learn to
> live with it, or move to Buenos Aires!
>
> So, why are people attracted to music they cannot
> dance to?

Frankly, Michael, the people who feel they can't dance to it, are not
attracted to it at all. The ones who can love it. Some time ago in winter we
had Machiko Komatsu and Tango Cristal play live at Luna de Tango's milonga.
I had a ball that night. A- because people were there who otherwise never
come but know me from years ago and all danced with me, and B- because my
usual partners asked me again and again, and I figure, they felt I am one
the very few women who have enough sense of rhythm to dance to that kind of
live music. Ms. Komatsu, who is the honourable mother of the famous
bandoneonist and tango composer Ryota Komatsu who has played the music for
Fernanda and Guillermo and Diego and Carolina at the "Tango Magic"show,
announced that she would only play tango para bailar for us and she did. You
can check out her orchestra and sound files at
http://www.tangocristal.com/e-frame.html . Their website has an English
version. Ever heard a contemporary Japanese tango musician and composer
before?

Astrid, Tokyo