[Tango-L] music; live or dead

Sat Aug 12 14:55:56 EDT 2006

 Whoa! You've touched a nerve here, Michael. I hope you're wearing a suit of armor! LOL

 Here in the SF bay area we have about a half dozen or so tango bands consisting of duos, 
 trios, and two orchestras. Since I don't own a suit of armor I'll be more circumspect and just 
 mention the ones I enjoy dancing to... ;-)

 It took me a while to get accustomed to Trio Garufa, a group consisting of a bayan, a guitar,
 and a bass but I've grown to appreciate and accustomed their music. These guys (and the 
 occasion girl who subs as bass) have been around several years now and they are terrific 
 musicians, very polished, and they've matured as an ensemble and their music is mostly 
 danceable - I say mostly because sometimes they enjoy torturing the dancers with changing 
 rhythms which can drive us crazy... LOL

 Incidentally, several weeks ago I happened to be at a milonga in Belmont and the guitarist for
 Trio Garufa showed up to play for Negracha (Ines del Valle Cabrera), who partners with Diego
 Lanau who sang for us. Oh, wow, what a voice she has!

 The SF Tango Orchestra is comprised of three bandoneons, two violins, a bass, and an electric
 piano. They're pretty new (a year old?) so while they play some numbers well they can get a
 little ragged at times with other songs (especially fast milongas) so it will take time for them to 
 polish their music, otherwise I predict a great future for them if they can stay together.

 Then there's the Notable Trio, consisting of a bandoneon, a piano and a bass, who have played for 
 Nora's Tango Week for several years and they're probably the most classic of all the groups and 
 their music is danceable all the time.

 El Bandido de Tango

 -----Original Message-----
 From: michaelfigart at yahoo.com
 To: tango-l at mit.edu
 Sent: Fri, 11 Aug 2006 11:31 PM
 Subject: [Tango-L] music; live or dead

  Hello everybody,

OK, not much happening on the list today,
so.....here's an issue about which I would like to see
some opinions. I don't recall having read anything
about it in the past.

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.

But wait....they are all very talented musicians, the
music they play is beautiful and lovely, and I respect
them all for their hard work and for their love of
tango music. I was a musician (guitar, sax, piano),
and I appreciate the hard work that goes into their
music. The way Alex Krebs learned bandoneon is nothing
short of miraculous.

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. I CAN do it. I've been
dancing for quite a while, and have reached a level
where I can actually put together some steps that move
WITH that sort of music. But it's no fun; it just
sucks....big time.

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.
It's like you could be playing jazz, or classical
music, and the people just keep on dancing, not having
any clue that what they're doing has nothing to do
with the music.

About six weeks ago I went to a milonga here in
Houston. Sarah was out of town, so I decided to check
it out, and hopefully have a good time, and a good
dance or two. The organizer is a very talented dancer
and can dance to anything. I believe he has a
background in ballet, and can swing, jitterbug, tango,
etc, etc, you name it. Very, very impressive.

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.

I was just going to leave, but I forced myself to go
back and ask him where the hell he came up with this
music, and what made him play it. He said that it is
beautiful, fantastic music. I agreed, "Yes, it is
gorgeous, beautiful music, and very pretty to listen
to, but LOOK AT THE DANCE FLOOR. Is anybody dancing
WITH the music?" 

His response was that it was a good "challenge" for
them.

My response is this (and this is my opinion); I pay
damn good money for plane tickets, hotels, and
entrance fees to attend festivals all over the US.
Keep your live bands out of the festivals that I pay
to support. 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. But until that
happens, get the hell out of my milongas. 

You don't ever hear this kind of music in the milongas
in Buenos Aires. How do the old milongueros interpret
the music so well? Because they've heard the song
about 5000 times. And there is always something new to
it, something you never heard before, or something
that finally sinks in, and feels a different way, with
a different way to dance it. A pause/suspension in a
new spot, or a traspie where you never put one before.

I have no qualms about alternative music; I dance to
good blues all the time. I can dance tango to blues,
country, pop, rock. But why do people think that
"alternative tango music" has to have some sort of
"connection" to tango??????? 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".

As you can tell, I feel very strongly about this
subject, and it's importance is growing, to me, at
least. With the proliferation of tango festivals in
the US, it may very well soon become a deciding factor
in which festivals I choose to attend. I will NOT be
present at the Mercury Cafe milongas in Denver
anymore. But next time you're there look around; many
important teachers/dancers no longer attend,
(but I'll be there Saturday and Sunday, at least). I'm
looking forward to the Atlanta festival next year
(where there is no thought of live music, yet). And I
was not in attendance during the live music session in
Mt Vernon last weekend.

An aside here....Marilyn, I love your place; the
Mercury is a great venue, even with the moguls, but
it's way too crowded now, and I'm sick of the live
music. I was there for the first time five years ago,
when all of the milongas were at your place, and that
experience was instrumental in determining my tango
fate. But it's way, way, way out of hand, the
festivals have
outgrown your capacity. There are many who choose not
to attend anymore because there is no place to sit,
stand, walk, dance, put stuff, etc......please release
Tom and let him hold an alternate event that night for
those of us too claustrophobic to attend.

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? What makes them think that its cool to dance
to live music, whether they can, or not?

Best wishes to all,

Michael Figart II, Houston Tx

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