[Tango-L] Live music

[Keith Elshaw]

>P.S. perhaps there should be more musicality workshops
>taught by professional musicians to help dancers
>figure out how to dance to tango music of today.

O boy.

This is such a loaded statement, the mind practically boggles.

If I may, I would like to delicately dance all around this subject whilst
seeking to make a point which most can agree with. This might not be
possible given the divide, but ...


It is such an UNDERSTANDABLE divide. And yet, in fact, neither side wants
there to be one, in a perfect world. Si - ou no?

I exist kind of on both sides myself; for I have been a music
producer/engineer for 30 years. I am the biggest fan of players. I am
devoted to recording musicians; currently spending most of my waking hours
recording them. And when I have breaks, those waking hours are spent
restoring the old tango orchestras' recordings.

And when I am not working, I want to go dance. To great music for dancing.

So when I speak, it is with the voice of one used to directing musicians
to give their best performance; and the voice of a music lover needing
inspiring music to dance to.

In both circumstances, I feel I am actually in the band. When recording,
my role makes me in total command of how the musicians will sound in the
end. I'm in the band.

On a more ethereal level, when dancing, I am in the orchestra and my
partner (and myself) is/are my instrument(s). I'm in the band.

Given my profession, perhaps we can call it a given that I have a
knowledgable ear on a number of levels. For the purposes of the
discussion. If that's alright.

I am quite sure my friend would not mind my relating the following story.

He (Argentino) was a soloist in the Forever Tango Orchestra - a group of
absolutely wonderful musicians, I'm sure you'll agree.

He was young, brilliant and inspiring.

When we were sitting talking at my milonga after the show, I couldn't help
telling him that he should learn to dance. He was surprised at the
suggestion. It had never occured to him that there was something about
tango music he had to learn. I sort of went on and on about it, as you
know I can do.

I saw him next about 18 months later. He rushed up and wrapped me in a
bear hug and told me I had changed his life.

Duh! I couldn't think how that could be at all.

He said, "You told me I have to dance tango and when I was back home with
time off, I took lessons. It changed everything about tango for me!!"

Now, I am aware that very few of the musicians in the old days actually
danced tango. But however they knew it, they knew how to make music FOR
DANCING.

Piazzolla's cross to bear (and boy - he felt the burden for a long time)
was that he didn't make music for dancing. Sit down and listen, por favor.
This is SERIOUS music.

After he left Troilo, it was 20 years before his compositions were heard -
and then only in stage shows done to choreography.

His vast influence on musicians after he matured is still resonating like
an earthquake.

He is a musician's musician/composer. You hear Astor, you want to play
like that.

Rare indeed is the musician or arranger who can play with that inspiration
and still make it great for DANCING.The subtle distintion is mostly lost
on even the exceptionally brilliant musican. They read music on a page.
They play it with feeling. But that doesn't make it danceable - especially
through a long set.

Even if a modern orchestra (outside Argentina) plays Don Juan and other
standards, most are infected with the musician's perspective - not the
dancer's. They want to show you how great the music is when played as good
as they can play it. It is an honest wish. If they don't dance, they might
not intuitively know what makes good DANCE music. That's what a musician
does all his life. Play for dancing? Huh. Not many musicians want to lower
themselves. To do so can have a faintly distasteful flavour to many
musicians. It's not in their history.


Let me keep parsing points here because there are subtle distinctions to
make.

I love to dance to Piazzolla's Milonga del Angel (Tango:Hora Zero). IT IS
MADE FOR DANCING (even if he didn't give a damn whether we could or not).
But let us agree that beginners could have a hard time trying to figure
out what to do.

There is a Montreal group called Sweatshop Tango led by accordionist
Jonathan Goldman who brilliantly play Piazzolla - AND IT IS FOR DANCING if
you want to.

But I can name you quite a few orchestras who play this song and other
beautiful Piazzolla pieces (and even traditional tangos) where you just
CAN'T dance because the musicians were making pretty music to LISTEN to
(or for themselves). I think they don't know the difference.

I would like my Argentinean musician friend from the Forever Tango
Orchestra to have a chat with them.

Know what I mean?


I hate only "this" or "that" alternatives; but we have on one side of this
divide people who like LIVE music and will dance to ... kind-of -
anything; and on the other side people who like TO DANCE and are fairly
good at it and who like live music IF IT MOVES THEM WHEN SOMEONE IS IN
THEIR ARMS.

The latter group gets antsy real fast when the music doesn't measure up to
what a good dj can do for them by playing the hot tango hits. We're so
emotionally attached to The Moment in the embrace. When these people are
faced with a choice between dancing to Pugliese, Di Sarli, D'Arienzo, Calo
or Canaro or ... some local people who rehearsed for a bit and then sit
playing much the same music for 50 minutes 3 times in a night ...

A live orchestra brings a sense of "event" to the moment.

That sense is wonderful in its own way. It is more important to some
people than connecting intimately with the music and a partner.

New people to tango especially are attracted to a live orchestra. The
concept of live music is not one I want to argue with!

But it has seemed to me for a long time that when an orchestra is playing
at an event (outside a Color Tango coming to town, which in most places is
MORE than an event), the old vet dancers tend to show up late or not at
all. They like the musicans to have a gig. They like the idea of it all.
But they can't dance to what doesn't move them.

A live orchestra that can capture these people is a hot group. They are
out there. But they are few and far between.

They are very smart people. They keep their sets short. They are always
thinking of DANCING - not brilliant playing. Their playing is infused with
PASSION - not "just" excellence. Their sense of timing and variety in
programming is impeccable.

Probably, they have consulted dancers about how to put their sets together.

How many orchestras loosely follow a tanda-type playlist?

The smart ones do. But there aren't many, are there?

Most will play 5 similar tangos, a milonga, 3 tangos, a vals, 4 more
tangos all sounding pretty much the same. That's a boring 50 minute set
for a dance lover.

I interviewed maestro Roberto Alvarez of Color Tango (it's on my website).

He is careful about using singers. He keeps his sets at around 40 minutes
if he can. He varies the emotional pitch of his music. BECAUSE HE WANTS TO
HAVE PEOPLE DANCING (and he learned from being with Pugliese for so many
years).

I would like him to chat to live orchestra leaders as well.

So ...

Everyone understands why people really enjoy live music. Everyone is happy
for other people having enjoyment. Everyone surely is greatly pleased that
musicians can be paid for making music. Agreement all around there.

The ones who are not so discriminate, for whatever reasons, about what
they dance to do not see the "dancers" (for want of a better description)
point of view.

It is not the novelty of people playing in front of them that attracts. It
is the heartbeat of tango for dancing that attracts.

There are a heck of a lot of fine musicians playing around who don't get
what the difference is between beautiful music for listening and beautiful
music for dancing.

We hope they finish by 11:30 or so so we can show up then and really enjoy
our tango.

So, without wanting to annoy anyone, I say:

Perhaps there should be more musicality workshops
taught by dancers to help musicians figure out how to play tango music of
today when they are hired to play for dancers.