[Tango-L] Cortinas (not the old car from the '70s

[Alexis Cousein]

Lucia wrote:
> Alexis,
>   dancers couldn't  care less about D'Arienzo's evolution.

It introduces subtle changes in interpretation when you dance these.
It keeps dancers on their toes, and it helps to engage them. At least I
like sets like that, and my musical taste behind the mixing panels
betrays my preferences when I'm on the other side.

 > The "introduction" that you play waters down both the  current tanda
 > and the surprise of the following one.

I like to have constant (but small) surprises - if only because if they're confined
to changes across a tanda, I won't be experiencing them with the same dancing
partner. My preference only, of course.

And as I said, across tandas, you never know whether a transition I have "pre-announced"
actually happens the way you expect it to - you might be wrong.

Even I frequently don't know that much in advance.

>   For many, if they like a particular song, would like to never end.

For others, having four songs that are exact clones (or close to exact clones) makes it
less interesting - after all, if you have a partner for one tanda, it's not entirely
uninteresting to see how the symbiosis works or doesn't depending on the song - and how
you can make it work more and more...

Sure, some people will "select the partner according to the tanda" and don't need to explore
this because they know exactly with wihch partner they want to dance music with attributes
X Y Z.

Let's just say that they also tend to select partners like they like their tandas -
without too much sense for adventure, and largely with a restricted set of partners
they like. I don't like to cater *only* for them, not even when they think
they (and the partners they deem worthy of a dance) are the pick of the crop and
all the others are worthless peons.

Note I don't just randomly put bits and pieces together, or even follow my own line
of exploration rigidly - I *ALWAYS* listen to the next track while a track is
playing, to get a feel of whether the transition jars or not, and if it jars,
I toss the next track or try to find something which will fit in between -
when I'm dancing at a milonga, I really hate DJs who press buttons on their
laptops filled with MP3s without even bothering to listen to what the next
song will be. It's not because a second tango happens to be played by the
same orchestra and is from the same period as a first one that they're fit
to be played in succession, and nothing will substitute for an astute listening
ear. Orthodoxy is no substitute for hard work or skill.

 > The majority of vocal tangos are the best  ever composed and recorded.

I agree. Here we have some DJs who have stripped the body of tango of so much flesh
to arrive at the tangolitically correct set that, yes, they consider vocal tangos
for dancing a heresy (one would start to wonder how those singers in BsAs were
earning their living ;) ).

They are, around these parts, usually the most vocal proponents of the "one
tanda, one orchestra, one period" orthodoxy, which (given I'm a contrarian)
makes me want to rebel a bit.

False gods indeed, but you'll often see that worshippers of false gods tend to
think their idols are True ;).

> but where is the warmth and the musical line of the  vocal ones??

'zactly. Vocal tangos are more challenging, but also more rewarding. If some can't stand
the heat, they should get out of the kitchen (i.e. not dance vocal tangos), but I really
hate it when they try to force their own limited musical set onto all the others
present.

Doesn't mean that all the vocal tangos are perfect - I find playing more than two
or three d'Agostino/Vargas is (in my opinion only, of course) dangerous at the best
of times, unless you want to put people asleep.

>   Although Preparense is not dancing music, and IMO shouldn't be played  for that purpose,

Well, I disagree (and I'm always glad when they play it when I'm dancing). But that's
not a matter for much reasoned debate, as it's a matter of taste. Certainly, I'm not
prepared to lump those tangos into the "really not dancing music" Piazollas.