[Tango-L] More on the practica scene in Buenos Aires - a question.

[Meredith Klein]

Hi Igor,

How are you doing?

In my email on the practica scene, I didn't talk about which venues
have alternative music and which do not.  As far as the practicas go,
the vast majority of music played is either golden age, later
recordings of traditional tangos, electronic tango, or piazzolla.  At
some of the practicas, alternative music may also be played (for
instance, at Villa Malcolm on Friday nights), but music from the other
categories is always played more than alternative music.  It's hard to
say what the exact percentages are by category, however, because it
varies a lot night by night.

Among the traditional milongas (everything from El Beso to Club
Sunderland to Salon Canning to Porteño y Bailarin, etc.) the music is
entirely golden age, or later recordings of traditional tangos.  The
only exception is the sets of salsa or rock n' roll that are sometimes
played and the cortinas, which are obviously not for dancing.  It's
not unusual at Canning, for example, to hear an entire song played as
a cortina, and sometimes the songs are fabulous.  There's something
totally wonderful about hearing all 6+ minutes of "Sympathy for the
Devil" between a set of valses and a set of pugliese tangos.  And
since the milonga lasts until 5:30 or 6 am, you can enjoy listening to
the cortina without worrying about losing time when you could be
dancing.

As far as which traditional milongas the younger crowd goes to...
Mondays and Fridays at Salon Canning are the most important milongas
of the week by far.  La Viruta on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays is
also very popular.  Other popular milongas among the younger crowd are
Porteño y Bailarin, La Calesita, La Baldosa, La Catedral, La Glorieta,
and probably others that I'm forgetting.  In the above list, only La
Catedral and La Viruta would be likely to play any alternative music.

Hope that answers your questions.

Meredith

On 24/02/07, Igor Polk <ipolk at virtuar.com> wrote:
> Meredith,
>
> I have got the impression from your detailed message that in Buenos Aires
> there are no milongas where between 9pm and 10 am only classical tango music
> is played. No any of alternative. Please, correct me if I am wrong.
>
> What milongas where there is no any alternative music is played but attended
> by young crowd can you recommend?
>
> Thank you,
> Igor Polk
>
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