[Tango-L] "Alternative" Music....

[Chris, UK]

Nina wrote:

>> Sharna Fabiano wrote ... Gotan Project, BajoFondo TangoClub, and most
>> notably Carlos Libedinsky are heralds of the new global tango. 
> 
> Is this a joke?

No, it is "brand development". But at least it is not as barefacedly 
misrepresentative as Ms Fabiano's

> Tango dancing is proving to be a natural match with the majority of
> musical genres found in today's mainstream dance clubs.

What's saddest is that this stuff is mostly coming from those trying to 
sell lessons in the "new" tango dancing. No wonder newcomers are confused.

> Sharna might be misinformed. 

;)

Chris

-------- Original Message --------

*Subject:* Re: [Tango-L] "Alternative" Music....
*From:* Nina Pesochinsky <nina at earthnet.net>
*To:* tango-l at mit.edu
*Date:* Sat, 24 Feb 2007 11:44:07 -0700

Musicians of tango, WHERE ARE YOU?!

Sharna Fabiano wrote in her article "The 
breakthrough creations of contemporary artists 
such as the Gotan Project, BajoFondo TangoClub, 
and most notably Carlos Libedinsky are heralds of the new global tango. "

Is this a joke?

Discussing these works with real musicians, I 
learned that his is simplistic music that cannot 
even be compared with depth, complexity and 
challenge of tangos that are written in the 
traditional formation of tango, meaning 
polyphonic.  Gotan, Lebidinsky and the rest of 
them create simple music, not polyphonic.  IT IS 
THE POLYPHONIC FORMATION OF TANGO THAT MAKES IT A TANGO.

I think that musicians need to discuss 
this.  Sharna might be misinformed.  In Buenos 
Aires today, only one orchestra is actually 
getting the attention and respect for doing 
something new in the real formation of tango and 
that is the Fierro orchestra.  They are making 
their own arrangements and they are actually 
innovating tango, real polyphonic tango.

But where are the musicians?  Please show up and 
discuss this from your perspective so that there 
is some accuracy to this discussion of music.

Best,

Nina

















At 11:29 AM 2/24/2007, Carol Shepherd wrote:
>Sharna Fabiano has given me permission to post this article to the list,
>so we can read and discuss.
>
>-------------
>The Rise of Neo Tango Music
>© copyright Sharna Fabiano 2003
>http://www.sharnafabiano.com/
>
>The reawakening of the argentine tango at the turn of the new century is
>that of a great spirit rising after a deep slumber. In its recent
>revival since the late eighties, the tango has inspired legions of new
>dancers all over the globe with its powerful partner connection and
>intricate, elegant movements. Of late, momentum is gathering for a
>revolutionary wave to crash into the tango world. Young dancers are
>experimenting with new concepts in tango social dance, and along with
>them contemporary tango musicians are inventing a hybrid sound that
>blends traditional instrumentation with modern electronic music. I call
>this new wave "Neo Tango."
>
>The breakthrough creations of contemporary artists such as the Gotan
>Project, BajoFondo TangoClub, and most notably Carlos Libedinsky are
>heralds of the new global tango. These artists have blended tango with
>contemporary electronic music. Commenting on his newly released CD,
>NARCOTANGO, Carlos writes:
>
>"At the hour when there are only a few couples left on the dance floor,
>magic sneaks into the Milonga, and I watch people dancing and
>experimenting with a new kind of Tango dance. When my body is exhausted
>from dancing for hours and I don't want the night to end, at that hour
>NARCOTANGO was born. It was then that I could imagine the music that I
>wanted to dance to, and to see others dance to."
>
>Until very recently, nearly all of the music used for dancing today's
>social tango has been taken from old recordings of Golden Age
>orchestras. Even most young tango bands tend to fill their repertoire
>with compositions from that period. But our era is different from the
>Golden Age of tango in Buenos Aires (1930s-50s). We have different
>musical instruments and technologies, different social venues, and
>different styles of dress. All of these things inspire today's tango
>dancers and musicians to play and improvise in new ways.
>
>However, there is something familiar about this creative urge. One might
>say, in fact, that invention and experimentation are at the very root of
>the tango tradition. Let's recall that in the early 1900's, hopeful
>immigrants from Italy, Germany, Eastern Europe, Africa, and various
>South American countries all converged on ArgentinaÍs port city of
>Buenos Aires, bringing with them not only their hopes and dreams, but
>also their portable instruments and their cultural traditions. Like
>today, it was an atmosphere of discovery, conflict, and social
>adjustment. As the disparate members of Buenos Aires' early century
>melting pot gathered together, the tango was born. Today, we witness its
>re-birth. Creeping into the souls of enthusiasts around the globe, the
>tango is searching for a current musical context.
>
>This is why modern and culturally relevant music is so essential to
>effectively renew the spirit of the tango. The "Neo Tangos" that the
>aforementioned groups have produced are hybrids of traditional
>instrumentation and electronic sound, artistically bridging the gap
>between the Golden Age and the new millenium. This hybrid tango music
>strikes a chord with mass audiences, and its vibration has the potential
>to generate not only small gatherings of aficionados, but an
>international social and artistic movement.
>
>Neo Tango cannot be dismissed as the latest addition to the thriving
>'world music' genre because it is not limited to the fusion of
>electronic music with traditional instruments. On the contrary, so deep
>is the need for new tangos that adventurous dancers of today are
>claiming music from genres across the board: blues, rock, disco, fado,
>and countless world music sub-categories. Phrases like 'alternative
>tango' and 'non-tango' are already standard lingo. At a workshop on this
>subject in Rochester, NY, my students came up with three essential
>characteristics that a compelling Neo Tango shares with a Golden Age
>Tango: 1. It has a consistent, walkable tempo; 2. It tells a story
>through melodic and rhythmic sophistication; 3. It has powerful
>emotional substance.
>
>Popular music and tango music are circling each other out there in the
>collective unconscious, like two planets approaching alignment.
>Starbucks' new record label Hear Music accidentally (as far as I know)
>produced a few Neo Tango albums recently. More than half the songs on
>volumes 1, 2, 4, and 5 are functional for dancing tango. Even more
>exciting is local phenomenon Thievery Corporation's latest album Richest
>Man in Babylon, which Rolling Stone describes as "stories of a better
>world." Several tracks on this album fits requirements 1-3 above.
>
>Earlier this year I gave a tango performance at a screening of the film
>The Truth About Charlie (a remake of the classic Charade). The script
>now has a tango bar scene in place of the original jazz bar scene, and
>shockingly enough features the music of the Gotan Project and Llasa de
>Sela, an utterly non-tango artist widely played by tango
>experimentalists. Coincidence? I think not. Someone in the film industry
>has a finger on the pulse, so to speak. Already, regional music
>preferences have begun to emerge within the global tango community, and
>DJs are beginning to win accolades for their distinctive tastes in
>non-traditional tangos. Dan Kesmayr writes from Germany:
>
>"Here in Munich, we have a milonga called "Tango-Fusion" which basically
>is a mix between a milonga and a dance club event. The music that gets
>played is [traditional] tango (3 out of 20 songs?), stuff like Gotan
>project, Bajofondo, some songs from soundtracks to the movies "Amelie",
>"Chicago", and some more music that I cannot categorize, probably
>nujazz, house etc. It was never intended as a replacement for classical
>milongas, but in my world it is a really essential addition."
>
>Dan's description of 'his world' reminds me suspiciously of the 1940's,
>when most Buenos Aires neighborhoods had their own orchestras, and
>dancers would choose where to go dancing depending on who was playing.
>Today, we have a wider variety to choose from, and I think we will soon
>see more events like Dan's cropping up in cities around the globe. Even
>in Buenos Aires there is an avant-gard milonga called "La Catedral"
>where you hear classical music, jazz, and other unexpected sounds
>innocently floating out of the sound system and the very end of the night.
>
>Dancers today have music available to them that spans many decades and
>many countries. It has been the general assumption until now that there
>was a natural ceiling on the growth of tango, namely because traditional
>music and traditional atmosphere only appeal to a small segment of
>today's population. The manifestation of neo tango music in the tango
>world breaks that ceiling. Young people especially are drawn by the
>eclectic sound and by the fun and experimental atmosphere that typically
>accompanies it. Andrew Burt writes from Portland,
>
>"I DJ the 'mixed music' practica here in Portland, and I think it's
>great for the younger side of community building. It infuses a lot of
>joy, gaiety, and humor into the dancing, and there's a lot more laughing
>than you normally hear."
>
>We can get a glimpse of what might happen with tango by observing the
>development and integration of latin music and dancing into the latino
>bar and club scene. Exposed to jazz, rock, and other external influences
>since 1950, salsa dancing has persisted, through infinite permutations,
>as it began, a natural part of social life in latino social communities.
>Because Neo Tango reaches into a multitude of genres, its ramifications
>if a similar integration takes place are likely to be enormous. Tango
>dancing is proving to be a natural match with the majority of musical
>genres found in today's mainstream dance clubs. If social tango dancing
>becomes the norm in even 1% of such venues, social culture as we know it
>will be altered beyond recognition, and we just might find ourselves in
>the Platinum Age of Tango. [For more on the power of tango in social
>culture, see Sharna's previous article, The Social Dance Network.]
>
>The truth is that young dancers have been restless for several years
>now, anticipating the appearance of this new music. Using as a base the
>work of the "tango investigation" practice group begun by Argentine
>visionaries Gustavo Naveira and Fabian Salas in Buenos Aires, young
>dancers are inventing new moves, new embraces, and new clothes for
>dancing. Tango has benefited immensely from the influence of salsa and
>swing vocabulary, and underarm turns, spins, and changes of arms provide
>rich material for this next evolution of social dance.
>
>And so the contemporary tango music library is growing, and with it the
>allure of tango for a key portion of the 20- and 30-something
>demographic. The songs have the tango's unmistakable 'walking beat' and
>the edge of the new millenia in their melodies. The urge to innovate and
>reinvent is at the very core of the tango - contemporary evidence
>includes mixing string instruments with sythnesizers, salsa turns with
>conventional tango figures, denim with fishnets.
>
>
>--
>Carol Ruth Shepherd
>Arborlaw Associates PLLC
>business, technology, entertainment and media law
>"practical legal solutions for creative people"
>Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
>734 668 4646 v  734 786 1241 f
>http://www.arborlaw.com
>
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