[Tango-L] What's the difference between a tango and a milonga?

[Tom Stermitz]

On Jan 29, 2007, at 12:44 PM, Jeff Gaynor wrote:

> Ming Mar wrote:
>
>> I pose this question to the musicians on this mailing
>> list.
>>
>> The difference isn't speed.  If it were, then all the
>> tangos that Roberto Firpo played became milongas.  (He
>> played them really fast.)  But nobody considers them
>> milongas.
>>
> Historically, as I understand it milonga came first and tango came out
> of slower milongas. There is a bit of blurriness in some of the older
> music and there are at least a couple where it is hard to tell  
> which is
> which.

No, this is commonly repeated misinformation.

Prior to the 1900s existed a dance/music/rhythm called milonga, out  
of which tango developed. Modern milongas are something very  
different from that pre-tango milonga.

Tangos of 1910 - 1920s have a march-like rhythm, and tempos that are  
variable, but typically faster than the Golden Era. There was no  
clear distinction between milongas and tangos.

In the 1930s tangos slowed down and became rhythmically more  
complicated. milongas sped up and had rhythms from candombe put into  
them, sort of a nostalgia for the african tradition.

Listen to the lyrics and you get some of the same nostalgia for the  
african, which at times can be pretty stereotypical.

For example, translate "La Mulateada" by Di Sarli....  "con la mulata  
mas feder"

Or translate the lyricas of "Alhucena" by Demare. They also refer to  
africans inthe lyrics and the music uses an candombe-sounding rhythm  
in a tango-like way.


Ever notice that a BMW engine is tuned to a candombe rhythm?