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

[Neil Liveakos]

  Jacob wrote:
I have a more subtle question now, what the difference between a
milonga and a candombe.

The answer is drums.




On 1/29/07, Tom Stermitz <stermitz at tango.org> wrote:
>
>
> 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?
>
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Tango-L mailing list
> Tango-L at mit.edu
> http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
>



-- 
Neil Liveakos
http://milonga.us