[Tango-L] dance music

[Crrtango@aol.com]

Jake Spatz wrote:

<Especially as most rhythm-centric dance music from the Golden Age was
dance-to-ably rhythmic because the band was often playing accompaniment
to a vocal line.>

Actually, with all due respect that is not the reason nor is it true, at 
least in my understanding of the history and evolution of tango. Many early tangos 
and those from the golden age were originally instrumental, some with lyrics 
being added after the fact, for example La Cumparsita (originally a brass-band 
marching song transposed by Firpo into a tango) and El Choclo, just to name 
two very famous ones. Tango was mostly about dancing early on but there were 
always vocal tangos meant to be listened to and not usually played at milongas. 
Later as more vocals entered into the milonga tangos, they were often nothing 
more than a few lines, most of the song being instrumental. The singers (
called estribillistas) were considered as backups to the more important musical 
line. In other words tangos were composed specifically as dancing songs. 
Orchestras such as D'Arienzo's in the thirties played very few vocal songs but his 
later orchestras, especially after Biagi left, used more vocalists. In the late 
thirties and forties vocals became more prominent and even the the prized 
singers such as Angel Vargas and Raul Beron or Alberto Castillo were loved for 
their musicality and danceable singing style. Ultimately vocals played a more and 
more important part eventually becoming the main emphasis of the songs. There 
was always a schism between the danceable songs and the experimental artistic 
compositions, Pugliese being a rare example of a combination of the two. I 
think the real problem is that late complex tangos appear to be more 
revolutionary and thus have more appeal to musicians for their complex arrangements and 
dynamics, in other words they are a musician's music and they have lost touch 
with the dancers. This is not a new phenomenon. The same problem existed in the 
early thirties when so much tango was influenced by DeCaro and the 
evolutionary school and D'Arienzo came along and started playing simple danceable music 
again (for which he was ridiculed as being too simple and basic). He 
practically single-handedly brought tango back to the dance floor. I think it is an 
age-old problem of musicians playing for themselves or playing for dancers. Too 
many musicians today (with a few exceptions, notably Tito Castro here in New 
York and a few others) think that the traditional tangos are too prosaic and 
boring. They want to show off their musicianship. There is a very good tango 
orchestra from Montreal that plays many traditional tangos and I have danced to 
them. It is a wonderful experience. Perhaps this is an opportune time for a good 
tango musician to emulate D'Arienzo (who was no stranger to musician's music, 
having played jazz before forming his seminal tango orchestra).
Cheers,
Charles


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