[Tango-L] North American tango orchestras/bands

[Gary Barnes]

Over here in Oz, the choice is small and we tend to take what we can  
get... which is a frustrating mix of bands that almost get it, and  
ones for whom dancers are on the fringe of their interest.

I am all for guided evolution of tango bands. How best to do the  
guiding is not clear.

Because the market is small, and many musicians and others in tango  
are not doing it to maximise their earnings, market economics will  
not produce what we want.

But we need to think about what we really want, and how to best  
influence musicians, composers, arrangers, organisers, promoters --  
and other dancers.

Shouting "play something we can dance to"  at the band (literally or  
online)  is unlikely to influence them positively.  And just not  
turning up to gigs is a very blunt instrument.

We  can make suggestions about what we hear vs what we think we want  
to hear, which may be useful ( if they are in fact wanting to please  
tango-dancers).

But what (most of us) cannot do is to tell them _how_ they should fix  
it.

> I hope that more musicians will decide to create danceable tango  
> music. It does not have to be a copy of the classics. The  
> musicians  own style and artistic creativity can shine. Actually it  
> would be much better if each new group would have their own  
> distinctive style. It would be great to have good, new,  
> acoustically superior music to play at the milongas.
>

Absolutely. This is what I want.

Part of the difficulty seems to be that many people wanting to play  
tango come from one of two places:

1) A mostly classical playing background.  Their playing can be  
wonderful, and they can work directly from scores!  but... they often  
have little idea how to approach music for dancing. They are often  
not used to the kind of direct discussion we are having here. They  
often do not have composition or arrangement expertise.  They often  
have similar problems moving into tango as they have playing folk  
music -- and are similarly mystified when folk audiences find them  
unsatisfying.

2) A folk music performance background. They can play tunes and  
arrangements by ear, and are often inspired seat-of-the-pants  
arrangers, who are used to audiences who say what they think. but...  
they often have little idea that there are dances, such as tango, for  
which the music has very specific characteristics, beyond the  
banality of time signature or a signature rhythm. And often, they are  
either not able to read sheet music, or only use it to get a tune,  
not an arrangement.

Of course, there are exceptions, but it is rare to find a musician  
who is actually excited by the idea of playing tango for dancing, let  
alone to find a full band of good musicians  with a composer and an  
arranger who are all heading in that direction. This group then also  
needs to have an  understanding of tango and playing for dancing,  
which they will need to satisfy tango crowds.

They need our help in this, and our support, especially in the early  
stages while they find their feet.

And so I and others go out of our way to approach musicians in  
'tango' bands, suss out whether they are aiming at being danceable  
for tango, and then give them useful feedback.  This extends as far  
as giving them CDs, pointing them towards sources for scores,  
discussions about music and dancing etc.

I think this help can make a far more useful difference than just  
supporting bands who are not playing what we want.

my 2.2c
Gary