[Tango-L] live music

[Kace]

This topic has become quite a heated debate but it is turned into a 
clash of personality. 

That is sad because the substance of the debate is really important and 
deserves to be
given some good thinking to work towards a real solution.

I want to support AJ's call for civility, courtesy and banishing bad 
language from this
discussion. 

- We all agree there is a problem of not having sufficient contemporary 
musicians
   making  live performances or recordings of a calibre that dancers 
wish to hear.

   This is a serious problem: As a DJ I always try to work in newer 
recordings into
   my programming, but I could hardly find them. Those I have on hand I 
try to give
   them early evening exposure --- they are not the best for driving the 
dancers to
   get on their feet, but many are excellent to set the mood. 

   Just check out any  music shop and compare their contemporary tango 
collection
   against the contemporary salsa, flamenco and swing collection.  The 
market for
   tango music is miniscule, and most the reason is new recordings are 
not inspiring
   people to own albums. 

- Musicians who have their own artistic vision of their music but 
ultimately fail to
  satisfy the dancer's expectation.  In this regard I am firmly in the 
dancer's camp.
  Musicians need to rein in their artistic aspirations and focus on what 
dancers
  need -- I don't even think it is a matter of "you did not ask nicely", 
just common
  market sensibility. 

  Imagine a chef who goes berserk in the kitchen and  bring out his 
masterpiece,
  when the diner simply wants a good old burger  with lots of ketchup.  
Is the
  customer at fault for having such unexciting palette?  No -- that is 
giving the
  customer what he wants.  If not, why blame the customer for voting 
with his wallet? 

  The best musicians will be those who give the customer the baseline of 
strong
  rhythms and the typical musical structure, but innovate on adding 
counterpoints
  in the melody or musical highlights. 

  Think about how Golden Age musicians progress over the Old Guards, and
  how trained musicians like DiSarli and Pugliese added depth to folk 
tunes like
  La Cumparsita by adding extra  musical layers to them.  I have heard tango
  versions of Happy Birthday and Pink Panther too, and I think musicians
  can really have scope to innovate if they take strong well-known melodies
  and add the tango twist to them, much as jazz musicians have added swing
   to many songs.

- I have to acknowledge the musician's perspective too that none of what the
  dancers are asking for is easy to accomplish.  Without good mentors and
  musician role models, one cannot be expected to reproduce a style just by
  listening to recordings.

  A strong band leader and good arranger is key -- these are much rarer
  compared to the number of trained musicians.  Indeed many contemporary
  tango musician got their apprenticeship under earlier legendary 
bandleaders. 
  Musicians without this link have very little chance of success on 
their own.

  That is why dancers need to go to Buenos Aires and various tango festivals
  -- to get inspiration and see role models.  I wish musicians can also have
  the same opportunity to get up close to the best tango orchestras and 
learn,
  but I understand the music school offering tango in BA -- e.g. Emile 
Balcarce's
  -- only offer them in Spanish and takes several years of full time 
commitment.
  So there is another big hurdle.
 
Kace
tangosingapore.com