[Tango-L] Some questions answered on "Some live tango music tips..."

[Barnes, Bob]

Gary-

> First, do you think there is anything that evangelising tango dancers 
> (like myself) can do (or not do) to encourage musicians to follow the 
> roots, or to help them find the joy of playing for dancing? Or is it 
> just luck?

To get a band going, you really need musicians who are devoted to the
style.  A Bandoneon is the heart of a tango band, but they are few and
far between in the US.  In my opinion, accordion is good enough.
(Purists may disagree with me, but I am an accordionist and there's
nothing they can do about it).

Even though my band has been together for 5 years, it pretty much sucked
for the first 3 or so.  I started it with jazz and folk players who were
more intersted in having fun (and a weekly paycheck) than the music.
They didn't have the tango passion I had, and it was quite frustrating.
One by one, I met players who were interested specifically in tango, and
now we have a quartet of folks who are passionate about it.  Working
with the best freee-lancers in town gave me a great sound, but it wasn't
truly tango.  We need players who are passionate about the music!  (BTW-
we have an open spot for a dedicated, professional level pianist who
wants to move to Minneapolis)

I also found that the bass is almost as important as the bando,
especially when you don't have a piano.  Tango bass technique is
different than straight classical and has almost nothing to do with jazz
or folk bass (i.e. it's all bow).  The guy I'm playing with now (Rahn
Yanes) is a classically-trained player, but needed about a year to
become "fluent" in the tango idiom.  It's kinda like how you can teach a
professional dancer all the steps, but it'll take them a long time
before they look fluid and unforced.  It's the same way with learning
tango music.

But when it comes right down to it, if the band is having fun and is
willing to learn from the masters, you will have a good dance band.

If you want to encourage a tango band to become a dance band, here are a
few things:

1) Give them recordings of what you like to dance to.  The stuff that is
availble in record stores in the states is all for listening.  Is it any
wonder that no one plays for dancing?  If they never hear DiSarli, how
can they play like him?

2) Find or buy arrangments.  A much trickier prospect. Get dance
arrangments, not concert ones.  http://universelles.fr/ has a good
selection (stick with the Arg. ones, though).  Julian Hasse sells some
arragements at http://www.julianhasse.com.ar/shop/ (If you want to use
the "Tango in a Box" series, just try one first and see if it works for
you.)  Norberto Vogel makes custom arrangments: http://www.vogel.com.ar/
You can also buy some at
http://www.accordionist.net/index.php?productID=44

3) Underwrite gigs!  To get professional musicians hooked on tango, they
need to play it, and to play it, they need some money.  I was blessed
with a regular Sunday evening resturant gig where my guys get a pretty
good paycheck to play on a traditionally slow night for musicians.  If a
band is playing for "percent of the door" at a dance studio, they may
walk home with $15 each, which may not encourage them to come back for
more.  Also, when a promotor is looking at paying a single DJ $50 or a
band $200, what are they going to do?

4) Offer to DJ between their sets or create DJ CDs so a promotor doesn't
have to hire both a band and a DJ.


>Second, in developing your skill in arranging, was listening to old 
>recordings important?

Yes!  About half of my arrangments are straight transcriptions of the
masters: mostly D'Arienzo, Canaros DiSarli and Troilo.  The other half
are "original" arrangments (if there can be such a thing) where I
arrange a standard to my liking.  The act of listening and transcribing
each note is the best way to learn the internal logic of a tango.  

I've heard it said that the best way to learn a Bach fugue is to write
it out in longhand.  Transcribing a classic tango serves a double
purpose for me: I learn an arranging style from an old master and my
band gets 3 more minutes of danceable music!

-Bob Barnes
info at mandragoratango.com