[Tango-L] Vocals and Dancing

[Shahrukh Merchant]

I have no idea where anyone got the idea that people don't dance to 
vocals in Buenos Aires. Not to Gardel, clearly (but then I've yet to 
hear Gardel being played at a milonga), but over half of Golden Age 
stuff has vocals. And everyone dances to them. And not just in Buenos 
Aires--in most milongas in any mature Tango community anywhere in the 
world (OK, the parts I've been to) you'll hear 50% vocals.

Sure, there are some singers that sound like they're groaning rather 
than singing (there's a DJ--fortunately just one--in Montreal who seems 
to like them), and some modern "it's all about me--who cares about the 
dancers or the other musicians for that matter" diva-syndrome singers, 
and a Tango dancer can be forgiven for wanting to strangle both kinds. 
But very little in the Golden Age canon of tango music falls into either 
of these categories, and half of the standards if not more will contain 
vocals.

When I was a beginner, I preferred instrumentals, as I think most 
beginners do, but even before I could understand the lyrics I started to 
like the songs with vocals more and more. Now I prefer the vocals 
(except for the ones I don't :-)), and not just because I understand 
more of them (there are many that I still don't, nor am I trying to for 
that matter).

If there are any vocals I don't dance to, it's because I can't stand the 
singer (quite the opposite of respecting them), e.g., Ledesma or pretty 
much any singer associated with Varela (sorry Bianca, if you're 
listening ...). From the contemporary orchestras, likewise with Sexteto 
Milonguero, which is a fantastic orchestra if only the damn quarteto 
singer would shut up.

Gardel, of course, is in a separate category, and none of the blanket 
statements above apply to him, sorry I meant Him. :-) Besides, no 
self-respecting DJ plays Gardel for dancing. There's some funny rule 
about that (which I endorse, incidentally), even though it's certainly 
semi-danceable, and arguably more so than some of the stuff some DJs play.

Shahrukh