Milongas
Not sure how I missed these two videos in the past. Anyway two milonga performances here, two different partners, roughly one year apart from one of the exciting younger generation that I love watching. There are definitely some signs of evolution here but still the same energy and keen ear for music. Enjoy!
Interactive programming
Wow, didn’t realised that I have not been writing for such a long time! Anyway should have a few things coming up shortly as a some recent discussions.
In the meantime, I have been tinkering with Google Apps Script recently. This Javascript-ish listing of my tango music collection is the result. It’s still a work-in-progress however. Essentially this is a simple dashboard gadget with a backend driven by a Google Spreadsheet document. Obviously the information on singers is incomplete, since all this information has to be entered manually…
Video catalog
Seeing that these lists of music have served me well over the years
by, for example, preventing me from buying dupicates(!) and generally letting me double-check what I already have before making a recommendation, etc.
I think it’s time to also make a list of my video collections too.
As it turns out the list is not as small as I thought! Needless to say, I have also not been as studious as I intended to be. 
Improving one’s musicality
Here are some thoughts from early last year – finally seeing the light of day!!
During a workshop, someone in all seriousness asked, “We can do all these exercises while you are here. How does one improve one’s musicality when you are not around?”
The teacher’s suggestion was (paraphrasing) “Spend more time listening to music, and watching videos on Youtube for examples of people dancing to different types of music. But watch less of the figures.”
I think this is very sound advice. The desire/need to improve musicality is a serious problem for many smallish communities outside of Buenos Aires. I mean, it is one thing to lament the lack of “musicality” – however you may choose to define it – of the gringos, European, Asian or otherwise, it’s another to offer concrete advice on how to head in the right direction.
Personally, I have found the oft-quoted routine advice of “listening to more music” to be lacking. After all, many of us lack the language or cultural context to connect well with music written and played more than half a century ago, no? In order to elicit an emotional response, you’d need to have some feelings towards a particular piece of music and, well, some prejudices about the style of dancing!?
On the other hand, watching ordinary people (middle-aged couples, not teachers or even well-known milongueros) dance in the milongas during my trip to Buenos Aires was really inspirational. Seeing the joy on people’s faces, the engagement and commitment to each other on the dance floor, and also the passion to the music they were dancing, it was not difficult to “feel” different parts of the music after a while. Naturally, being already familiar with most of tracks helped too. However, while seeing happy faces often meant good connections, it did not always imply good technique and, for me, it didn’t matter…