Let the embrace do the talking
Music
Making of vinyl records
Feb 24th
A very interesting documentatary on the production of records (the three stages: master, mother matrix and stamper), made by who but RCA Victor! How is this related to tango? Well, it just so happens that RCA Victor was and still is a major player in tango music and I enjoy these old documentaries…
Production of records in the 40s – Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Popularity: 11%
Danceability
Feb 2nd
This is the first of a series of follow-ups to previous post on DJing.
I had mentioned that a requisite for a tango DJ is the ability to play music which is danceable. The point here is that what makes for great listening is not necessarily what makes for great dance music. In general, what most dancers like is a steady, clear beat. Concert music is designed to appeal to the musicians and to those who are listening; things that work in concert, such as creating subtlety, or having a beat that is partially or completely dominated by vocals, etc., don’t help the dancers. When dancers cannot hear a discernable beat, the dancefloor can become very chaotic. The usual tell-tale signs are having many couples stepping out of sync with the music.
By the way, in case some of you may be wondering: having a steady beat does not equate to the metronomic electronic thumping typical of “Tango electronica”, e.g. pieces from Gotan Project. A steady beat can manifest itself in various forms: light-hearted as in D’Arienzo’s “Pensalo Bien”, the driving rhythm in Biagi’s “Racing Club”, romantic and silky-smooth like Di Sarli’s “Bahia Blanca”, or playful as in many of Donato and Rodriguez’s recordings. There is a richness which is unfortunately not replicated by many of the modern orchestras.
Popularity: 6%
DJ 101
Jan 26th
With the recent increase in milonga venues locally, I foresee a demand for more DJ’s who can arrange decent and danceable music. Now, drawing on my personal experiences and from reading sources online, here’s a basic list of skills I consider necessary for anyone starting out*:
- Understand the role of a DJ.
- Awareness of pros and cons of softwares available for the job.
- Basic approaches on how to a) “pace” for a milonga, b) plan the flow of tandas.
- Start to build up a collection: where, how of acquiring music.
- See/hear some sample tandas to understand the reasons for their construction.
- Develop a ear for danceable music**.
Finally, I think a part of DJ’s responsibility is to get to know your dancers so that you can cater to the right audience!
* Naturally this is not meant to be exhaustive or it won’t be 101 anymore!
** Given that some of the budding DJs may be inexperienced dancers themselves (e.g. as in the case for our community), this may be tough to begin with. One suggestion is to simply watch dance floor to see whether it is chaotic or not, i.e. lots of confused faces that is different to the “not-dancing-to-music” phenomena… 
Popularity: 6%
Foobar as a DJ software
Aug 27th
Although I have been using iTunes for DJing for the past two years, I have tried using WinAMP before that and currently revisiting using a free software called foobar2000. Now, despite the rather innocuous name, it is actually a very powerful piece of software which works not only in Microsoft Windows but also under Linux (using Wine). The advantages of using foobar2000 include wide range of file formats (for example I have most of my collection in flac, but occasionally I will receive files in aac and mp3), plethora of customisation options, to name a few.
Here are some resources that I have personally found to be extremely useful, for anyone also seeking an alternative player.
- Tips for customising foobar2000 for Tango DJs
- Using foobar2000 for mass tagging of music files
- A forum thread for using foobar2000 under Linux
Popularity: 25%
Cat magic
Aug 12th
The background music of this clip is by Orquesta Típica Fernández Fierro, one of the many modern Tango orchestras in Buenos Aires to consist of only young musicians. Nice sounds, although it seems that their later pieces are tending towards heavy “tangoish” rock music.
Popularity: 1%