New Canaro addition
The latest addition to my collection – a Canaro CD of his early 30′s output. In fact, I have been quite fortunate in acquiring a few of his tracks from the 1930′s lately. This is from Euro Records (the well-known “Coleccion 78 RPM” series), which are generally considered to have good quality given the source material they had to work from. Thanks to Royce for alerting me the existence of the CD and another friend for bringing it back from Buenos Aires! 
ps. There is supposed to be a review of this CD here, but the website seems to be experiencing problems and is not accessible occasionally.
Popularity: 7%
Music re-cataloguing
With the recent purchases of a bunch of CDs (and a couple more to come, I might add 
) and a new netbook, I have been on the prowl to tidy up and comb through the tags in my tango collection once again. The bulk of my collection is already in flac format, except for stuff that I have exchanged with friends which are variously in aac or mp3. For the new CDs I am using secure rips and encoding everything in flac (option -v) – hopefully to break from the shackles of Apple as far as DJing is concerned 
by the beginning of next year.
In the process I have “discovered” that I actually have more than I thought originally – albeit those additional materials only in digital format – and the lists (tango A-D and tango E-Z) on this blog have been duly updated. Two invaluable resources I have continually referred to are:
- Tobias’ wonderful database on almost everything related to tango!
- Tango discographies at tangodj.org
The tagging is done using foobar by the way. While there will be the inevitable human errors in any one source, hopefully by cross-referencing and more thorough this time around that the information will at least be more reliable in the long run. The joy of going digital!
Popularity: 12%
Role of a DJ
This post continues on my thoughts concerning tango DJing.
An interesting point was raised in the comment to my post on danceability. In some communities (such as ours in Singapore), the DJ is likely to wear multiple hats, perhaps doubling as the milonga organiser, the MC, etc. The duties may include welcoming the guests/visitors, mingling as well as lots of dancing to get the crowd going. Even in the most of informal setting, he or she is ultimately answerable to the paying patrons of the milonga (and may or may not to the milonga organiser, as the case may be).
This then begs the question, what is the role of a tango DJ?
In some situations, such as in Buenos Aires or in larger communities around the world, the primary goal of the DJ is probably to pack the dancefloor as much as possible by playing great music. For smaller communities, I suspect the answer may not be so clear-cut all the time. Furthermore, as we evolve as dancers, obviously our tastes and appreciation in music will change. For example, I remember vividly how I used to think Di Sarli was terribly boring 
– one of my first CDs was actually the RCA 100 Anons… For others, perhaps it was Pugliese that they had problem handling at first? This means that from time to time there may be a disparity in how a tango DJ perceives a certain piece of music compared to segments of the community, who may be more junior as far as dance experience is concerned. How should the DJ react in such a situation? Listen to his/her instincts or play to the crowd?
This is the type of dimlemma that all DJs are likely to face at some point in their careers, in that each DJ needs to be able to answer, not only to him/herself but also to the organiser of the milonga as well as the patrons. After all, why are people coming to your milonga? Do they come primarily to dance? To socialise with friends, as well as share a few dances with friends? To learn about music? Nevertheless, despite the possibly conflicting objectives, knowing the audience will greatly facilitate a DJ in carrying out his/her duty conscientiously.
Popularity: 13%
New old CDs
Recently saw some good deals on certain gems of tango music online. Well, how could I pass on the chance to add to my collection!? So, after a relative lull, I made my orders of a number of CDs, this time around concentrating on materials from the 1920s to early 1930s. My final “targets” included music of Francisco Canaro, Edgardo Donato and Osvaldo Fresedo.
Since the parcels just arrived today, I have only had a chance to listen to the Canaro (1926-1927). From the front cover photo, it appears that Canaro himself might have been playing in the orchestra at this point in his career. The music is slow-paced and more intimate (though not as sweet as Di Sarli’s Sexteto sound), quite a big contrast from his grander and more upbeat sound in his 40′s output. Well, now really can’t wait till my copy of La Cumparsita – Tango Argentino (Francisco Canaro), which took me quite a while to track down a reasonably priced copy (as mentioned here) arrives. It will have some rare tracks not available elsewhere…
Popularity: 7%