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Posts from the ‘Musicality’ Category

13
Feb

Musical expressions

This is not the first time that I have noticed this. It seems often that when a interesting song appears in one performance, all of a sudden you will find a number of couples choosing the same song!? The song in question is “Tu Corazon”, by Donato Racciatti’s orchestra.

I first heard of this song from the Seoul performance (May 2009, number 2 below). Here are three couples offering their interpretations to the same song – take, for example, the different treatments at around the 1:50-2:00 mark. The first one is perhaps more “conventional”, the next two extremely playful, and the final softer and more romantic. That is part of the reason why I like tango, because the same piece of music can sometimes trigger a range of musical expressions.

Are there more examples using this song?

* Actually I prefer their performance at Tangocool which I have already posted here but didn’t want to repeat the same clip. 😉 I guess perhaps they were a little overawed by the occasion at Sunderland!? To be fair, this seemed more like an impromptu guest appearance rather than a pre-arranged performance.

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3
Dec

Slowing down

Been pretty busy with various events recently, so have not been updating this blog.

I do normally enjoy watching videos of Jorge Dispari, not so much to copy his style, but more for the enjoyment of seeing the smoothness in his giros and musical interpretation. As for this particular clip, I like the fact that he is apparently slowing down whereas the “norm” is perhaps to go quicker in response to D’Arienzo’s typically driving beat/rhythm. I suppose that I am noticing this aspect a little more today for no other reason than the fact that I have been asked to slow down and enjoy the melody more… 😉

9
Sep

Old but stylish

Tango vals is something that I have always enjoyed, since the beginning of my tango journey.

Here is a clip of “some old-timers” (well, they are Osvaldo and Coca who incidentally are the winners of Tango Salon category in the Tango championship in 2004) dancing to a Canaro vals, showing many of the typical qualities of milongueros in Buenos Aires. As a matter of fact, I can confirm that they dance with just with as much zest and playfulness as in this demonstration in a regular milonga, as seen in the wee hours of the morning at Gricel. Age may have slowed some of the milongueros down, but it certainly has not dulled their playful spirits or creativity. In fact, I can definitely pick out hints of the sacadas and deft footwork that are part of the repertoire from the likes of Julio Balmaceda or Javier Rodriguez… 😆

14
Aug

What is Nuevo in Tango Nuevo?

During a conversation I had a few weeks ago, it suddenly occurred to me that it is actually very difficult to explain what is/is not “Tango Nuevo”? Just to be clear, here I am talking specifically about the styles typified by people like Fabian Salas, Chico, Pablo Inza, not so much the styles danced by the younger generations like Pablo Rodriguez. It surprised me that I could not – and still cannot – put a clear definition to it.

I mean, when I begin to seriously think about it in terms of usual categories such as embrace, sequence of steps (from what I had actually learnt but no longer use) and music:

  1. Embrace: well, salon and Tango fantasia has been doing open/fluid embrace long before anything became Nuevo-ish…
  2. Fancy steps: colgadas are already used in Tango Fantasia, and even by some milongueros; colgadas have been seen in Tango Fantasia, or even some Tango Salon. Other steps?
  3. Music: I have been to quite a few so-called Nuevo venues where Golden Age music (albeit with a higher percentage of strongly rhythmic and driving music) was the flavour of the night. As a side note, one common element, irrespective of the style, is that good dancers invariably were able to interpret and express traditional Golden Age music well. In fact, to my eyes, even Nuevo dancers looked much better when expressing such music compared to dancing to some monotonic electronic music – but just my artistic preference… 😉

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