Maps
Just for fun – and since I was constructing a map of tango venues in Singapore anyway – I decided to create a map of interesting tango-related places in Buenos Aires. Incidentally, I have been to all places marked on the map, except for Villa Malcolm, Club Fulgor, Club Glorias Argentinas and Salon El Pial (where La Baldosa is held). I will certainly be adding to it as I recall more places. Although this is probably a duplication of effort with existing maps but, hey, it’s my map with places that I am interested in! 🙂
View Buenos Aires tango in a larger map
* Note that I have only marked one shoe store, so far! 😀
Salon or milonguero?
Melina, of the Melinda-Detlef fame, recently had something to say about tango styles. What she had written reminded me of my own experiences at a recent tango festival. I do agree with her overall thesis, that tango de salon is a sufficient description for social tango, and should not be used as a tag to separate dance styles between Susana Miller’s use of tango milonguero or Jorge Dispari’s use of Villa Urquiza = tango de salon.
Having taken classes with teachers who dance in a style that is suitable for crowded downtown milongas* in Buenos Aires (nowadays usually associated with the style prominently popularised by Susana Miller, as mentioned in Melinda’s piece), I feel that even here there can be quite distinct differences. As a postscript and before I digress too much, I suppose this is par of the richness that some are lamenting when they complain about tango “clones”!?
To me this “cloning” or “fashionable dance styles” are not really as much of problem as some people make out to be because it’s just indicative of how people came to experience tango. In the old days, people might learn from or were heavily influenced by their peers/elders, hence a style would likely remain dominant in any given barrio. In addition, from what I have heard, due to the relative isolation of different barrios, various styles usually remained untainted. In contrast, nowadays increases in the number of teachers available and fewer men practicing with other men before they can attend a milonga, people will naturally dance in the way they have been taught. I don’t think people should be faulted for trying to learn something new!? With more dancing mileage, things will surely and certainly change. It’s just a question of time.
* I think for the purpose of discussion, this long-winded description is necessary to avoid further confusion.
Recent purchases, part 2
The second batch of new CDs arrived yesterday. Thanks to Vivien for bringing them back from Buenos Aires!
This lot is from the Buenos Aires Tango Club (or BATC for short). As I understand, you’d need to go through hoops and bounds to order anything remotely from BATC, so it’s good to have someone on the ground. 😀
- BATC Orq 286 Francisco Canaro “La milonga de Buenos Aires” (1933-1940)
- BATC Orq 287 Francisco Canaro “Estampa del suburbio” (1929)
- BATC Orq 288 Francisco Canaro “Fueye Querido” (1930)
- BATC Orq 289 Francisco Canaro “Criollazo” (1930-1931)
- BATC Orq 290 Francisco Canaro “Yo te adoro bandoneon” (1931-1932)
- BATC Orq 291 Francisco Canaro “La canción de Buenos Aires” (1932-1933)
- BATC Orq 295 Francisco Canaro “Noches De Buenos Aires” (1935)
- BATC Orq 310 Francisco Canaro “Corazon de oro” (1930-1941)
- BATC Orq 340 Francisco Canaro “Dos amores” (1932-1934)
- BATC Orq 260 Orquesta Tipica Victor (1925-1927)
- BATC Orq 276 Juan D’arienzo (1928-1929)
Next step is to digitise everything to lossless format before anything goes wrong with the CDs (they seem to be writeable CDs), as Royce has recounted here. I plan to switch my DJing collection (and ditch iTunes) eventually to flac in any case.
Invierno: yet another hard-to-find track
Given the state of preservation (or the lack of) of recorded tango music since the 1940s, it’s little wonder that we can commonly find from the major labels like Sony-BMG, EMI, etc., are but only a fraction of all that was recorded during the Golden Age of tango. In fact, many gems are only available in the expensive editions released by private collectors.
Here is another beautiful piece from Canaro, “Invierno”, which I heard for the first time a couple of months ago. By the way, even the usually reliable resource http://eng.tango.info has no information as to the source of this song! Incidentally I really enjoyed this clip from the well-known DJ Damián Boggio as he showed off a little of his record collection.
* However, this song must be reasonably “accessible” in Buenos Aires as I have already seen 2 performances this year using this song. One source that I have discovered is Club de Tango, but perhaps there are others?