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.
Passing of Tito
Just read this morning on Jantango’s blog that Tito passed away in January. Seems that January 2010 is turning out to be a bad month as far as milongueros are concerned…
While Tito may not be a household-name to many people, like for example Tete or Osvaldo Zotto were, I remember him fondly even though we could not communicate and I saw him at the milongas only. By the way, Tito was mentioned on TangoandChaos a few times: Tango in a small space, and On giros.
I first met Tito during my trip to Buenos Aires last year. Always smartly dressed and gentlemanly, he was always friendly and encouraging right from the first few milongas I went to in Buenos Aires, even if I didn’t (and still can’t) understand anything he said. I will definitely miss seeing his delicate touches during milongas. Incidentally he was also the first guy to whisk my partner away from right under my nose at Maipu using the cabeceo! 😉
Rest in peace.
Danceability
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.
Quick footed
A fine example of milonga con traspie from Adela Galeazzi and Jorge Garcia, who is incidentally the brother of one of the most well known exponents of milonga, El Flaco Danny. In this clip Jorge demonstrates clearly the habanera rhythm as well some nifty footwork! What I am impressed the most is that he stayed calm throughout the dance, and at no stage was he “running after” the beat.