Re: [TANGO-L] Dancing to something other than music of the golden age

[Tom Stermitz <stermitz @RAGTIME.ORG>]

>Of course, you can do anything you want!  However, in
>my opinion, some music has a rhythmic feel that
>doesn't match up to the smooth style of tango.

For me swing music puts a lilt into tango that isn't quite right. It
is missing some of the core, important things that makes tango Tango.
For example the hesitation or "moment of engaging" before the "1"
beat, is critical for tango, while foxtrot or swing feels too "light"
and cheerful, dropping you too easily to the "1" beat.

Maybe blues music or West Coast Swing has more of the grounded,
chewiness of tango.

A great illustration of the contrast is on the Fresedo/Ray CD from
Tango Argentino. Play the truly excerable foxtrot "Isla de Capri"
(track 10), and then the good, (if gentle) track 9 (I forget what it
is).

This exercise cured my ears of wanting to dance tango to swing music.

>The bouncing in swing dancing aligns with the rhythmic
>character of swing music.  I prefer not to bounce in
>tango, although there are those who do it.  The rhythm
>of tango doesn't swing.  This is not a pejorative
>description of tango.  It's a technical musical
>distinction.  The rhythm of tango is "straight" as
>contrasted with "swinging".


I have to disagree...a lot.

Tango definitely has a syncopated feel, a rhythm and a drive that is
not the straight 1-2-3-4 of a march. It has a lot of formal
syncopation (as a musician might use the term), as well as a more
informal definition (as a dancer might use it.)

The buuuump-bi-bump-bump of the Habanera, becames much more
rhythmically interesting as tango added in folk and african rhythms.

If you can, get to one of Pablo Aslan's "Tango Music for Tango
Dancers"; it is an excellent and entertaining presentation.


But to immediately point out that tango isn't primarily a slow,
smooth dance, just listen to the classics of the 1930s & 40s:

Listen to D'Arienzo's "El Flete" (from soundtrack of The Tango
Lesson). Listen to Tanturri/Campos "Igual que un Bandoneon", or Calo.
Or Biagi, who occasionally drops out completely like an elevator
shaft.

You will hear both the walking tempo and the more staccato half-beats.

You will hear triplets against the 4/4 time.

You will hear syncopated triplets (1-2-3, 1-2-3, 1-2, or for dancers,
Long, Long, Short)

For me that gives tango its own kind of "swing", obviouslyl different
from Jazz/Swing.



>
>The grounded, smooth nature of tango tends to fit
>physically with straight rhythm played at a walking
>tempo.  Matching up to another rhythm makes it look to...

Maybe DiSarli is smoother and walking, but the t

>I think funkier rhythmic feels sometimes seem as if
>they might fit with the character of milonga.

Milonga, at least the candombe milongas of the 1930s have a bit of
african or "afro-nostalgia" rhythm. In this case, some boleros or
mambos feel somewhat related.
--
Tom Stermitz
2612 Clermont St
Denver, CO 80207
home: 303-388-2560
cell: 303-725-5963