Do you love tango music?
I’ve heard people compare the asynchronous rhythms to a funeral march and it just rakes my nerves!
When I first saw a live tango performance there was a 3 piece orchestra playing in an indoor/outdoor restaurant in a 17th century building in old colonial Mexico. The combination of the beauty in the architecture, the vibrations from the instruments resonating off the stone walls of the building and the sensuality of the dancers I was completely enthralled (okay, I was “hooked”).
Now when I go to tango festivals and milonga I am thrilled when I see an orchestra rather than a dj whose face is glowing, not the glow of a radiantly happy dancer, but in the light from his laptop, more like the glow of a sci-fi robot-human hybrid.
Don’t get me wrong – I adore the craft that the dj brings to a milonga and keeping the dancers flowing contiguously from song to song is no easy challenge, I’m just saying…
There is nothing in the world like feeling the music vibrating through your body in harmony with the instruments in a synchronistic moment as the musicians are feeling the energy of the crowd and then feeding it back to them – pure magic!
It seems I have found a kindred spirit in Rusty Cline of Tucson, Arizona – Founder of the Tucson Tango Festival, he shared in a newsletter recently about his experience with tango music:
Tucson Tango Festival Supporting Living Artists
Live Music… Living Orchestras… I have a confession to make, sometimes while dancing at a milonga I will fantasize that I am in Buenos Aires 1940 dancing to a live orchestra by Rodolfo Biagi or Anibal Troilo… Wow! Those were the days….
During the golden era of tango 1930-1950 in Buenos Aires wonderful orchestras from Angel D’Agostino to Orchestra Tipica Victor were traveling the streets from salon to salon playing beautiful music for tango dancers. Today we reap the benefits of such talents and disciplines, compliments of MP3 files; each time we dance at a milonga we are – hopefully – grateful for those many orchestras that practiced, played and learned the art of making tango music.
Now today some 60 to 80 years later, there is a resurgence of emerging tango orchestras all over the planet. Buenos Aires hosts scores of orchestras and in the US there are a good 15 to 20 that are actively studying and practicing the art of playing and interpreting tango music. As any one that hangs around the arts knows, it takes support to foster and prepare the disciplines of any art form, this goes too for the musicians learning to play beautiful tango. The arts always need support and we are proud to do our part.
Thank YOU Rusty! Well said, and I will be looking for you on the dance floor at the milonga!
There is still time for you to grab your festival passes for the weekend of March 14-18th in sunny, beautiful Tucson, Arizona. This festival is voted in the top percentile for fun, friendly dancing, ambiance and of course…live music! Get your tickets now and check for super saver flights with Southwest Airlines, you’ll be glad you did 🙂
For more information log on to www.tucsontangofestival.com
Have you got an opinion about tango music? We’d all love to hear it, please share your thoughts with us either through the comments or using the form in the contact page.