I like Kitty's view about cortina. Sometimes I listen to some non-tango music and think probably it may bring some chemistry at the break, like sorbet, e.g. a Georgian table song, or even Yunnan wulozi. Great to have some exchange here.

Adley

Does it feel like dancing tango? A very subjective question, but probably worth debating for all of that!

I would be tempted to say that it's got something to do with the instruments - particularly the Bandoneón - except that some electronic tango (and for that matter Nelly Omar accompanied by guitar) feels like tango to me.

I wonder if it's related to 'dos por cuatro'. Perhaps we need the two strong beats and two weak beats - or something pretty close - to give that particular feel... Certainly 'Nephali's Tango' - pretty though it is - has I believe a slightly different musical structure and doesn't feel like tango to me, nor to a number of Argentinean Dancers who I queried.

And there seems to be something similar between Vals and Walz. To me they feel very very different.

For most of the people, they are used to melody and rhythm. so it is easy for them to understand "classical" or "traditional" tango, as a trained musican, i played classical music in most of my life. i dislike contemporary/electronic music cos i can't feel the emotion and the sound produced from electronic keyborad are so dull. however, i have changed a few years ago.

If you look at the history of tango music, it is just about 100 years but the development is so fast and we are still digging the treasure from the golden age. you can distinguish the diff orch and diff style as you can notice the character of mozart and bach's music. Try to listen to Troilo's cd, the bandoneon part played by piazzolla and than compare with other bandoneonists, you can also notice the different. Which one is more like tango and more danceable? i don't want give defination of tango music as it doesn't meaning anything to give defination of classical music, usually i won't play a electron tango which is longer than 5 mins, otherwise poeple will out of patient. i prefer contemporary recording and accoutic instruments.

Another thing i want to point out, tango(songs) was some like of "pop culture" in 30-40's. the singers were a movie star and entertainer. they sang in the radio, movie, clubs. the songs also reflects the tastes/needs/desire of particular argentians in 30-40's. the songs becomes classic. you may not agree, banjofando or narcotango could become classic in one day.

Geoff mentioned about Bandoneon and it makes the music sound like tango. i totally agree the unique sound/sonority of bandoeon cannot replaced by others instrument. however if you listen to the early recording at the beginning of 20th century, people only played guitar, flute or violin. no bandoneon, even no piano. is it tango? I won't give a defination of what is tango, i'm just looking for danceable tango and make people to dance.
poeple outside argentina do not bear burden and they are more free and brave enoug to play what they enjoy in the milonga. when i was in new york. i saw people danced Swingo. some people said it is from Argentina. is it true?

At the very beginning of the disucssion, i forwarded a e-news to Kitty, sent out from a argentinean based in US, in the newsletter he expressed his feeling toward the editor of BA tango magazine accoused the BA government should not waste money to promote electronic music in tango festival. the editor think that is not tango, better called it electronic music rather than tango.

Feeling is a product of music interpretation (or vice versa). Indeed it is a very subjective matter. No two people interpret the same piece of music the same way, although they can be similar - it's all affected by your own background and life experiences.

Though not all DJs dance, I'd like to think that good DJs are usually good dancers at least in the musical sense (putting the technicalities aside). The role of a DJ is to play for the people and often times it does not necessarily mean he/she is passionate about every single piece of music that's played (at least he/she doesn't hate it).

The dynamics on a dance floor is a 2-way interactive game. The musical taste of a DJ is just as important as the response of the crowd. That's why, for most people, what differentiates a good milonga from the bad ones is the music - or more precisely, the musical taste of the DJ one prefers.

I see the DJ leading the atmos, the crowd responds, he/she then reacts to the response by putting on the right mix of music within his/her musical taste. Taking request is OK as long as it's within the right selection and doesn't disrupt the overall flow.

Thoughts anyone?

In case you don't already know, Gotan Project's third album - Lunatico - is now available in Hong Kong.

I bought my copy from HK Records, not sure if HMV has it yet.

Enjoy!<br><br>Post edited by: cha, at: 2006/04/18 09:50