When I wrote The milongueros I love – The Gift (Part 1) about the men in Buenos Aires I love to embrace and why, I received many enthusiastic comments from around the globe. People sent me their experiences, details of blissful moments on the dance floor, even poetry. And a few people asked me a simple question.
What about the music? they said.
Ah, I thought, as I read through my post. Good point. Had I focused too much on the men, and taken the music for granted?
Back then, despite having danced tango for three and a half years, and three of them in Buenos Aires, I still felt a bit uncomfortable when people asked me about tango music. It wasn’t that I didn’t like the traditional stuff. I did. I’d fallen head over stiletto heels in love with it in 2007 — and I tell that bit of my story, of how I went from pop to scratchy recordings of Pugliese and other marvellous tango-music men, in my book Happy Tango, so, I won’t repeat it here. By the time I wrote Happy T. , I had favourite tango orchestras and could reel off a few of them (D’Angelis, D’Arienzo, D’Agostino, Caló…) with honest passion in my voice.
However, I am a woman who has never won a game of Trivial Pursuit in her life, and slickly trotting out titles and dates on cue in answer to questions such as What Golden Age tangos do you like? seemed unlikely ever to be my destiny. I felt I ought to be able to do it, but I couldn’t. I knew I loved to dance to certain tunes and if they came on in the milonga I’d sit up, energise my most magnetic stare and feel frustrated if I couldn’t find a partner who loved them as much as I did; but, when a dance partner confided the name of a particular favourite, between tangos (as they often do in Buenos Aires), I wouldn’t say I exactly raced home to search for it on iTunes or write it in my notebook. I knew of some tangos by name, ones that maybe Ariel my teacher (whose tango knowledge reaches way beyond Trivial Pursuit), or Carlos, had enthused over. But, I was a person who felt the music rather than needing to register its ‘apellido and DNI number’. Or so I thought.
Then three things happened, and my musical world shifted a little on its familiar axis.
1. In the UK in July 2010, at the invitation of the social-tango-and trad-tango-music-loving organisers of Shrewsbury Tango, I began to research teaching a workshop on ‘deepening the connection in the social tango embrace’. I had to choose the music for the session. I sat at my computer listening and noting and learning… and wanting to know more, because, I realised that if I am to share anything of what I have been taught by ‘the milongueros I love the most’ about soul-to-soul connection in tango, I have to use the music to do it. In fact, I discovered, my choice of music can almost do the job for me — ladies, you try entering the embrace to a haunting introduction such as that of Jamás Retournarás from Al compás del corazón (Miguel Caló with vocalist Raúl Berón) without longing to be in the arms of a man who can lead you to melt.
2. On my return to Buenos Aires, a favourite milonguero broke my tango heart by abandoning me for another woman for the tanda we’d regularly danced over a period of many months, and I found I could not rest until I’d tracked the music down by name and played it over and over until it (and he) was out of my system. It may sound extreme, but I had to do this or I knew I would never be able to dance to the music again. I can’t tell you the orchestra concerned, because I think it courteous to protect the identity of the milonguero — his favourite tandas are as familiar to his dance partners past, present and future, as his dance shoes are to his feet. And I owe him courtesy. I’m sad to have lost an adored embrace, for now at least, but I will remain in the man’s debt for my whole tango life, whether we ever dance together again or not. He placed the tracks that ‘make him tremble’ in my soul’s memory, where I will hold them as gold. My ‘milonguero I loved the most’ scarred me with tango music itself. How could I not want to know its name?
3. To discover whether it’s possible for me to pass on something inspiring and worthwhile on the subject of ‘the gift’ in the tango embrace, I’ve begun a whole new journey — learning to ‘be the boy’ as Ariel (my wonderful teacher) puts it. Last week, by the end of my first lesson, I was able to navigate him around his living room without banging into the walls or the furniture. And, to investigate the boy-part thoroughly, I’m going to have to know my tango music more intimately than ever before. I can’t help wondering if the tracks I will choose to dance when trying to help women to relax and give their gift to the real men of tango, will be the same tracks that I most readily surrender to as a woman. Can’t wait to find out.
These three music-related happenings seem to have started a bit of an avalanche… you know that thing where once you become aware of something, you see it everywhere. A favourite dance partner of mine (from Australia) and I talk in the pause between tangos of how fun (and useful for getting to know the music) it would be if the DJ had an electronic board displaying the name and orchestra of each tango as it’s played. On Thursday at Nuevo Chique the organiser enthused about D’Arienzo as if he were an old friend and tears of joy blurred my eyesight. This Saturday at Los Consagrados I found myself surrendering to a strong milonguero from La Plata and a tanda of Láurenz and feeling quite desperate to identify the final tango that left me dizzy with release — the rather aptly named (as it turns out, in the light of point 2. above, though its lyrics convey a far deeper level of sadness), Abandono.
Yep, the signs of synchronicity are there. In wanting to know tango music more intimately to help me understand its effect on a soul with a desire to dance, I think I am definitely on a good path. However, I’m always going to be more heart than head, so don’t be surprised when I tell you I adore Fresedo, you ask me what my favourite track is, and I just can’t quite put my finger on it. It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just that I drank with way too much characteristic passion when I was young.
And as for whether my original post, The milongueros I love – The Gift (Part 1), spoke too much of men and not enough of music. I don’t think so. In my case it was the embrace of men, and not actually the music, that got me hooked on dancing social tango. If you’d simply sat me solo, on day one, in a room with a CD player, a disc of classic tangos and a disc of Robbie Williams and told me to choose which to dance to first, I’m sure that I’d have picked the Robbie Williams, just because my British soul was well used to its sound and beat. It was men — my dream dancer of Hampshire, Ariel, Carlos, a multitude of milongueros in Buenos Aires — who taught me to love tango music through their dance. That isn’t to say that tango music isn’t the mother and father of all these fabulous-tango-dancer men, because, of course, without its existence there would be no tango embrace and none of the resulting gifts. In that sense the music always comes first. Plus, it is the music that dictates when the men in my current tango life dance, and when they don’t — for example, Carlos will be very unlikely to leave his seat for Di Sarli, whereas when D’Arienzo blasts over the pista he just can’t stop himself. And if both the man and I are jumping to our feet for the same track, I think the chances of bliss in our embrace are upped to the height of a full moon above the earth.
So… music. Music. Tango music! Yes, it matters, and the longer I dance, the more it matters to me. Abso-bloody-lutely. My favourite tango music is one of the wings on which my tango soul flies. The milongueros I described in The milongueros I love – The Gift (Part 1) are the other. To release my tango ‘gift’ with utter abandon and leave the eyes of men shining with the perfect combination of surprise, relief and desire, I need them both.
What about you?
Guys, perhaps you can substitute the word woman for man in some parts of the post above.
Anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of tango music — the history, the personalities, the sounds, the lyrics, the lot — try the websites planet-tango.com, todotango.com and milonga.co.uk.
The photograph at the top of the post is of La Glorieta from where tango music fills a Belgrano park on Saturday and Sunday evenings from 7pm.
If you’d like the full story on how to make the most of Buenos Aires tango, why not treat yourself to my book Happy Tango: Sallycat’s Guide to Dancing in Buenos Aires?
Tags: Ariel Yanovsky, Golden Age music, milonguero, tango connection, tango journey, tango music, the gift
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What a read, thanks Sal. ‘Solo Una Novia’ by Canaro takes me to another place especially when Roberto Maida starts to sing.
S x-
Ah Steve, thank you! I tracked it down I think http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LuKAdNyXg1I Yes, the voice is beautiful. I love the sound. And how we have to wait to 2.17ish to hear it. And this scratchy record only adds to the atmosphere. Thanks so much for sharing a piece of music you love. You know I was thinking today that it’s a such a privilege for a woman to know the music that a man loves to dance to, and then he chooses her for it… I mean, that reveals so much about him and truly that he thinks highly of her dance.
Warmest of hugs to you in that British winter of snow and ice, SC
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Hi Sal
I remember talking to you last year about the music at Burley and it is amazing that the further you go down the Tango road the more you fall in love with the music…and the connection….oh and the ladies
It will also be interesting to hear about your journey learning to lead.
Hope you and C have a super Christmas
luvJB-
Oh jamesy, yep I remember… I was in the days of feeling slightly awkward that I no longer really enjoyed dancing tango to pop music, wasn’t I, and was trying to explain it without sounding like the ‘tango police’? I feel that my tango music journey has been a kind of subset of my overall tango dancing journey, but that as time goes on the two become increasingly inextricably linked. At first music and dance were far apart, now they are so close to being one and the same… and maybe this is the same for many people from foreign lands, for whom, like me, trad tango music was once a completely new sound. More to write on this one day, I think. For now though, I have a roast chicken Christmas lunch to go to. In 35 degree heat!
Happy Christmas jamsey to you and your loved ones.
Hope you will not be snowed in and can get out to dance soon! Big hug,
SC
ps. I think the leading thing is going to be very interesting…
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Sal
You have said it all again. Just like you I know the music I love and what moves me, but I still have trouble remembering the titles, although, no, strangely I remember the titles it is the orchestra I can never name.
Too many over here see the dance and music as separate entities, time I think, brings us to the truth of what really is tango. Unfortunately the media here does not help, so we still have to dance to pop or not dance at all. That is why I suppose I am still frustrated.
Enjoy your 35º , it is -12º here overnight and it looks like we are going to have a white Christmas.
.-= tangobob´s last blog ..Christmas Practilonga =-.-
Hi Bob, yes I think that the dance and the tango music have become one for me, in my search for the most powerful connections on the dance floor. In my case, it does have to be traditional tango, but not all trad tango gets my soul soaring… some tracks by some orchestras I love, and other tracks by the same orchestras I do not; some orchestras I love less. In BsAs I prefer to stay in my seat for tandas of the latter, unless I cannot resist a dance with the man because I think there is a chance he can show me something in the music that I haven’t already seen. Pop, they don’t play it here which solves the fact that I don’t really want to dance to it at all, and in England in 2010 we were lucky enough to dance regularly in Shrewsbury and Pant where there is great trad tango, at Pilands where Golden Age music is on offer, and at Bramshaw where there are even two rooms now so that there is a choice on some nights – something for everyone, which suits me as I can pick the traditional room! Even on the one night I called in at TLC in Southampton, Andreas Wichter was DJing and his music was amazing, Carlos wanted to dance to every track!
I’m starting to really want to identify each orchestra and find out a bit about them – the when and where of them, as I think the story of the music is beginning to matter to my tango heart. The titles and lyrics are coming into it too now. I want to know what the tracks I adore are about, and so I might begin to remember a few more titles. It’s all starting to happen slowly and of its own accord… I’m not having to try too hard. Actually I feel that the music is finding me, rather than the other way around. It’s as if it wants me to discover more about it now.White Christmas… Wow! Here today walking into the street feels like walking into an oven, I am having to drink litres of water to stop myself feeling dizzy if I go out and about and the sun through the bus windows is a killer. I had a fab Roast Chicken Christmas today with some Brit friends. We even sang Carols. I did a solo of Once in Royal David’s City! 35 degrees and Carols. It feels strange but it’s fun.
Happy Christmas to you and Viv!
SC
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Sally,
Yes, it is the music as well as the follower/leader. I am just back from a week skiing in France. Of course I took my tango CDs and joy of joys I found an American who had brought her CIFs and we managed to persuade the hotel DJ to play a tanda of Typica Victor. We danced. Even powder snow can’t compete with this addiction.
Besos
Terry-
Hi Terry!
Sin Rumbo Fijo (Angel Vargas) Orquesta Típica Víctor is one of my absolute favourite valses http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgNvv8JRHBQ, and you just prompted me to listen to it about 10 times, and am still listening! When Vargas starts singing… to die for. Listening and not dancing to it, heaven. Dancing with a man who knows, understands and loves it too, heaven to the power of 100. Dancing a milonga with the same man, could be on the level of a dull trip to a museum… ha! Dancing the vals with a man who doesn’t ‘get’ vals and treats it like a tango, utter hell. Oh so many factors, but the music is definitely one of them!
I am going downtown to dance later, zero chance of powder snow , but big chance of heaven to the power of 100! Hope so, and hope you find it many times in 2011 too.
Thanks so much for sharing with me.
Un abrazo, SC -
Terry,
Sorry put all that in the wrong order first time, so have just edited it to make sense!
SC
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Well said, Sally!
I feel pleasantly disoriented after dancing a tanda, where the music and dance partner are wonderfully aligned.
BTW, a current favourite tango which gives me goosebumps is “Si la llegaran a ver” (D’Arienzo /Maure).
I love your blog and have added it to our website. Hope you don’t mind.
Greetings from sunny Adelaide, South Australia.
PP
.-= Patricia Petronio´s last blog ..Dancing as equals =-.-
Happy New Year Patricia!
Thank you for connecting and I am of course delighted that you are linking to my blog! I will add you to my links page too, as I have just read yours and love your thoughts on tango; very much in line with mine, as it happens.
“Si la llegaran a ver” (D’Arienzo /Maure)? Beautiful. The violins get me every time in tangos (as well as singers like Maure. One reason I like D’Angelis so much. One of the loveliest things a milonguero ever said to me after a tanda was, “Do you play the violin? You dance the violin.” In fact, I played the viola, long ago. I still have it in the UK, and I am thinking of bringing it with me to Buenos Aires, so that I can learn to play it all over again. I never thought I would want to do that, but tango has brought me to a point of wanting to play music. Something beautiful I want to do with 2011!
Am so glad you like my blog. Stay in touch! SC-
Thanks for offering to add us to your links, Sally.
Isn’t one of the wonderful aspects of dancing to Golden Age music the countless number of ways it can be danced? Eg. by dancing to the instrument that “speaks” to you at any point of the music. Somehow most of the modern music doesn’t produce the same result. Perhaps a musician who is also a dancer might be able to explain this.
On another note, as you are a fan of vals and of De Angelis, I hope that you have come across “Imaginacion”. PP
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PP, link done.
I so agree about the Golden Age music – wonderful in its richness, and, for my part, I notice that I tend to hear the violins even when their contribution is not as dominant as other instruments. I suspect that here might be someone who you could ask about the layers in the music: http://www.joaquinamenabar.com/; his is a book I have, but have leant out, and have yet to read in any depth.
Imaginacion? Do I know it, but not its name? This is what I found, but can you post a link to a recording, if there is one online, as couldn’t find one, including on iTunes; now I have to know if I know it! http://www.todotango.com/spanish/las_obras/Tema.aspx?id=/nn80w0lyVc=
Thanks again for connecting across the miles.
Un abrazo to you in Adelaide, SC
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Thanks for the link, Sally.
Joaquin’s book is very interesting, indeed, but doesn’t deal with this question. I must remember to ask him next time I see him.
You’ll find a sample of Imaginacion through this link. http://www.terra-melodica.de/print_product_info.php/products_id/829
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the entire piece on the web.
Enjoy, PP.
.-= Patricia Petronio´s last blog ..Respect =-.-
Thanks Patricia!
I see why you like Imaginacion and am delighted you managed to track a clip of it down for me, but I confess I’m not overly familiar with it; I will be listening out for it in BsAs now! Truly my favourite De Angelis vals is Pobre Flor. Almost makes me cry with joy!
Un abrazo, SC
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