Probably the most appropriate answer given everyone's personal bias on ... everything.My definition.
What non tango songs can you tango too?
- Thread starter classy1
- Start date
JournalInTime
Forum Master
Same.
When I started out, I found music other than traditional tango music to be a useful bridge to appreciating traditional tango music. These days, I use other music as an excuse to change my shirt, get a drink, walk to a more strategic place, or whatever. Drums or their electronic equivalent annoy me outside of candombe, as they entrain and indeed almost force dancing on the beat, killing my chances of leading my partner on a melody and increasing the odds of some robotic leader running into me.
Which said, my view of "traditional tango music" is encompassing. It extends past the end of the Epoca de Oro, through Piazzolla and Juan Carlos Cáceres, to modern-day groups that play new arrangements of old classics.
Resist it!
If there's a melody or the rhythm has some offbeats, there is always a choice
Don't become a prisoner of specific musical textures or instrumentation! it will prevent your musicality from further improving.
JournalInTime
Forum Master
I do resist it. Followers often do not. More important, other leaders do not, and march like robots at a speed that doesn't make any real sense.
opendoor
Forum Master
Basically anything with a comparable pace, rhythm and speed, as there are all variants of march music, but also some baroque dances as slow bourrée and gavotte.
opendoor
Forum Master
(You speak of yourself, I have to accept that.)
However, I find that a marcato en 2 or en 4 of the bando section in a d'Arienzo piece coupled with a walking bass is much more forcing and thus limiting than the 1-3 pattern on drums found on contemporary pop songs.
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JournalInTime
Forum Master
For me, the difference is that D'Arienzo has violins swirling and a piano tinkling, not to mention a tendency to use very strong vocals, which invite dancers to escape the implied beat – and it is still implied – to play with melodies. So, when I lead on the voice, violins, or piano, my partner understands where in the music that is coming from.
Contemporary pop has an explicit beat and rarely instruments that invite playing around that. I'm an old punk rocker who has been to a lot of shows. I've never seen people dance to anything but the rhythm section of a vocals-guitar-bass-drums outfit, and adding another guitar or keyboards doesn't change that much.
opendoor
Forum Master
My main tango teacher, Chiche Nuñez, once quoted his teacher El Turco Brahemcha saying: dance the second violin even when it's not there. I was outraged because that was my quote, not El Turco's.
I was actually always melody-oriented. I found punk embarrassing, my first "music teacher" was Neil Young. Interesting what a seven year age difference makes!
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itwillhappen
Forum Master
I don't want to doubt that there is music that you can also tango to. But, in my experience, there is also a real risk that the DJ will, for my taste, go horribly wrong in the very wide range of music. Also because a very inhomogeneous dance audience is addressed. And so, in a sober assessment, I prefer conservative milongas.
DanceMentor
Administrator
Here are a few oldies that I think would be a good fit:
- "Makin' Whoopee" by Dr. John
- "Take the 'A' Train" by Duke Ellington
- "Misty" by Johnny Mathis
- "At Last" by Etta James
- "Sweet Georgia Brown" by Django Reinhardt
pianistamediano
Forum Master
Perhaps waltzes?
- Waltz no. 2 from Suite for Variety Orchestra (Shostakovitch)
- The Blue Danube, Op. 314, Strauss (Edited to remove the extended introduction, I've definitely heard more danceable versions than others)
- Tennessee Waltz (Patti Page)
- Merry-Go-Round of Life (Joe Hisaishi, from Howl's Moving Castle)
- To tango tis Nefelis (Haris Alexiou) / Tango to Evora (Loreena McKennitt)
- El Tango de Roxanne (from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack)
here's a good version of that one:
I've danced to all the other waltzes you listed, although I never tried Strauss outside the Viennese context. If you like classical, Chopin can be really nice as well if the pianist doesn't go too overboard with the rubato, or the waltz from Khachaturian's Masquerade.
pianistamediano
Forum Master
Very nice! Can't believe I forgot that Khachaturian waltz, it's lovely.
Like you said, the problem with Chopin's waltzes (or indeed, most classical waltzes in general) is that a great pianist will inevitably introduce rubato, which will throw a lot of people off due to the irregular rhythm alone. Also, there are some sections where the composer departs from the conventional waltz form, often going into long sections where the only resort for a lot of people is to keep to the 3/4 rhythm, which would make it more boring. For most people, they won't be predictable enough unless they've played it before.
The guitar waltz reminds me of Gran Vals by Tárrega (there's a very nice version of it by David Russell on YouTube) - I suppose some of his pieces are danceable with similar caveats as well.
A good waltz does just inspire dancing vals. They can become almost an earworm, which is probably the inspiration.