Saturday 29 October 2016

Too much of one thing

When similar orchestras, or eras or more accurately tandas too similar in musical feel are adjacent it suggests the DJ thinks that everybody present likes the same thing and will dance to more or less everything. If you have a certain style of Canaro tanda, then of Lomuto, then of OTV all adjacent as in fact I think there was at the milonga in Pant, (and there may even have been a fourth similar) then you are very likely going to bore and upset the people who like other things and those who like variety.  Rather, play a mix. 

At some milongas, the juxtaposition of tandas similar in musical feel or all of the same era seems to be deliberate so as not to “break the flow”. This is especially dire when the tandas are pre-1935, but to be fair Pant does advertise they play pre Golden Age "We are still mostly Traditional tango, both early and Golden Age".

It is interesting -  that traditional tango is thought here to include both music from the Golden Era and earlier.  This is why use of the term "traditional" can be so ambiguous.  Unless,  as Sharon does, there is further specification of what they mean by that, it can make for expectations mismatched with what the organiser intended.

It seemed to me that by hopping off and on the floor often randomly with regards to the music the dancers in Pant did nothing but break the flow - of music, as opposed to of - presumably - partnering. For me, the music has primacy, because almost invariably no good connections happens without great music, respected.

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