"It'll be traditional music..."

Biagi,  Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires

I would have a string of hot dinners if they could be exchanged for the number of times I have had this conversation:

Are you coming to the milonga?

No, I don't fancy it.

How come?

I just don't like the music that DJ plays.

Oh, but it'll be traditional, they say, knowing that's what I like.

But it isn't. I know, from experience, they mean the music will be from somewhere between 1920 and 1970 and that by no means will it be the great classics, because that "gets boring" apparently.  Amazing that dance numbers can be well-loved for nearly a hundred years and yet some people find them boring.  Would that those people would take themselves off to, or open, a "neolonga".    

'Old' music does not mean 'good' music or even 'traditional' music. 'Traditional' means  the music has been loved and danced for decades, mostly in Buenos Aires.  The classics we hear, that are danced in cities all over the world are loved because they are good for dancing! They have not become classics randomly and there was no committee that sat to decide the 100 best tandas.    

When I was there in 2016, Dany Borelli played traditional music.  A more self-effacing guy  - who doesn't dance tango - you couldn't hope to meet.  Other traditional DJs were Vivi La Falce (who was trained by Dany), and Mario Orlando in Salon Canning (as was).  As I recall, Mario doesn't dance either.  They are of the rock generation I remember one of them saying. I remember asking Mario if he played Troilo with the singer Marino.  He said something along the lines of "No. Los milongueros no les gusta. Les gusta bailar a Troilo con Fiorentino, tiene un ritmo más marcado y les gusta ese ritmo para bailar."  Mario, I recall, did play the odd "hidden gem" - long-standing readers will recall this is not a term of approbation -  but first and foremost, he didn't play what he personally liked. He played what he knew the dancers liked to dance and avoided what they didn't.  Secondly, they liked music with a beat. Numbers where the singer comes in early, where the singer dominates don't have that and are less good for dancing or at least for dancing en pareja, in a couple and in the social ronda. I have no doubt dramatic tracks are better for showing off which means dancing selfishly. 

These were the DJs, and it was primarily Dany, who were most popular with the most experienced dancers in the most traditional milongas in Buenos Aires. That music is traditional music.