My Two Cents on Music Selection

Among the many factors that contribute to the success of a milonga, music ranks as one of the top three, alongside a friendly environment and a well-trained crowd. Great music deeply connects dancers, stirring emotions, synchronizing movement, and sparking creativity. Without quality music, dancers cannot fully enjoy the experience, no matter how favorable the other conditions may be.

Unfortunately, the music played at milongas is not always of the highest standard. Many DJs select songs that lack quality while leaving the best tracks untouched in their collections. I’ve heard arguments suggesting that dancers prefer new songs, that they dislike dancing to the same familiar pieces repeatedly, and that they would rather take risks than be bored. However, such reasoning fuels the tendency to prioritize novelty at the expense of musical quality.

While it’s true that new tracks can be adventurous to dance to, that’s not what tango dancers primarily seek. In fact, most dancers prefer well-known, danceable classics over unfamiliar tunes with erratic or unpredictable beats. Familiar and danceable songs heighten their desire to dance because, like singing or playing musical instruments, they can perform better with pieces they know well. DJs should resist the urge to prioritize uniqueness and novelty, instead adopting a balanced approach that caters to the majority of dancers.

All too often, DJs fall into the trap of their own preferences. Some lean too heavily on fast songs, others on slow. Some favor rhythmic tracks, while others lean toward lyrical ones. Some prefer vocals, while others play only instrumentals. Some stick to traditional pieces, while others focus on contemporary selections. I believe the majority of songs played at milongas should come from the Golden Age and should feature a mix of tempos, moods, flavors, orchestras, eras, and styles to prevent monotony. A balanced blend keeps dancers engaged and enthusiastic. Most tracks should have a comfortable walking pace, which is ideal for tango dancing.

When selecting music, danceability should be the top priority. DJs must recognize that not all tango music is suitable for dancing. During Argentina's history, between 1955 and 1983, tango as a social dance was discouraged by military regimes, leading to the creation of tango music intended primarily for listening rather than dancing. Such tracks often feature undanceable rhythms or jazz elements that are difficult to follow. These songs, no matter how novel or creative, should not be played at milongas (see Tango Music and Its Danceability).

The best tango songs are those that balance contrasting moods. Good tango music is heterosexual rather than homosexual in nature. Its rhythm is masculine—strong, steady, firm and forceful, and its melody is feminine—sweet, beautiful, sentimental and evocative. This duality mirrors the dynamic of the two sexes in the dance who in essence are playing music with their bodies. Men and women are different instruments, each with a distinct sound, expressing a different mood. Both are indispensable and irreplaceable and they must complement each other and collaborate harmoniously to create a beautiful dance. The absence of either mood makes the music less symphonic, gender expressive and satisfying (see The Characteristics of Classic Tango).

As an intimate dance, tango thrives on music that is moving and inspiring. DJs should select songs that are beautiful, soulful, sentimental, and rich in syncopation, avoiding tracks that are emotionally flat, melodically plain, or rhythmically monotonous. In reality, the number of high-quality, danceable tracks is significantly smaller than the number of mediocre or undanceable ones. A DJ must be able to distinguish these and ensure only the most beautiful, soulful, and danceable tracks are played at milongas.

I am a firm believer that only the best songs should be played at milongas, so fervent that I delete all unsuitable tracks from my personal collection, keeping only top-tier, danceable pieces. The truth is, you don’t need thousands of songs to curate a successful milonga. For a three-hour event, you need just 15 tandas—or 60 songs. By carefully selecting 600 exceptional tracks, a DJ can play for ten milongas without repeating a single song. Quality, not quantity, is what truly matters.

I feel profoundly grateful to talented DJs like Tine Herrman, Paul Akmajian, Burak Ozkosem, and Julia Ingram, to name a few. Every time I hear their music, I feel the journey, even across a thousand miles, is worth the effort. Unfortunately, such experiences remain rare. I believe event organizers should establish clearer expectations with DJs about music quality. I also believe DJs should make their playlists publicly available, allowing dancers to make informed choices. I hope that as tango continues to grow, the music played at milongas will improve as well, ensuring that wherever we go, we can always enjoy the very best dance experience.

Tango and Equality

Tango was created by people living at the bottom of society, and their imprints still remain in the dance. The original tango is a lowbrow dance—raw, simple, sensual, soul-searching, and comforting—touching the heart of one's humanity. Dancing that tango reminds Beatriz Dujovne of a birthing mother's ecstasy, struggle, agony, sweat, pain, and joy. Whether a maid or a queen, she wrote, the birthing experiences of all women are identical, just like those in tango. "Tango is all of us in life's common places. It is who we are at the core, behind our social masks (see The Tango in All of Us)."

That shared humanness is a profound source of sublimation for people struggling at the bottom. Tango liberates them because, in tango, they regain the dignity of being on the same footing as others. All tango dancers are created equal, whether they are taxi drivers or company executives, servant girls or first daughters. You enjoy the person dancing with you for who they are as a fellow human being, regardless of their social status. Tango is where Cinderella and Prince Charming fall in love. "It melts down differences by zeroing in on our commonality," Dujovne wrote. "It feeds our hunger for being on a level with others."

Equality has been a dream of the American people since the creation of this nation. When early immigrants to America were unfairly treated by the English King, they argued for equality. Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1776: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." This document, The Declaration of Independence, laid the constitutional foundation for this nation.

After 240 years, however, the gap between rich and poor has not narrowed in America. In fact, it has widened in our times. Power corrupts. When we were under the oppression of a despot, we called for equality. When we gained control of our own destiny, we began to do the same thing to others. Self-interest and compassion are juxtaposed in human nature. When we keep a balance between the two, we thrive. But when we lose that balance—when we only think about ourselves and disregard others, when we formulate theories like individualism, personal freedom, and individual rights to legitimize selfish behaviors (see Tango and Individualism), when we misinterpret the founding documents from a narrow, individualistic perspective in favor of the self rather than society, the rich rather than the poor, and the villains rather than the victims, when we allow ourselves to pursue self-interest at the expense of others, when we permit tycoons to use unfair competition to establish monopolies, when the rich are given the privilege of using their money to influence legislation and policy-making, when the law becomes the means to advance the interests of the privileged class, when freedom is used to promote arms sales, violence, doping, obscenity, homosexuality and alternative life styles (see Tango and Gender Issues), when personal liberty is used to undermine traditional family and family-based values—the very foundation of society (see Tango and Family Values), when divorce, irresponsible sex, single parent family and same sex marriage become the accepted norms and are sponsored by the state, etc., we get ourselves further and further into the mess we are in now.

Ours is the lesson of freedom lost for the vast majority of people when we only seek personal freedom (see The Freedom in Tango). Only a few can win in the competition if equality and justice are not prerequisites for all other human rights. True freedom is freedom from being violated by others, not freedom to violate others. It is the right to act within the limits of laws necessary for the public good, not the right to harm society. It is a self-restrained human right under the principle that all men are created equal, not the right to do whatever one pleases at the cost of others. It is freedom from poverty and fear, not freedom to prey and shoot. In other words, a free society is an equal society based on compassion and cooperation, not on self-interest and competition. It is where individual rights are subordinate to the collective rights of humanity as a whole, where no one's freedom is deprived by another's freedom, and where brotherly love, coexistence, compassion, and sharing are common values of all people. It is a society consistent with the spirit of tango.

The following video is relevant to this subject. It is well-directed, thought-provoking, and filled with humorous details, such as the responses of the crowd, the looks in the girls' eyes, and the old lady being carried away. The dance is of the highest quality, with excellent musicality and choreography. I especially appreciate the ending, where the elegant dignity of the heroic nonentity triumphs over the arrogance of the social elites. Watch it in fullscreen.