My Two Cents on Music Selection

Among the many factors that make a milonga successful, music stands 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 good music dancers are not able to fully enjoy the dance no matter how good other conditions may be.

Unfortunately, the music played in our milongas is not always good. Many DJs play songs that are not of the highest quality and leave the best pieces rest in their computers. I've heard the theory that dancers like to try new songs, that they don't like to dance to the same old pieces again and again, and that they'd rather take risks than be bored, etc. Such arguments aggravate the tendency to seek novelty at the cost of the quality of music.

It's true that new tracks are adventurous to dance to, but that is not the main thing tango dancers are after. In fact, most dancers prefer familiar, danceable classics over unfamiliar tunes with erratic or unpredictable rhythms. Familiar and danceable songs heighten their desire to dance because, like singing and playing music instruments, they can perform better with pieces they know well. DJs should resist the urge to be unique and novel, and instead take a balanced approach to cater to most dancers.

Too often, DJs get stuck in their own preferences. Some lean too heavily on fast songs, others on slow. Some favor rhythmic music, others lyrical. Some prefer vocals, others play only instrumentals. Some stick to traditional, while others contemporary. I believe most songs played in the milongas should be Golden-Age, and should be combined with different tempos, moods, flavors, orchestras, eras and styles to avoid boredom. If all the songs sound similar, dancers will grow bored. A balanced blend caters to most dancers and helps maintain their enthusiasm. The majority of tracks should be at a comfortable walking pace, which is most suitable for tango dancing.

When selecting music, I believe danceability should be the foremost priority. DJs should know that not all tango music was made for dancing. In Argentina's history, from 1955 to 1983, tango as a social dance was discouraged by military regimes, resulting in a lot of tango music produced primarily for listening and not dancing. These tracks often have undanceable rhythms or jazz elements that are hard to follow. Such songs should not be played in milongas no matter how novel and creative they may be (see Tango Music and Its Danceability).

I believe the best songs for tango dancing are those juxtaposed with opposite 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, reflecting 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).

I believe tango as an intimate dance is best danced to music that is moving and inspiring. DJs should select songs that are beautiful, sentimental, soulful and rich in syncopation, and avoid songs that are dull in emotion, plain in melody, and monotonous in rhythm. In fact, high-quality, danceable songs are much smaller in number in comparison to songs of mediocre quality or songs created for listening and not dancing. A DJ should be able to distinguish them and play only the most beautiful, soulful and danceable tracks in the milonga.

I am a firm believer that only the best songs should be played in the milongas, so fervent that I deleted all songs that are not suitable for tango dancing and only kept the top-tier, danceable songs in my computer. The truth is, you do not need thousands of songs to play for a milonga. For a three-hour milonga, you need just 15 tandas or 60 songs. If you carefully select 600 exceptional tracks, you can play for ten milongas without repetition. It is the quality and not the quantity that counts.

I always feel indebted to good DJs like Tine Herrman, Paul Akmajian, Burak Ozkosem and Julia Ingram, to name a few. Every time I hear their music, I feel worth the trouble to travel a thousand miles just to enjoy the music. But the fact is, such pleasure is rare. I believe event organizers should be clearer with DJs about music expectations. I believe DJs should make their playlists available to the public so dancers can have a choice. I hope, with the growth of our tango, the music played in our milongas will also improve, so wherever we go we can always enjoy the very best dance experience.

Tango and Equality

Tango is created by people living at the bottom of society. Their imprints still remain in the dance. The original tango is a lowbrow dance. It is 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 that 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 huge source of sublimation for people struggling at the bottom. Tango liberates them because in tango they have regained the dignity of being on the same footing with 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 the 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 been narrowed in America. In fact, it is widened in our times. Power corrupts. When we were under the oppression of a despot, we called for equality. When we gained the control of our own destiny, we started 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 do fine. 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 their 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 protect and 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-centered 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 for personal freedom (see The Freedom in Tango). Only a few can be the winner 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 law necessary to public good, not that 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 mankind as a whole, where no one's freedom will be 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-provocative, and with many humorous details like the responses of the crowd, the looks in the girls' eyes, and the old lady being carried away, etc. 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 won over the arrogance of the social elites. Watch in fullscreen.