Milonga Otros Buenos Aires

Alternative Playlist

22nd November

2009

posted by jeff.milton

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

;

This is a sampling of the different types of music we play at MOBA. Sorry that the names are missing or wrong or only half there… most of this music has been collected from various and forgotten sources and often didn’t have any information.

I have had a few milongueras walk into the milonga and stare horrified at what they were hearing and seeing, and promptly walk out, but not before telling me I was destroying Tango!

They would be half correct if I was insisting that this was a ‘real milonga’. I actually agree with the traditional milongueros that Tango is, and can only be, the dance that evolved up to the 1950’s. For lack of a better name, the modern dance based on tango is called Tango Nuevo, however this does a disservice to both the original tango and to the equally valid, modern expression of tango nuevo. Tango Nuevo has nothing of the original sentiment, the ‘weight’, the sentimentality of the original Tango. Tango Nuevo is more of a celebration then of sadness and loss. In addition, Tango Nuevo will not be ‘nuevo’ in 20 years! What will they call the evolution of THAT dance? Tango Nuevo Nuevo!? My old milonguero friend calls it “bailar de ciudad” or “bailar de Buenos Aires”… and from what I have seen, the traditionalists are only offended that is uses the word Tango, and not by the dance itself.

Some years ago, it seems, the word ‘Swango’ was introduced… fortunately it never caught on. It’s a horrible name!

Perhaps the biggest difference between old and new tango is the fact that old tango was the exclusive domain of Rio Plata region of Argentina and Uruguay, while Tango Nuevo belongs to the world. Tango was exiled from Argentina in the 50’s and so went abroad, in a big way, where it was culturally morphed and twisted. If there are even 5,000 tangueros in Buenos Aires I’d be amazed! Compare that to the millions worldwide today, especially in Asia.

The origin of the word Tango actually had nothing to do with the dance, but rather the music. I won’t engage in the argument as to whether the word Tango came from the Niger Congo languages of Africa or from the the word “tango”, already in common use in Andalusia to describe a style of music, mainly because it doesn’t matter. The main point here is that the DANCE needs it’s own identity now. Personally, I like word ‘Tando’… it represent the concept of a set of music specifically for tango dancing (based on the word ‘tanda’, and throw in the ending ‘o’ as a remnant of the word ‘tango’… and is also based on the words TAngo Nuevo Dance (except for the trailing ‘o’, but we’ll just ignore that little detail… this is Argentina… we’re allowed to do that )

In truth, I dislike a good deal of Tango Nuevo/Electro music, half of it sounds like 80’s disco/techno music with a bandaneon, and most of it is not compatible with Tango Nuevo dance… which is why at MOBA most of the alternative music has nothing to do with ‘tango’ music, but is quite compatible with Tango Nuevo dance, as well as traditional tango (which is good for me because I stink at Tango Nuevo dance), if you’re not hung up on the music. MOBA is about the dance! (To my amazement, I have actually seen some milongueras that frequent Nino Bien dancing there… fortunately, we keep the lights low so maybe they won’t get busted!)

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Discovering the ‘Milonga’ (MOBA #8)

10th June

2009

posted by jeff.milton

Last night at MOBA was spectacular. It started out looking like the night was going to be a bust, and I was, as usual, biting my fingernails in anticipation of another low turnout evening. By typical standards, the evening wa a bust, but by the end of the night I would not have changed a thing.

The dedicated clientele of MOBA is an odd collection of tangueros, head-banger death metal musicians, ex-pats, writers and artists. These ten to twenty people show up every week and turn the space into their collective living room. They come to drink, eat, hang out, talk, laugh, flirt and smoke. None of them are tango dancers, so the floor was quite empty, which Maraya and I took total advantage of to try out our new ‘nuevo’ moves, which involved the type of radical swings and kicks that would have gotten us evil stares at best, or an escort to the door at worst, in many other milongas.

A couple of older porteno gents wandered in around 1:00 AM and didn’t quite know what to make of the scene. By this time I had abandoned the idea of not loosing my shirt so I didn’t even bother to charge them the entrada. I just said “come on in. Have a drink”. No dancers, a eclectic group of 20 to 50-somethings , and Elvis Presley singing “Fever”. They braved it out and stuck around for a bit, seeming quite amused by the whole thing. By the end of the evening they, and the rest of the crowd, were all on the dance floor getting free tango lessons from my business partner and professora Lucia Seva.

Three generations spanning a cultural abyss that would otherwise render these folks strangers, and here they are, all dancing tango, drinking, laughing, together. The longhaired tattooed body pierced rocker, the grey haired grandfather with his gray suit, the expat who can barely speak Castillano, the Oxford chemist, the Canadian tanguera… for these two hours they were all living in the same world of Otras Buenos Aires.

This is the true milonga, I discovered. Strangers pulled together by tradition. It is not simply a bunch of people coming together. That can happen in any boliche. What brings them together is that they are all celebrating their commonality, finding solace in the fact that no matter how we differ we are still the same. You don’t need to dance tango to appreciate the tradition of the milonga, all you need is to find joy in connecting with others who enjoy connecting with you. The dancing will come later.

Playlist for MOBA #8

D'arienzo-  carpeta
D'arienzo- dos guita
D'arienzo- el puazo
Tangazo3
Tangazo4
Tangazo2
Debayres - Murga Tango
Gotan Project - Santa Maria
Malevo1
Tango In Harlem
Grace Jones - I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)
Lenna Leppakerttu - short
Enrique Rodriguez - Mujeres Feas
Enrique Rodriguez - Se Va El Tren
Enrique Rodriguez - Zorro Gris
Hugo Diaz - Palomita blanca
Camblog Como queres que te quiera 05 Tu Nombre
Camblog Como queres que te quiera 08 Un placer
Pa' Bailar
Havanos Do Buenos Aires
El Paintau
Dave Stewart  amp  Candy Dulfer - Lily Was Here
Jesse Cook - Nomad - Down Like Rain  vocal
Jesse Cook - Rain   Live at Metropolis
Francisco Canaro - El Opio
Francisco Canaro - Cuando un viejo se enamora 19
Francisco Lomuto - Serenata 16
orqueesta tropical (2)
orqueesta tropical (6)
orqueesta tropical (9)
El Tango De Roxanne
Asi Se Baili El Tango
Pa' Bailar (oops! duplicate)
Shicky Gnarowitz & The Transparent Wings - Redhead.mp3
Claude Nougaro - Je Suis Sous
Screamin' Jay Hawkins - I Put A Spell On You
Angel Vargas - Cicatrices 06
Angel Vargas - El adios 06
Angel Vargas - La mariposa 07
Chau Paris
La Misma Pena
Preparense
Retrolonga
Felino
Lintango
Elvis Presley - Elvis Presley-Fever
Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane
Siempre me

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MOBA #6

28th May

2009

posted by jeff.milton

: Andrea “la nena” Rojas rehearsing

: Tanguerita

Videos from MOBA #6

Andrea “la nena” Rojas (http://tangosestilos.blog.arnet.com.ar/) performing at MOBA with the help of bandoneonista maestro Carlos Corbellini.

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Videos from MOBA #5

24th May

2009

posted by jeff.milton

Joana (vocal), Elena (clarinet), Daniel (guitar) and Ignacio (vocal) performing at MOBA #5 (Mat 18, 2009)… with really bad lighting It took hours of post processing to get an image even this good… we really needs better lights… one more thing on the ever-expanding ToDo List!