I’m loving my vacation in Nashville – my first Christmas not in Massachusetts. It’s been great to catch up with friends and former students (from here and New Jersey), hike Radnor Lake, see the new stuff in Nashville and launch into some business. All of my business is also fun, so I keep on “fun-ing,” as Sheriff Andy Taylor once said.
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A question to which I often return – what is tango? Should the question be, “What is a tango? Is tango a dance? Is tango music? Is tango both music and dance? To me tango is music and the accompanying dance. To others I’m sure the idea of an “accompanying” dance, meaning the visual subservient to the aural, is offensive. Music is meant for many as something to accompany dance. For me it’s music – the invisible art form that grabbed and OCCUPIED me as a child – first. Other stuff – film, video, TV, advertising, ballet, dance, opera, musicals, etc. – is often secondary and there to serve music. I’ll more often stick with what I think is this contrarian view – let the invisible (music) rule and let us serve her/him/it/them.
And as a musician who likes tango but is not an expert in tango, a simple rhythmic figure that tells me, “this is tango,” comes to mind. When I hear a specific rhythmic pattern that repeats, I think “tango.” To do a disservice to tango and a deep explanation, the pattern takes place over four (4) beats, numbered, 1, 2, 3, 4.
T A N G O is not:
1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
T A N G O can be this:
1 2 and 3 4 1 2 and 3 4
T A N G O can be this:
1 2 and 3 4 and 1 2 and 3 4 and
T A N G O can be this:
1 2 3 4 and 1 2 3 4 and
And here is an explanation from Howcast of how to (dance) tango. It states that the tango pattern is
1 2 3 and 4
Here is a collection of tangos – sort of a HOW TO / HERE THEY ARE collection of tango.
For me, this –
1 2 3 4 and 1
is my favorite tango and the repeated rhythmic figure which I first associate with tango. I think there are not many examples of tango in rock (music).
Three (3) of my favorite tangos in rock are:
The Beatles – Ticket To Ride
The Doors – Moonlight Drive
The Police – Roxanne
At a future point, I will delve further into more of my favorite tangos (maybe an annotated list with links) and a discussion of that massive tango collection linked to above. I’d also like to explore the effects of tempo/speed, as well as instrumentation and loudness on our definition and perception of tango. For example
if a slew of bagpipes play tangos in a forest and no one hears them, is it still a tango?
Other favorite tangos of mine were recorded by Astor Piazzola, Gato Barbieri, Sting (in addition to “Roxanne”), The Doors (in addition to “Moonlight Drive”) and Burt Bacharach.
What are your favorite tangos? Your favorite tangos in rock? Are there examples of tango in country? Jazz? Urban? Soul? (Is there still “soul?”) R & B?
I hope you enjoy the first Sunday in 2013 —–
E. Michael