I have no idea where anyone got the idea that people don't dance to vocals in Buenos Aires. Not to Gardel, clearly (but then I've yet to hear Gardel being played at a milonga), but over half of Golden Age stuff has vocals. And everyone dances to them. And not just in Buenos Aires--in most milongas in any mature Tango community anywhere in the world (OK, the parts I've been to) you'll hear 50% vocals.
Sure, there are some singers that sound like they're groaning rather than singing (there's a DJ--fortunately just one--in Montreal who seems to like them), and some modern "it's all about me--who cares about the dancers or the other musicians for that matter" diva-syndrome singers, and a Tango dancer can be forgiven for wanting to strangle both kinds. But very little in the Golden Age canon of tango music falls into either of these categories, and half of the standards if not more will contain vocals. When I was a beginner, I preferred instrumentals, as I think most beginners do, but even before I could understand the lyrics I started to like the songs with vocals more and more. Now I prefer the vocals (except for the ones I don't :-)), and not just because I understand more of them (there are many that I still don't, nor am I trying to for that matter). If there are any vocals I don't dance to, it's because I can't stand the singer (quite the opposite of respecting them), e.g., Ledesma or pretty much any singer associated with Varela (sorry Bianca, if you're listening ...). From the contemporary orchestras, likewise with Sexteto Milonguero, which is a fantastic orchestra if only the damn quarteto singer would shut up. Gardel, of course, is in a separate category, and none of the blanket statements above apply to him, sorry I meant Him. :-) Besides, no self-respecting DJ plays Gardel for dancing. There's some funny rule about that (which I endorse, incidentally), even though it's certainly semi-danceable, and arguably more so than some of the stuff some DJs play. Shahrukh _______________________________________________ Tango-L mailing list [email protected] http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/tango-l
