Selecting Tango Music Reprint of Article by Tom Ronquillo

Starting a collection of Argentine tango music for dancing can be a daunting and expensive undertaking unless one knows precisely which selections to look for at the time of purchase.

First, some advice on what to immediately avoid: American style or International (British) style ballroom tango music. These types of arrangements are generally unsuitable for dancing Argentine tango. Often these arrangements destroy or inhibit the essential "feel" or mood of a properly danced Argentine tango. Unrelenting march-like tempos and heavy percussion present in this music often overpowers adornos or other subtle expressions between dancers.

Beginning dancers in Argentine tango often yearn for a heavy beat in the music to mark the timing of their steps. As dancers acquire more skill in tango, the beat is more felt than heard. Experienced tango dancers often perceive overly percussive musical arrangements as being too intrusive and monotonous to permit artistry in the dance dialogue between partners. To dance Argentine tango properly requires the right music.

There are thousands of Argentine CDs available for purchase but not all of them are suitable for dancing. Some recordings are the equivalent of American country and western music. These are folk songs from the pampas (plains) of Argentina. Lonely gauchos (Argentine cowboys) singing about their mothers, horses, etc. Other recordings sound like jazz. And just because a CD has "tango" in the title does not guarantee its value as a danceable selection.


Tango CDs are classified in two main groups: tradicional (traditional) and nuevo (new).
Tango nuevo can be loosely thought of as a sort of jazz-like tango. It is often challenging for musicians to play and impossible for most social dancers to dance. Tango nuevo music evolved for the ear, rather than the feet. A prominent example of a tango nuevo recording artist is Astor Piazzolla, a master bandoneon (button accordion) player. Piazzolla's early career involved playing traditional danceable tangos. He came to despise traditional tango arrangements as being too limiting, and he eventually ventured into the musical flights of tango nueveo playing. His abandonment of traditional tango earned him a physical beating and numerous threats on his life from traditional milongueros in the 1940's. Piazzolla never returned to traditional tango and is today highly regarded in jazz circles as a brilliant innovator. Hardly anyone dances to his music today. It is reported that DJ's in Buenos Aires often play a Piazzolla song to clear the dance floor between sets of traditional tangos. Avoid buying tango nuevo CDs unless you like listening to jazz-like interpretations.

Traditional tangos are the ones to buy for dancing. But even here there are choices to be made. Unlike standard ballroom music, Argentine tangos do not require a "strict tempo" regulating a precise number of beats per minute. Some tangos are slow and better suited for the salon style walking tango dancing, while others are faster in the orillero style. Other arrangements (most notably those by Pugliese) might feature slow and fast tempos within a given song.

There are instrumentals and vocals to choose from. Some dancers who understand Spanish don't like to dance to vocals unless they make an effort to ignore the words and only pay attention to the music because many tango lyrics are sad or depressing.
Orchestras that are now viewed as legendary recorded the majority of the danceable tangos in the 1920's, 30's and 40's. A lesser number recorded songs during the 1950's and later.

Soundtracks from various tango stage shows from Argentina (Tango Argentino, Forever Tango, Tango x 2, Una Noche de Tango, Tango Puro, etc.) are available on CD; however, most of the songs are better suited for choreographed stage routines rather than for social dancing.

There is no single tango CD that meets everyone's expectations for dancing enjoyment. Serious tangueros tend to own many recordings in order to experience a rich variety of musical arrangements, tempos and moods. In the beginning, choose slow and fast arrangements so that you can immediately enjoy dancing to the music, yet still have a few arrangements to work toward that are more challenging.