Modern Tango World N° 11 (Paris, France) | Page 37

Dreaming of Buenos Aires in Moscow
Anastasia Pomogaeva
In Moscow, certain rules have been formulated on how to organize music at the milongas. Thanks to the trav-
els of DJs to other countries and their exchange of experiences, they have tried to recreate the atmosphere
of the classic Golden Age milongas of Buenos Aires.
In general, the Moscow style of DJing is a classic The ma-
jority of DJs in Moscow play classical music. The orches-
tras of the periods from the 30s to the 60s. are most
popular — Francisco Canaro, Juan d’Arienzo, Carlos
di Sarli, Edgardo Donato, Osvaldo Fresedo, Alfredo de
Ángelis, Pedro Laurenz, Osvaldo Pugliese, Aníbal Troilo,
et al. , Usually the DJs adhere to the scheme: 2T-1W-2T-
1M-tanda schem. Less often there might be variations, in
which the tandas alternate through waltzes and milon-
gas in tanda.. To some extent, DJs are a club of people who study
tango music. To the contrary, the dancers rarely know
the orchestras or can explain what they like a certain
melody. The dancers do remember melodies that they
heard duringl their lessons. And, they have watched mae-
stro dance performances. But if you asked them what
their favorite orchestras, they would have great difficulty.
On the other hand, the experienced DJs understand the
balance of the rhythm and melody and how it can affect
the mood of the dancers.
Before the milonga there is usually a practica that lasts
for two hours,. The milonga itself lasts to 1:AM on week-
days, and 2 or 3:AM on weekends. In practice, novice
DJs can work from playlists prepared by the organizers.
The probability of hearing a nuevo tanda at a milonga is
close to zero. Despite the fact that Moscow is a mega-
polis, the past two decades have not seen any alternative
or nuevo milonga or practica. All of the attempts quickly
burned out. Today, there is the alternative practica at
the club La Milonga. It brings together no more than a
couple dozen lovers. There is also a promising new alter-
native dance floor called Milonga Chique on Saturday. The universal respect for the golden age of tango has
become a peculiarity of milongas in Moscow, incuding
the choice of live orchestras. Most of the orchestras play
arrangements of classical tangos. The groups. Solo Tan-
go Orquesta and the Tango En Vivo Orquesta play at
milongas in Moscow. Despite the fact that both orches-
tras have their own style, they retain a classic sound.
There are 15-20 active DJs in Moscow. Every year new
DJs appear. DJs are usually not attached to any particular
milonga. They may be found anywhere. It is not unusual
for a DJ to play in two or more places in a week.
Recently for the first time some modern tango bands
have played at Moscow milongas. The Argentine punk
yango band El Cachivache Quinteto performed an in-
teresting experiment. The Moscow audience reacted ex-
plosively to the event, many dancers seriously discussed
the inadmissibility of such a tango sound. However, there
were also connoisseurs of the new tango music. A;though
some of them preferred to listen to something new, they
still danced to familiar melodies.
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