Modern Tango World N° 9 (Rome, Italy) | Page 20

I was playing music in a very traditional milonga . It was one of those milongas in which if you play a Pugliese tanda , not everyone would welcome it . Suddenly I played a tango by Orquesta Fervor de Buenos Aires , a modern orchestra that plays traditional songs , such as 9 de Julio , Felicia , Meditacion and Loca . The floor remained half-empty despite their beautiful interpretation . There was no reason for them not to dance . But even , the more classy dancers did not dance . Surprised by having played something so unpleasant for dancers , but also with the longing to understand the causes , I spent weeks working on those songs adding electrostatic and mechanical hiss and noise , cutting audio frequencies and artificially deteriorating tracks to make them sound like scratchy old recordings spoiled by time . I played these deteriorated tangos at the same milonga and magically , the floor filled with dance couples thinking it was some orquesta olvidada .
Tango music did not come scratches and hisses . The orchestras of Carlos Di Sarlii , Juan d ’ Arienzo , Edgardo Donato , Orquesta Tipica Victor , etc . had no scratches when they performed live on the radio or in the milonges during the golden age of tango . Live music is the only , true tradition , regardless of your musical prejudice . While dancing , it is great to hear sounds and words close to our world . The rest is a love for the retro . It is good to remember the traditional , conscientious milongas of the past , and their folk spirit , as part of a historical representation of a past , playing and dancing to the music of the golden age .
In recent years , I began investing a great deal of time and energy in a neolonga project . With the support of great friends and masters Manuel Lodovici and Veronica Carbini of the Felinotangoclub , we developed the goal to invite tango dancers to dance to music from around the world . The intention has been to make them known and interpreted with the same ease as any song of Pugliese , making them into old friends .
Although the project is not mainstream , the Neolonga has become a home for many years in Rome for those who prefer modern music and do not feel the need to dance to tango in conformance to the customs of traditional Buenos Aires milongas , while still knowing and respecting its roots and sharing the dance . From the Neolonga community , two very interesting and popular avant-garde bands have been born to feature live music , Alma de Tango and the Bluestango Project .
The roman Neolonga is now part of the emerging European landscape of neotango , a growing phenomenon that includes its annual fixed appointments the Rome Neotango Festival , which has been held for 7 years on Easter weekend . Now more than ever , there seems to be a need to go to a peaceful and non-antagonistic separation from the traditional tango that follows its path of championships , standardization and ballroom etiquette , respecting traditional milonga argentina codigos , clothing and traditional ways of doing things based on cultural roots . On the other side , neotango , which is weaving a fabric across Europe , proposes a musical renaissance in which the dance of embrace can meet today ’ s music . This will hopefully promote the production of new music and the formation of new musical groups . Now more than ever , there seems to be a need to go to a peaceful and non-antagonistic separation from the traditional tango that follows its path of championships , standardization and ballroom etiquette , respecting traditional milonga argentina codigos , clothing and traditional ways of doing things based on cultural roots .
This fused tango with other music genres , embracing a modern gender philosophy , abandoning the rows of men looking for the best ballerina during the cortinas , as if they were shopping the fruit and vegetable market , competing to get the best looking or best dressed .
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