SotA Anthology 2015-16
A change of key
As part of MUSI242: European Popular Song, students were asked to record
a cover version of an anglophone pop song of their choice in the style of a
European pop genre of their choice. The study was designed to test students’
familiarity with the musical detail of European popular music genres.
Elizabeth Hardingham, a secondyear BA Popular Music student,
produced a tango version of
Stevie Wonder’s Isn’t She Lovely.
Listen online at: http://joom.ag/
Tango originated in Argentina, giving it
its characteristic passionate and vibrant
sound. ‘In 1868, Buenos Aires had 223,000
inhabitants, a single generation later in 1914,
it was the largest city in the hemisphere
after New York, with a population of just
over two million,’ (Gonzalez & Yanes 2013);
this thriving melting pot of immigration and
movement gave way to new and exciting
music, the most notable being tango.
Tango was taken all around the world and
subsequently developed in Europe; the
essential tango rhythms can be heard in
many dances today and are still used in
many different forms of modern music.
Tango branched out in many countries,
most notably Finland, France, Poland, and
Turkey, often forming new genres such as
Tango Neuvo. This development sparks
authenticity debates when compared
to its Argentinian counterpart; ‘to talk of
authenticity invariably involves referring
to tradition as an element of closure’,
when in fact often it is integral to view this
development with ‘critical distance’ as more
of a transformation (Merrit, 2012).
By use of the melodica (closest to the
sound of the bandoneon in the absence of
one), guitar, bass, claps and vocals, this
version reimagines Stevie Wonder’s hit
song. The changing of this upbeat song
into a tango piece first required a change
in key. The (now) minor key gives a much
more melancholic feeling to the music and
allows the expression to flow freely. The
chord structure is fairly simple; the chords
generally tend to change between the minor
tonic, the minor dominant and the major
subdominant (Em, B and C in this case).
Changing the chords of the piece strips it
of its once happy nature and makes it more
conducive to intense emotion.
One might argue that this emotional integrity
is compromised by the uncharacteristically
high bandoneon imitation. While the
bandoneon usually sits quite low down
within the pitch of tango songs, the
melodica sits right at the top. This is due
to the restrictions of the instrument only
having two octaves to play with and would
not have been a problem had a bandoneon
been available.
Tango usually uses fairly low pitched
instruments: plucked cellos, twangy guitars,
bandoneons, often male singers. Argentine
tango showcases mainly male artists;
for what reason it is unclear, but women
were very rarely heard, thus forming an
association between tango and the sultry
male voices llike Carlos Gardel’s. With the
exception of popular acts from Europe like
Seyyan Hanim and Susana Rinaldi, tango
is still associated with that low, resonant
and passionate voice. On account of the
performer being female, this piece does not
have a resonant male voice but the vocals
have been sung in a lower register and in
an expressively sullen way to convey the
general longing and/or love often heard in
tango. One can also hear the occasional
use of simple ornamentation to flourish the
vocal melody and give some substance to
a melody that often moves in seconds or