Tango DJ Responsibility

By David Drake

DJing for a tango dance event is an important responsibility. People dance with each other as individual couples, with those around them on the dance floor in a ronda to avoid collisions, and everyone "dances" with the DJ who selects the music that they dance to.

The better DJs do not preprogram the music for the entire evening; they have an extensive set of tandas prepared and select one-by-one as the evening evolves. During the evening the DJ selects which tanda will be next and does the mechanics of changing from the tanda that is ending to the next one. The best DJs are also dancers, so they spend time on the dance floor where they can feel the pulse of the group and use that to help influence the tanda selection.

The DJ has a responsibility to meet reasonable expectations and do some things that delight the dancers. The DJ must actually be careful to avoid doing things that surprise the dancers or disrupt the flow of the milonga.

In the system used by the U.S. DJs I admire we create tandas, record one tanda per CD, and have our signature cortina recorded following the tanda on the CD. We start a tanda, cue up the subsequent tanda that has been selected, then select a partner and join the ronda on the dance floor. We dance until the cortina starts, thank our partner and escort them back to their seat, go to the equipment, fade the volume on the cortina, and start the next tanda.

Also in this system, the tango dance music is identified by epoch and type. Stephen and Susan Brown's website includes a table listing music styles and orchestras typical of each style. Those credited for participating in the project include Tom Stermitz, Florencia Taccetti, Robert Hauk, Al Garvey, others I have heard of or read about, and others that I do not know.

I have my tandas organized according to those categories as they work well. But then I do some further grouping for selecting tandas during the evening and this is my own idea:

Crystal Clear Rhythm: Old Guard, Early Golden Age, Golden Age Harder Rhythmic, Some Golden Age Softer Rhythmic.

Other Rhythmic Sensibilities: Some Golden Age Softer Rhythmic, Golden Age Smooth, Golden Age Lyrical, Golden Age Dramatic, Some Transition Era, Modern Dance Orquestas.

Progressive or Evolutionary: Some Transition Era, New Tango, Tango Fusion

Changeup: Milonga, Vals, AlternaTango (Music that is not tango, but to which we can dance with tango sense), Latin (Salsa/Merengue/Mambo/Bachata/etc.), Swing (Rock and Roll/Swing Jazz/etc.)

I like to follow the convention of making a counterpoint of two tango tandas from different groups, then play a changeup tanda. It is important to recognize when some folks are having trouble finding the rhythm or pulse in a tanda, serving them the next tanda with a clear rhythm or beat offers them an open door back to their comfort zone. For example, following a progressive, evolutionary, or a changeup tanda, it is a good idea to have a crystal clear rhythm tanda ready, although that is not the case when the changeup was milonga or vals where the rhythm is usually obvious to the dancers.

Sometimes we have visitors from other dance styles who will depart for another dance venue before our night of tango is over. It is important to know they are among us and get in the music for their style of dance before they leave. This will help them feel welcome, accommodated, and to want to return. Sometimes the visitors from the other dance style arrive after we have started. It is a nice thing if we can program in dance music from their style once they are settled and ready to dance as a way of welcoming them and letting them know we are glad they joined us.

Tango has a rich history of evolution from what people were doing and trying at a time that worked, so that others saw its success and incorporated it into their dance. We must keep Tango alive against the forces that would turn it to stone, write it into a book, and sit in judgment of what is allowed as the alleged True Tango. We must encourage and welcome outside influences, and the most open-minded should be embracing and incorporating these outside influences into Tango.

People need the comfort of the familiar to prepare them for the less familiar.
1. Early in the evening (first third) it is important to favor tandas of more familiar music with other tandas thrown in as spice and with discretion.
2. Mid-evening (middle third) is typically the highest energy level that needs to be supported with suitable music; the dancers who have really warmed to the evening of dancing will appreciate a little more of those spices.
a. It is important to note whether a “spice” tanda inspired people to sit out, have a drink, and watch their favorite couples enjoy a special tango time. The DJ can decide it may be time to cue up a favorite classic tanda and get them all back out on the floor.
b. It is also important to note if the energy has a risk of going through the roof that could take too much energy from the dancers, it may be time to program a tanda that will let them calm down and be less energetic so we can still have some dance energy left for later.
3. Late-evening (final third) is typically a time to allow the energy to settle. I don't like to play milongas during the last quarter of the evening because it feels to me like we are pushing it to the breaking point. During this part of the evening we can play more of the evolutionary tango and get our rhythmic fix from the Other Rhythmic Sensibility group.

Never forget the staples of Tango dance music when selecting what to play at a milonga. Each milonga should have at least one tanda of music from each of the star orchestra leaders DiSarli, D’Arienzo, Troilo, and Pugliese. A contemporary Pugliese dancer will recognize and appreciate the opportunity to dance both Pugliese and Color Tango covers of Pugliese classics in one evening. That same Pugliese dancer will feel disappointed if he did not get to visit with Pugliese at all in an evening of dancing. The most popular orchestra leaders should be there at least one tanda for each milonga. Try to program tandas from the four big-name orchestra leaders into the middle third of the evening. If everyone has already been where they want to go, they will be more willing to explore the new territory you may introduce to them.

Alternatango music has a risk that some people will not realize it is being played for tango dancing. It may be important to let some of the people who will dance tango to such music know it is coming and be ready to get up and dance to it. One thing I like to do is compose alternatango tandas that start with actual tango and evolve to the non-tango music. This transition helps the dancers who are already out on the dance floor realize they are now dancing tango to some alternatango music and that they enjoy it. In my composition of tandas, these tend to start with tango fusion and evolve to the alternatango; for that reason I refer to the style of these tandas as alternatango fusion.

Not everyone gets clued in that an alternatango is coming up; frankly the music that is programmed into these tandas is very special to me and I will be glad to dance with no one else on the floor except the one very special partner that I lined up. Of course that is not so good for everyone else, it is better if there are at least three couples demonstrating how tango can be danced to alternatango music. Because the music is special, eventually the community embraces the proud feeling that we dance to this music that we have made our own.

I sometimes line up a dance partner by saying to the suitable partner that I am putting on very special music and hope she will join me in dancing to it. In fact, the wise DJ looking out for his own interests can line up his next dance partner before anyone else has an idea what flavor is coming up. I like to line up partners when the music coming up is progressive, evolutionary, or alternative. When more-conventional music is played, my preference is to wait until the new tanda is playing and then invite a woman who is still awaiting her invitation to dance.

There are different ideas about how to compose a tanda. Common threads found in most tandas include playing one orchestra from one time period, probably all songs organized by the same arranger who infused his personal flavor into each arrangement. But some tandas have threads rather than all being the same orchestra. An example is a mixed tanda that leads us somewhere.

The tanda concept that starts with the second most powerful song and ends with the most powerful song appeals to me. Not that the two middle ones are inferior or poor filler, they all must be great or excellent dance songs. In a rating system from one to one hundred, with one hundred being perfection; the first song would score 99, the second one 97, the third one 98, and the last one 100. The first one lets people catch the flavor, decide to dance, get a partner, and get started, the middle two move the dancers through the feeling or trend of the tanda, then the last one is so special that it leaves people feeling really glad they were out there dancing.

The wisdom of that approach was not always obvious to me. I used to put the best song second. The first song called the dancers to the floor and the second one delivered the goods. My opinion has changed over time and adapted to building tension or energy to that final song of the tanda. This creates an evening that is a series of intermediate climaxes.

Some songs are gems that are worthy of being well-represented and appear in more than one tanda. But any song that is the first of a tanda, that is the only tanda in which it is the first song. This will build some reasonable expectations for the dancers in the community. As they become familiar with the tandas they like over time, they can recognize them from the first song. Recently, I composed two tandas that have different first two songs and same last two songs. One starts with two more-dramatic pieces and the other starts with two more-lyrical pieces. Both end with two lyrically dramatic pieces. Either tanda works when played at the right time, but only one or the other is played on any particular dance evening.

I have followed the philosophy and approach of the DJs who do admirable work. Many of my tandas are tried and true; some are based on tried and true with one or two songs different based on my personal preferences, or perhaps I just did not own all the albums as the original creator of the tanda. So far I have composed and recorded a total of 83 tandas and the effort continues. Most recently I personally am more interested in the challenge of finding pieces of music within which I can sense the tangoesque feeling, then design a tanda that brings out that feeling for others to notice. I have not abandoned continuing to program some more straight-ahead classic tango tandas, however. Below is my current tanda list, organized by epoch and style, and as I wrote above, it continues to evolve. Over the time it is taking for this article to evolve through draft and revision stages, the list has increased by forty percent.

A typical tango tanda is four songs, while vals and milonga tandas are usually three songs each. Tango songs tend to be 2-1/2 to 3 minutes long, so standard tango tandas can run 9-12 minutes. I try to hold to that range when composing alternatango or changeup tandas, although I use at least two songs such as when they are long songs. An example is my first Dead Can Dance tanda that is two pieces that are each around 6-7 minutes.

We repeatedly hear that Argentine people do not dance while a singer is singing. Someone said that the Argentine people stop to hear the story of the lyrics and feel the feelings those lyrics evoke. Javier who taught with Geraldine at the Second Annual Taiwan Tango Festival told us in the musicality class that it is impossible to dance to vocals so no one does. Those words are strong, but I try to let them guide me to favor instrumental tangos in creating tandas of the classics.

My tango tandas are perhaps 80% instrumental, 20% vocal. Of course there are some of the classic pairings such as Troilo (orchestra leader) with Fiorentino (vocalist) performing lyrical tangos. Castillo is a featured classic vocalist who is highly regarded for singing milongas and candombes. Then there are the classic recordings where the vocalist is not featured but rather regarded as another instrument in the orchestra for which their part may be only a fraction of the song such as one verse or one chorus. But that "no vocals" guideline is out for modern era tango song, alternatango, and all the counterpoint dance music such as Latin and swing in which vocals are a large part of the performance. There is something in our modern dance sensibility that either prefers vocals or does not discriminate against them.

I am continually working on tandas in one way or another, whether by recording tandas, composing tandas, or considering music that might be worked into a tanda. At one time when I am in my apartment I might be recording some conventional tango tanda that I had already planned while listening to music and composing another tanda to record next or later. I recently composed a tanda with acoustic instruments and female singers that smoothly leads from tango singers to Julie London's version of "Summertime," a Gershwin tune from Porgy and Bess. I inserted Doris Day singing a tango into that acoustic instrument tanda. I also developed a tanda with electronic music and female singers, that smoothly leads from tango singers to Natalie Imbruglia singing "Leave Me Alone." I have also fit in Bjork Hunter and Bachelorette from the Homogenic album into two different electronic fusion tango tandas.

David Drake's Tango DJ Tanda Summary (PDF)

My cortina is "Last Song for Shelby Jean" that was written by David Bromberg, and is played as an instrumental on Vassar Clements Hillbilly Jazz album. David Bromberg plays a very nice steel string acoustic guitar on this album and Vassar is a genius of country fiddle, well versed in jazzy stylings. It is a beautiful piece of music. The entire piece is around five minutes and is recorded on each tanda. From the start of the cortina to when I get over to the equipment, fade the volume, and start the next tanda is typically 30 seconds.

A friend took the vinyl record of the first David Bromberg album, digitized the music, worked to clean up the pops and noises from the vinyl, and provided me with a CD copy that includes the original vocal version of "Last Song for Shelby Jean". When I am DJing, the last thing I play each night is the vocal version of that song in its entirety. It is a song about the final sad dissolution of a relationship. It starts with:

I've got a terrible thought in my mind,
we've said all we've got to say;
and that awful hour you've been searching for,
finally happened yesterday

But so ripe for ending a tango evening, it ends with:

I know all right, how much I'll want you at night,
good god, I'm not made of stone;
but this is really good bye, and if you want you can cry,
but I think you'd better just go home

"I think you’d better just go home" seems a perfect downbeat melancholic way to end an evening of emotional tango dance. We all came in, and we each felt our emotions rise and fall over the course of the evening. To paraphrase a popular sports cliché about giving it all during the game, we "left it all out on the dance floor." We have nothing left to give to the dance tonight, and it is time to "just go home."

Playing the cortina in its entirety in the vocal version at the very end of the night seems like a nice sendoff while people are changing their shoes, organizing their things, saying goodnight to their friends, and leaving. People who have such desire can linger a little on their way out to catch the full feeling of the song as expressed in the lyrics and bring their night of dance to a suitable close.

DJs in Buenos Aires play "La Cumparsita" twice to end the night, one each of different versions. People will dance the first "La Cumparsita" with just anyone, but then dance the final La Cumparsita with their special someone. My collection has many versions, including one that is arranged in waltz 3/4-time. My strategy does not yet follow that practice, but I am thinking of changing which would be the first "La Cumparsita" each time, then playing the one version I select to be my final "La Cumparsita," and then of course the vocal version of my cortina.

My final word: DJing is an important responsibility and essential to create a successful dance experience. In addition to satisfying your tastes, plan to satisfy the tastes of the group of dancers for whom you are playing the music. You do not need to have everyone dancing all of the time to every song, but try to keep the energy high enough so that most are dancing and appreciating the music that is playing.

COPYRIGHT©2005 DAVID B. DRAKE