Exploring tango music is much easier than it was 10 years ago; back then CDs were hard to source and students often relied on illegally copied selections created by their tango teachers. The situation has become much more straightforward since the advent of digital music which provide a wealth of information in addition to selected music and suggest other related artists. Whether you intend to rely on streaming services or buy individual CDs, such services enable users to sample a wide range of music.
Services like iTunes and Amazon allow individual tracks or albums to be bought and downloaded. In addition streaming websites such as Pandora Last.fm and Spotify provide free* legal access to large collections of tango music. The social attributes of some sites enable users to identify and ‘follow’ those with similar interests. Such features mean that users only need to know a few names to begin building their own collections.
The screenshot to the left illustrates a search for ‘Canaro’ on Last.fm. In addition to biographical information there are links to buying options, top tracks and their associated ratings, and similar artists. The artists suggested (Biagi, Donato, D’Arienzo, Laurenz and De Angelis) are all good suggestions. If ‘play radio’ is selected then a range of related tracks will be played. The bottom portion of the screen (not shown) lists the tracks available to stream divided into the albums they come from.
Each website has a particular emphases; for example Pandora is great for finding unexpected connections. Spotify on the other hand allows more focus with the ability to specify individual tracks which can to be collected as playlists. It can also catalog music held on users’ hard-drives producing playlists with a mixture of owned and streamed music. Last.fm has some of the most extensive contextual information and social features such as discussion groups, biographical information and links to images and video for certain artists. It also has something called ‘scrobbling’ which refers to its ability to review the music you listen to (both online and locally stored in your music library) in order to make more refined suggestions.
The playlist for classes at the top of this page uses Spotify because of its ability to embed specific playlists into a webpage (and mobile devices). Although it is frustrating having to sign up for a (free) Spotify account in order to play it, this procedure enables the company to monitor usage and pay the appropriate fees to artists and organizations. YouTube playlists are accessible without signing in but the rights issue is more vague and all content is dependent on the uploader (so can disappear at any point).
As with most streaming services there are notable omissions when it comes to tango music and these sites should not be considered comprehensive. For example the RCA series are not there. However such gaps are not significant, particularly for those new to tango.
Recording Dates
One feature of tango music is that the same songs have been recorded multiple times by different orchestras. Tango orchestras were ever changing in their membership and band leaders like Canaro had musical careers stretching over decades and a variety of orchestras. Consequently there are several versions of some songs recorded by the same orchestra at different dates. This is illustrated by the YouTube playlist below of different recordings of ‘Derecho Viejo’ spanning from 1926-2008; all are recordings of the same song, though only a few versions are likely to be heard at milongas.
Beginning to learn approximate recording dates helps develop an understanding of the music DJs select that is good to dance to. However this is one area where digital music can be problematic because of inaccurate information about recording dates. As anybody knows who has attempted to convert a CD collection to a digital library, software has difficulties distinguishing between the date of the actual recordings and the most recent date the album was produced. In order to accurately identity recording dates the best place to look are on websites such as www.todotango.com and tango.info These sites are not particularly user-friendly but do have accurate information used extensively by DJs.
YouTube
YouTube also has a significant amount of tango music. The quality of this music is variable; users uploading tracks do not always add relevant album information and searching can be hit and miss because of the lack of metadata. One advantage of YouTube is it has examples of tangos taken from films which serve as a reminder that tango music was not the exclusive province of the dance hall. Tangos appeared in films throughout the 1940s and 1950s; some were written specifically for the film and some were older songs that would have been familiar to the audience. These clips are interesting to watch to see how tango was represented in popular culture at the time. It must be added that such depictions are not documentaries and fit the interests of the film makers of the time. The excerpt below is of the Argentine actress, Tita Merello, singing ‘Se dice de mi” in the 1955 film “Mercado de Abasto”.
The film was directed by Luca Demare (brother of the famous tango composer Lucio Demare) and depicts the Abasto market in Buenos Aires which plays a role in tango history. As well as being a large market it was also the site of a variety of cafes and bars and was home to Carlos Gardel for much of his life.
“Name that tune”
Milongas are a great place to learn about tango music. Listening to how DJs put tandas together and watching how experienced dancers interpret the different orchestras provides an opportunity to develop musical understanding. Some DJs have the orchestras for each tanda displayed on a card and most are happy to answer questions about the music as long as it doesn’t interfere with their lining up the next tanda.
However on the digital front there are also some remarkable smartphone apps which recognize music that can help out. These include Shazam and SoundHound (both have Android and iPhone versions). Results can be patchy and more obscure tracks will probably not be recognized. However an impromptu experiment with Shazam in a class playing Golden Age music accurately identified 22 out of 24 tracks with name, orchestra and album.
Innovation in the digital realm is constant so it is likely that new services will become popular and replace others. Despite this, most of the digital music services reviewed here are fairly large so are unlikely to disappear overnight. Armed with a few names of favorite orchestras or songs it is a good idea to experiment with the different free services to see which fit best. Previous exposure to programs, user-interface, experience with technology and existing music collections will all affect which site is preferred. For some, the additional services offered by premium paid memberships may work. And for those who prefer CDs, using these services should make the buying process a little less hit and miss.
Links:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57326162-1/which-music-service-should-you-use/
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2380776,00.asp
* All the services mentioned offer free subscriptions which include advertising; they also offer advertising-free subscriptions with more options. There are also a variety of paid services not covered in this article including Napster, Rdio and PureMusic