2662  tango "requirements"

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 13:52:05 EDT
From: Crrtango@AOL.COM
Subject: tango "requirements"

Astrid wrote:

"Well, Charles, here you sound almost as condescending as Raimund Allebrand
...,"

No, just making a point was that it is discouraging for Jorge Nel to say that
when there are many people who don't understand Spanish but love tango and
even if they did learn the lyrics would have only translations and not the rhyme
and meter of the originals.
So should they give up dancing since they would never really get it,
according to him?
Does that mean he would stop taking their money for classes from him since
they were wasting their time anyway? Does it mean they all have to learn
Spanish, etc.
The lyrics are great to many songs but not a strict requirement to learning
how to listen and appreciate and dance to tango music. What about the
instrumental ones?

This is a little like over-emphasizing the emotional connection that people
"need" to really dance well when what most of them really need is more basic
motor-skill practice on how to stand and walk and move smoothly. It is easy to
talk about connection when one has danced many years and mastered the
movements.

and:

"My Argentine friend described it much better than that. He said:"The special
thing about tango songs is that they contain naked emotion."

Well that is definitely his opinion. Blues, Rock, even Lieder has naked
emotion at times. It is not exclusive to tango. Some tangos have "naked" emotion,
some don't, some are just topical, some are nostalgic, some are trite, some are
even political propaganda.

Cheers,
Charles

Date: Thu, 19 Aug 2004 11:51:24 -0700
From: Carlos Rojas <Crojas@HACIENDACDC.ORG>
Subject: Re: tango "requirements"

Having been born in Latin American, growing up listening to tango music and
living in the USA for 20 years, I think both Jorge Nell and Charles are
right.

Charles is right because we don't "really need" to understand the lyrics to
both feel and dance tango.

Jorge Nell is right because if you understand the lyrics, then the
connection/feeling can be so much deeper and intense that otherwise would
have been.

I remember when I was a teenager, we all listen to the Beatles and American
rock (I dislike tango then), we used to dance very slowly to "Yesterday", is
a great song although most of us did not understand English, now that I do,
dancing slowly to "Yesterday" has a different feeling because I can
understand the lyrics.


Carlos Rojas
Portland, OR


-----Original Message-----

Sent: Thursday, August 19, 2004 9:52 AM
To: TANGO-L@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: [TANGO-L] tango "requirements"

Astrid wrote:

"Well, Charles, here you sound almost as condescending as Raimund Allebrand
...,"

No, just making a point was that it is discouraging for Jorge Nel to say
that
when there are many people who don't understand Spanish but love tango and
even if they did learn the lyrics would have only translations and not the
rhyme
and meter of the originals.
So should they give up dancing since they would never really get it,
according to him?
Does that mean he would stop taking their money for classes from him since
they were wasting their time anyway? Does it mean they all have to learn
Spanish, etc.
The lyrics are great to many songs but not a strict requirement to learning
how to listen and appreciate and dance to tango music. What about the
instrumental ones?

This is a little like over-emphasizing the emotional connection that people
"need" to really dance well when what most of them really need is more basic
motor-skill practice on how to stand and walk and move smoothly. It is easy
to
talk about connection when one has danced many years and mastered the
movements.

and:

"My Argentine friend described it much better than that. He said:"The
special
thing about tango songs is that they contain naked emotion."

Well that is definitely his opinion. Blues, Rock, even Lieder has naked
emotion at times. It is not exclusive to tango. Some tangos have "naked"
emotion,
some don't, some are just topical, some are nostalgic, some are trite, some
are
even political propaganda.

Cheers,
Charles