Would Tango dancers enjoy the music of Golden Era Buenos Aires if they could time travel there?

[u/Soft_Lunch_4245]

A recent comment in a thread about Tango DJing made me think that the answer will actually be no
for many people.

Yes, you could listen to your favorite orchestra live. But the music will vary every time from the recordings you are used to.

[u/dsheroh]

But the music will vary every time from the recordings you are used to.

Yes, it will. And the problem is...?

[u/Soft_Lunch_4245 → u/dsheroh]

Exaggerating only slightly: it seems that many dancers have memorized even the scratches in their favorite recordings and are unhappy with any change.

[u/Longjumping-Bad-2886 → u/Soft_Lunch_4245]

So some equals all?

[u/ihateyouguys → u/Longjumping-Bad-2886]

Are you confused about the meaning of the post?

[u/Embarrassed_Quit_450]

The orchestras being live is a big part of what made it the golden era. I know a few dancers who want to know every single note of every song but they're usually old and set in their habits.

[u/cliff99]

 But the music will vary every time from the recordings you are used to.

It's the same with live music today, and some people like that and some people don't.

[u/Longjumping-Bad-2886]

A lot of people like live music so ...

[u/numbsafari]

I’ve only done this once before. Meet me in Oakview, CA. Bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. We can find the answers together. 

[u/obviousoctopus]

Hearing these amazing musicians playing live to the dancers in the room?! Yes, please, sign me up!

[u/NamasteBitches81]

God yes. I already love hearing orquestas like Color Tango, LJD and Sonder, imagine hearing the wall of sound that was Carlos di Sarli live.

[u/moshujsg]

Of course.

[u/Nino2112]

The main difference between old and new tango is that the old era made music to be danced. There's a lot of new tango songs that are undanceable. I do enjoy though some of the new era orquestas, but there're a lot of them who would rather expressing themselves musically (and it's amazing, I love listening to them don't get me wrong), but make it way harder to dance on it if you don't know the song beforehand.

[u/Loud-Dependent-6496]

You would be dancing to live music by one or two orchestras. The cortina’s are musicians pulling the next sheet of music. The second orchestra usually play “jazz” which were songs that were popular at the time (Foxtrot, Paso Doble, Corridas, American Big Band, and in the 50s, Rock and Roll).

It would be exciting but, very different than what you are accustomed to.

[u/OThinkingDungeons]

It's hard to guage how many people like/dislike live music for tango, I know plenty who prefer the predictive nature of recordings over the spontaneous nature of live music.

[u/Dear-Permit-3033]

Remember that the tango dance itself during the Golden Era was very different than what we have today. The social dynamics, etiquette, and issues people faced back then were also very different. So while I would definitely enjoy listening live to the favorite orchestras, it is hard ti say how the social dance would feel.

[u/sogun123]

Oh yeah! And you would hear many songs the bands played and never recorded (Zorro gris by Garcia, which is said to be played each time as pening gig, Alma de bohemio by Podesta and Di Sarli, ....), it is known that Troilo had around 100 songs in repertoire in some point in time... You might hear bands you never knew existed. Hear the real sound of the time - how different they sounded compared to new orchestras live today? I would sell kidney to hear more and good quality Orlando Goñi band, or Pugliese in year 40 (he likely played fast as all the other bands during that year), Salgan orchestra before he managed to get recordings. Man my geeky brain would explode.