The Corona crisis acts as a catalyst for accelerated changes in many areas - including Tango.

The Corona crisis acts as a catalyst for accelerated changes in many areas - including Tango.A non-representative poll on Facebook confirms my suspicion, that the term "NeoTango" (derived from Piazzolla's same song) has meanwhile been completely emptied of content and become a chimera.2/3 of all participants voted for "Everything is Neotango (Bach - Eminem) "90% of the music which is played at the most enjoyable Neotango parties, (…) has no tango roots." Elio When I organized my first tanguerilla »Neotango Underground« in 2004, the term was clearly defined and denoted a tango counterculture, that positioned itself against Standard Tango and ranged musically from the progressive orchestras of the post-EdO era (Pugliese / Piazzolla . …), over Tango Fusion bands of the early 2000s (Narcotango, Otros Aires, Gotan Project …) to the young orchestras located at CAFF (Astillero, Fernandez Fierro, …).Since the creeping dissolution of Neotango bands in 2011, the musical substance of Neotango was lost and consequently eroded under the

influence of DJanes and organizers of alternative events, lacking any historical knowledge. Neotango became an empty phrase that had no relation to tango and instead celebrated the entire heritage of world music.Everything is tango! "The only thing that matters is if I WANT to dance tango on it. Then it is tango music." Vio After several years of critically examining this development, my patience is now exhausted. I say goodbye to Neotango and describe my events in the future as Tango Nuevo! My events and Facebook groups have already been renamed accordingly.My main intention for the "rededication" was to end the endless, tiring discussion about terms and concepts and to find a new, unencumbered identity for my events. I was simply tired of being constantly ashamed of the boring and noisy „Neotango" or even having to justify myself to ahistorical, ignorant Neotango organizers for my tango-oriented music selection. »Traditional tango is put on the tradi dancefloor after all. Here we…

»In the matter of tango it is always very precarius to express an opinion. The risk to claim something fallacious about the tango or to offend living or dead historical persons of the genre is immense. It´s no valid question whether Carlos Gardel is an Argentinian or Uruguayan by birth - in fact it seems natural to assume that by Gotan Project the fourth tango revolution has taken place.«

What is neotango? And if so how many? A polemic to the relation of neotango and Retro Tango »In the matter of tango it is always very precarius to express an opinion. The risk to claim something fallacious about the tango or to offend living or dead historical persons of the genre is immense. It´s no valid question whether Carlos Gardel is an Argentinian or Uruguayan by birth - in fact it seems natural to assume that by Gotan Project the fourth tango revolution has taken place.« Philippe Cohen Solal, Gotan Project The guess that Diego Siegelwachs supposed in his article of 2007 »GOTAN PROJECT and the fourth tango revolution« unmistakable has been proved to be true.(cf. http://www.alolatino.de) »La Revancha del Tango« of Gotan Project in 2001 marks not necessarily historically, but stylistically the birth of the neotango, to a trendy, danceable style mix of the tango with electronic beats and sounds. The neotango has lined up to burst open the congealed musical, dance-like,

social and communicative conventions of the tango of the 80th and 90th. Comparable to the formation of the jazz it melts the tango with impulses of the broad range of the contemporary youth culture, revitalises itself and regains its basic liveliness, power of innovation and improvisation.In this process it meets with disapproval by the exponents of the soi-disant »Tango Argentino « which refers his identity to the classicistic zenith of the Tango Ríoplatense, to the Tango d`Oro of the 40th. As this hegemonic, retrogressive claim demands exclusively all the form vocabulary of the tango - from dance through fashion to music - this position can be labeled as Retro Tango. »The concept denotes a cultural phenomenon which produces pieces of art or cultural achievements in general neither based on contemporary style codes nor as their creative advancements or as original new creations, but by recourse to concepts or styles of past periods.«(cf. http://de.wikipedia.org) The Retro Tango assimilated to a curious position…

»An invented tradition is realized by choosing a certain point in the past, repeating language, gestures and objects so often until you can no longer imagine that it was any different.«

by Volker Marschhausen (German version below) »An invented tradition is realized by choosing a certain point in the past, repeating language, gestures and objects so often until you can no longer imagine that it was any different.«1 Traditional Tango and Epoca de Oro In the everyday experience of many tango dancers, the »traditional« milonga is a rather harmless dance event full of glamour and crackling exoticism. On closer inspection, however, the perception of the glittering surface gives way to a disturbing ambivalence of intimacy and anonymity, inclusion and exclusion, passion and commerce. A few glimpses into the history of tango are enough to reveal the »traditional« tango as an emperor without clothes, as an »invented tradition« with tabooed dark sides. The so-called Epoca de Oro forms the common historical reference point of the Traditional Tango and its codes, even if its temporal definition mostly follows subjective standards (Marta Savigliano: 1918 – 1935, Donald S. Castro: 1917 – 1943, Michael Lavocah:

1935 – 1945, Christian Tobler: 1938 – 1947). Either one believes »that the essence of the tango lies in its spirit of rebellion and spontaneity of the 1920s« 2 or that »the 1940s and 1950s represented a peak in terms of orchestral complexity.« 3 Even determined advocates of the traditional tango must soberly state: »It seems obvious that the »traditional tango« cannot exist at all; the views of music and dance have been too different in the course of historical development«. 4 The hierarchical staging of the classical tango as a golden celestial throne thus exposes itself as a classical »invented tradition«. Instead of this horizontally layered epochal picture, it is much more plausible to start from parallel, diachronic lines of development of the tango. Through this view, tango acquires a deep historical dimension with radical, even violent leaps, ranging from Tango Criolo to contemporary Tango Nuevo and NeoTango. Tango Codes & Rituals Tango codes are also part of the…

Mainstream NeoTango events established an understanding of their music, that extended their genre boundaries far beyond the horizon. Everything is somehow ‘Neo’. This indefinable melange is referred to as »Contemporary Music« and forms the sediment of so called Neo playlists according to the subjective music preference of the DJs and DJanes.

A classification by Volker Marschhausen »When you eat a soup it does not matter from which farmer come the ingredients or where he comes from or how old is him. The main thing is that it ś tasty, for you, eating in that specific time.« Elio Astor TangoDj II, 2019    The dawn of Alternative music Mainstream NeoTango events established an understanding of their music, that extended their genre boundaries far beyond the horizon. Everything is somehow ‘Neo’. This indefinable melange is referred to as »Contemporary Music« and forms the sediment of so called Neo playlists according to the subjective music preference of the DJs and DJanes. The simplified 'Tango scheme’ of the 4/4 metric indicates the only »Tango« charistics of their songs. There are several Facebook groups (Alternative Milonga PlayList, NonTangos for Tangodancers …) where a variety of suggestions regarding their 'milonga suitability’ are widely discussed. According to this method Rossini’s William Tell Overture fits metrically exactly to a milonga,

however there’s no evidence. Coquetry with Tangometrics remains the one single musical link to the Tango dancers. In the same way the much more unwieldy Tango Nuevos, ElectroTangos and Contemporary Tangos have been also gradually marginalized and sacrificed for the sake of a more easily consumable mix. The small reference to Tango has been established by the dancers adaptability and improvisational skills. The musical grocery is thrown before their stilettos in hopes that their skills are sufficient to transform the music into dance. To achieve this, playlists were cleaned from flops and were optimised through trial and error. The result is that the baby has been thrown out with the bath water and exposes the complexity of Tango DNA - the genetic material of Tango - to a taste all over the place. »When you eat a soup it does not matter from which farmer come the ingredients or where he comes from or how old is him. The main…

»Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame« Gustav Mahler

»Tradition is not to preserve the ashes but to pass on the flame«Gustav Mahler  Those who personally experienced the beginning of neoTANGO in 2001 know that the integration of Tango and contemporary music styles were its outstanding characteristics.I am incredibly happy that I did not only experience the long history of Neotango right in front of my eyes, but also to be involved partly in shaping it with events.  As I competely understand the result of not having experienced the origin and history of neoTANGO, let me call some developmental milestones to convey an idea of this period. First Tanguerilla 2004This is the first Tanguerilla flyer from 2004 calling the music neotango.underground. First Tanguerilla video This is my first playlist from 2003 containing 4,7% Alternative and the rest neoTANGO.Tanguerilla-Playlist.pdfNothing has changed since then 😉 First NeotangoRave 4 – 6 March 2011 ORIGINAL announcement: »DJs:electrotango / veronika fischer / augsburgnontango / tom schröder / hannovertangofusion / sonja armissen / münchenbalkantango / arlenka klas / feldkirchtrancetango

/volker marschhausen / bremenVjs: ReD Tango / berlin-france und volker marschhausen / bremen« This is the proof that from beginning of the NeotangoRave 80% of it’s DJanes played subgenre of Tango mixed with contemporary music styles. They preferred Tango DNA instead of Electro, Balkan, Fusion and Trance. Crucial change - extinction of orchestrasThe comfortable situation changed abruptly in 2012, when species extinction of most leading Neotango bands started and the musical support of DJanes ceased. The dissolution of Gotan Project in May 2012 created a domino effect on the most important NeoTango bands (NarcoTango, Gotan Project, Otros Aires) and dramatically decreasesd live concerts of others (Bajofondo, ElectrocuTango, Tango Crash, San Telmo Lounge, ETango). Birth of AlternativeThe musical scarcity of resources forced many DJanes to search for musical alternatives beyond Tango influences. Depending on personal preferences and musical influences, the entire spectrum of contemporary music styles slipped into their playlists. World, Hip Hop, TripHop, Classic Crossover, Rock, Blues, Dubstep, Ethno –…

NeoTango is a complex structure of different moments of a cultural movement. It includes music, dance, visual performance, fashion and codes.

First decade NeoTango is a complex structure of different moments of a cultural movement. It includes music, dance, visual performance, fashion and codes. Although the child had many fathers (and mothers), it is undisputable that »La Revancha del Tango« by Gotan Project in 2001 was the initial impulse of this new Tango period. »Gotan Project has done just that, causing a musical revolution: sweet, sensual, passionate«. Vogue.it Later on sustained period of growth of NeoTango bands followed, whose common feature was the fusion of Tango with contemporary music genres using classical, analog and digital instruments. Orchestras like NarcoTango, Otros Aires, Bajofondo, Tanghetto - to name but a few of the best known - generated such a suction effect in the Tango scene, as well as in the music industry overall, that soon many copycats jumped on the bandwagon with musical fast-food productions. These synthetic, hastily cobbled, low-budget productions played an essential role in discrediting NeoTango as »ElectroTango«. Well visited live

performances demonstrated the creative potential of popular NeoTango bands and their rapidly increasing number of CD productions set the standard in the first decade. Their sheer bulk surged with great force against the crusted, traditionalist Tango scene and broke small NeoTango enclaves out of their phalanx of Salon-Milongas. They sustainably changed the musical taste and the hearing sensation of their concert goers and inspired Tango dancers to establish the first Neolongas  (a portmanteau of NeoTango and Milonga) from 2006. Neotango dance floors combined  New Tango songs with the dancing repertoire of the pioneers of Tango Nuevo (Veron, Chicho, Naveira, Salas, Ladas). Their CITA 2000 festival in Buenos Aires played a key role in the Tango renewal process and extensively influenced several generations of dancers, such as DIN in Buenos Aires. Their international workshops and tours spread the typical dancing style of the Open Embrace with Saccadas, Colgadas, Voltadas and Ganchos and changed the international Tango scene very intensively and profoundly.…

Intentionality designates the mental presence of objects and actions of the »real« world on the one hand, on the other hand it ́s not only a passive reflection of the concrete world but an active intervention on it motivated by action intentions.

Intentionality and Tango The term intentionality refers to the »philosophy of mind« by Brentano and the speech-act theory of Searle. Human interaction requires perception - the mental ability to notice, decode and interpret actions of the social environment to create intentionality as its mental representative. Intentionality designates the mental presence of objects and actions of the »real« world on the one hand, on the other hand it ́s not only a passive reflection of the concrete world but an active intervention on it motivated by action intentions. In Tango the action intention appears as an subjective imagination of dancing figure sequences. Due to the absence of verbal communication the collective intentionality of a couple becomes apparent in a body language expressed by steps sequences, turns of the torso or the subtle use of arm movements by the »closed embrace«. »the flow of sound, music and dance, for example, has striking resemblances to the flow of meaningful human discourse.« Erkki Soininen,

http://www.erkkisoininen.fi/aestetic.php Intentionality and Vintage Tango The dancing language of the traditional Tango is a closed dialogue curcuit with a classical sender-receiver-model of (male) leaders and (female) followers. The dancing intentionality primarily refers to a sclerotic pool of dancing figures (and their framework conditions), which dancers acquired through long-time exercises in workshops and »practicas«. This collective communication system is an indespensible prerequisite for the development of intentionality. The learning process is supported by framework conditions like the hierarchically dancing roles of leaders and followers, the closed embrace and the dancing circle on the dance floor. Intentionality and Neotango The dancing concept of Neotango turns its back on this restrictive set of dancing regulations and replaces it with a system of free improvisation. Instead of following a predefined arsenal of figures a permanent sender- sender feedback process creates impulses of movement. Additionally the dancing repertoire expands to free-flowing, multi-facetted meshes of moves by integrating contemporary dance concepts like Contact Improvisation, Butoh, Modern…

The retrenchment takes the form of extremely simple dancing in which the focus of the dance is not on interesting improvisation, but on musicality, and specifically rhythmic musicality accompanied by quite bigoted claims about any other values and priorities which could be pursued while dancing tango. It also involves an extremely narrow subset of tango music, eschewing contemporary orquestras, post-1950s compositions, and world music. In Berlin one gets the sense that the line of dance is more important than what you are doing in it. This is called “social tango”.

A few years ago, tango began a retrenchment. I first noticed it oozing from New York dancers visiting Boston in 2009, but soon saw it in Buenos Aires, felt its venom in Wellington and Sydney, and am now confronted with it regularly even here in radical Berlin. The retrenchment takes the form of extremely simple dancing in which the focus of the dance is not on interesting improvisation, but on musicality, and specifically rhythmic musicality accompanied by quite bigoted claims about any other values and priorities which could be pursued while dancing tango. It also involves an extremely narrow subset of tango music, eschewing contemporary orquestras, post-1950s compositions, and world music. In Berlin one gets the sense that the line of dance is more important than what you are doing in it. This is called “social tango”. That is the form. But I believe the substance of the retrenchment is sexism. Last week I interviewed Andreas. I love to dance

with him because he’s one of the few people who operates in a tango context with something approaching expressive freedom. It was he who used the term ‘Victorian’. I’ve been dancing about 8 years.  Here in Berlin there used to be much more creativity in the dancing.  Now there is a new tendency to  limit the range of moving the body in spite of all the skills we learned from 100 years of contemporary dance or Modern dance, (M. Graham, M. Cunnigham, P.Bausch….) and Tango Nuevo to open the body, to liberate the move, to explore movement in any direction, to learn from other disciplines.  And what’s strange is that it’s mostly the young people!  The dance in the classical scene remembers me sometimes of a new kind of Neo-Victorians.  The new ideal is not to open their legs too much, to make small, elegant, controlled movements.  They don’t want their bodies to move too much, too big, too expressive;…

„NonTango“ is optionally every contemporary music genre. The spectrum ranges from Folk, Country, Latin, House, TripHop, HipHop, Klezmer, Flamenco, Fado, Soundtracks, Arabian and Balkans beats, Blues, Rock, Soul up to Classic period. Because of its broad musical spectrum it´s also called „Fusion“ or „Crossover“. Due to a lack of substantive reference to Tango music, the NonTango concept should subtly suggest the opposite on a syntactic level. It is extremely misleading however and a typical example of the rhetorical figure Oxymoron (in Greek ὀξύμωρος, from oxys „sharp, keen" and μωρός mōros „dull, stupid" that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory.

Musical groceries store or The uneasiness about »NonTango« from the perspective of NeoTango by tanguerilla „The Tango grows with the talents of those which will come and already are here – with the newest styles, originated at the place where these were always invented – the society.“  Osvaldo Pugliese What is NonTango? „NonTango“ is optionally every contemporary music genre. The spectrum ranges from Folk, Country, Latin, House, TripHop, HipHop, Klezmer, Flamenco, Fado, Soundtracks, Arabian and Balkans beats, Blues, Rock, Soul up to Classic period. Because of its broad musical spectrum it´s also called „Fusion“ or „Crossover“. Due to a lack of substantive reference to Tango music, the NonTango concept should subtly suggest the opposite on a syntactic level. It is extremely misleading however and a typical example of the rhetorical figure Oxymoron (in Greek ὀξύμωρος, from oxys „sharp, keen" and μωρός mōros „dull, stupid" that juxtaposes elements that appear to be contradictory. NonTango in Fusion events For such dancing events tracks

will be compiled to play lists according to the subjective music preference of the DJs and DJanes and squeezed into a simplified 4/4 metrical Tango pattern. There are many Facebook groups (Alternative Milonga PlayList, NonTangos for Tangodancers …) which are mainly used to discuss musical proposals with regard to their „Milonga suitability“. From this perspective Rossini´s Wilhem Tell Ouverture perfectly fits the metrical pattern of a Milonga - but in fact it isn´t by no means. But coquetry with Tango metrics remains the only musical connecting link to Tango. Nevertheless, the real reference to Tango exclusively is created through the adaptive and improvisational skills (or also not) of the dancers. The musical groceries store is thrown to their Stilettos that they must pick up, in hope that their abilities are sufficient to perform the music mix. That way they try cleaning out flops and optimise the play list based largely on trial and error. That procedure is chiefly used by…