Tuesday, October 1, 2013

3rd International Festival of Tango de Salon in Łódź - Dj Antti Suniala


I had the pleasure and priviledge to play at the 3rd International Festival of Tango de Salon in Łódź Poland last sunday. The festival was organized beautifully, and the good venues, excellent selection of Dj's and warm atmosphere made sure that the dancers gave high praises for the festival and will be returning next year as well. I sure hope I can be a part of this amazing festival again in the future. The festival also featured great maestros like Sebastián Archával & Roxana Suárez and Javier Rodriguez & Noelia Barsi. I played the closing milonga of the festival, following top Dj's like Frank Seifart (Germany), Christoph Lanner (Austria) and Alexandra Kotelnitskaya (Ukraine). The style and quality of music was set very high and it was a welcome challenge and great pleasure to continue their work.

I managed to compile my set as a Dj Antti Suniala - Lodz Tango Salon Festival - Spotify playlist for the most part. I had to change a few songs that were not available on Spotify like D'Arienzo's "Olvidame (YouTube)" was changed to "Yunta brava", but overall the playlist is mostly true to what I played in Łódź that night. Also the Canaro milongas and Tanturi valses that I played were not available on Spotify so I made alternative tandas for those. The D'Arienzo instrumental tanda close to the end of the night got the dancers to really give it their all and they also applauded loudly the tanda afterwards. Instead of "Pampa" I played one of my D'Arienzo favorites "Por que razon" (Available on Tangotunes.com). But I won't go into more detail about the amazing missing songs... you will have to catch me at a milonga one day to hear them for yourself. The cortinas have been changed to protect the innocent.

I hope you enjoy the playlist and feel free to share it with your friends and community. Please "Like" my personal Dj profile on Facebook "Dj Antti Suniala". where I will be sharing more of playlists in the future as well as information and updates about my tourdates.

Ps. I will be moving to Barcelona in November until March/April and I'm interested in playing more milongas in Spain and southern France although I will still keep working internationally. Also now is a good time for bookings for next years festivals and events.


8 kommenttia:

  1. Interesting reading - thanks Antti. Some great D'Arienzo tracks there. But did people really dance to that Di Sarli concert music?

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    1. I don't know if you're referring to the instrumentals or the vocal songs... but in both cases: yes, people did really dance to them and enjoy them... both the people on the dance floor and also the ones that were left sitting for the tanda. Your view comes as no suprise but I see this music as very danceable. If it inspires you or me or the dancers at the festival to dance is another matter. But it is danceable and I wouldn't call it only concert music.

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    2. Antti wrote: "I don't know if you're referring to the instrumentals or the vocal songs..."

      I'm referring to the songs such as _this one - Soñemos, with singer Roberto Florio_.

      "yes, people did really dance to them"

      Oh well. I guess I shouldn't be surprised... since there are people who'll dance to Piazzolla's concert tango :)

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    3. I would be very interested in hearing your opinion where you draw the line for example in the case of Di Sarli? Which year did the music cross the border of traditional/concert? How about Pugliese?

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    4. Antti wrote: "I would be very interested in hearing your opinion where you draw the line for example in the case of Di Sarli? Which year did the music cross the border of traditional/concert?"

      In my opinion there is no 'drawn line'; no border placed at a particular year.

      For me, what determines that a piece is considered traditional (meaning traditionally played for social dancing) is that it is played in traditional Buenos Aires milongas and milongas elsewhere in the world that follow that tradition. Di Sarli's Golden Age music is very popular in trad milongas, but his post-Golden Age songs such that Soñemos is a kind of music that I have never heard and would not expect ever to hear played in a trad milonga.

      Of course whether a piece is danceable is a different matter and depends on who is doing the dancing. There are people who think a piece must be danceable just because they see teachers dancing to it a workshops and shows. And since the event in question was packed with workshops and shows, I guess it is no surprise that the kind of people who attended have a very different idea of what's danceable, compared to the kind of people who prefer traditional milongas.

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    5. I have never heard that kind of rubbish before - to call Soñemos a concert music.. You said "there is no 'draw line' but you actually drew it by pointing out that you have not heard it at BAs' milongas. I was at that festival milonga and the music was great, dancable and I also enjoyed listening to it. And no - I do not dance to Piazzolla

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  2. leskanuria wrote: "You said "there is no 'draw line' but you actually drew it..."

    Sorry if I was unclear. The kind of line I was referring to is Antti's suggested border at a particular year (of performance).

    "... by pointing out that you have not heard it at BAs' milongas."

    If you have a better criterion for determining what music is considered traditional, I would love to hear it.

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