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I often hear people complaining about hearing the same music over and over again. They get bored.

I have been listening to the same old music over and over again for the past three years; more so recently as I started DJing. Sometimes I could listen to the same song over ten times a day. I never get bored, on the contrary I find something interesting and different each time I listen to the same song.

Then it occurs to me that the music isn’t boring, just that people who complain never really listen.

The same piece of tango music has always been here, interpreted by different orchestras, sung by different singers and danced by thousands of dancers from various backgrounds in numerous ways. How could it be boring if there are thousands of different interpretations?

“Those who dance are considered insane by those who cannot hear the music.”

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I was playing a tanda of De Caro in the milonga. The music started and she looked at me and said: ” I am not sure I like this music.” I smiled and said: ” Let’s give it a try.” At the end of the tanda, I asked her how it was. She replied: ” very interesting.”

I used to stay away from the 50s or the early 30s songs, too orchestral or too simple. Lately I enjoy dancing wider range of music. Maybe it was the result of constantly listening tango music a couple of hours a day, seven days a week for the past three years. The once strange and hard to dance ones become interesting and inspiring. Or maybe I finally learn to listen to the music and look for what moves me in the music.

“Those who dance, are considered crazy by those who can’t hear the music.”

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The first time I felt the woman’s heart beat, I was dancing to Poema. I haven’t danced or listened to it for a long long time. Although I have three tandas of Canaro con Maida, Poema isn’t in any. It was like some old memory, being put aside and forgotten. Alex’s recent post about eleven performances of this particular song brought it back. When some one from tango-l claimed that it was too precious to be interpreted by Carlos Copello and LunaPalacios, I laughed.

It was just a song. As a matter of fact, I know someone whom grew up listening to tango music dislikes it. I don’t dislike it, but it isn’t my favorite any more. It doesn’t have the same effect to me as that time I danced to it and felt the woman’s heart beat.

Maybe it was because I had felt many heartbeats since, or even better I felt the woman melting in my chest and I was out of this world dancing to different songs. Or maybe Roberto Maida’s voice is less appealing to me, the music itself isn’t that romantic. Or maybe it is so overhyped that turns me off. Whatever reason it might be, it is just another song, which doesn’t even make into my tandas.

It is funny how things have changed as I progress. The once favorited and loved are no longer the favorited and loved. The once mattered is no longer mattered. As long as I am connected with the woman, any song sounds just like Poema, as I first felt the heartbeat of the woman.

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A lot of people dance Pugliese like stage performance on the milonga floor. Because the music is very powerful, average dancers will try to dance every beat. Pay attention to the floor next time you are in a milonga and not dancing to the tanda, and see how many of them dance frenzily.

The key is to control yourself and ride on top of the music, not just follow the music. Breathe along the music, use small adornment and movement to express the music. Take the time to dance, to talk to and feel the partner. Dance it like tasting a fine aged wine.

I don’t normally dance Pugliese, hard to find the right partner. But when I do, it’s often the best tanda of the night.

I always learn something when I watch them dancing.

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