Music, singing, melody and the lyrics, they are things that move our soul and affect our moods.

Who would ever forget the suspenseful movie score of "Jaws" going 'duh duh duh duh...' when the shark's fin appears on the ocean's horizon? Or how about the rousing, adrenalin pumping trumpets of "Rocky" when Balboa goes running? What about Hitchcock's "Psycho", when the stabbing begins, 'ding! ding! ding! ding!...', adding to the visual horror.

The above cinematic examples illustrates without a doubt, even to the musically unschooled masses, music is carefully used to make us feel certain emotions.

To the tango dancers, where essentially you have the music, your partner, lastly the people dancing around you; music makes up one third of the equation. It can make or break the night's experience of dancing. The DJ of a tango party (milonga) has a very important job at hand.

I think the most common disagreement would stem from the use of new age tango music (tango nuevo) versus using traditional tango music from the golden age (1930s to 1960s).

Tango is a dance that was evolved from the kind of music from the golden age with certain feel and characteristics. Tango nuevo however often has many electronic music elements and jazz infuences, for example, Gotan Project, Narcotango. As such, to mix tango nuevo music with old school tango music can lead to a very disconnected feel to the overall energy of the night.

To me it would be like watching the classical ballet piece 'Swan Lake' and suddenly, 50 cent appearing in one of the acts singing and dancing to 'In Da Club'. The way of dancing a close embrace salon tango and the way of dancing tango nuevo is completely different. The music, feeling is so different, it feels like two completely different dances.

On the other hand, the DJ could play contemporary classic tango orchestras like 'Color Tango', 'Los Solistas de D'Arienzo' or 'Gente de Tango'. It could sound good. But if the original orchestras are better why not just use Pugliese, D'Arienzo and Di Sarli? Besides I would never imagine Roberto Alvarez of 'Color Tango' calling himself a electronic tango nuevo band.

Royce, an accomplished DJ who DJ-ed in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo would say 'It's not about the individual songs, it is about how you arrange them.' Indeed the energy of the night could be carefully managed by the DJ who decides the arrangements of the groups of tango music (tandas, one group of 3 or 4 tango music).

The DJ could play the most popular songs one after the other, 'Bahia Blanca, El Adios, Nochero Soy, Poema... etc' But if it is not arranged properly, the dancers would be very confused and unhappy!

First of all, after a tango dancer gets through the initial learning curve and begins to appreciate music, he or she steps into the dancefloor during a milonga at the start of the tanda with some expectations. The basic expectation would be that the tanda they hear would be of the same orchestra of the same period!

Take Carlos Di Sarli for example, his 1940s music are lighter, uses higher notes, sweeter sounding vocals and on average have a faster beat. Into the 1950s, Di Sarli uses much lower notes, more dramatic vocals and slower, heavier beat. So the dancers on hearing the first song of the tanda, they would think to themselves "Oh its 40s Carlos Di Sarli with Podesta singing, time for a romantic, heartbreaking dance!" or "Oh its 50s, instrumental Carlos Di Sarli! Time for a deep, profound, elegant dance." And then they expect to feel this way for the rest of the four songs! It is imperative to put together four songs of the same orchestra from the same period.

For two bodies to come together and feel each other's lead and follow, musicality; to connect, it is not easy. Four songs is a just about right for them to get use to one another. A good, consistent DJ would provide a kind of predictable environment where the dancers know from the first song how the rest of the songs would feel like. From the first song, they would get into a certain mood and energy. The last thing a dancer should worry about is the sudden change of mood in the middle of the tanda.

I've done acting before when I was young. To mix different pieces from different orchestra or even the same orchestra but different period, would feel like trying to get me to act in a comedic scene and then 5 minutes later expect me to emote to a tragedy. It's mind-boggling!

Secondly would be the arrangement of the between different tandas. The DJ could get the basic unit of a tanda right; four songs of similar beat, similar feel, similar period of the same orchestra; but he could still screw up in putting wrong tandas back to back.

A Pugliese tanda, dramatic, emotional, full of angst and deep latent energy; not easy to dance well. After four songs of Pugliese, if I had really danced it well, I would be physically tired because the music demands a lot of big, powerful movements; I would be emotionally tired because Pugliese's orchestra is so varied and its melody evoking so much emotions, the only way to dance it well is to feel your heart wrenching to the music.

At such a physically and emotionally drained state, the last thing the DJ could do is to follow it up with a energetic D'Arienzo tanda, or a powerful late Biagi or worse another Pugliese or Color Tango. Give the dancers a break! Play a peaceful, simple D'Agostino, light Laurenz or a sweet Fresedo. One cannot hope to read Plato, Shakespeare and Ba Jin all on the same night! Give me some Calvin and Hobbes!

An excellent DJ, one who knows what he/ she is doing, is acutely aware of the energy of the dancefloor and the dancers. Every single tanda is carefully arranged, and the order of every tanda is also carefully planned. Like a good movie, a good novel or good sex, there is a slow buildup, the climax and then descension of the energy, and then buildup to another climax again; if managed properly, one should experience several peaks in one night, dancing I mean. ;)

Thoughtless and callous arrangement of the individual tanda, then randomly putting of tandas one after the other. Unaware of the effects it has on the dancers, it is disastrous to the dancing experience; not unlike the boorish amateur lover, who handles his partner without skill and order; selfish and careless without finesse and attention to details. We all grieve for the unfortunate soul at this receiving end.

I was unfortunately at the receiving end of such absurdity; once again, dancing I mean. ;) A couple of tango friends who came all the way from overseas visiting in town and we all went out to a local milonga, fully expecting to dance our night away. Instead our night was ruined by tandas that were mixed with music from different period of the same orchestra (Di Sarli instrumental from the 50s mixed with 40s vocals), bad tanda arrangements (Pugliese - Di Sarli -Tuba Tango - Pugliese), we even had a two milonga tanda back to back!

Of course, if one is just doing steps, dancing to show off figures, dancing without connecting to the partner or the music; then this detail would be insignificant. In fact, I would say play more Pugliese, because the countless boleos, colgadas, secadas, jumps and poses would probably not look too good on other orchestras; At least good ol' Pugliese is so creative and dramatic on his music, he could connect to these people, even if they don't connect to him.

PS: This entire article is written to a soothe calming background music of 'Cry me a river' by the soulful Lisa Ekdahl. In fact the whole blog is. :)