探戈的标志

探戈舞的好坏与音乐有关。我从未见人用蹩脚的，不熟悉的，古怪的，非探戈的音乐跳出过优美的探戈。优美的探戈都是用最好的经典探戈舞曲跳的。好音乐是使舞者的技能得以充分发挥不可或缺的催化剂，它对舞者有一种激发作用，能提高他们的情绪，激起他们的感情，点燃他们的创造力，造成动作的协调和同步，并导致阿根廷人称为DUENDE的那种亢奋状态，在其中舞者得以发挥得淋漓尽致。没有好音乐，即使探戈大师也英雄无用武之地。

市场上有成千上万的探戈歌曲。其中只有一小部分是能够跳舞的优秀舞曲。绝大多数则是平庸或不适合跳舞的滥调。光碟制造商知道如何赚钱。他们若把好舞曲都放在一起，垃圾音乐就卖不出去了。因此，他们良莠掺杂，鱼目混珠。在一张20首歌曲的光碟中，或许只有一两首是好歌，其它都是垃圾。阿根廷人懂得他们的音乐。他们买光碟就为那一两首好歌，其余皆弃置不顾。而美国探戈游客却不一样，他们买一张光碟，把所有的歌曲全在舞会上播放。在这里，我们收垃圾的习惯和怪异的品味又困扰我们了。我们收集音乐就象我们收集舞步一样。更糟的是，我们特别醉心于收集罕见的垃圾，例如异国的，非探戈的，和另类的音乐。

专家们都同意，探戈舞要想跳得尽兴痛快，熟悉探戈音乐是必要条件。阿根廷人在他们的舞会上只播放最好的，最知名的经典探戈舞曲。他们甚至不播放不常听见和不熟悉的探戈歌曲，更不用说古怪和另类的音乐了。播放那样的音乐是帮倒忙。那种音乐既怪异又缺乏经典探戈舞曲的内涵和深度。它不但不能使舞者的技能得到充分发挥，反而使探戈成为一种杂交舞，让资深望重的老舞棍们闻而止步。这些老舞棍在布宜诺斯艾利斯的舞会上是倍受尊重的，他们能免费或优惠入场，坐最好的座位，并得到特别为他们播放其所喜爱的经典探戈舞曲的礼遇，因为他们是舞会的中流砥柱。

经典探戈音乐是探戈的标志。它是为探戈舞创造并与探戈舞一起发展的。两者之间有一种互相依存的关系。人们一听到经典探戈音乐就能识别它并联想到探戈舞。事实上，探戈舞和经典探戈音乐是一件事情的两个方面，总称为阿根廷探戈。它们就象身体和灵魂一样是分不开的。探戈音乐是为表达深沉的感情谱写制作的。它的节奏明快有力，适合于舞蹈，而它的旋律是柔顺，流畅而感伤的。每一个音符或乐句都表达一种男性的强壮，果敢和成稳，或女性的缠绵，顺从和多愁善感。这两种情绪互相交织，彼此回应，映照着正在跳舞的男人和女人。

探戈舞能够用其他音乐来跳的事实并不等于那样做能使探戈保持不变。有人可能会用京剧曲调来跳探戈，但那将不再是探戈。来自不同文化背景的另类音乐不具有与经典探戈音乐相同的韵律结构和丰富内涵。经典探戈音乐富于激情，是多层次，多变化，深沉，多愁善感，允许自由诠释和即兴发挥的。任何具有与探戈相同的韵律结构和丰富内涵的音乐都可被视为探戈音乐，而不是另类音乐。根据定义，另类音乐是缺少探戈韵律结构和深度的音乐，因此不是最适合跳探戈舞的音乐。那种音乐只吸引缺乏乐感和品味的初学者和寻求新奇的怪人，以及为赚钱而迎合他们口味的人。

与此相反，爱探戈甚于爱金钱的人可以为探戈做一件事。如果我们精心选择三百到五百首最好的经典探戈舞曲并在舞会上反复播放，就象阿根廷人在布宜诺斯艾利斯的舞会上所做的那样，我们将在出乎意料的诸多方面提高我们的探戈文化和舞蹈水平。毕竟，探戈是与音乐密切相关的。音乐越好，舞蹈就越好，舞会就越好，社团就越好，我们也就越好。

The Signature of Tango

The quality of tango dance has something to do with the music. I never saw a lousy, unfamiliar, outlandish and non-tango song that produced a beautiful tango. Well-performed tangos are all danced to excellent classical tango music, which is an inspiration and stimulant indispensable for bringing the dancers’ skills into full play. Good classical tango music motivates the dancers, lifts their spirit, stirs up their emotions, kindles their creativity, generates synergism, and leads to what the Argentines call duende, an elated state in which the dancers perform exceptionally well. Without good music, there is little scope for even a master’s abilities.

There are thousands of tango songs available on the market. Only a small portion is excellent danceable music. The majorities are mediocrities or junks unsuitable for tango dancing. The CD makers know how to make money. If they put all good songs in one place, nobody will buy junks. So they mix the good and the junk together. In a CD of twenty songs, perhaps only one or two are good songs and the rest are junks. The Argentines know their music. They buy a CD for one or two good songs and discard the rest. American tango tourists, on the other hand, buy a CD and play them all. Here, our garbage collecting habit and bizarre taste haunt us again. We collect junk music like we collect junk steps. Worse still, we show favoritism to eccentric and rare junks, such as exotic, non-tango and alternative music.

Experts all agree that familiarity with the music is essential to an exuberant tango experience. The Argentines only play the best, well-known classical tango music in their milongas. They don’t even play rare and unfamiliar tango songs, still less outlandish and alternative music. Playing such music is a disservice to tango. It is weird. It lacks the richness and depth of the classical tango music. It cannot bring the dancers’ skills into play. It changes tango to a hybrid dance and repels the seasoned dancers who in Argentina are treated with respect, free or discount admission, best seats, and their favorite classical tango music, because they are the mainstay of the milonga.

Classical tango music is the signature of tango. It is created and developed with tango and for tango. People recognize it and associate it with the dance when they hear it. There is a sentimental attachment between the two. In reality tango dance and classical tango music are two aspects of one thing called Argentine tango, inseparable as body and soul. The fact that tango can be danced to other music doesn’t mean it can remain intact when so danced. One may dance tango to the music of Beijing opera, but that will not be tango. Alternative music from different cultural background does not have the same rhythmic structure and sentimental richness of the classical tango music, which is passionate, multi-layered, manifold, changeful, deep and moody, allowing the freedom to interpret and improvise. Any music sharing the same rhythmic structure and sentimental richness will be recognized as tango and not alternative music. By definition, alternative music is the music that lacks the structural and sentimental depth of tango, and therefore is not the best music for tango dancing. It only appeals to beginners deficient in good taste and musicality or weird dudes seeking novelty, and those who choose to pander to their taste in order to make money.

Those who love tango more than money, on the other hand, can do one thing for tango. If we meticulously select 300-500 best classical tango songs and play only them repeatedly in our milongas like the Argentines do in the milongas of Buenos Aires, we will change our tango culture and raise the level of our dance in more ways than we can imagine. After all, tango is intimately related to its music. The better the music, the better the dance, the better the milonga, the better the community, and the better we will be.