Modern Tango World #4 (Bucharest, Romania)

Miguel Di Genova: We are currently working
on a new album, which will be released almost
certainly in May. In that same month we
will be touring Europe. If the album will not be
ready for that time, we will present some new
songs from it. Then we will surely release the
new album between June and July. From October
to November we will be touring USA.
MTW: As you said, tango is a constantly moving
art form. What do you think will happen in
the future? To which direction do you think it
will continue its evolution?
Miguel Di Genova: Looking at the past of
tango, we can see a boom of tango nuevo at
a certain time. That period surely produced
much good music, but also poor quality music. I
believe that the latter caused the recent downtrend
of nuevo and the return of traditional
tango. But the nature of tango is a moving one,
and it always took many years to incorporate
new musical forms into tradition. Regarding
electrotango, I believe in the need of a change
in terms, as to free it from the need to include
electronica, and I predict that in five to ten
years electrotango will take a different name.
This could simply be tango, if electrotango will
step into tradition, or neo-tango, or tango nuevo,
or even twenty-first century tango, as I call it.
The evolution of this twenty-first century tango will
take time. It is an open musical style which requires
great musical knowledge and some willingness to experiment.
This evolution will be slow but steady. At
some point, maybe in five years, maybe ten, maybe
twenty, we will come to the point in which twentyfirst
century tango will become the main music at
milongas, while twentieth century tango, or traditional
tango as we call it today, will turn into an important
contour. Today, most milongas are traditional-styled,
while just a few are nuevas. For the future I can
predict an inversion of this trend. One of the main
reasons for that will be a need for repopulation of
tango. At the beginning of the new century, groups
such as Gotan Project, Bajofondo, Narcotango had the
power to attract a large number of people to tango,
mainly young people. This is because such bands
found proper ways to fuse tango with different musical
expressions closer to todays’ general public than
classical tango. We know that, generally, people like
to dance to music that they like to listen to.
When the nuevo impulse of these formations declined,
the tango community turned back to traditional
music, and a lot of neophytes lost their newfound
interest. I believe that the trend will turn again
to nuevo music and that the tango fever will come
back, with the only difference that for that time what
we now call electrotango and tango nuevo will be integrated
into tango. As a result, we will not need so
many terms any more. I am sure about that, but only
future can tell!
MTW: We can’t wait to listen to your new album,
and see you back on stage and to discover what the
future holds for us! Miguel, thanks for talking with us
about Otros Aires’ experience and for sharing your
musical and tango philosophy!
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