1. The TTVTTM format works the best. Everyone likes it.
2. Everyone loves cortinas between three song tandas. 30 seconds long, fade to silence. Dinah Washington, Lou Rawls, Sinatra, Ellington, Ray Charles, etc. Cortinas allows more ladies to dance and prevents a guy from ‘monopolizing’ a lady.
3. Epoch de Oro or ‘Golden Age’ tangos, vals and milongas from the 1940’s and 1950’s are far and way the most popular.
4. I mix some the artist in a tanda because someone thought I played the same song twice in a tanda. I didn’t but I was mortified!
5. I avoid music with tempo changes or volume swings. We play in cafes and restaurants at times with background noise and these songs loose the dancers on occasion.
6. I’ve had a number of requests for ‘Novo’, not Nuevo, songs like ‘My Tender and Affectionate Beast’, ‘La Valse d’Amélie’ and ‘Tivoli’. I created a tanda with them and held my breath and the dancers, all of whom are Argentine trained, did enjoy them. Just one tanda though.
7. Nuevo just doesn’t work with the Sacramento, Ca. crowd, even fun songs like Gotan’s ‘Whatever Lola Wants’ and ‘Notas’. Most dancers here have been to Bs.As. and are only interested in classic tango.

If you are interested in DJing, and there is always room for a good DJ, get yourself a good laptop and portable sound system (200 to 400 watts RMS) and jump in!! It’s fun!!

David Graybill

I heard 5 to 6 tandas of tango in Bs.As. as well, but usually it appeared at the beginning or at the end of the milonga. I would say 3 to 4 tandas of tango is very common. As for the number of vals per milonga, if it’s a long milonga (from 6pm to 3am), then definitely there’s more vals than what you experienced. Shorter milonga usually has less vals and milonga, but my experience is that there’s always minimum 3 tandas of vals. However, milonga tanda is not the same. I love milonga but unfortunately milonga is not played as often as vals. I do had experience of having only 2 tandas of milonga in an evening, and I was quite disappointed.

I think the number of tango tandas is not really an issue. What tango tandas are played in a row is the key. If there’s enough variety of tango tandas played in a row, that’s fine for me, and I think that’s also fine for the local dancers in Bs.As. Because I believe different tanda of tango can have different feeling and colour, and so a series of tango tandas can also be colourful and enjoyable. However, the same arrangement might not be fine for some tango communities outside Bs.As. The reason behind is a matter of habit and appreciation. We have to admit that local dancers in Bs.As. generally have higher or different appreciation to tango music than foreign dancers like us. And that could explain why they don’t have problem having 5 or 6 tandas of tango in a row, while for us that could be boring or not exciting.

In my own weekly milonga I play a malerba tanda at least every second week. And beside Malerba with Medina I also play Malerba with Maida sometimes. There are four tangos, just enough for an outstandig tanda 1. Encuentro. 2. Una copa mas. 3. Medianoche. 4. Pasado Florido.

Not to forget the outstanding interpretation of the instrumental vals Corazon de Artista, that I consider superior zu d’Arienzos version and a pice of musik that lifts may dancers from their chairs.