Django Tango is the DJ persona of Steve Morrall from Tango UK, Bramshaw.

A lifelong musician, he has been DJing for tango dancers since 2000 and spins playlists for a range of milonga styles from 100% traditional to party like alternative mixes.

About Spotify

If you have not discovered Spotify.com, it is a music listening service with a range of membership subscriptions from free (with adverts) to paid for. Follow the links to subscribe and download the App to your computer.

You can listen to complete tracks online for free. Here is one of Steve's Spotify playlists that represent a range of genres and styles. Scroll down through the tracks - there is over three hours of traditional and alternative music to explore.

The need for alternative tango music

As beautiful as Argentine tango music is, it is the music from another country, another culture, another lifetime.
In many ways, we are but children who grew up dancing to the music of our formative years. Our dance was based on lots of solo movement but little or no connection with our partners. In tango we have now found a dance that nurtures the sharing of a heartfelt embrace, connected to the music and to each other. 
So a new story of our dance begins. With these new found dance skills, we yearn to revisit the songs of our own lifetime to re-interpret and redefine the music that we grew up with using the expressive embrace of tango. Learning to dance from the heart within this familiar soundscape can only improve our dancing to Argentine tango music.

Below, Steve has written some notes about some of the tracks in the Spotify playlist from a DJ's perspective.
Villurca - Ideatango
There is an inspiring video on YouTube of Chicho Frumboli dancing with such rhythmic precision to this track and making real significance of the dramatic pauses. The intuitive melody on the bandoneon glues the piece together emotionally.
Where or When - Peggy Lee
It is a million miles from Buenos Aires classical tango, but for me this has that 'tango' sentiment in words and music. Every time I have played it at the end of an evening, the room has that goosebump making motionless silence as the dancers come back to reality.
El Apronte - Juan D'Arienzo
The rhythmic heart of dos por cuatro (2 by 4) tango is something called marcato and this brilliant track by JD delivers it by the bucketfull. Forget the trinkets of volcadas and colgadas etc, and watch the old milongueros use this underlying rhythm with simple elegance. Tango GOLD!
Al Maestro con Nostalgia - Carlos Garcia
We owe a debt of gratitude to the visionary musician and producer Gustavo Santaolalla (see De Ushuaia a la Quiaca below) who gathered together tango maestros from the 1940s onwards and recorded this swansong seminal album in 2006. You must watch the DVD!
Juan D'Arienzo - Rawson
If you have seen Sally Potter's film 'The Tango Lesson' this track is the 1936 version that Sally is learning how to gancho to with Fabian Salas and Gustavo Naveira. Don't let that subliminally inspire you to gancho all through the track when you hear it next, instead, savour the marcato.
El Rey de Bosque - 
Francisco Canaro
I remember the joy of discovering Canaro when I was a Tango newbie and breathing a sigh of relief with the clearly delivered rhythm and intuitive melodies. He helped me to start dancing with 'my ears' and crafting each step in response to feeling the music. This is a classic.
Teardrop - Massive Attack
Originally 5 mins 30 secs, this track was too good not to use as a late night neotango so I trimmed it to a more danceable 3 mins 36 secs using Audacity. The theme tune to 'House' starring Hugh Laurie, it has a resonant heart beat pace and a distinctive vocal. If you want more info on the trimmed version, email me at the address in the intro section.
Tango to Evora - 
Loreena McKennit
I know two versions of this tango of which this version by Loreena McKennitt is very well received by alternative dancers. Greek star Haris Alexiou has also recorded a version.
Pantera Tanguera - 
Cuarteto Almagro
If you haven't heard this before, you are going to love it. Cuarteto Almagro are a contemporary group from Buenos Aires playing tango with great respect for the genre, but interpreting modern, well known tunes, as well as putting their mark on some classics from the golden era. If you like this, listen to Cosmotango on the same album.
I've got to see you again - Norah Jones
This was one of the first non-tango tracks I played in a milonga in the summer of 2002. I love all of this album but only use this track for tango. It is a 3/3/2 milonga with yearning lyrics that touch a tangueros heart. Being an old romantic, I would go as far as to say it helped bring a dance couple together, and they are now happily married with two children.
I Put a Spell on You
 - Natacha Atlas
This track carries a neotango 'use with caution' sticker. It releases a lot of energy - like a really good Pugliese tanda. I play it when I feel the energy on the floor starts to drift. I have a few Moroccan/North African tracks that I group together.
Nothing Else Matters - Apocalyptica
This Finnish cello playing quartet provides a beautiful, if long, neotango (4:56) in the same genre as Los Cosos de al Lao's Oblivion. The pizzicato cello bass line provides a clear rhythmic structure while the melody soars and wraps us in its magic. Regularly gets feedback when played.
Almost Blue - Alison Moyet
Originally written and performed by Elvis Costello, this beautiful song is performed from the heart by Alison. I will never forget the amazing demonstration that Korey Ireland and Mila danced to this track at a Tango Tangk in 2006. Some music makes you dance from the soul - I hope you will also find that this is one of them.
Tango de los Asesinos
 - John Powell
John has produced a very dramatic tango, full of texture and powerful musical expression that encourages role playing and drama in your dance. It is in the same genre as Roxanne from Moulin Rouge, but I think it is more danceable with a intuitive ending. Full marks for a convincing contemporary tango that respects the structure of traditional tango.
De Ushuaia a la Quiaca
 - Gustavo Santaolalla
A track from the soundtrack of 'The Motorcycle Diaries'. Its true we all can have two lives - before and after tango. If you are in your after tango life, take a partner in your arms and let this sad lament take you on a journey. How does music do this? I don't know, perhaps its magic.
Corazon de Oro
 - Roberto de Filippo
This track gets me every time. It is an incredibly simple rendering of Corazon de Oro (heart of gold) by bandoneon maestro Roberto de Filippo. It is a tribute to Filippo's virtuosity that he makes this beautiful vals sound so effortless and easy to dance to whilst playing confoundingly complicated phrases. Alas, I fear that we will probably never hear this standard of playing again. A te maestro!
La Moulin - Yann Tiersen
I particularly enjoy dancing to 3/4 time valses. There is something utterly elemental and simply beautiful in swirling to a vals. This sad, haunting melody should disperse any feeling of joy - it is so melancholic - but curiously I often find myself on the verge of tears and yet full of joie de vivre. Perhaps its a black/white, light/shade, yin/yang tango thing. BTW, if you haven't seen the film it is a true classic.
Milonga Triste - 
Various Artists
I refer to a 3/3/2 rhythm a lot in these track notes - 3/3/2 is a wacky way of playing 8 beats in a bar to get a lovely lilt in a milonga. This lovely piece is a slow milonga, and rather than go for the well known version from the Tango Lesson sound track, (by Hugo Diaz) I thought you might like to hear this laid back, almost jazzy rendering. Play it and count the 3/3/2 rhythm for luck.
Moonrise - Nitin Sawhney
Performed by Nitin Sawhney with Cheb Memi, this neotango has a 3/3/2 milonga rhythm with a rich north african texture (thanks to Cheb's fantastic vocals). In isolation, this is about as far removed from tango as Vladivostoc is to Buenos Aires but then sometimes a milonga needs this sort of juxtaposition to make the most of the music. People love dancing to this song.
Ya Kelbi - Souad Massi
Souad Massi uses her French/Moroccan heritage to full effect on this wonderful song. With the rhythm of a slow milonga (3/3/2) we are moved to dance in a more fluid and african way. There are echoes of gipsy melodies and rhythms as she sings of love with her love of song.
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