Tángalo and the Australian Tango Festival Orchestra

Emily-Rose Šárkova  and Owen Salome

Interview with Sima for Australian Tango Festival 2017 series

Question 1:

Tángalo have become known for the diversity of their musical presentations and particularly in the genre of Argentine tango music.

Has the original instrumental composition of the Tángalo quintet remained the same? And have the original members stayed with the group: or do you have a new lineup?

Do you now play mostly transcribed musical scores by famous Argentine orquestas, or your own compositions?

Emily-Rose:

Tángalo began really very differently to how it is now. We began in 2011 with piano, double bass, violin, voices, accordion, flute and guitar. The original core members were myself, Owen Salome (flute/guitar), Susie Bishop (violin/voice), Amy Putt (piano) and our most permanent double bass member became Susie’s partner Johan Delin. Despite being all professional musicians, we were not yet TANGO musicians and we did not fully explore how to use the language of tango music until our trip to Buenos Aires all together in 2014.

It was on this trip that many things changed. I began to learn the Bandoneon and never turned back to the accordion for tango music. Owen developed a debilitating injury from playing guitar and made a last minute decision before leaving Buenos Aires to buy a bandoneon. So over the last 3years we have been transitioning from the original line up to having 2 bandoneons, piano, double bass, 1-4 string players – plus voices. We have been moving to a more fluid model of paring the ensemble right back to our Tángalo Duo with only myself and Owen – mixing our skills between the 2 bandoneons, piano, flute and voices– the quintet, or a larger Orquesta Tipica 9 piece orchestra.

We are also involving different members depending on the concert and availability. For example this year we have been working with Brisbanite Chloe Ann-Williamson on the double bass (Mendoza Tango Quartet) and Sydneysider Daniel Rojas-Gonzales on the piano (Orquesta La Luna & MendozaTango Quartet).

Owen:

Describing our repertoire is a bit trickier. In the past we played a lot of original arrangements and compositions. We also have gone through phases when we tried diligently to match the ‘sound’ of famous orchestras. It is very difficult (read: impossible) to get hold of quality arrangements of classic tango songs, so inevitably we transcribe them ourselves. However, we have a responsibility to ourselves, our musicians, our audience, and to the tango musician giants on whose shoulders we stand, to be original and innovative in our music making. As such we rarely attempt nowadays to copy exactly the orchestration and arrangement of a tango that we use; instead a great deal of time and effort goes into rearranging and revitalising each piece that we perform so that the sound is incontrovertibly Argentine tango (and suitable for dancers) but the flavour is indisputably our own.

Question 2:

On occasions when you have presented as a 9-piece orquesta tipica, adding 2 violins, viola and bass clarinet, this obviously gives scope for wider possibilities of sound and composition.

Do you use your base repertoire and add in the extra instruments,or have to rewrite the musical score completely?

Emily-Rose:

Both! Owen is mostly responsible for the beautiful string arranging. Sometimes using existing repertoire and adding or rearranging parts to fit. Sometimes he writes completely new arrangements. 

Owen:

Working for the first time with the larger ensemble was a challenge! Initially we laid the new instruments over our existing repertoire, adding extra parts where required, but trying to make only minimal changes to our existing parts. However, it is a lot of fun to work from scratch on arrangements knowing that one has these large forces available, so inevitably as the project developed, new pieces were written with the express intention of performance by the big orchestra. I much prefer to write for this tipica ensemble: its just so powerful and colourful!

Question 3:

With your busy lives teaching (music and dance), playing various genres and with different orchestras, how do you balance your engagements? Is it like taking on a different persona each time?

Or are they complementary, so that each inspires and adds to the various experiences?

Can you tell us all the musical forms (and instruments) you embrace?

Emily-Rose:

I have a very difficult time balancing my time to be honest.I feel constantly behind the 8 ball and am always amazed that we manage to pull off all these huge projects all the time. I don’t think I take on a different persona each time but I think you need to have many different skills you need to pull out at any given time. Need to re-arrange this piece of music? Sure. Need to be a tour manager? Done. Need to photo shop this poster? Let’s go! Oh –and there is always the fight to find time to practice my instrument!

Owen:

How do we balance our engagements? With great planning, timetabling discipline and no holidays. Our idea of a break is to stop working on one project so that we have time to go and practise for another! Each artistic endeavour that I undertake feeds into the others, so even if I take time off from composing art-music to work on my bandoneon technique, when I return my musical aesthetic is stronger and more fully formed. In terms of my musical personas, I juggle tango musician (bandoneonist, arranger, composer) with classical-composer, flautist, harmony lecturer, and private flute teacher. None of these identities is discrete; but they do require individually different attention and skills.

Question 4:

The Australian Tango Festival has provided the opportunity for an even wider collaboration of musicians to form the Australian Tango Festival Orchestra, a 10 piece orquesta tipica of 4 bandoneons, 3 violins,viola, piano and double bass, with members from 3 different tango orquestas –Tángalo & Orquesta La Luna & Mendoza Tango Quartet.

How have you managed to find time and location for all orchestra members to rehearse?

Can you share a little of the methods of combining the various instruments into your musical scores? Is there a designated composition (and main composers) or do all musicians contribute?

Emily-Rose:

We have members from other groups flying in from Brisbane and Melbourne on the Tuesday before the festival to rehearse every day for long hours leading up to the festival. Of course they also all need time to rehearse with their own orchestras as well so it is going to be an absolutely hectic time. Basically we try to be as organised as possible with the arrangements being done a while in advance, personal practice time and the Sydney based team getting together in small groups before the week of big rehearsals. Locations swing between people’s houses and rented spaces.

For the upcoming collaboration to create the Australian Tango Festival Orchestra we have a large number of brand new arrangements, some existing repertoire that has been re-arranged and a couple of arrangements sourced from others in Buenos Aires or our sister bands Mendoza Tango Quartet and Orquesta La Luna.

We have decided on repertoire from the point of view o fmaking nice tandas for the milonga nights, and also some requests from the maestros.

Owen:

This project is so exciting! We absolutely love the guys from Mendoza and La Luna. As well as being consummate musicians they are awesome people to hang out with! It has been something that we have all talked about for a long time; an Australian inter-city tango collaboration. For a project this large, time is a very major factor in how we work. It would be very slow to try and develop unique arrangements as a 10 member collective. Each musician is an expert in their instrument, but those of us who do make arrangements (Daniel Rojas of La Luna, Stephen Cuttriss of Mendoza, Emily-Rose and Myself) have all put serious time and effort into mastering composition and arranging skills. As such, it works much more fluently to bring a completed arrangement to the ensemble. Sometimes our wonderful musicians have suggestions for our arrangements, which we workshop, but usually the arranger works in isolation. 

For this project I have created most of the arrangements.  A few come from existing Tángalo repertoire, but I can happily say that most of the tangos you will hear are completely new. This has been an enormous amount of work, and Emily-Rose and Stephen have been wonderful in helping to transcribe and arrange extra parts. 

For rehearsals, we have been doing sectional rehearsals (called ‘filas’) with available members of the orchestra, but in the week before the festival we have something like 40 hours of rehearsal time together. It is going to be a lot of work, but by that stage everyone should know their parts very well, so it will also be a lot of fun!

Question 5:

Are you able to tell us whether the five visiting Maestro Tango Couples will be dancing to your live music for their presentations at the Festival milongas Friday, Saturday & Sunday?

Emily-Rose:

Let’s keep some surprises up our sleeves!

Owen:

Watch out for some amazing collaborations!

Question 6:

Are there musical events showcasing all the wonderful musicians gathered for the festival, where non-dancers can get to know and love the tango music which is the life of the Festival?

Is this a different repertoire, playing to non-dancers, to those played at the milongas for the dancers?

Emily-Rose:

Yes! We actually have many opportunities for the public to come to the festival. They can buy spectator passes for Friday and Sunday night milongas, where they can sit, drink a glass of wine and mingle up on the balcony at Marrickville Town Hall. There they get to hear the music and see the‘floor shows’.

We are also giving 2 concerts with the festival orchestra where everyone can see the festival orchestra play and maestros perform: 2pm Saturday 30 Sep at Mosman Art Gallery and 1pm Sunday 1^st Oct at Avoca Beach Picture Theatre. We aren’t changing the repertoire of our amazing 10piece orchestra for these because we find the highly danceable music for the milongas also highly listenable!

Owen:

We also have a performance of the awesome Duo Oblivion (Daniel Rojas-Gonzales & Daniel  Wallace-Crabbe) on Tuesday 3^rd October in a Jewel Lab special at Camelot Lounge!

A chill out session to mark the very end of the festival!

Question 7:

Do you envisage further collaborations with the musicians of the Australian Tango Festival Orchestra?

Emily-Rose: Absolutely! We are so excited to be playing with one another and wouldn’t want it to be only a one-off.

Owen:

Absolutely! It is a challenge to bring so many musicians together, but once the world sees what Australian tango musicians are capable of achieving, we are certain that there will be more opportunities for us to work together again. 

Question 8:

Will there be any recordings available from the Festival?

Emily-Rose: We hope so! Keep your ears open…

Owen:

More information once all the details are confirmed. Keep an eye on the Tángalo,Sydney Tango House, Mendoza, La Luna and Australian Tango Festival pages!

-- 25/09/2017 10:01:56 AM: post edited by Esperanza.