BT: When did you start to play bandoneon? What was your previous musical experience and background? And what’s the story behind the Conjunto Berretin project? What’s up with it? Any new discs on the way? How much of Hugo Diaz is there behind Conjunto Berretin? What’s your attitude to Diaz? Whom do your consider tango icons?
AK: I have been playing music my whole life (violin from 3 years old, to saxophone, and then bandoneon). I picked up the bandoneon about 8 years ago and that has been my primary focus musically ever since. The idea driving Conjunto Berretin was to play danceable tangos in the “a la parrilla” style - that is playing it off leadsheets with a lot of improvisation to capture the energy and spontaneity of the moment. Each musician in the group brought their musical background into the playing and the result was a danceable tango-hybrid. I disbanded Conjunto Berretin 2 years ago and began to do arrangements for sextet and also for orquesta tipica because I wanted something very specific - a sound that is danceable, carries the deep “tango feeling” and tries to approximate what the great orquestas of the Golden Age were doing. Hugo Diaz was not a driving force behind Conjunto Berretin. Joe Powers played harmonica with us, and I’m sure Hugo Diaz influenced his playing, but as a group we looked more towards D’Arienzo, Canaro - the more playful orquestas. My tango musical icons now are the great orquestas of DiSarli, Troilo, D’Arienzo, Laurenz and others - they had everything and captured all the subtleties of the form.
BT: Have you ever tried to dance zamba in tango style (in embrace, with no handkerchief)? Do you like zambas? Do you like Argentinean folklore?
AK: I love zamba and Argentine folklore in general as a music and as a dance. I’ve taken many lessons, but feel that I am less than a beginner at zamba. Chacarera is a different story - I feel like I can at least have fun and approximate it decently.
BT: Does (or did) Conjunto Berretin play at milongas? What live orchestras do you like to dance to?
AK: YES! We only played for dancers. We never played in a concert hall for people sitting down - that was never the idea for the band. I like dancing to Trio Garufa, Color Tango, Los Reyes de Tango, the duo Musamistonga... Now there are more danceable orquestas than 10 years ago.
BT: Is there any difference between the music played by live orchestras and music played by DJs? No live orchestras seem to play “golden age” arrangements, do they?
AK: It’s about money. As a musician you’re lucky if you make $100 playing an evening at a milonga. You could make a lot more if you played Piazzolla in a concert hall, so what’s the incentive for the musicians? You can play for the love of it, but at some point you also need to pay your bills, which is very difficult to do if you only play at milongas. Conjunto Berretin was a hobby for everyone in the band - no one ever looked to get rich by doing it. It was only for the love of it and fortunately we all had other jobs to pay the bills. Things are changing now though - there are more danceable orquestas. We need to just let the dancers know that they should pay live musicians well. In return there would probably be more dance orquestas.
BT: Can you recommend us any DJ whose milonga compilation impressed you most? Do you work as DJ yourself? If you do, what are your principles of throwing a good milonga?
AK: Yes, I DJ and my main principle is to throw a good party. There are many good DJ’s now: Dan Boccia, Robin Thomas, Avik Basu, Shorey Myers... the list is long these days. DJ’s are taking it more seriously, as are festival and milonga organizers.
BT: Who were and are your biggest musical (tango and other genres) influences? What are you listening to now? Dancing to? Can you give any recommendations? New cool names?
AK: DiSarli, Troilo, Laurenz, D’Arienzo. I was heavy into Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Stravinsky, Bartok - though I don’t know how much these have affected my tango playing. I like what Bajofondo is doing, also Electrocutango. I like tango hip hop with rapping, though there isn’t much of it out there. One name to look out for is Momo Smitt - you’ll be hearing about him some day.
BT: Do you get the same level of pleasure from dancing to d’Arienzo and Pugliese? Do you dance to de Caro? Why, in your opinion, people throughout the world tend to ignore tango decariano?
AK: DeCaro and Pugliese are harder to dance to because they use rallentando (slowing down of the tempo), and frequently solo sections do not have a marcato accompaniment. I think most people love Pugliese and DeCaro, but people do find it more difficult to dance to. For me it depends on my mood and who I’m dancing with.
BT: On your famous video with Luciana Valle (Toca tango) the last part where you run backwards on “borokoto-borokoto” with magnificent improvising footwork contratiempo to the theme’s rhythms. and what’s even more impressive, different footwork patterns danced by you and Luciana simultaneously, seems to be the quintessence of a really good tango. Do you teach people to dance like that? Do you teach musicality? Contratiempo? Feeling the rhythm? How do people respond? Can one learn to dance like that from an absolute zero level?
AK: I teach musicality all the time - that’s what tango dancing is: first the embrace and connection and then moving to the music, isn’t it? People respond positively to it. Tango music is unusual for people that didn’t grow up hearing it. Pointing out trends in each tango make it easier to move in sync with it. Re: the demo with Luciana - well, she is a very talented dancer and it is easy to feel free when dancing with her.
BT: To what extent should the tango couple be considered as a mirror reflection of each other? To which extent does the woman have a possibility to express herself? To express her dancing ideas? To improvise? How does it actually happen on the floor? How do you let the woman’s individuality survive in tango? Do you want your dancing partner to be an individuality with ideas of her own?
AK: Yes, the dialogue in the dance is very important to me. I get bored listen to myself talk. There is a mirror though - you can see yourself through your partner’s lens. There is reaction and influence in the dance for both the lead and follow and both need to be aware of it. For example, if my partner gives me lots of energy in the first step we take, it may change the way I lead her to do her next step (perhaps matching the energy she gave me). It’s very much like a game where each future move is dependent on what is happening in the moment.
BT: How do you choose the tangos to dance to at shows? What criteria?
AK: Depends on the partner I am dancing with and the audience that I am performing for. Also how many songs I will be performing. The rest is just “by feel” - songs that inspire me in the moment.
BT: Who are your favorite dancers? Where do people dance tango best of all (outside of Argentina) and why? What tango venues are your favorite ones? Which tango festivals impressed you most?
AK: Tricky question to answer. My favorite dancers are the ones that are honest in their dance, musical, and connected - there are many. I love dancing here in Portland - the community is strong, the dancing is very good, the DJ’s are great and the venues are perfect. Each city has its strengths and weaknesses. Smaller communities are friendlier and more appreciative, larger communities have better technical dancing and more dancing to be done. I haven’t been dancing outside of the US in a while, so I can’t really speak about the international scene as well these days. In the US the Portland, Seattle, Ashland, DC, Ann Arbor, St. Louis, festivals are all fun. There are many others too. One more thing: I will be releasing a new tango album sometime early next year. The idea behind the CD was to find some of the best tango musicians in the US and make a tango CD in the “a la parrilla” style. I found an incredible bassist by the name of Pedro Giraudo and a talented violinist by the name of Nick Danielson. There is a singer by the name of Hector Pablo “El Pulpo” Pereyra, who in my opinion is one of the best tango singers for dancing in the US. I also have Evan Griffiths on piano and myself on bandoneon - Evan and I help to give the sound danceability since we are both long time tango dancers. All of these musicians live in New York so I flew out there last April and recorded 10 songs with them and I think it turned out great. The name of the band is the “New York Tango Jam Session” and the name of the album will be “Berretineando”. It will be available through www.cdbaby.com and by next spring will be available to download through iTunes and other digital distribution sites. ...it would be great if you could promote the new CD in the mag. The website will be www. newyorktangojamsession.com
ElBuentango #1, 2010
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