Mandragora Tango Orchestra

Yet Another East Coast Tour!

Fri, 17 Sep 2010 16:01:51 -0600

We're heading back to the East Coast from September 17-25 with 8 great Milongas! This will be our 4th. trip to the East Coast of 2010. We keep meeting nice people and keep having a good time playing and dancing. We hope you can make it to one (or more!) of our milongas:

Fri, 9/17, Geneva, NY 8PM-12AM Smith Opera House / Center for the Arts, 82 Seneca Street map Hosted by Yvonne Murphy
Sat 9/18, Middletown, NJ 7-11PM Middletown Arts Center 36 Church St. map Hosted by Lee Sager and Tango Pantera Bonus: free musicality workshop at 6PM!
Sun, 9/19, Bethlehem, PA 5:15-8:15PM Goosey Gander Deli, 102 W. 4th. St. map Bonus: free musicality workshop at 4PM! Hosted by Edilia Gonzalez
Mon, 9/20, Philadelphia, PA, details to be announced.
Tue, 9/21, New York, NY 9:30PM-1:30AM Lafayette Grill, 54 Franklin (bet. B-Way and Lafayette) map Hosted by Jon Tariq
Wed, 9/22, Princeton, NJPrivate Party, but if you dance in Princeton, you can ask around.
Thu, 9/23, Princeton, NJ 9PM-12AM Viva Ballroom 1891 Brunswick Pike, Lawrenceville map Hosted by Mike and Kerry of Black Cat Tango Bonus: free musicality workshop 8-9PM
Fri, 9/24, Washington, DC 9PM-1:30AM Forever Dancing Ballroom 5818-B Seminary Road Falls Church, VA map. Hosted by Fabio and Jennifer Bonini
Sat, 9/25, Baltimore, MD9PM-2AM Load of Fun Arts" 120 W. North Ave map Hosted by Mark Longerbeam of El otro beso

Check out our itinerary on this interactive Google map!

View September 2010 East Coast Tour in a larger map

Tango Groove Party

Fri, 14 May 2010 14:40:55 -0600

We are hosting a Tango Groove Party this Friday evening, starting at 8PM and going late. It will be held at Zorongo Studios, 3012 Minnehaha Ave, next door to Patrick's Cabaret.

Wine, beer, soft drinks and snacks will be provided. The admission cost is $15.00.

Eron Woods will be our guest drummer and Rachel la Mala will sing a few tangos. Singer Elina Ruppert and Violinist Sara Pajunen will join Bob Barnes on Accordion for some Finnish Tangos. We are expecting a few other guest musicians as well.

We will be playing some traditional tangos but mostly emphasizing the Tango Nuevo side of the genre. It will be great dance music and intriguing to listen to, we promise.

Please come early, stay late, help us celebrate Tango Nuevo in South Minneapolis!

Questions: feel free to call Mateo, 612-749-2662

Thank you, all, for your friendship, support, and consideration.

April 2010 Trip Back East

Fri, 09 Apr 2010 19:42:15 -0600

We're heading back East in late April for 5 gigs:

April 21:Red Bank, NJ
April 22:Princeton Tango Club
April 23:Washington, DC (Tentative)
April 24:Private Party in Wilmington, NC
April 25:A tea dance with Daniel Arredondo of www.passionfortango.com

We hope we can see you there! If you have friends in any of these cities, let them know that we're playing in their town!

Valentine's Milonga in Worcester, MA plus guest appearance in New Haven CT (Yale Tango Club)

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 13:07:31 -0600

We're heading back East for a Valentine's Day Milonga in Worcester, MA, about an hour from Boston. In the past, this event has brought over 200 dancers from all over the region and has a reputation of a great mix of music and lots of fun! It's on Friday, February 12. there's a beginner lesson with Jackie Ling Wong from 8-9 and a dance from 9-1.

Alden Hall (100 Institute Road) on the campus of Worcester Polytechnic Institute

General Admission: $20
Students: $10
WPI students: *Free*

All proceeds fm the Dance go to ABBY's HOUSE http://www.abbyshouse.org/ A non-profit house for homeless women in the Worcester region. You may write a tax deductible check payable to "Greater Worcester Community Foundation" (for Abby's House impoverment fund) For tkts email: Hossein Hakim or purchase at the door: hakim@ece.wpi.edu c: 508.954.3233

And now, a very special appearance at Yale!!!

On Saturday Feb 13, we will play 2 sets at the Yale Tango Club in New Haven, CT. We will play a set at 9PM and another at 10. The milonga is a fundraiser for Haitian relief efforts. $15 general admission, $10 students. This will be held at Pratt Hall, 311 Temple Street in New Haven, CT.

East Coast Mini-Tour

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:14:20 -0600

Mandrágora will be making a quick 5-day East Coast tour January 18-25. We will be playing in Princeton, Washington, Allentown, Philadelphia, Raleigh/Durham and possibly a quick stop in Chicago. We’ll post more details here as things fall into place.

Tango Concert, Milonga and Lecture at the Saint Paul Jewish Community Center

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 00:01:04 -0600

On January 16th, we will be performing a concert, milonga and lecture at the Saint Paul JCC. At 8 PM, we will play a short concert with live dance of Tango with a special emphasis on some of its Jewish origins. After the concert, Lois Donnay will teach an "introduction to tango" lesson for all those who might be inspired to learn to dance. We will follow the lesson with a Milonga (a tango simcha, or dance party) until late in the evening.

Argentine Tango has a rich and fascinating history stretching back over 100 years. Argentina in 1900, much like the United States, was a cultural melting pot of many European immigrants. Today Argentina has the 6th largest Jewish population in the world. Tango, much like Jazz, had influences from many cultures. Just as early Jazz had many Jewish songwriters and musicians (George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Benny Goodman, etc…), Tango had many Jews involved from the start (Luis Rubistein, Ismael Spitalnik, Julio Korn, etc…) By the 1910s, tango was popular all over the world, and was even written in Yiddish. At 7PM, Bob will give a lecture on a few points where Tango, Klezmer and Yiddish intersect.

For more information, see the Saint Paul JCC Website

Chicago CD Release Party at ATI,

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 14:24:28 -0600

We'll be at the American Tango Institute in Chicago on Friday, October 9th to celebrate the release of our new CD. If you're in the windy city, we hope you can join us!

Mercedes Sosa, 1935-2009. Gracias a la vida.

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 15:07:47 -0600

Last night, Mercedes Sosa, one of our favorite singers, passed away at the age of 74. She was born in San Miguel de Tucuman in 1935 as was known as "La Voz de America Latina" (the voice of Latin America) for her powerful songs about the plight of the poor. She was not primarily known as a Tango singer, but she has recorded some amazing tango songs. Her version of Los Mareados with Roberto Goyeneche is personal favorite of mine. Here are a few my favorite recordings of her.

One of her most famous songs was "Gracias a la vida" or "Thank you to life". I chokes me up whenever I hear it. Gracias a Mercedes Sosa

Gracias a la vida, Mercedes Sosa, 1935-2009

Sun, 04 Oct 2009 14:07:38 -0600

One of her most famous songs was "Gracias a la vida" or "Thank you to life". I chokes me up whenever I hear it. Gracias a Mercedes Sosa

"Siete Tandas" CD Release Milonga on Sept. 19

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:19:24 -0600

We have finished our new album, Siete Tandas and it is available now at CDBaby.com. We are hosting our "CD Release Milonga Extravaganza" on September 19th at the Four Season's Dance Studio in Minneapolis. DJ'd music starts at 8, but here's the catch: we will DJ traditional tango in the mainroom and Neo-, Electro- and Alternative-Tango in the back. We will play 3 sets (9, 10:30, & Midnight) in the main room. Percussionist Bill Paul will join us at Midnight for a set of Neotango and "Acoustic Electrotango" (if there is such a thing). We'll keep the party going until 2AM or so. Siete Tandas is a really awesome album and we are giving it the awesome dance party it deserves.

September 19, 8PM-2AM, Four Season's Dance Studio in Minneapolis (1637 Hennepin Avenue South, Minneapolis, MN FFI: Email info@mandragoratango.com or call Bob at 651.491.0348. $15 per person, $8 for students w/ ID. Light refreshments will be served. The 4 Seasons' is a dance studio, not a bar, but you can B.Y.O.B if you like.

Available Now at CDBaby.com!

New CD to be released any day now!

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 23:57:51 -0600

Mandragora tango has just finished their newest CD: “Siete Tandas”. Tango dancers group their dances into little sets called “tandas”. The idea is that you dance with the same partner for the whole tanda, then move on. It becomes a miniature love affair, where you get to know your partner, start to grove together, and have a sorrowful separation, all in the course of 12 minutes of music. Mandragora has created an album of 7 of these affairs with the super-original title Siete Tandas (Seven Tandas in Spanish).

Siete Tandas is meant first and foremost for dancing. It is an interpretation of an idealized evening of tango dancing. It starts early (11PM or so) with tandas of traditional, highly rhythmic Argentine tangos and gets more and more lush and passionate as the night progresses. To keep things from getting too hot, it breaks up the evening with a tanda of “Vals” (Argentine Waltzes) and “Milongas” (an Argentine 2-step). But as the night goes on, the temperature continues to rise and Mandragora takes the dancers into more and more sensual and exotic soundscapes. In the small hours of the morning, Mandragora plays a tanda of heart-achingly beautiful slow dances by Astor Piazzolla. The dancers who are left on the nearly empty floor can enjoy an almost erotic interplay of sound and motion before they go their separate ways. Or not.

At any rate, our CD is the result of a lot of hard work and was made possible by the tango community of Minnesota, for whom we play every Sunday for the past 8 years. We believe that we have played for more “Milongas” (Tango dance parties) than any other band in the US. And, as dancers ourselves, we understand the difference between playing concert music and playing for social dance. However, in creating “Siete Tandas”, we never chose dancibility over musicality (or vice-versa). You don’t need to dance to appreciate this album. You just have to have a little darkness in your soul.

From the Tango Los Mareados (Track 11):

       Hoy vas a entrar en el pasado de mi vida...
       Tres cosas lleva mi alma herida: ¡Amor… Pesar… Dolor…!

       Today you are going to enter the past of my life…
       Three things are carried by my wounded heart: Love… Despair… Pain!

As of this writing, Siete Tandas is still at the printers. Well let you know when they are available for purchase. They should be at CDBaby by August.

10 existential Tango lyrics that are way too nihilistic to be sung in English, even as a Country-Western song)

Tue, 05 May 2009 13:07:39 -0600

10) Cristal (Crystal) 1944
Mariano Mores and José Maria Contursi
Tengo el corazón hecho pedazos, rota mi emoción en este día... Noches y más noches sin descanso, y esta desazón del alma mía...	I have broken my heart to pieces, My emotions are destroyed today… Nights and nights without ceasing, And this grief of my soul
9) Garua (Drizzle) 1943
Enrique Cadicamo, music by Anibal Troilo
Garua, solo y triste por la acera Va este corazón transido, con trizteza de tapera Sinteiendo tu hielo, porque aquella con su olvido ¡Perdido! Como un duende que más la busca ¡Garua…! ¡Tristeza! ¡Hasta el cielo se ha puesto a llorar!	Drizzle, alone and sad on the streets, This heart goes stricken with the grief of a shack I am feeling your sleet because of that distant woman with her forgetting Lost like a spirit that looks for her and calls out her name more and more Drizzle! Sadness! Even the sky begins to weep
8) La ultima curda (The Last Drunken Bender) 1944
Alfredo Castillo, music by Anibal Troilo
Lastima, bandoneón, mi corazón tu ronca maldición maleva... ¡Ya sé, no me digás! ¡Tenés razón! La vida es una herida absurda, y es todo todo tan fugaz que es una curda, ¡nada más! mi confesión.	My heart is hurting, bandoneon, from your evil curse. I know! Don’t tell me! You’re right! Life is an absurd wound and all of it is fleeting. My confession is a drunken binge, nothing more.
7) El ultimo café (The Last Coffee) 1953
Stampone / Castillo
Lo mismo que el café, que el amor, que el olvido, que el vértigo final de un rencor sin porqué... Y allí, con tu impiedad, me vi morir de pie, medí tu vanidad y entonces comprendí mi soledad sin para qué... Llovía, y te ofrecí, el último café.	Just like coffee, love, forgetfulness, and the final light-headedness of a resentment for no reason... And there, merciless, I saw myself die while standing up, I sized up your vanity and then I understood my solitude for waht it was... It was raining when I gave you the last cup of coffee
6) Yira, yira (Walking Aimlessly) 1930
Carlos Gardel y Alfredo LePera
Veras que todo es mentira, veras que nada es amor que al mundo nada le importa, Yira...yira... Aunque te quiebre la vida, aunque te muerda un dolor, no esperes nunca una ayuda ni una mano...ni un favor.	You'll see that everything is a lie You'll see that nothing is love That the world doesn't care Yira yira (Untranslatable: Almost like walking aimlessly, but also with the sense of "street walking", i.e. prostitution) Even though life will break you Even if a pain will bite you Don't ever expect a help Nor a helping hand or a favor
5) Cancion desesprada (Song of Desperation) 1945
Enrique Discepolo
¿Dónde estaba Dios cuando te fuiste? ¿Dónde estaba el sol, que no te vió? ¿Cómo una mujer no entiende nunca que un hombre da todo dando su amor? ¡Soy una canción desesperada que grita su dolor y tu traición!	Where was God when you left? Where was the sun that didn’t see you? How can a woman ever understand that when a man gives his love, he is giving everything away. I am a desparate song that screams of the pains you gave me and of your betrayal!
4) Volver (To Return) 1935
Carlos Gardel and Alfredo LePera
Tengo miedo del encuentro con el pasado que vuelve a enfrentarse con mi vida... Tengo miedo de las noches que, pobladas de recuerdos, encadenan mi sonar...	I’m afraid of an encounter with my past that returns to confront my life I’m afraid of the nights that are full of memories that shackle my dreams
3) Che, Bandoneon
Homero Manzi, music by Anibal Troilo
Puedo confesarte la verdad, copa a copa, pena a pena, tango a tango, embalado en la locura del alcohol y la amargura.	I can confess the truth to you Cup after cup, sorrow afer sorrow, tango after tango, All wrapped up in bitterness and the madness of alcohol
2) Naranjo en flor (Orange Blossoms) 1944
Virgilio and Homero Exposito
Primero hay que saber sufrir, despues amar, despues partir y al fin andar sin pensamiento...	First you have to know how to suffer, Then to love then to leave, and finally how to walk away without thinking
1) Los mareados (The Dizzy Ones) 1942
Enrique Cadicamo, music by Juan Carlos Cobian
Tres cosas lleva mi alma herida: Amor, Pesar, Dolor.	3 things are borne by my wounded soul: love, regret, pain

Pre-CD-Release Milonga

Sat, 02 May 2009 09:48:37 -0600

We are so grateful to all the tangueros and aficionados who support our work. You come out to hear us on Sundays and at TSOM milongas; you dance to our music; your input is important to us. You are our greatest strength and, because of your support, we are pushing to become a world-class tango band. We are approaching this recording project with a serious focus and a resolve to receive airplay in Buenos Aires and throughout the world. We want to put Minneapolis on the map as thriving center for tango in the United States..

A large part of this mission is to release a fresh, new recording that accurately reflects who we are and where we are going. A unique feature of this album is that it is for dancers and it will be structured in 7 tandas. We have 7 3-song tandas of Troilo, DiSarli, Pugliese, Guardia Vieja, Vals, Milongas and, yes, even some Piazzolla. Image from Giefferre's Flickr Photostream

We are holding a milonga on Saturday, May 2 from 9PM to 2AM at Zorongo Flamenco (3012 Minnehaha Ave in Minneapolis: (Map)) Our Milonga will feature a mix of live tango and DJ’d selections by Paul Lohman. Mateo will make his famous sangria and Bob will make pretzels. A pleasant time is guaranteed for all!

Our recording is more than half finished. You can help us complete the project by attending this milonga ($10 suggested donation) or pre-purchasing the CD ($20). We are also selling “Super-fun-pak” tickets that get you into the pre-release milonga and the CD release party as well as get you a signed copy of the CD ($40). You can also help us by “buying” a tanda or becoming a sponsor. Talk to a band member for details or email info@mandragoratango.com.

-Bob, Laura, Mateo and Rahn

PS: You can listen to some of the songs in the following posting: "A Sneak Peek at our New CD"

The original video to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" with our audio played instead.

Wed, 29 Apr 2009 16:13:42 -0600

Somebody on Youtube.com took Nirvana's original video to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and replaced the original soundtrack with our version. It works in a really weird way. The tango police would definitely not consider this to be true tango and I would have to agree with them on this one.

A sneak peek at our new album

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 11:24:47 -0600

People often ask us why we haven't released a CD in the past 4 years. Are we lazy? Perfectionistic? Too busy? Yes, yes, and yes! However, we want our next CD to really reflect our current sound and to capture the energy and excitement of one of our live performances. One of the advantages of playing 65 milongas a year is that we get to know the material very, very well. Every so often, we play one of our songs so well that we permanently raise the bar for ourselves. We we get to the studio, we are never satisfied until we have recaptured the energy of the best live performance we've ever done. There's also a subtle trade-off that we don't want to make: sometimes the performances with the best energy have one or two (or twenty!) notes that are a bit off-pitch. We are opting to re-record rather than to overdub that track. We want to produce a world-class album that wold not be out-of-place in Buenos Aires.

At any rate, we recently went to Wild Sound in Minneapolis and recorded 79 takes of 21 songs over 2 days. From those tracks, we have found 12 that we like. We're going to re-record 9 tunes and hopefully have an album by April or May. Here are 6 tracks from our recent session that you might pique your interest. They are neither mixed nor mastered and may not be milonga-ready quite yet, but rest assured, you will love the final results!

FYI: We are recording this album in 3-song Tandas for dancers. We have 4 tandas of tango, 1 vals and 1 milonga. We also have a stunningly beautiful "tanda for listening" of selections from the opera "Maria de Buenos Aires" by Astor Piazzolla. It's gonna be great!

-BB