Hello tango friend!
I'm Ignacio Varchausky.
I'm a musician, producer, collector and educator. I live and work in Buenos Aires, the city where I was born and raised. Thank you for visiting my site and being interested in my work.
If you want to transform your way of listening and understanding tango, you are in the right place!
Have you ever asked yourself:
- Is it possible to learn to distinguish between the different styles of tango without knowing anything about music?
- How can I understand what I hear and apply it to my dancing and teaching?
- What is a syncopation? Is there only a single type of syncopation or are there variations?
- Is there an orderly and easy way to learn about tango and its styles?
- How can I make a quality leap in my relationship with tango? Where should I start? Whether you are a milonguero, dance teacher, musician or just curious about tango, I can help you to know and understand every musical and stylistic detail of The Essential Styles of Tango.
My work as a musician and producer
Perhaps you already know me as double bass player of the Orquesta El Arranque or as founder and Artistic Director of the educational program The Emilio Balcarce Tango School Orchestra. Perhaps you’ve seen my book The Double Bass in Tango or maybe you have listened to some of the more than 50 albums I have produced with great tango figures such as Leopoldo Federico (with whom I won a Latin Grammy), Horacio Salgán, Emilio Balcarce, Nelly Omar and Víctor Lavallén among many others.
The Essential Styles of Tango
But in addition to all this work, I have been a teacher and communicator for many years, giving lectures and classes to musicians and dancers around the world. For some time now I have been dedicating a good part of my efforts to sharing and teaching the musical and stylistic secrets of the great orchestras of the golden age of tango to a wide and diverse public. Thus my courses on The Essential Styles of Tango were born, taught in music conservatories as well as in dance associations, milongas and through lectures to the general public.
Today I believe that my entire journey was to some extent a preparation for this great mission: to share with others everything I have learned about tango, to make known the results of my meticulous research and especially to transmit all that I was taught by the great masters of tango with whom I have had the good fortune to play and work.
Sharing my journey...
After years of playing professionally, producing records and festivals, and developing a teaching career mostly focused on musicians, little by little I have realized that my greatest vocation is to share and teach everything I have learned about tango with all kinds of audiences, regardless of whether or not they have previous musical knowledge. Having the opportunity to transform the way in which thousands of tangueros listen to and understand tango has been and continues to be one of the most beautiful gifts that life has given me. Every time a student tells me that thanks to my classes he finally understands how his favorite orchestra works, a colleague learns to enjoy an orchestra she didn't know well, or someone from the audience tells me that he left one of my lectures with "two new ears," I feel both pride and satisfaction.
The best information
That is why I decided to organize all the information in a clear and accessible way for the general public, teaching in a friendly language without leaving out any detail.
The first and most important thing is to understand what the orquesta típica is made of, what are the musical and stylistic elements that define it and what are the functions of the different layers of information we hear. To take a first step, I have specially prepared a guide that explains all this, a summary that will serve as a gateway to understanding and enjoying more and more the wonderful world of The Essential Styles of Tango.
Take the first step
Download "Introduction to the Orquesta Típica,"
a guide with which you will learn to:
- Understand what the orquesta típica is made of.
- Establish the difference between fixed tempo orchestra and flexible or variable tempo orchestra.
- Identify the most important models of rhythmic marking in tango.
- Observe the difference between "musical" and "stylistic" concepts.
- Distinguish between the different types of melody treatment.
- Differentiate the functions of each layer of information
- Understand the most important differences between the different styles.
Ready to start the journey?
Watch the latest videos from my blog
The TEMPO in Di Sarli throughout the years
Something that is striking -and that is an eternal motive of discussions about personal preferences- is the gradual but notorious slowing down of the orchestra's tempo through the years. If we take some tangos from his repertoire year by year and compare the speed with which he plays in each case, then we will be able to appreciate this process with absolute clarity.
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See you around!
