September 19, 2008: MusicArte Festival in Forth Worth, TX

On October 4th, will be playing deep in the heart of Texas at the MusicArte Festival in downtown Fort Worth. We're playing on the main stage from 5:30 to 7PM and we'll play a milonga in the "Argentine Pavilion" from 9 to 11:30PM. This festival is organized by the Downtown Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce as a way of showcasing the music, arts, food, and culture of several Latin American nations, including Argentina. Members of the budding "Fort Worth Tango Society" will do demonstrations dances during our mainstage set. All of them will join us in the Argentina Pavilion for a Milonga from 9-11:30PM. Tell all your Texan friends to come out and dance!

June 2, 2008: June 2008 US East Coast tour

We're heading back to the East Coast for our second East Coast tour. Here's where you can hear us live without having to make your way to Minnesota:

• June 18, Northampton, MA Sacred Heart Church 101 King St. Sponsored by JackieLing Wong of tangopuse.net
• June 19, Woodstock, NY Sponsored by Ilene Marder of Woodstock Tango 8-11PM or so at Mountainview Studio
• June 20, Philadelphia, PA A fabulous evening of dancing at Temple University's Conwell Dance Theater Sponsored by our good friend Rob Connaire. and Lesley Mitchell & Kelly Ray of DancePhiladelphia.com
• June 21, Bethlehem, PA Private Party
• June 22, Allentown, PA 5-8:30PM at the Hamilton room of the Allentown Brewworks Sponsored by Sharon Hillman of Lehigh Valley Tango. With lesson at 4:15 included with admission
• June 23, Washington, DC 8-11PM House Milonga at 9124 Vendome Drive, Bethesda, MD sponsored by Jake Spatz of TangoDC.com
• June 24, Richmond, VA 7:30-10:30 Milonga at Highlands Golf Club sponsored by Marge Burkell of Richmond Tango

We're also proud to announce we are going to play at the Chicago Tango Festival in late August. Watch this space for more details!

May 9, 2008: Heartland Tango Festival on Mother's Day Weekend

The Mandrágora Tango Orchestra will be playing and teaching several times at the Heartland Tango Festival. On Saturday afternoon, bandleader and bandoneonista Bob Barnes will present an entertaining and informative multimedia lecture-recital-powerpoint on the history of tango music. On Saturday evening, Mandragora will perform during the festival's main event: a dinner featuring live music and dance demonstrations by all the festival's teachers witha late-night milonga to follow. On Sunday afternoon, members of Mandrágora will lead an open tango music jam session for musicians of any level. On Sunday evening, the Heartland Tango Festival will move to the Loring Pasta Bar in the historic "Dinkytown" neighborhood of Minneapolis. The Twin Cities' tango community has been enjoying Mandrágora's Sunday night Loring Pasta Bar milonga for over 6 years. We are all looking forward to showing off this unique milonga to new dancers and out-of-town guests

April 26, 2008: Tango Groove Party

On Saturday, April 26, we are throwing yet another party at Candelabra Studio from 10PM to the wee hours of the morning. 1517 Central Ave in Northeast Minneapolis, on Central Ave, 4 blocks north of Broadway, across from Diamond's Lounge. Candelabra is in a warehouse space and does not have a sign. Look for the Antique Store just north of the railroad tracks. Plenty of free parking in front. $8 wine and munchies available.

You may be wondering what a "Tango Groove Party" is. We pretty much made it up. We want to have a party where we play the music we love to play, which may or may not overlap with the music many dancers prefer for dancing. So we are going to host our own event where we get into a groove and tango our tango to places we usually don't go. Expect slow Piazzolla milongas, Flamenco-tinged tango, groovy bossas and sad Klezmer waltzes. Expect cutting edge recorded Electro Tango and Tango Nuevo straight outta Buenos Aires. Expect a laid-back party atmosphere in an dimly lit warehouse space. Expect a crowded hardwood dance floor.

When I was in Buenos Aries last July, I went to several "Milongas Ocultas" or "Hidden Milongas". The Orquesta Típica Fernandez Fierro has converted an old garage space in Palermo into a giant tango club with a live milonga every Wednesday night. Astillero has a loft space in San Telmo that where they throw a milonga/concert/happening every Thursday. They usually have 2 or 3 bands open for them and they take the stage at 2 AM. These 2 bands pretty much define the avant-guard of acoustic tango music today. We want to mix this up with Candelabra's loft-party vibe and create our own alternative tango venue in Minneapolis.

-Bob

January 21, 2008: Lecture on Tango History

On January 30 at 4PM, Bob Barnes will join U of MN musicology grad student Emily McManus for a lecture on history of tango. Emily will talk about the social history of tango and Bob will play musical examples on the Bandoneon. Room 125 of Nolte Center for Continuing Education on the main campus of the University of Minnesota. Free. Click here for more information.

Here is a player of the musical examples we will be using for the lecture. You can listen to them online by clicking the start button in the player, or you can click here to open the player in a new window. You can also download the MP3s as a 70Mb ZIP or RAR file.