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Hugo Diaz - Bailando en la tierra



It's hard to describe what Hugo Diaz does for me. There's something about his music that makes me want to dance barefoot. I want to dance it on bad floors. Floors with texture. With stories. Or in the dirt. That would flat out do it for me. I want to feel the earth under my feet.

Or maybe I want the earth to feel me.

More than most other musicians, Diaz's music always feels like it comes up through the floor, through my feet, to my heart. It doesn't go through my head - in fact it seems to bypass my brain completely. I can't think about it. I have to move to it. Not a lot, sometimes just a little - if I'm not dancing, sometimes I just sway. But I have to move.

And if I'm dancing Diaz with you at a milonga, I'm trusting you with a lot. I would rather sit out the tanda than filter the experience through thoughts of "Am I being too emotional?" or "How do we look?" No dancing for the tables with Diaz playing. (God willing, no dancing for the tables with anyone playing.) So I'm choosy with that one.

And with Diaz, I am a little bit, well . . . demanding. I want that emotion back. If you don't feel one way or the other about Diaz, then maybe ask for a different tanda. What a leader leads, or how he leads it, means a damn sight less to me than how he feels about the music. If you love the music, I can feel it. If you're bored by it, I can feel that too.

If you love it, I'll make it work - whatever you lead.

Some great Hugo Diaz resources are available in Alex Tango Fuego's latest post . Go have a look and a listen. I think I might have to start every morning this way.
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Comments

AlexTangoFuego said…
Somehow, reading this, I was able to immediately visualize you with dirt/dust/mud/earth/smudges up to your ankle bones.

This also gives (me) new meaning to the term "table dance". I'll have to steal that one.

Diaz makes me want to buy a new harmonica.
February 25, 2011 at 4:07 AM
happyseaurchin said…
definitely a favourite of mine too

doesn't come through the floor for me
starts somewhere in my gut
and then rips through me

a dangerous tango
February 27, 2011 at 7:41 AM
Marika said…
Alex - I actually did get to dance barefoot to Hugo Diaz on Saturday night. Last tanda of the night. Dead tired. Barefoot. Couldn't have ended the night any better than that. :)

happyseaurchin - a dangerous tango indeed.
February 28, 2011 at 7:11 AM
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