Redowa III

Looking at the categories on the right here, it's clear we've written more about waltz music than any other type.  However, since the last three posts have been other dance music, I figure it's time for another set of good redowa songs.

• Hevia - Entremediu (152 bpm)
  I first heard this at Big Dance in 2006. It's a bit like the Corrs' "Erin Shore" (featured in my first redowa post) in that it's dramatic, Celtic, and has an energetic percussion section perfect for redowa. What "Entremediu" has that "Erin Shore" lacks, of course, is bagpipes :). The link is to the Spanish iTunes store, which probably isn't very helpful, and I'm feeling nice because I spent forever trying to find this song and ended up buying the CD online, so here's an easier option.
• Kevin Burke - La Partida (161 bpm) - iTunes, eMusic
  Picking up the tempo a bit, here's an instrumental waltz tune which Graham introduced me to. It's very bouncy and has some fun syncopated parts which lend themselves well to redowa and pivots. Mary Lea also has nice version, and I just found out from her website that this is a Venezuelan waltz, and YouTube further informs be that it was originally a piece called "Queiro ser tu sombra" (I want to be your shadow).
  
• Chantal Kreviazuk - Time (170 bpm)
  And now for something completely different. Well, okay, not completely. I love waltzing to this song, and while it's a bit on the fast side and doesn't have an obvious 'redowa break,' the energy is high enough to support a bit of leaping. I'd suggest, however, cutting it down by about a minute.  Take a listen and see if the opening measures don't just make you want to waltz:

Stanford Dance Weekend

This past weekend was the 2008 Stanford Dance Weekend, a total immersion in social dance — "waltz, swing, salsa, vintage dances, club dances and more." In addition to learning new moves and dancing with nice people, we also picked up some new songs to waltz to!

• Tsuumi Sound System - Tuulin ja Hannun häävalssi (Wedding waltz) (140 bpm) This is a lovely Finnish waltz which Lilli Ann Carey played in her class on musicality. It has some nice syncopations which I imagine would work well for canter pivots.
• Peter Gabriel - Down to Earth (117 bpm) (Amazon | imeem) This new cross-step waltz comes fresh off the soundtrack of Pixar's new film Wall-E, which opened last Friday. Richard Powers played it for the first time this weekend in his cross-step classes. There's a few bars in 4/4 time in the middle which need to be edited out, and it's too long to play as is, but otherwise it's a fun new song to dance to.
• Kepa Junkera - Santimamiñeko Fandangoa & Ioaeoe (130 bpm before editing) (Amazon | last.fm) New to my collection, though Richard's been playing this lively, cheerful waltz for a while. He speeds it up and plays it as a rotary waltz which also works for redowa. I haven't tried it editing the song yet, but it probably needs to be shortened even after increasing the tempo.

Redowa II

Last month I shared some favourite redowa songs, but if you attended Friday Night Waltz in Palo Alto last week you may have noticed that we didn't play any of them! Here are the ones we did play:

• Nordman - Stormens Öga (170 bpm):  I love this song.  It lacks the extra-salient percussion that graces some redowa tunes, but it's so energetic that you'll probably want to redowa anyway.  The link is unfortunately to Swedish iTunes store, which probably isn't very useful, so you can get the album on Amazon or listen to a full preview on YouTube
• Mango Groove - Two Hearts (150 bpm):  At a much mellower tempo than the other two, this up-beat Afropop hit let's you stretch out those long steps on beat two.  Though fairly obscure to American listeners (I couldn't find the song by searching for the lyrics when I first tried and also turned up no full previews online), the band is apparently a "household name in South Africa."
• Winifred Horan - Giants Fall (180 bpm) (Amazon | eMusic | YouTube) New to us a few months ago, this is a fast waltz -- I recommend cutting it down at least a minute or it'll tire out most dancers.  Love the fiddle and the driving beat!

Redowa I

Apologies for the delay between posts -- Graham's been out of the country and work has been keeping me quite busy.

Notes on some of the redowa music from Richard Powers' Social Dance Discography:

E.S. Posthumous - Nara (152 bpm). You can hear a full preview on their website. If you've been to a Jammix or Friday Night Waltz you've probably heard this. It's a great redowa in terms of both tempo and musicality. I love the tension in the piece and the way it builds in great swells of music. The original, however, is almost five minutes long, which is tiring for a redowa. I'd suggest cutting it down to 3.5 minutes or less for social dancing, unless you have strong calves and good endurance.

Dae Jang Geum - Yun Bap (160 bpm). The link is to the CD on Amazon because I could not find anywhere to download an mp3, but you can find a WMA version linked from here. I first heard this song, which is from the soundtrack of the Korean TV drama Dae Jang Geum (or Jewel In The Palace), in Richard's "History of the Waltz" social dance class at Stanford. It has a fantastic percussion section which just begs for redowa. I spent hours and hours trying to track down an mp3 version online and eventually resorted to creating a membership on a special-interest "Asian OSTs" site so that I could access a private download link on their forum. I'd suggest using the WMA link above or asking me to send you the mp3 rather than duplicating my quest. But back to the song: it's quite dramatic and has cool eastern-sounding instruments that I can't identify (how crass).

The Corrs - Erin Shore (160 bpm). The "last waltz" at Jammix. This is the only full instrumental piece on The Corrs' album Forgiven, Not Forgotten, though it isn't the only waltz. It's based on a traditional Irish tune which is often sung with lyrics about "Paddy's Green Shamrock Shore." I found a number of different versions of the lyrics online, but here's the chorus of the one I like best:

So, fare thee well my own true love
I'll think of you night and day
A place in my mind you will surely find
Although I am so far away
And when I'm alone, far away from home,
I'll think of the good times once more
Until I can make it back some day
Here to Paddy's green shamrock shore

Like both previous tunes, this needs a bit of editing to be good for dancing, as the original is over four minutes long. I think Richard cuts some of the build up to the extra-redoway drum solo.