MARIO TOTARO - TOTANTANGO
In Totantango the distorsion, the irony, the alchemic procedure
are already present in the title, based on a
play on words (“Totar” and “Toten”) that would lead one to
suppose an autobiographical and at the same
time macabre connotation.
The composition is based on two arrangements (on a 1968 33 rpm)
of two extremely famous tangos, ar-
rangements that aren’t genuinely folk oriented and indeed that
“use” the forms of this repertoire as material
to be exploited for commercial ends, counterfeiting the same
according to the dictates of an aesthetic ap-
proach that is decidedly kitsch.
This is where the sense of “Totantango” lies; the idea is that
by reiterating and bringing these “acts of vio-
lence” on the repertoire (and not just a folk repertoire) to
extreme consequences, one inevitably attains the
death and dissolution of the same.
This assumption is underlined in the piece by a series of
procedures that progressively denaturize the musical
material that gradually becomes more and more automatic and
mechanical, almost as if to symbolise the
growing “dehumanisation” of the product. At the beginning they
seem only to produce small, gratuitous,
funny distortions but little-by-little one realises that it is
the very development and natural proliferation of
these “moles” that leads to a “cancer” that will cause the death
of the infected organism. The same tonal
functions, already “attacked” in the first part of the work,
progressively disappear from the second part,
where the chords gradually turn into simple aggregations of
intervals to be manipulated according to implac-
able iron rules.
The proliferation of “cancer cells” soon leads to paroxysmal
climax, followed by a huge explosion and hence
a slow, inexorable dissolution; in the last part of the piece
the material of the two tangos is crushed into tiny
pieces, spun and dispersed up to attaining total extinction,
silence, nothingness.
The quotations present in the piece almost pass unnoticed (from
Chopin to Rossini, from Rachmaninov to
popular Italian folk “liscio” up to the Donatonian style in the
finale), and their heterogeneous nature seems
to allude to a situation in which the artistic products,
evermore defiled by a system that mainly follows mar-
ket rules, end up by totally losing their cultural identity.
In Totantango la deformazione, l’ironia, il procedimento
alchemico sono presenti già nel titolo, basato su un
gioco di parole (“Totar” e “Toten”) che farebbe supporre una
connotazione autobiografica e macabra al tem-
po stesso.
La composizione si basa su due arrangiamenti (facenti parte di
un vinile del 1968) di due celeberrimi tanghi,
arrangiamenti che nulla hanno di genuinamente popolare e che
anzi “usano” le forme appartenenti a questo
repertorio come materiale da sfruttare a fini commerciali,
contraffacendole secondo i dettami di un’estetica
decisamente kitsch.
Il senso di “Totantango” è proprio qui: la tesi è che reiterando
e portando alle estreme conseguenze tali “atti
di violenza” sul repertorio (non solo popolare) si giunga
fatalmente alla sua morte e dissoluzione.
A questo assunto corrispondono puntualmente, nel brano, una
serie di procedimenti di progressiva “denatu-
razione” del materiale musicale che divengono gradualmente
sempre più automatici, meccanici, quasi a sim-
boleggiare la crescente “disumanizzazione” del prodotto.
All’inizio sembrano solo piccole, gratuite, diver-
tenti deformazioni, ma a poco a poco ci si rende conto che
proprio dallo sviluppo e dalla naturale prolifera-
zione di tali “nei” nasce e si sviluppa il “cancro” che causerà
la morte dell’organismo infetto. Le stesse fun-
zioni tonali, già “aggredite” nella prima parte del lavoro,
spariscono progressivamente nella seconda, dove
gli accordi vengono sempre più interpretati come semplici
aggregati di intervalli da manipolare secondo re-
gole ferree ed implacabili.
La proliferazione delle “cellule impazzite” conduce ben presto a
un climax parossistico, cui fa seguito
un’immane esplosione e quindi un lento, inesorabile
dissolvimento; nell’ultima parte del brano il materiale
dei due tanghi viene come triturato, centrifugato e disperso
fino a giungere alla completa estinzione, al silen-
zio, al nulla.
Le citazioni presenti nel brano passano quasi inosservate (da
Chopin a Rossini, da Rachmaninov al “liscio”
romagnolo, fino alla scrittura donatoniana del finale) e nella
loro eterogeneità sembrano alludere a una situa-
zione nella quale i prodotti artistici, sempre più violentati da
un sistema che segue prevalentemente leggi di
mercato, finiscono col perdere totalmente la loro identità
culturale.
Mario Totaro
TOTANTANGO
Instrumentation
2 Pianos (or Piano four-hands)
Percussion (2 players)
First player:
Gl. = Glockenspiel (to be played always with metal or bone
mallets – sounds two octaves higher than written)
W.TT. = Wooden headed Tom-Tom (to be played with felt or
vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
Bon. = 2 Bongos (high / low - to be played with felt or
vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
Sn.D. = Snare Drum (to be played without snares and with felt or
vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
Basq. = Basque Drum (suspended – to be played with the hands or
with felt or vibraphone mallets)
Cast. = Castanets (mounted)
Sp.C. = Spring Coil (to be played always with a metal
beater)
Timp. = 2 Timpani (to be played with timpani felt mallet, unless
otherwise stated)
Second player:
Xyl. = Xylophone (to be played with bone or plastic mallets,
unless otherwise stated – sounds an octave higher)
Vib. = Vibraphone (motor off)
Tri. = Triangle (to be played always with a metal beater)
Rat. = Ratched
W.B. = 2 Wood Blocks (high / low – to be played with felt or
vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
T.B. = 3 Temple Blocks (high /medium / low - to be played with
felt or vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
Cenc. = 3 Cencerros (high / medium / low)
Sn.D. = Snare Drum (to be played without snares and with felt or
vibraphone mallets, unless otherwise stated)
Guiro = Guiro (to be played always with a guiro mallet or a reed
handle mallet)
Mar. = Maraca
Gong = Gong (medium-sized – to be played always with a gong
beater or a felt mallet)
B.D. = Pedal Bass Drum (a Symphonic Bass Drum played with a felt
mallet using a pedal)
Shared instruments:
Cym. = 2 suspended Cymbals (high / low – to be played with soft
mallets, unless otherwise stated)
N.B. = 1) Wooden headed Tom-Tom, Bongos, Snare Drums, Wood
Blocks, Temple Blocks and Cencerros :
“hard” means = with wood sticks or bone (plastic) mallets.
2) Timpani : “hard” means = with wood sticks or bone (plastic)
mallets.
3) Xylophone : “soft” means = with vibraphone mallets.
4) “metal” means = with a metal beater.
5) It is recommended to use two double-headed mallets or four
mallets to play some instruments together or in
quick succession (e.g. : Snare Drum/Timpani;
Glockenspiel/Timpani; Xylophone/Vibraphone).
6) In some cases it is possible to play the Bass Drum with a
felt mallet using the arm instead of the pedal.
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