Which popular songs are suitable for dancing?
Michael Gengenbach
I hope this is not an FAQ, but I haven't seen any FAQ list for rec.arts.dance.
What I want are popular songs, which are suitable for dancing. By "popular
songs" I mean music other than special orchestra music for dancing.
Something everybody might already have at home.
While browsing through my CD collection, I found music which is good for
Jive, Foxtrot, Rumba and Disco Fox, but I can't find good music for things
like Samba, Tango, Slow Waltz, Cha Cha Cha, etc.
Please post or mail me suggestions for good songs and if I receive more
than a few, I will post a summary.
Best wishes
Michael
P.S.: maybe send me also suggestions for songs, which people wouldn't
expect: "I didn't know you can dance xxx to that kind of music!"
--
"You can get it if you really | Michael Gengenbach, FORWISS Passau
want." -- Desmond Dekker | genge...@forwiss.uni-passau.de
Ronnen Levinson
Michael Gengenbach <geng...@forwiss.uni-passau.de> wrote:
>Hi,
>
>I hope this is not an FAQ, but I haven't seen any FAQ list for rec.arts.dance.
>
>What I want are popular songs, which are suitable for dancing. By "popular
>songs" I mean music other than special orchestra music for dancing.
>Something everybody might already have at home.
Welcome to the world of collecting dance music. While you would do
well to get some of the expensive ballroom CDs put out by
Max Gregor, Werner Tauber, Klaus Hallen, and Ross Mitchell, here's
a list of "popular" CDs that you might find among your friends'
collections. A few of these are latin pop CDs, which would explain
why you've never heard of them.
I recommend the following popular CDs:
Hansel Martinez "El Gato" -- cha-cha, mambo
Soundtrack "A League Of Their Own" -- jive, foxtrot,
quickstep, night club two step
Soundtrack "For the Boys" -- jive, foxtrot, quickstep
Soundtrack "Strictly Ballroom" - tango, samba,
waltz, jive
Manhattan Transfer (their multi-disk compilation) --
jive, cha-cha
Gloria Estafan "Mi Terra" -- mambo, rumba
Linda Rondstat "Frenesi" -- cha-cha
Sinead O'Connor "Am I Not Your Girl" -- foxtrot
Chris Isaak "Heart Shaped World (?)" -- rumba, west coast swing
Madonna "The Immaculate Collection" -- samba, cha-cha, hustle
Soundtrack "More Dirty Dancing" -- mambo, merengue, foxtrot
Soundtrack "When Harry Met Sally" -- foxtrot
Santana "Greatest Hits" -- cha-cha
Stray Cats "Best Of" -- west coast swing, jive
Tito Puente and His Orchestra "Dance Mania" -- mambo
Ella Fitzgerald/Louis Armstrong "Compact Jazz" -- foxtrot
Billy Eckstine "Compact Jazz" -- foxtrot
Janet Jackson "Rhythm Nation" -- hustle, night-club two step
Mariah Carey "Emotions" -- hustle, night-club two step
Black Box "Dreamland" -- hustle
Soundtrack "Sleepless in Seattle" -- foxtrot
"The Ultimate Bobby Darin" -- east coast swing
String "Ten Summoner's Tales" -- rumba
Azucar Moreno "Bandido" -- samba, hustle
Ednito Nazario "Metamorfosis" -- cha-cha
Daniela Romo (best of) -- cha-cha
Eagles "Greatest Hits" -- slow waltz
Lyle Lovett "Jushua Judges Ruth" -- west coast swing
Cyndi Lauper "True Colors" -- samba
Frank Sinatra "The Capitol Years" -- foxtrot
Frank Sinatra "Songs For Swinging Lovers" -- foxtrot
Natalie Cole "Unorgettable W/Love" -- foxtrot
Soundtrack "A River Runs Through It" -- quickstep
There are a few others, but that's probably 90% of the albums
of which I know.
Here's a guide by dance:
foxtrots -- lots in older popular music (jazz standards). Avoid
dance orchestas.
waltz, quickstep, tango, Viennese waltz -- get the dance orchestra CDs
cha-cha, mambo, jive, night club two step, west coast swing --
go for pop and latin pop music. Avoid dance orchestras.
rumba, samba -- some pop, some from dance orchestras. Pay special
attention to Ross Mitchell.
Good luck!
-- Ronnen Levinson --