A great night of tango with about three dozen dancers squeezed into the beautiful loft of Squatters Brewery. The first guests started appearing even before the opening bars of Di Sarli's! It was especially nice to see many novice milonga-goers from DF Studio enjoying the night, and of course it also meant that the dance floor was at times more chaotic then usual, which prompted me to do something I rarely had to do with the music selection: to control excessive energy. You may notice a few tandas opening with brisk, dynamic music but transitioning to more subdued mood towards the end. The final milonga tanda is also conspicuously absent, and I think you can guess why :) And of course some tandas are built from very strange pieces - your comments are appreciated!
I think that one reason why the 1950s instrumental classics of Di Sarli are so often used in the beginner classes is that, beneath their powerful emotions and baroque flourishes, there is a strong triumphal marching quality of tango of its formative underworld years. Indeed, Di Sarli interprets old ... like, *really* old compositions. Take "Don Juan" - not the Don Juan of Seville, that XVII c. womanizer visited by the Stone Guest, no. This 1898 tango is dedicated to Don Juan Cabello from the barrio of San Cristóbal, a mobster who used to frequent Lo de Hansen, where the tango has become so popular, it even ended up being the very first tango ever to be recorded by an orchestra (of Vicente Greco who played at this legendary suburban park nightclub). And its composer, "El Pibe Ernesto" ("The kid Ernesto") Ponzio, then a 13 years old violinist at Concepción "Mamita" Amaya's dancing establishment for "well-to-do boys" (which I already introduced as the place where Joaquina danced), has seen the jail from the inside more then once too - including a 20-year term for murder in a brothel gunfight (El Pibe only served 4 years before being pardoned).
And "Cara Sucia" ("Dirty Face") is even older, it's said to have been composed by the legendary "El Negro" Casimiro Alcorta in 1884. A son of a slave mother, "El Viejo Tanguero" Casimiro was not just the earliest tango musician, but also a famous dancer with his Italian partner Paulina. Most historians believe that his "Cara Sucia" wasn't really about an innocent unwashed mischievous face ... but more on that later.
01. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Don Juan" 1955 2:48
02. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "El pollito" 1951 3:22
03. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Cara sucia" 1952 2:20
04. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
"Ataniche" is another composition of "El Pibe Ernesto" Ponzio. Supposedly it immortalizes another Bosque de Palermo restaurant and nightclub, El Tambito, and one of its popular visitors, the beautiful "Anita" who is said to ride in a carriage decorated with jingles (in an lunfardo's classic syllable-transposing way of word-coining, which turned tango into gotan, an irreverent greeting "Che, Anita!" turned into "Ataniche"). But others say Anita was the name of El Pibe's girlfriend when he composed it, at 15.
05. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Ataniche" 1936 2:31
06. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Jueves" 1937 2:33
07. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Melodia porteña" 1937 2:48
08. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
Wonderful OTV valses - of course the one which starts this tanda is also meant to conjure up winter. We need some real snow here at last!
09. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Lita Morales "Noches de invierno" 1937 2:47
10. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Angel Bargas "Sin Rumbo Fijo (vals)" 1938 2:18
11. Orquesta Tipica Victor, M. Pomar "Temo" 1940 2:55
12. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
13. Francisco Canaro - Francisco Amor "En esta tarde gris" 1941 2:56
14. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Te quiero todavia" 1939 2:54
15. Francisco Canaro - Francisco Amor "Cuartito azul" 1939 2:46
16. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
17. Enrique Rodriguez - Fernando Reyes "Alma en pena" 1946 3:05
18. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Un copetin" 1939 2:56
19. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Mi piba linda" 1943 2:51
20. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
There is no arguing that milonga as the dance music genre we know emerged "only" in the 1930s ... yet many milongas we love are much, much older than that. Before these tunes morphed into milongas, they were rhythmic, canyenge-ish tangos of the Old Guard, and often, even before that, they were folk milongas with great many couplets from the XIX century. "El lloron", formally registered to Guardia Vieja's Juan Maglio "Pacho", has even been a subject of a lawsuit with the heirs of Afro-Argentine XIX c. composer Rosendo Mendisabal. In the end they only proved that a folk milonga tune which inspired this and other compositions must have existed as early as in 1890. Today's letras of "El lloron", "The Crybaby", are a boast of a womanizer who seduces by making women take pity of him, the one who literally earned his diploma in crying.
The 1901 "La cara de luna" is another archaic rhythmic tango morphed into a modern milonga, and its underworld roots literally yell out of its score jacket with its face of cigarette-smoking Moon. The title translates as "The face of the Moon", but note the curious dots after the letters C... and L.... The publishers just wouldn't put the original dirty slang c- and l-words in print! In fact tango historians often assume that whenever a primordial tango mentions "cara" (a face), it's almost always a self-censorship substitution of "concha" (a slang word for vagina). They must be right. Take for example the "unwashed face" of Cara Sucia tango from the opening tanda above. Formally registered to Canaro with a cleaned-up lyrics, it's known to be much older, and the apocryphal versions of Cara Sucia sing of the guy washing "it" with the fountain of his love and other such niceties.
21. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "El lloron" 1948 2:01
22. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "Milongon" 1952 2:29
23. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "La cara de la luna (milonga)" 1959 2:29
24. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
25. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda "Manana zarpa un barco" 1942 3:22
26. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22
27. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29
28. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
29. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Recuerdo Malevo" 1941 2:33
30. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Moneda de cobre" 1942 2:50
31. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Así Se Baila El Tango" 1942 2:34
32. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
Smiling valses - the first one is remixing a Mexican Zapotec folk song from Tehuantepec more commonly known there as "La Sandunga".
33. Francisco Canaro - Francisco Amor "La Zandunga" 1939 3:10
34. Francisco Canaro - Francisco Amor "Salud, Dinero y Amor (vals)" 1939 3:06
35. Francisco Canaro - Francisco Amor "Cuando Estaba Enamorado (vals)" 1940 2:49
36. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
A very different Di Sarli, a quarter of a century earlier than the opening tanda...
37. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Famá "La estancia" 1930 3:25
38. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli "Añorandote-Instrumental" 1930 2:42
39. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Famá "Chau pinela" 1930 2:36
40. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
41. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "En la huella del dolor" 1934 2:48
42. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "No quiero verte llorar" 1937 2:42
43. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Recuerdo de bohemia" 1935 2:36
44. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
45. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada" 2:22
46. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Zorzal" 2:40
47. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata" 2:27
48. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
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| Tania & "Discepolin" |
A great and almost never heard female voice here, the one of Tania. Simply Tania, the muse of the great tango poet and politician Enríque Discépolo whom she never married, and whom she outlived by half a century. A famous movie actress and a singer of many tangos - who nevertheless never worked with any major tango orchestras, and who has left virtually no danceable records. Tania was born Ana Luciano Divis in Spain; she borrowed the scene name from a Russian childhood friend. In the mid-1920s Tania toured South America with her then-husband, singing Spanish folk couplets. For whatever reason he returned to Spain and she stayed behind and fell in love with tango, at first, and Discépolo, soon after, trading a pampered life of an operetta star for the misery of the pre-Golden age tango years.
They traveled far and wide with Enríque Discépolo, and in the mid-1930s they were even accompanied by Discépolo own Orquesta Típica. The poet lacked good understanding of music and his traveling orchestra was directed by Eduardo "Lalo" Scalise, a pianist and a composer who also accompanied Tania in the movies and on the radio, apparently causing Discépolo some pangs of jealousy. So you may find it peculiar that this Orquesta Discepolo (directed by Lalo) recording with Tania is entitled ... "A reproach".
"Un reproche" is a pretty unique record, of course, defying regular tanda-building recipes, so here I paired it with the two gems of two other "rare" orchestras, Sassone's and Varela's.
49. Tania & Orquesta Típica de Enríque Santos Discépolo "Un Reproche" 1937 3:02
50. Florindo Sassone - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Angosta" 1952 3:11
51. Héctor Varela - Rodolfo Lesica "Que Sigan Charlando" 1952 3:07
52. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
53. Carlos di Sarli - Oscar Serpa "Verdemar" 1955 3:01
54. Carlos di Sarli - Oscar Serpa "Al compás del corazón" 1952 3:29
55. Carlos di Sarli - Mario Pomar "Nido gaucho" 1955 3:52
56. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
The first two valses of the tanda were used for farewell dances for Rudy & Emily. Best of luck to you two on the East Coast!
57. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Lagos "Amor y vals" 1942 2:48
58. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Dejame Amarte Aunque Sea un Dia (vals)" 1939 2:55
59. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Por Un Beso De Amor (vals)" 1940 2:44
60. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
And the beautiful voice of Lita Morales makes its second of 3 appearances for the night in the end of this rhythmic and just a touch bitter Donato tanda.
61. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50
62. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "A oscuras" 1941 2:48
63. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavio "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:50
64. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
The next tanda was built around its middle piece, recorded by Horacio Salgán's quintet of stars in 1960. "Ensueños" is irresistibly lyrical, and IMHO uniquely danceable among Quinteto Real's tangos which were pretty much intended for listening rather than for dancing in those dark years of Argentine tango. Here I sandwiched this unique piece between a great record of the short-lived orchestra of Fulvio Salamanca (for a long time the pianist of D'Arienzo's, who was repeatedly blacklisted and jailed for his leftist convictions), and a late, intensely dark and dramatic Caló.
65. Fulvio Salamanca - Instrumental "El Taita" 1958 3:00
66. Quinteto Real "Ensueños" 1960 3:09
67. Miguel Caló - Lucho Gatica "Percal" 1965 2:58
68. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
The greatest female voices of Uruguay:
69. Donato Racciatti - Nina Miranda "Gloria " 1952 2:44
70. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
71. Donato Racciatti - Nina Miranda "Tu corazón" 2:32
72. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
milongas nixed, on to the crescendo:
73. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales - Romeo Gavio "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02
74. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:07
75. Donato, Edgardo - Horacio Lagos "El Adios" 1938 3:09
76. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
77. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "La Abandone Y No Sabia" 1944 3:12
78. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49
79. Osvaldo Pugliese "Gallo Ciego" 1959 3:34
80. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental "La cumparsita" 1961 3:33
81. Keiko Matsui "Bridge Over The Stars" 1996 4:20
(81 total)
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