Milonga Sin Nombre "Homenaje a Edgadro Donato" April 2016

The milonga is dedicated to Edgardo Donato's orchestra which I really love (please check the milonga flyer!). 

I managed to put 6 full and 3 partial Donato's tandas in 4 hours of music. It feels great, but I also fear that I used too much dependable and unsurprising music for the rest of the night, and that I may be becoming too predictable.

001. Quinteto Don Pancho  - Instrumental "Champagne tango" 1938 2:30

002. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El garron" 1938 2:27

003. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Loca" 1938 2:57

There is an all-new set of cortinas for the night, some lighthearted like this Vitas track, some fiery-passionate from Gogol Bordello, and one slow and sultry from Alla Pugacheva. And the intro section of "Anyuta", a silly and ephemeral Russian hit, just bursts with the raw energy of the 90's rock.

004. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

005. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Siete Palabras" 1945 2:44

006. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Marejada" 1941 2:32

007. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Ensueños" 1943 2:44

008. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 3" 2012 0:19

The Donato selection begins with valses...

009. Edgardo Donato - Hugo Del Carril  "El vals de los recuerdos" 1935 2:18

010. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli  "La shunca" 1941 2:35

011. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez "La Tapera" 1936 2:54

012. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 2"  2012 0:19

013. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Adiós, Arrabal" 1941 3:10

014. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Shusheta (El aristocrata)" 1945 2:50

015. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Caricias" 1945 2:44

016. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

... and continues with Donato's most-played tango composition

017. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "A Media Luz" 1941 2:31

018. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Te busco" 1941 2:26

019. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Se Va La Vida" 1936 2:39

020. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 1" 2012 0:18

021. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada" 1941 2:22

022. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Pena mulata" 1941 2:27

023. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Yo soy de San Telmo" 1943 2:16

024. Alla Pugacheva  "Winter Night (Svecha gorela) cortina"  0:19

025. Orquesta Típica Víctor "Fumando Espero" 1927 3:14

026. Orquesta Típica Víctor "Bajo el Cono Azul" 1944 2:43

027. Orquesta Tipica Victor "Una Vez" 1943 3:22

028. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

The sweet and romantic side of Donato's orchestra:

029. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "El Adios" 1938 3:09

030. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavio  "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02

031. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales,  Horacio Lagos y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:12

032. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 3" 2012 0:19

This mixed vals tanda contains an old-fashoned gem of Donato's, from the time when he barely split with Zerrillo & still worked with Brunswick Records

033. Los Provincianos - Alberto Gomez  "Samaritana (vals)" 1932 2:58

034. Edgardo Donato - Luis Diaz "Amargura (vals)" 1931 2:30

035. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Carlos Lafuente  "Intima" 1940 2:28

036. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 2" 2012 0:19

and a step even further back in time, when the fellow Uruguayans, Donato and Zerrillo, led the orchestra together. Many records of that era have a quaint, slowly marching character, but these pieces are more dynamic and powerful. In the tanda, I combined them with a similarly energetic favorite piece of Firpo from the same epoch.

037. Edgardo Donato - Luis Diaz "Adelina" 1930 2:58

038. Edgardo Donato - Luis Diaz "Como Lo Quiso Dios" 1929 2:46

039. Roberto Firpo - Instrumental "Una Noche En La Milonga" 1929 2:56

040. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

041. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "En la buena y en la mala" 1940 2:26

042. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "llorar por una mujer" 1941 2:51

043. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "Danza Maligna" 1940 2:27

044. Stas Borsov  "Anyuta cortina" 2000 0:21

a gradually accelerating milonga tanda of Donato's (luckily Brian, who might have objected to the changing tempo, isn't on the floor yet)

045. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Ella Es Así (Milonga)" 1938 2:35

046. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Randona  "Sácale punta" 1938 2:18

047. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales  "Repique del corazón" 1940 2:14

048. Alla Pugacheva  "Winter Night (Svecha gorela) cortina"  0:19

Haven't played Calo with Iriarte for a long time, and the title "April rain" sounds irresistible :)

049. Miguel Caló - Raúl Iriarte  "La vi llegar" 1944 3:24

050. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte  "Lluvia de abril" 1945 2:42

051. Miguel Caló - Raúl Iriarte  "Cada día te extraño más" 1943 2:35

052. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

053. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "No me extrana" 1940 2:44

054. Pedro Láurenz - Juan Carlos Casas  "Vieja Amiga" 1938 3:12

055. Pedro Láurenz - Juan Carlos Casas  "Amurado" 1940 2:30

056. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 3" 2012 0:19

057. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel  "Pobre flor" 1946  2:43

058. Alfredo de Angelis - Floreal Ruiz  "Mi novia de ayer" 1944 2:38

059. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel  "Soñar y nada más" 1944 3:08

060. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 2" 2012 0:19

Another tanda of romantic and uplifting hits of Donato

061. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:25

062. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Romeo Gavioli "Amando En Silencio" 1940 2:51

063. Edgardo Donato - Romeo Gavioli "La Melodía Del Corazón" 1940 3:18

064. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

065. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Cencerro" 1937 2:40

066. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Ataniche" 1936 2:31

067. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El flete" 1936 2:58

068. Stas Borsov  "Anyuta cortina" 2000 0:21

069. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Mariano Balcarce  "Milonga De Los Fortines" 1937 2:52

070. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Carlos Lafuente "Cacareando" 1933 2:45

071. Emilio Pellejero - Enalmar De Maria "Mi Vieja Linda" 1941 2:26

072. Alla Pugacheva  "Winter Night (Svecha gorela) cortina"  0:19

The lone alternative tanda for the night - of course there will be assorted all tracks after the Cumparsita, too

073. Feist and Ben Gibbard  "Train Song"  3:03

074. Damour Vocal Band  "SWAY - Damour Vocal Band"  3:49

075. Fool's Garden  "Lemon tree" 1995 3:09

076. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

077. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Mi piba linda" 1943 2:51

078. Enrique Rodriguez - Instrumental "El morochito" 1941 2:34

079. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Como Se Pianta La Vida" 1940 2:25

break for raffle and for a birthday vals - which kind of celebrates Donato's birthday, too

080. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Quien Sera - vals" 1941 2:15

081. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás  "El último adiós" 1940 2:09

082. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Amor  "Paloma" 1945 2:29

083. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Lago  "Amor y vals" 1942 2:48

084. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

085. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "No está" 1942 2:45

086. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "Volver a vernos" 1942 2:48

087. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "Tu el cielo y tu" 1944 2:59

088. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

This Donato's tanda with the vocals of Lita Morales transitions from childish and funny to poignant and even bitter

089. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y coro "Triqui trá" 1940 2:34

090. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y Romeo Gavioli "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:50

091. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales "Sinsabor" 1939 2:53

092. Stas Borsov  "Anyuta cortina" 2000 0:21

Aces of candombe, the closing track from one of Donato's scattered former band members, back in his native Uruguay

093. Canaro, Francisco - Carlos Roldan "La negrita candombé (Rumbita candombé)" 1943 2:36

094. Alberto Castillo  "El Gatito en el Tejado" 1957 2:37

095. Romeo Gavioli y su orquesta típica  "Tamboriles" 1956 2:56

096. Alla Pugacheva  "Winter Night (Svecha gorela) cortina"  0:19

097. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Sollosos" 1937 3:27

098. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Vida mia" 1933 3:23

099. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Nieblas del riachuelo" 1937 2:25

100. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22

101. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29

102. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda "Sorbos Amargos" 1942 3:22

103. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Manana zarpa un barco" 1942 3:22

104. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 2" 2012, 2012 0:19

105. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental "El Tango Club" 1957 2:40

106. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "Felicia" 1969 2:47

107. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental "Mi dolor" 1957 2:51

108. Cuarteto Almagro "Cosmotango (cortina)" 2003 0:18

109. Osváldo Pugliese  "Recuerdo" 1944 2:39

110. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Farol" 1943 3:22

111. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:49

112. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1951 3:49

113. 17 Hippies  "Marlène" 2005 3:54

114. Goran Bregovic "Maki Maki" 2009 3:33

115. Cream Margot "Krem-Margo-Poka-igraet-dzhaz"  3:16

116. Leonid Utesov  "S Odesskogo Kichmana" 1935 2:43

Let's celebrate Edgardo Donato

April is the birth month of Edgardo Donato!

** A Milonga sin Nombre flyer **

Edgardo Donato

(14 April 1897 - 15 February 1963)

It is a pleasure to celebrate one of the most talented and at the same time most under-appreciated orchestra leaders of the golden years of Argentine Tango.

"Edgardo Donato and his guys"
(one of whom is a girl. obviously)
From El Espejero's tangoblog

Edgardo Donato grew up and became a jazz violinist in Montevideo, Uruguay. He started composing tangos there in the early 1920s (the most famous of his compositions, the 1925 "A media luz", is among the most-played tangos ever). From the very beginning, Donato's tangos were touching racy themes, and their earliest lyrics were written by the master of urban slang, Afro-Argentine songwriter "El Negro Cele" Flores. The lyrics of "A media luz", a poetic premier of a fellow Uruguayan Carlos Lenzi, sang of an illicit drug den hiding in the shadow of the Obelisk. The Uruguayan origin of Donato, and his creativity reaching beyond the edges of "the decent society", meant that tango historians often discounted his talent and his influence.

Edgardo Donato convened his first tango orchestra in Montevideo only in the age of 30, in collaboration with a fellow Uruguayan violin player, 25 years old Roberto Zerrillo (who has just returned from a stint with the Parisian tango orchestras). Soon, Donato-Zerrillo orchestra took BoA, by storm (They also recorded under Brunswick label). After 1930 Edgardo formed his own, truly stellar band, with his brothers Ascanio and Osvaldo on cello and piano, and with black vocalist Luis Diaz, True to his reputation of not caring about societal "proprieties". Edgardo also employed women and gays, and commissioned lyrics to great female poets, Maria Luisa Carnelli and Maruja Pacheco. Through the Great Depression years, when most tango bands folded and the public all but stopped dancing, Donato kept the flames of tango going in roughneighborhood joints such as Ocean Dancing. His fiery rhythms and pauses presaged the "D'Arienzo revival" of 1936, and Edgardo's own

Edgardo Donato presents "the musical surprise of 1942"
in Ocean Dancing Club, Buenos Aires.
Alas, his orchestra is about to unravel...
From Tango Time Machine / Tango Decoder,
a blog on history and poetry of tango

violin solos were truly remarkable.

 Continuing to innovate, Edgardo Donato pioneered male-female vocal duets, first with the voice of "Randona” ( actually a feminine alter ego of violinist Armando Julio Piovani), then with amazing Lita Morales, making it a trio with her husband Horacio Lagos and Uruguayan Romeo Gavio. Donato's young accordionist Bertolin, playing a special lightweight "kid's accordion", added an unsurpassed effect.

Edgardo Donato (left) and his orchestra in 1939. Note
little Bertolin, from row, center.
From Tangos al bardo history blog

The success of the Uruguayans in Buenos Aires started to unravel in 1942, just when the culture of Argentine Tango music neared its zenith. First they lost Lita Morales, apparently pregnant and haunted by the rumor of infidelity involving fellow singer Gavio. She was essentially erased from the history of tango, and we still don't know even as much as her years of birth and death. Romeo Gavio returned to Uruguay and convened his own band, but eventually, unable to cope with depression, killed himself by driving off the pier into the waters of La Plata. Accordionist Bertolin quit the band, and tango, at about the same time, forming his own jazz outfit by the end of 1942. Maruja Pacheco left the world of tango for good, too. The remaining band must have been tainted by the scandal, and they weren't able to record again after summer 1942, but they still had some good gigs until the coup d'état of June 1943.

The new nationalist military government cracked down hard on the city slang (the famous "lunfardo") and immorality (purging any references to booze, sex, and fights from the public entertainment), relying on the previously unenforced "Language Purity" law. Post-1943 tangos turned increasingly romantic and melodic. Edgardo Donato tried to conform to the new trends by parting with his old compositions and old band members, and convening an all-new "Modern" tango ensemble (Orquesta Tipica Moderna). Most of his old musicians, and singer Horacio Lagos, joined another band led by Edgardo's brother Osvaldo Donato. Both outfits enjoyed some success on live music scene, but never produced recordings matching Donato's glory days. Their contribution into the development of musical culture of tango was largely forgotten. But Donato's tangos, valses, and milongas are still widely played around the world!