Milonga Sin Nombre playlist, June 18, 2016

A smaller summertime milonga which gained steam slowly but still ended with a nice energy.

01. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Rawson" 1936 3:31

02. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Joaquina" 1935 3:01

03. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Flete" 1936 2:56

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

05. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "La Viruta" 1938 2:30

06. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Alma en pena" 1938 2:46

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

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

Haven't played Laurenz's milongas for a very long time

09. Pedro Laurenz - Instrumental  "Milonga de mis amores" 1944 2:27

10. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas  "Milonga compadre" 1938 2:42

11. Pedro Laurenz - Martín Podestá "La Vida Es Una Milonga" 1941 2:25

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

13. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Tres Esquinas" 1941 3:05

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

15. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Ninguna" 1942 2:57

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

17. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "En Un Beso La Vida" 1940 2:26

18. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Lo Pasado, Pasó" 1940 2:25

19. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Corazón" 1939 2:47

20. The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 0:19

This piano-accented vals tanda was custom-build to use Horacio Salgan's great vals to celebrate the great Afro-Argentine tango pianist and composer's centennial. Horacio Salgan was born on June 15, 1916. He loved jazz and South American folk, and he earned his living playing at the movies and cheap cafes since the very young age, but his deepest affection has always been to the music of tango. The early steps of his tango career came with Roberto Firpo (but left no recordings), and Horacio was greatly influenced by Firpo and by a creative but now mostly forgotten pianist, Armando Federico, who played in Laurenz's orchestra. Salgan convened his first cutting-edge tango orchestra in 1944, then again in the 1950s when he famously introduced bass clarinet into a tango orchestra, and then carried the banner of tango through the "dark ages" of the 1960s and 1970s with his Quinteto Real. Salgan is considered to be one of the great tango innovators of the post-Golden Age era, although he always insisted that he was just driven by his love of tango and his artistic vision, and was in awe of the tango's past, and never specifically aimed "to innovate". We'll play a rather contemporary and jazzy-sounding tanda of his records a bit later. Good health to you, maestro!

(This very recent Salgan documentary is subtitled in English)

21. Nuevo Cuarteto Roberto Firpo - Instrumental "Clarita (vals)" 1955 2:16

22. Horacio Salgan  "Ilusion De Mi Vida (Vals)" 1952 2:58

23. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante  "Ilusion azul" 1945 2:37

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

Two tandas with very different, and very talented, female vocals:

25. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli "Triqui trá" 1940 2:34

26. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:55

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

28. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19

29. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriendote" 1955 2:49

30. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57

31. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47

32. Beatles The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 0:19

Juan Filiberto

Tonight is the first time I ever played Filiberto's music. Juan De Dios Filiberto firmly belongs to the earliest generation of tango orchestra leaders. Born on March 8 1885, growing up in the legendary rough neighborhood of La Boca, working at the docks and playing guitar and piano yet lacking any formal musical education, eager to underscore that the genuine innate feeling is the single most important aspect of tango music. Filiberto loved to blend tango with other traditional street music genres, and preferred to call it "Creole Music" rather than simply "Tango". To overcome his lack of knowledge of classical music, he took a job of a stage technician at the famous Teatro Colon, spending all his free minutes listening, and in the end falling in love with Beethoven. This motivated Filiberto to enter the conservatory at an unthinkable age of 24, to study violin. 

Filiberto's La Boca home slowly decays,
waiting until the government makes good
on its promise to make it a museum

Health issues forced the musician to leave his native city and to move to the foothills of the Andes. There, he composed some of the most popular tango hits of the 1920s: “Caminito”, “Quejas de bandoneón”, “El pañuelito”, "Clavel del Aire", “Malevaje”. But, uprooted again by the Great Depression, at the age of 47 he makes his way back to the capital, to a different La Boca house, and convenes his first Orquesta Porteña in 1932 (soon to be featured in the first sound movie about tango). The Orquesta Porteña incorporated clarinet, flute, and pump organ (harmonium) (which Filiberto learned to play himself), in addition to the "classic" instruments of a Tango Tipica. He also directed BsAs municipal Folkloric Music Orchestra for over 25 years, until his death. In the end, as I understand, the porteño purists simply wouldn't consider him a bona fide tango musician. But it is exactly the unusual musical texture of these valses which attracted me!

33. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Tus Ojos Me Embelesan" 1935 2:55

34. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Pensando En Ti" 1935 2:50

35. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Palomita Blanca" 1959 2:35

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

The promised Salgan tanda. As I recently confirmed, Argentines love the music of the centenarian pianist and bandleader, which in many ways presaged Tango Nuevo. Playing it, I discovered that it is the Nuevo music aficionados here who are most at home with it. Beautiful stuff ... for an alternative milonga, possibly? 

37. Horacio Salgan "Don Agustin Bardi" 1950 3:04

38. Horacio Salgan "Boedo" 1952 3:17

39. Horacio Salgan "Los Mareados" 1952 3:23

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

... and on the contrary, the expats but not the Argentinians appear to appreciate Canaro's classics. Which reminded me that I haven't played Canaro's hits with Maida for too long!

41. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Mi noche triste" 1936 2:45

42. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Recuerdos De Paris" 1937 3:12

43. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Condena (S.O.S.)" 1937 2:39

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

45. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá "Todo" 1943 2:38

46. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá "Garua" 1943 3:11

47. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá "Recien" 1943 2:44

48. Beatles The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 0:19

What a tango night without Donato's valses?

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

50. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio "Estrellita Mia" 1940 2:36

51. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutierrez "La Tapera" 1936 2:54

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

53. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Recuerdo Malevo" 1941 2:33

54. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Como se pianta la vida" 1942 2:57

55. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Así Se Baila El Tango" 1942 2:34

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

... and it's time for a birthday vals!

57. Francisco Canaro - Eduardo Adrian  "Muchacha" 1942 2:39

58. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22

59. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Tristezas De La Calle Corrientes" 1942 2:46

60. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Lejos de Buenos Aires" 1942 2:54

61. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44

62. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 4 (cortina)"  0:24

63. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Cordobesita" 1933 2:32

64. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Recuerdo de bohemia" 1935 2:36

65. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray  "En la huella del dolor" 1934 2:48

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

67. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "Como Has Cambiado Pebeta" 1942 2:37

68. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Tabernero" 1941 2:33

69. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno  "Danza maligna" 1940 2:28

70. Vadim Yegorov  "I love you, my rains (cortina 1)" 1999 0:16

Special: slow milonga sureñas. 

71. QTango Sexteto Canyengue "Milonga Triste (milonga cut)" 2000 4:06

72. Hugo Diaz " Milonga Para Una Armonica" 1973 4:25

73. Paco Mendoza & DJ Vadim  "Los Ejes De Mi Carreta" 2013 3:23

74. Beatles The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 0:19

75. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22

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

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

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

I planned to wrap it up with Pugliese, of a later period than what I usually choose, but by a popular request threw in an extra tanda of D'Arienzo's crazy instrumentals.

79. Osvaldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Emancipación" 1955 3:25

80. Osvaldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Nochero soy" 1956 3:33

81. Osvaldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Gallo ciego" 1959 3:33

82. Gypsy Folk  "Autumn Dew"  0:30

83. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "La torcacita" 1971 2:31

84. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Zorro gris" 1973 2:03

85. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Este Es El Rey" 1971 3:10

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

87.   "The Beatles - Michelle"  2:43

The Big 5 Orchestras: a global view

A survey matures...
Tango Tecnia worldwide annual survey of the attitudes and preferences of the tangueros had substantially widened its reach in its second year. In 2014, the survey was only available in Spanish, and its audience in North American continent was pretty much limited to ... Mexico, while in Europe, it largely probed the opinions in Spain (with a smaller number of responses from France and Italy). In comparison, in 2015, an English language version of the survey brought many more countries into play, despite a poor quality of English translation.
In 2014 nearly half of the 1282 survey-takers were Argentinian, but only 25 people from the English-speaking countries responded. But in 2015, less than a third of the 2229 participants were from Argentina; this time, 283 Americans and Canadians, 116 Britons, and 29 from Australia and New Zealand responded. Germany has become strongly represented, along with many more Northern, Central and Eastern European nations.

Tango Tecnia 2015 Survey respondents. In my representation, "other Anglo countries" are Ireland, Canada,
Australia, NZ, and South Africa. I included Russia and Israel in "Other European" category.

The age group appeal of the survey widened too. In 2014, tangueros in their 20s and 30s predominated, and the average age of the survery-takers was only 40. In 2015, the share of people in their 20s and 30s dropped to 40%, and the average age increased to 45.

Of course like any Internet survey, it's subject to biases of self-selection ... basically only people who care about its questions would chime in. But when we discuss the tango orchestras and their significance, it's kind of OK to draw some conclusions from the opinions of those who care.

This isn't a full list of the ingredients of a "balanced meal of a milonga" like we saw in Weigel's survey. Here we see the orchestras which make the tangueros eager to dance, the ones which they gratefully remember dancing to.

One pet peeve: in 2015, the survey-designers simply forgot to include Edgardo Donato on the list! (It ranked #12 in 2014).

World's 5 orchestra favorites, and the runners-up

D'Arienzo ~ Di Sarli > Pugliese > Canaro ~ Troilo led the pack (statistically speaking, D'Arienzo and Di Sarli with their 75% and 73% favorability rating weren't significantly different, as were Canaro and Troilo with their 61% and 60% favorability). This actually marks the first time in my research when the elusive Big 5 have been defined with statistical significance (all 5 were significantly ahead of the next  runner-up, Calo). An increased study size makes all the difference!

D'Arienzo and Di Sarli were the winners across the spectrum of ages, gender roles, and geographical locations, while Pugliese was somewhat less favored in the US (where it was rated the 5th).

Troilo was more favored in Argentina, but not significantly so (64% vs. 58%, p-value = 0.02, too high in this multiple-testing scenario).

But Francisco Canaro offered a stark example of regional and cultural differences. It topped the popularity chart in the UK, but wasn't even in the top 5 in Argentina! (the first one of a long list of orchestras which ranked far lower in Argentina than in the rest of the world).
Overall, favorability of Canaro outside Argentina was 68%, compared with only 51% in Argentina. The difference was extremely significant (p-value 0.000000).

#6 Calo was significantly ahead of #7 Biagi. Calo was universally popular (but most of all in Colombia and Venezuela)

#7 Biagi was in statistical dead heat with #8 Fresedo, but significantly ahead of #9 De Angelis. Biagi was universally popular (but least of all in Argentina, albeit with only marginal significance)

Fresedo, De Angelis, and #10 Tanturi were roughly statistically equivalent, but significantly ahead of the #11, D'Agostino. Fresedo came in the top 5 in France, Italy, Germany, but was less popular in Argentina. De Angelis was in the top 5 in Colombia and Uruguay. Tanturi was more popular with older people, and made the top 5 in Brazil.

Worldwide favorability rating of the top 10 tango orchestras

A few more assorted observations which probably don't reach statistical significance, but still sound intriguing.

#11 D'Agostino made the top 5 in the UK
#12 Laurenz was more popular with the older people, in Germany, in France.
#13 Sexteto Milonguero was in the top 5 in Chile and Brazil, unknown in the US
#15 Demare was less popular in Argentina, with marginal statistical significance
#16 Orquesta Tipica Victor - older people's orchestra; top 5 in Sweden; significantly less favored in Argentina. Ditto Lomuto.
#17 Enrique Rodriguez ranked poorly in Argentina and Mexico
#18 De Caro ranked worse in Europe and the US; Varela also fared poorly in the US, as did more modern bands such as Los Reyes del Tango, Orquesta Sans Souci, Esteban Morgado, and Herederos del Compas
#19 Color Tango ranked high in Latin America; so did Bajofondo, Hugo Diaz, Otros Aires, and Sexteto Mayor ... but with a marked exception for Argentina.
#32 Donato Racciatti unsurprisingly fared the best in Uruguay, but is also significantly more appreciated in Argentina than in the rest of the world.
#56 Juan Maglio Pacho was popular in France and Italy, they must have gained access to his better quality records unavailable to us?

Argentina is a world apart

Time and time again, an orchestra would show dramatically lower ranking in Argentina than abroad. Many of these cases involved contemporary bands which may be less known outside Argentina, so their ratings were available only from a handful of foreign locales. At first it was bewildering to see how a band gets most of its votes from Argentinians, only to rank the lowest in Argentine in comparison to other countries. Especially considering that Argentine vs foreign survey-takers "liked", on average, about the same number of orchestras (approx. 13), and that the rank-frequency plots inside and outside Argentina were pretty much indistinguishable. As it happens, the issue with the smaller contemporary bands turned out to be an artifact of Tango Tecnia's analysis methodology (where they excluded countries and regions with zero votes, and used the highest ranks for all orchestras which had the same number of votes in a country, thus dramatically inflating rankings of lesser orchestras in smaller countries).

But there are also major classic orchestras which the foreigners appreciate much more than Argentines. Note that all of them are associated with the early Golden Age / pre-Golden Age culture.

First and foremost, it's Francisco Canaro, already discussed above (51% in Argentina vs. 68% outside, p-value 0.000000)
Not surprisingly, Canaro's close associate Lomuto is in a similar situation (16% in Argentina vs. 27% outside, p-value 0.000000) (Incidentally we've just discused how neither Canaro nor Lomuto are ever played for the Tango Mundial in BsAs)
The difference in favorability is even stronger for OTV (15% in Argentina vs. 34% outside, p-value 0.000000)

Less prominent early-age orchestras show a similar pattern:

Firpo (10% in Argentina vs. 17% outside, p-value 0.000066)
Carabelli (5% in Argentina vs. 13% outside, p-value 0.000001)
Rafael Canaro (8% in Argentina vs. 14% outside, p-value 0.001340)

On the contrary, several later-period and contemporary bands were significantly better appreciated in Argentina:

Los Reyes del Tango (23% in Argentina vs. 10% outside, p-value 0.000000)
Orquesta Sans Souci (18% in Argentina vs. 9% outside, p-value 0.000000)
Gobbi (22% in Argentina vs. 12% outside, p-value 0.000000)
Salgan (14% in Argentina vs. 9% outside, p-value 0.002)
Racciatti (18% in Argentina vs. 11% outside, p-value 0.0002)

My guess is that even within the orchestras which foreigners and Argentinians love equally well, the latter may be biased in favor of late Golden Age and post-Golden Age records...

Followers' heaven, leaders' hell??

A number of contemporary bands had much higher favorability rating with the females. Amores Tangos, Bajofondo, Otros Aires, Gotan Project, Almagro, El Afronte, El Cachivache, Ojos de Tango. So did Piazzolla. Are these orchestras united by the pain they cause to the leaders? Please cue me in!

Poema dethroned?

Tango Tecnia survey also offered an opportunity to rate about 40 music titles (not specific records but just titles, often played by different orchestras, sometimes multiple times even by the same orchestra like Hotel Victoria or La Cumparsita). It was probably an unsophisticated  survey-writer's personal list of favorites. Whatever, I can still enjoy the fact that last year's winner, Poema, has been dethroned this year (and lost 1/3rd of its past popularity??). So did Recuerdo. On the contrary, Los Vino and Pollo Ricardo doubled their popularity. But I don't remember the survey's methodology, and can't quite figure out what to make out of its results.

Canaro or Lomuto aren't competition music...

Hats off to MsHedgehog for a great analysis of tango tracks used in the recent Mundial competitons finals.

You really should read the analysis on her blog; all I wanted to do was to make her youtube links clickable in the list which follows.

Just in case, if you wonder what this list is about. It's all great music, as selected by the Argentine aficionados, but it isn't organized into tandas, Rather, each "ronda" allows couples to showcase their skills in rhythmic, dramatic, and soft or intermediate lyrical music (not necessarily in this order, but always in a set of 3 basic emotional flavors).

MsHedgehod notes that the organizers never picked Canaro, or Lomuto, or OTV / Carabelli, or anything older than 1934, for that matter. Di Sarli, D'Arienzo, Pugliese, Troilo and Fresedo made "The Big 5 Orchestras" - but not a single Fresedo with Roberto Ray made the cut. Not a single Pugliese with Chanel. Only one vocal track of Di Sarli among his many dramatic and rhythmic instrumentals. My take on it that the organizers might have included the music which wasn't merely great, but which was also exaggeratedly dynamic / dramatic / extreme - that the selection reflects the need for the strongest flavors.This may also explain a disproportionate share of the late 1950s music.

Several tracks appear year after year - Troilo's 'Te aconsejo que me olvides' 1941 actually makes the list 3 times!

Mundial 2015 Ronda1 Track1 D'Agostino - Vargas 'Tres Esquinas' 1941
Mundial 2015 Ronda1 Track2 D'Arienzo - Echagüe 'No Mientas' 1938
Mundial 2015 Ronda1 Track3 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Indio Manso' 1958
Mundial 2015 Ronda2 Track1 D'Arienzo - Maure 'Lilian' 1944
Mundial 2015 Ronda2 Track2 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Shusheta' 1940
Mundial 2015 Ronda2 Track3 Pugliese - Instrumental 'El Monito' 1945
Mundial 2015 Ronda3 Track1 Fresedo - Instrumental 'Tigre Viejo' 1934
Mundial 2015 Ronda3 Track2 D'Arienzo - Instrumental 'El Puntazo' 1952
Mundial 2015 Ronda3 Track3 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Milonguero Viejo' 1951
Mundial 2015 Ronda4 Track1 Tanturi - Castillo 'Recuerdo malevo' 1941
Mundial 2015 Ronda4 Track2 Troilo - Fiorentino 'Te aconsejo que me olvides' 1941
Mundial 2015 Ronda4 Track3 Pugliese - Instrumental 'La Tupungatina' 1952
Mundial 2014 Ronda1 Track1 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Cuidado con las 50' 1942
Mundial 2014 Ronda1 Track2 Caló - Iriarte 'Nada' 1944
Mundial 2014 Ronda1 Track3 Troilo - Fiorentino 'Te aconsejo que me olvides' 1941
Mundial 2014 Ronda2 Track1 Pugliese - Instrumental 'La guitarrita' 1954
Mundial 2014 Ronda2 Track2 Fresedo - Ruiz 'Buscándote' 1941
Mundial 2014 Ronda2 Track3 D'Arienzo - Echagüe 'El nene del abasto' 1951
Mundial 2014 Ronda3 Track1 Gobbi - Instrumental 'Si sos brujo' 1953
Mundial 2014 Ronda3 Track2 Demare - Berón 'Una Emocion' 1943
Mundial 2014 Ronda3 Track3 Tanturi - Castillo 'La Vida es corta' 1941
Mundial 2014 Ronda4 Track1 Troilo - Instrumental 'La Bordona' 1958
Mundial 2014 Ronda4 Track2 D'Agostino - Vargas 'Tres Esquinas' 1941
Mundial 2014 Ronda4 Track3 D'Arienzo - Maure 'Dime mi amor' 1941
Mundial 2013 Ronda1 Track1 Donato - Lagos 'El adiós' 1938
Mundial 2013 Ronda1 Track2 Di Sarli - Rufino 'Lo pasado, pasó' 1940
Mundial 2013 Ronda1 Track3 Gobbi - Instrumental 'A Orlando Goñi' 1949
Mundial 2013 Ronda1 Track4 Pugliese - Maciel 'Remembranzas' 1956
Mundial 2013 Ronda2 Track1 Demare - Miranda 'Mañana zarpa un barco' 1942
Mundial 2013 Ronda2 Track2 D'Arienzo - Echagüe 'Pensalo bien' 1938
Mundial 2013 Ronda2 Track3 Pugliese - Instrumental 'Gallo ciego' 1959
Mundial 2013 Ronda3 Track1 Fresedo - Instrumental 'Tigre Viejo' 1934
Mundial 2013 Ronda3 Track2 Troilo - Fiorentino 'Te aconsejo que me olvides' 1941
Mundial 2013 Ronda3 Track3 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Ensueños' 1943
Mundial 2013 Ronda4 Track1 Troilo - Marino 'Tres Amigos' 1944
Mundial 2013 Ronda4 Track2 D'Arienzo - Echagüe 'Mandria' 1939
Mundial 2013 Ronda4 Track3 Pugliese - Instrumental 'Nochero Soy' 1956
Mundial 2012 Ronda1 Track1 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'Ensueños' 1943
Mundial 2012 Ronda1 Track2 Fresedo - Ruiz 'Vamos, corazón' 1941
Mundial 2012 Ronda1 Track3 Tanturi - Instrumental 'Comparsa Criolla' 1941
Mundial 2012 Ronda2 Track1 Pugliese - Moran 'Maleza' 1945
Mundial 2012 Ronda2 Track2 D'Arienzo - Echagüe 'La Madrugada' 1944
Mundial 2012 Ronda2 Track3 Rodriguez - Moreno 'En la buena y en la mala' 1940
Mundial 2012 Ronda3 Track1 Troilo - Fiorentino 'Pa' que bailen los muchachos' 1942
Mundial 2012 Ronda3 Track2 Laurenz - Instrumental 'Arrabal' 1937
Mundial 2012 Ronda3 Track3 Di Sarli - Instrumental 'El Retirao' 1939
Mundial 2012 Ronda4 Track1 Donato - Lagos 'El adiós' 1938
Mundial 2012 Ronda4 Track2 Troilo - Instrumental 'La Maleva' 1942
Mundial 2012 Ronda4 Track3 D'Arienzo - Instrumental 'Por que razón' 1939

Practilonga del Centro playlist, May 2016

Apologies for posting the list so late! (And out of order). The Denver trip, and a DJing assignment there, took a lot of my time. 

01. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El choclo" 1937 2:46

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

03. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Alma en pena" 1938 2:46

the Di Sarli tanda was thought of as a "after-class moderate-pace practice music for all", but it felt strangely dissatisfying...

04. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Don Juan" 1955 2:48

05. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "El Jaguel" 1956 2:52

06. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "El Ingeniero" 1955 3:15

07. Francisco Canaro - Instrumental "Desde El Alma" 1940 2:51

08. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Noche De Estrellas" 1939 2:32

Todotango image

Canaro's legacy is so inexhaustible that it probably isn't surprising that I continue to discover its new facets for myself. This month, it's Eduardo Adrian's vocals. He joined Canaro's orchestra at the age of 18 (but already having an experience of a theater soloist), after Canaro's lead vocalists, Ernesto Fama and Francisco Amor, quit to join forces with OTV's great director Federico Scorticati (alas, their orchestra didn't leave behind any recordings...) Young Eduardo Adrian recorded with Canaro and participated in his theater plays for just over two years, before moving on to a rich career of a theater actor and an intellectual, but their short collaboration produced quite remarkable tangos and valses

09. Francisco Canaro - Eduardo Adrian "Muchacha" 1942 2:39

10. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Toda Mi Vida" 1941 2:55

11. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Maragata" 1941 2:44

12. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "El Bulin De La Calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:29

As you may have noticed, I was busy test-driving some tandas for the Avalon...

13. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Belen" 1929 2:44

14. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "T.B.C." 1928 3:02

15. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12

16. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Ella Es Asi (feat. Enrique "El Peru" Chavez)" 2011 2:32

17. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Largas las Penas" 2011 3:02

18. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Negrito" 2011 1:53

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

20. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Angustia" 1938 2:39

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

Hector Varela, a pillar of final years of the Golden Era, is a great fit for the vibe of Del Centro. I checked back and, sure enough, the previous time I played a Varela-Ledesma tanda (and described their history) was right in this space, too.

22. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Muchacha" 1956 3:19

23. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Que tarde que has venido" 1956 2:55

24. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Fueron tres años" 1956 3:26

25. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Quien Sera - vals" 1941 2:20

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

27. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez "La Tapera" 1936  2:59

28. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Qué Nunca Me Falte" 1943 2:42

29. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "La Abandone Y No Sabia" 1944 2:50

30. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Oigo Tu Voz" 1943 3:09

31. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "El encopao" 1942 2:34

32. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Tabernero" 1941 2:33

33. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Llorar Por Una Mujer" 1941 2:47

An Uruguayan milonga tanda

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

35. Ángel Sica - Romeo Gavioli y Freddy "Rebeldia" 1942 2:20

36. Miguel Villaboas "Milonga Que Hacia Falta" 1961 2:23

37. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Como Se Hace Un Tango" 1943 3:14

38. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Canta pajarito" 1943 3:24

39. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Moneda de Cobre" 1943 2:54

Yes, 1970s. Behold the King of Beat!

40. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La torcacita" 1971 2:31

41. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Zorro Gris" 1973 2:08

42. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Este Es El Rey" 1971 3:12

43. Rodolfo Biagi - Francisco Amor "Paloma" 1945 2:28

44. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz "Por Un Beso De Amor" 1940  2:46

45. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Dejame Amarte Aunque Sea un Dia " 1939 2:55

46. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Al compás del corazón" 1944 2:47

47. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Tristezas De La Calle Corrientes" 1942 2:44

48. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Jamas Retornaras" 1942 2:30

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

50. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales,  Horacio Lagos y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940  3:07

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

Haven't played these Rodriguez gems for too long!

52. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Se va el tren" 1942 3:10

53. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Maruska" 1943 2:07

54. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Noches de Hungria" 1942 2:57

55. Ricardo Malerba - Orlando Medina "Gitana rusa" 1942 2:47

56. Ricardo Malerba - Antonio Maida "Encuentro" 1944 2:20

57. Ricardo Malerba - Orlando Medina "Embrujamiento" 1943 2:52

58. Osváldo Pugliese - Instrumental  "Recuerdo"  2:39

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

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

61. Juan D Arienzo "La Cumparsita" 1955 3:44

62. Shigeru Umebayashi "Yumeji's Theme" 2001 3:06

63. Peter Ludwig "Caesar Der Hund" 1995 2:41

Denver Tango Festival Spillover Milonga Playlist, May 2016

Memorial Day Tango Festival in Denver, approaching 20 years of age and once on a brink of extinction, shows a good deal of resilience. The DJs were excellent, the floor, pretty good, and the size of the crowd, generally encouraging. Just like in the years past, my most beloved and must-dance "tango pilgrimage" venues were off-site, at Cheesman Park and at the Avalon Ballroom (I'm partial to old Merc too, but it wasn't happening this time - gotta wait till Tango on the Rocks). And just like in the years past, there was a shadow of tension between the festival organizers and the local orgs of the off-site events. But luckily, not as overt a tension as to damage the festive mood!

A visit to Denver without dancing at Cheesman? No way!
(And it had the best music and the best company, one can count on it)

New for 2017: the City Park Bandstand milonga. We couldn't resist stopping there
too before driving to Boulder, and of course in the end I was scrambling
to put the final touches on my DJ preparation...

I'm not in a hurry to start playing recording music exactly at 6:30. Javier Sanchez is leading a bando jam in the hallway and it's a pretty cool thing to listen to. And I know that with Halina's excellent dinner served in the community kitchen, there won't be anybody on the floor for the next 15 or 20 minutes! Some minutes later I make a plan, to add a pre-tanda track or two, and to start playing it very quietly, creating a soft ambient tango sound in the dance hall but leaving the hallway quiet.It would be unfair if the bandoneonists totally lose track of time and miss dinner, wouldn't it?

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

OK, here we go!

002. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "Todo te nombra" 1939 3:07

003. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "Tormenta" 1939 2:38

004. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "Te quiero todavia" 1939 2:54

005. Alla Pugacheva  "Million Scarlet Roses (cortina long)"  0:39

006. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Ataniche" 1936 2:32

007. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Yapeyu" 1951 2:26

008. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Internado" 1954 2:34

009. Alexey Kudryavtsev  "The heart breaks cortina long 3"  0:33

As expected, by the 3rd tanda the floor gradually comes alive :) It should be noted that my assignment at the Avalon, as always, calls for a variety of non-classic music. And Alex Krebs's isn't a classic orchestra... but it sure can feel like one?

010. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Ella Es Asi (feat. Enrique "El Peru" Chavez)" 2011 2:32

011. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Negrito" 2011 1:53

012. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Largas las Penas" 2011 3:02

013. Jennifer Gasoi  "Happy happy me (cortina long)" 2012 0:36

Dreamy violin-themed alternative tanda built for its beautiful closing piece

014. Lhasa De Sela "La Cara de la Pared" 2005 4:23

015. Carlos Libedinsky "Vi Luz y Subí" 2004 3:17

016. Shigeru Umebayashi "In The Mood For Love"  2001 2:29

017. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 5 (cortina)"  0:36

Intense, rhythmic pieces of Laurenz ... alas, I won't have time to play his more dramatic favorites this time.

Caged nightingale?
Not at a milonga :(
(Wikipedia image)

018. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Vieja Amiga" 1938, 1938 3:11

019. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Amurado" 1940 2:30

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

021. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38

Love the unusual texture of Lomuto's valses!

022. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "Damisela Encantadora" 1936 3:00

023. Francisco Lomuto - Instrumental  "Noche de ronda (vals)" 1937 2:34

024. Francisco Lomuto - Fernando Díaz, Mercedes Simone  "Lo que vieron mis ojos" 1933 2:22

025. Alla Pugacheva  "Million Scarlet Roses (cortina long)"  0:39

Avalon's obligatory tanda of Polish and European tangos is a DJ's black eye this time :(  To play Utesov's famous "Mystery", I removed its long intro and closing parts, but the remaining section fooled replay gain calculation by several decibels. But it was nothing compared to the problems with Savva's Nightingale. Taisa Savva had a unique skill of artistic whistling, and sometimes she even performed from an oversize golden bird cage, carried onto the scene by four men. But the low-bitrate record did an awful service to her higher-pitch whistle. Ouch. Note to self, never download a cool tune at the last moment!

026. Jerzy Petersburski - Mieczysław Fogg "To ostatnia niedziela" 1936 3:59

027. Leonid Utesov  "Taina (Mystery) (milonga cut)" 1937 2:31

028. Ferdinand Krish - Taisa Savva "Nightingale Tango" 1940 3:13

029. Alexey Kudryavtsev  "The heart breaks cortina long 4"  0:35

030. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "T.B.C." 1928 3:02

031. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Belen" 1929 2:44

032. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12

033. Leonid Utesov  "S Odesskogo Kichmana" 1935 0:44

Time for a milonga? With a twist.

034. Eendo  "Eshgh e Aasemaani" 2011 3:31

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

036. Kevin Johansen "Sur O No Sur" 2002 4:53

037. Jennifer Gasoi  "Happy happy me (cortina long)" 2012 0:36

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

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

040. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray  "No quiero verte llorar" 1937 2:42

041. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide (overlay cortina)" 1980 0:27

"Sweet" Fresedos are followed by some of the most bitter Donatos. Great memories of this tanda!

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

043. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50

044. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Me voy a Baraja" 1936 2:30

045. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38

Andréane Bossé,
 Las Piernas,
2 weeks earlier

046. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "En el volga yo te espero" 1943 2:40

047. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Las Espigadoras (vals)" 1938 2:47

048. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Los Piconeros (vals)" 1939 2:47

049. Alla Pugacheva  "Million Scarlet Roses (cortina long)"  0:39

050. announcements and a birthday vals request

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

052.  "silence30s"  

053. announcing the community "waterfall" dance. This is the traditional Canaro, but slightly later years than the usual. I owe the inspiration to DJ Andréane Bossé of Montreal's Las Piernas. The strong, grounded drive of "Infamia" is something. Perhaps a version of this tanda will sound at a milonga near you soon.

054. Francisco Canaro - Eduardo Adrian  "Amando en silencio" 1942 2:54

055. Francisco Canaro - Eduardo Adrian  "Decile que vuelva" 1941 2:31

056. Francisco Canaro - Eduardo Adrian  "Infamia" 1941 3:00

... and a chacarera ... no, make it two!

057. Juan Maglio Pacho, Jorge Cafrune  "Characera loca de Ledesma"  0:26

058.   "silence30s" 

059. Varios  "Chacarera del Rancho"  2:21

060.   "silence30s" 

061. Various lbum ar "Chacarera del violin"  2:12

062. Jennifer Gasoi  "Happy happy me (cortina long)" 2012 0:36

D'Arienzo's to re-initiate the milonga flow after all the specials and breaks

063. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Indiferencia" 1938 2:31

064. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Ansiedad" 1938 2:38

065. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Que dios te ayude" 1939 2:28

066. Alexey Kudryavtsev  "The heart breaks cortina long 4"  0:35

I am not a natural for Troilo, even though I appreciate his contrasts of fast and slow... and my first intuition would be to play a tanda of his uptempo pieces (or a vals tanda). But it's time to diversify. So I put together a more lyrical tanda for this night, and it feels good.

067. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Pa Que Bailen Los Muchachos" 1942 2:49

068. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Sosiego En La Noche" 1943 3:05

069. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "No Le Digas Que La Quiero" 1941 2:51

070. Leonid Utesov  "S Odesskogo Kichmana" 1935 0:44

071. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La mulateada" 1941 2:21

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

073. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Zorzal"  2:40

074. Victor Tsoy  "Gruppa Krovi (cortina)"  0:36

An alternative tanda of unhurried guitars...

075. Jem "Come On Closer" 2004 3:47

I only played the following Ukrainian/Russian track at one hometown venue before, where the organizer likes it. Its lyrics are crudely antiwar, which may no longer be popular in that part of the world. I don't know, I just couldn't help noticing a perplexed look or two from the public. But I would be very hesitant to ban a song from a milonga because of its lyrics .... believe me, there are so many questionable letras in old tangos! What do you think?

076. 5Nizza "Soldat" 2003 3:13

077. Damien Rice "Volcano" 2003 3:21

078. Jennifer Gasoi  "Happy happy me (cortina long)" 2012 0:36

079. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "Como Has Cambiado Pebeta" 1942 2:37

080. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Tabernero" 1941 2:33

081. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Llorar Por Una Mujer" 1941 2:47

082.   "silence30s" 

Javier Sanchez plays a wonderful composition ... alas, limiting it to just this one piece.

083. Leonid Utesov  "Road to Berlin (slow)"  0:27

084. Rodolfo Biagi - Andres Falgas "El Ultimo Adios" 1939 2:09

085. Rodolfo Biagi - Andres Falgas "Déjame amarte aunque sea un día" 1939 2:55

086. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz "Por Un Beso De Amor" 1940 2:44

30+ second cortinas seem to be too long for the night, so I start replacing them with shorter ones.

087. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 4 (cortina)"  0:24

I already played a tanda of the more classic 1935-1937 Fresedos with their bel canto of Roberto Ray. There is a distinctly different vibe in Fresedo records of about 1940, with their cascading harp. It reaches a pinnacle in "Buscandote", and it's always an interesting challenge to build a tanda leading up to it. Here I stay with Ricardo Ruiz's vocals, but perhaps instrumentals like "Arrabalero", or very late Roberto Ray records like "Vuelves", would fit even better?

088. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz "Y no puede ser" 1939 2:28

089. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz "Plegaria" 1940 2:24

090. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz "Buscándote" 1941 2:49

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

092. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22

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

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

095. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20

When the milonga's end is in sight at the beautiful Avalon, I can't ever resist this type of a non-traditional tanda with its overpowering late-night drama. This night's selection starts a bit softer and a bit closer to the classics, with a 1960's ensemble of such titans of the dusk of the Golden Era as Pedro Laurenz, Horacio Salgan, Leopoldo Federico. Then it snowballs on to the most recent decade of BsAs tango music!

096. Nuevo Quinteto Real  "Ensuenos" 1966 3:10

097. Orquesta Tipica Fervor de Buenos Aires "Quien Sos" 2005 3:08

098. Analíá Goldberg y Sexteto Ojos De Tango "El Adiós" 2011 3:13

099. Alexey Kudryavtsev  "The heart breaks cortina long 3"  0:33

100. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales - Romeo Gavio  "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:01

101. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales,  Horacio Lagos y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:07

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

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

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

105. Osváldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Malandraca" 1949 2:52

106. Osváldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Gallo ciego" 1959 3:33

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

for those who can't stop, and for cleanup and furniture moving, a few more minutes of music with a bonus Cumparsita "estilo rumba"

108. Goran Bregovic  "To Nie Ptak" 1999 4:41

109. Goran Bregovic  "This Is A Film (feat. Iggy Pop)" 2003 4:18

110. Harry Roy "La cumparsita" 1938 2:58