Junando el Tango practica playlist, Dec 20 2017

Thank you Sage for letting me fool around with the music, and apologies for taking so long with posting the list ... it's the crazy holidays! Happy New Year y Feliz Navidad all!
01. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El garron" 1938 2:27
02. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Alma en pena" 1938 2:46
03. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Loca" 1938 2:57
04. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33

We've just celebrated D'Arienzo's birthday on December 14th, and it's always great time to play more, different D'Arienzo records, but tonight is an especially good night. I start with some pf D'Arienzo originals, back when Biagi himself was at the piano (and probably defined a lot of the future-and-forever style of the orchestra). 
05. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "El choclo" 1937 2:35
06. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La viruta" 1936 2:20
07. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Champagne tango" 1938 2:26
08. Harry Roy  "South American Joe cortina 3"  0:21
09. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Mi piba linda" 1943 2:51
10. Enrique Rodriguez - Instrumental  "El morochito" 1941 2:34
11. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Como Se Pianta La Vida" 1940 2:25
12. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
I don't play valses of D'Arienzo's too often, but they are fantastic
13. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Pasion" 1937 2:37
14. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Corazon De Artista" 1936 2:19
15. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Mentias" 1937 2:19
16. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24
17. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Todo te nombra" 1939 3:01
18. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Abandonada" 1939 2:54
19. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Te quiero todavia" 1939 2:54
20. Harry Roy  "South American Joe cortina 1"  0:26
21. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "Una carta" 1941 2:50
22. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "Pa'que bailen los muchachos" 1942 2:49
23. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:30
24. ZZ Top  "Sharp Dressed Man cortina"  0:25
And milongas from the formative years of the genre
25. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Milonga Vieja Milonga" 1937 2:37
26. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "De Pura Cepa" 1935 2:41
27. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Esquinazo" 1 938 2:32
28. Jestofunk  "The Ghetto cortina"  0:21

Manuel Buzon, a pianist, singer, composer, and bandleader, was born on December 18, 1904. Since his early 20s, he led orchestras, and toured abroad. Returning from Spain in the middle of the Great Depression, he faced a few jobless months, but rebuilt his band even before the year 1930 was over, winning contests, playing on the radio and at carnivals, and touring the provinces. They've only been recording in 1942-1943, and they've been largely absent from the capital city scene during the rest of the golden years. So the music of Buzon's orchestra remains essentially unknown today. I really liked one of their valses (played later in the list), but after trying the following tango tanda, my verdict is "definitive maybe"
29. Manuel Buzón - Amadeo Mandarino "Al Verla Pasar" 1942 3:03
30. Manuel Buzón -  Osvaldo Moreno "Mediodia" 1943  3:05
31. Manuel Buzón - Amadeo Mandarino "Fueye" 1942 2:57
32. Harry Roy  "South American Joe cortina 2"  0:28
A mature period of D'Arienzo's orchestra, with Fulvio Salamanca on piano (and Juan D'Arienzo was blessed with talented and energetic pianists!) and the voice of Hector Maure
33. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "Ya lo ves" 1941 2:39
34. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "Infamia" 1941 3:05
35. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré  "El olivo (El olvido)" 1941 2:51
36. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19
A mixed tanda born out of a desire to play one of the more memorable recordings of Manuel Buzon, a vals (and they didn't have enough valses recorded to even start building tandas). This set spans a decade of tango history, and culminates in a energetic, Mexican folk-inspired "Shunca", a rare gem of a vals joy.
37. Orquesta Tipica los Provincianos - Alberto Gomez "Samaritana"  2:58
38. Manuel Buzon - Osvaldo Moreno  "Pichon enamorado" 1942 2:18
39. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli  "La shunca" 1941 2:35

40. Alla Pugacheva  "Etot mir"  0:33
The following tanda is dedicated to our Salt Lake Tango Fest :) (held on Memorial day weekend in May 2018) with its official 2018 wildflower being Utah globemallow, Flor de Malvón de Desierto. Expect me to play an occasional tango about mallows from now on, and please join us at the SLTF!
41. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Moneda de cobre" 1942 2:47
42. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Una Emocion" 1943 2:38
43. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos  "Malvón" 1943 2:59

44. Carlitos Rolan  "Cuarteto1"  0:28

The end of the tangofox
tanda found me
squarely on the floor :)

45. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Shusheta" 1940 2:22
46. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Catamarca" 1940 2:23
47. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "La Trilla" 1940 2:21
48. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
49. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Por las calles de Estambul" 1944 2:54
50. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Noches de Hungria" 1942 2:57
51. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Contando las estrellas" 1942 2:23
52. Jestofunk  "The Ghetto cortina"  0:21
This week also marks the birthday of one of the sweetest voices of tango, the mellifluous Roberto Ray, who recorded so many excellent hits with Osvaldo Fresedo that it's hard to imagine a milonga without their beautiful, refined tangos. Roberto Raimondo was born on December 12, 1912, and joined Fresedo's orchestra at the age of 18, at the height of the Great Depression which made the musicians' prospects so impossibly hard. Roberto ended staying on for the whole decade from 1931 to1939. The fortunes of the tango vocalists greatly improved by the end of the 1930s, and Roberto Ray started a trend of orchestra singers splitting off and forming their own orchestras; he returned to Fresedo in the late 1940s. 
We're used to the mid-1930s Fresedo-Ray classics. I'm going to celebrate Roberto Ray with something slightly different. Beginning in 1938, Fresedo achieves a more mysterious quality of tango, and experiments a lot  with the sound of harp. This creative period left a handful of recordings with Ray (which I'm happy to play tonight), and more in the same vibe with the voice of Ricardo Ruiz, culminating in stellar "Buscandote" in 1941.
53. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Angustia" 1938 2:39
54. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Ojos Muertos" 1938 2:37
55. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Media Vuelta" 1938 2:09
56. Harry Roy  "South American Joe cortina 1"  0:26
57. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
58. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Queriendote" 1955 2:49
59. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
60. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23
61. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá "Recien" 1943 2:44
62. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá "Todo" 1943 2:38
63. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá "Alma de bohemio" 1943 2:45
64. Pedro Láurenz - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1953 3:17

Dia del Tango 2018

Day of Tango isn't anything like a usual milonga. It's full of specials, and full of spectators, and the audience is more Argentinian than ever - a community that deeply appreciates tango music and vocal, especially dramatic songs of the late classical period, and which often has taste for scenic performances but may be relatively uninterested in social-style dancing. The logistics become complicated, the expenses can be substantial, and yet we strive to provide free admission as a gift of gratitude to the great people of Argentina and to their culture which nurtures our life's passion. It's kind of like celebrating a birthday of a beloved family patriarch ... not exactly a party like I'd throw for ourselves, not without many difficulties, but immensely gratifying in the end. 

We even made it to Telemundo's channel!
And of course we begin in a milonga-like fashion, as the guests gather and the musicians and singers get ready

01. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "El abrojo" 1958 2:48

02. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Champagne tango" 1958 2:47

03. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Germaine" 1955 3:14

We brainstormed holiday-themed cortinas with the Argentine friends and decided that it my be a good idea to play a few cumbia snippets from Gilda, who was the brightest star of the early years of the Argentine cumbia boom in the 1990s, until her tragic death in a road accident at the age of 34. Gilda really is to cumbia what Gardel was to tango. 

04. Gilda  "No Me Arrepiento de Éste Amor cortina long"  0:40

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

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

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

Many of us know Rodriguez's cool foxtrot remix of Zapatos Rotos. The original is an exciting Argentine rock cortina materiel!

08. Los Naufragos  "Zapatos Rotos rock"  0:34

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

10. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel  A Magaldi" 1947 2:50

11. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel "Pobre Flor" 1946 2:40

A monument to the
eponymous song now graces
Puerto Montt waterfront

I haven't heard of Los Iracundos and their signature track until last week. The band may be from Uruguay and the song, named after a Chilean town, but it's one of the best hits of the formative years of Argentine rock! (The name of this seaside town in Chile's lake and fjord country is said to have come into the lyrics as an afterthought ... the original text had a generic "Por tu amor" line instead, but then they decided to replace it with two words which sounded kind of the same :) but better ! )

12. Los Iracundos  "Puerto Montt rock" 1971 0:27

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

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

15. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Racing Club" 1930 2:34

Cuarteto is a very Argentine folk genre (and very young one, born in the poor barrios of Cordoba, and first recorded in the 1950s). It suffers from many of the same prejudices which plagued tango, too, during its early decades: that it is a music of the underclass migrants in a big city, that its roots are part-foreign and its lyrics, often racy and lacking decency... Rodrigo may have been the first Cuarteto artist who in the 1990s broke the class and region barriers, and won acceptance in the whole nation. Later on, I will play some of the earlier, distinctly regional Cordobense cuarteto snippets (but carefully clipping away their lyrics, just to stay safe)

16. Rodrigo  "Cuarteto"  0:29

17. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar  "A la gran muñeca" 1936 3:01

18. Francisco Lomuto - Fernando Diaz  "Quiero verte una vez mas" 1940 2:29

19. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar  "Nostalgias" 1936 3:05

20. Gilda  "Noches Vacias cortina"  0:22

21. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Yo Soy De San Telmo" 1943 2:20

22. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata" 1941 2:27

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

24. Sandro de America  "Yo te amo cortina long"  0:44

An experimental tanda which required a bit of digital editing. The theme is Canaro's Hawaiian guitar. Argentina was introduced to steel guitar in 1927 by a great Brazilian innovator Gastão Bueno Lobo. A year later, Francisco Canaro, a tireless sound experimenter, picked the trend. And I'm playing this tanda (drumroll, please) ... in anticipation of Salt Lake Tango Fest, with its official 2018 wildflower being Utah globemallow, Flor de Malvón de Desierto. Expect me to play an occasional tango about mallows from now on, and please join us at the SLTF!

25. Francisco Canaro - Instrumental  "Mimosa" 1929 2:54

26. Francisco Canaro - Instrumental  "Malvaloca milonga cut" 1930 3:08
27. Francisco Canaro - Charlo  "Oiga Garcon fast" 1929 2:46

28. Carlitos Rolan  "Cuarteto2"  0:19

And it's time to start our special program with Argentine anthem, welcome speeches, and wonderful vocals of Argentine talents Lucho Fredes and Veronica Banner!

Orquesta Tango West needs a few more minutes to get ready, so I am playing just one modern-yet-classic recording:

29. Romantica Milonguera  "Oigo tu voz" 2017 3:13

30.   "silence30s"  0:31

Three enchanting live music tandas, and it's time to interject with a couple recorded sets before another segment of specials 

31. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Derecho viejo" 1939 2:21

32. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Melodia porteña" 1937 2:48

33. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Qué noche" 1937 2:30

34. Los Iracundos  "Puerto Montt rock" 1971 0:27

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

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

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

38. Los Naufragos  "Zapatos Rotos rock"  0:34

Birthday vals....

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

40.... is followed by 4 tango demo dances (triple cheers to our beloved Argentina, Patricia Becker, who flew in from San Diego just in time for our celebration!), and then a chacarera demo, micro-class, and a practice dance. At last, it's time to bring the floor back into milonga action with a small helping of D'Arienzo - and we keep on rolling until 1 am!

Juan D'Arienzo
14 Dec 1900 - 14 Jan 1976
From Tangology blog

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

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

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

Come to think of it, "D'Arienzo the rescuer of the milonga" is also the main storyline of the great director's life. Tonight, we celebrate Carlos Gardel and Julio De Caro's birthday, but it is Juan D'Arienzo (whose birthday comes next week) whom we should give credit for saving tango as a dance culture. Gardel cemented the role of poetry and vocal in tango, and De Caro opened the floodgates of its musical complexity. Juan D'Arienzo was in many ways the antithesis of both of these two tango heroes. At first, D'Arienzo's music has been roundly derided as primitive, as retreating to tango's inglorious roots, and the lyrics of many of his songs, as lowly and un-poetic. But tango couldn't have experienced its bloom in the 1940s without the seeds D'Arienzo planted in the second half of the 1930s! By the mid-1930s, the notable tango orchestras all left the dance hall for the theaters and the cabarets, and the record sales sagged too. It was the vigorous, youthful beat of the D'Arienzo's newly assembled band, in 1936, which filled the dance venues again, and brought jobs to countless other tango orchestras who carried on the flame of the milonga. 

44. Los Iracundos  "Puerto Montt rock" 1971 0:27

45. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Ojos Negros (Oscar Strok)" 1968 2:28

46. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Adios corazon" 1968 2:16

47. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Bar Exposicion" 1959 3:26

48. Los Naufragos  "Zapatos Rotos rock"  0:34

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

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

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

52. Gilda  "Noches Vacias cortina"  0:22

53. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana  "Torrente" 1944 3:10

54. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana "Igual que un bandoneon" 1945 3:02

55. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana "Solamente ella" 1944 3:15

56. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

57. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Fueron tres años" 1956 3:28

58. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Muchacha" 1956 3:19

59. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Si me hablaras corazon" 1956 3:18

60. Gilda  "No Me Arrepiento de Éste Amor cortina long"  0:40

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

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

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

64. Sandro de America  "Yo te amo cortina long"  0:44

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

66. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental "Pavadita" 1958 2:55

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

68. Los Naufragos  "Zapatos Rotos rock"  0:34

We may have skipped the name of El Rey del compás, the King of the Beat Juan D'Arienzo in the speeches tonight, but we shall celebrate his birthday in our hearts and with our dancing feet!

69. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "El huracán" 1944 2:21

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

71. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1951 3:54

And we wouldn't have made it without selfless help of Alejandra and the family. Thank you for the abundance of empanadas!! Comida argentina para siempre!