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!