Junando Practica playlist, December 2018

It feels so good to see the friends and fool around with the music :)

01. Paco Mendoza & DJ Vadim  "Los Ejes De Mi Carreta" 2013 3:23
D'Arienzo's birthday is December 14, and with his decades at the helm of orchestras, evolving styles, and never-wavering dedication to the rhythm, he's a great guy to celebrate in a playlist! And we start with the formative years of his orchestra, when his fresh, exuberant, youthful music exploded the atmosphere at El Chatecler and before his crazy pianist Rodolfo Biago left to convene his own band. 
02. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La viruta" 1936 2:20
03. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Champagne tango" 1938 2:26
04.  Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Ataniche" 1936 2:32
05. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Zvezda (The Star)" 1984 0:28
06. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "La Trilla" 1940 2:21
07. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Shusheta" 1940 2:22
08. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Nobleza De Arrabal" 1940 2:07
09. Carlitos Rolan  "Cuarteto2"  0:19
Same eye-opener era of D'Arienzo Revolution. Unbelievable valses.
10. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Pasion" 1937 2:37
11. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Corazon De Artista" 1936 2:19
12. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Mentias" 1937 2:19
13. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24

December 11th also marks Carlos Gardel's birthday - and the Day of Tango celebration. Of course Gardel's isn't quite the tango we dance to ... but I am ready to celebrate his with a super-hit which started his tango career in 1917. The song which marked the birth of the genre of tango cancion, of the fusion of poetry and music like never existed in tango before - "Mi noche triste". Let's dance to Canaro's excellent cover!
14. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Mi Noche Triste" 1936 2:44
and the second song of this Canaro-Maida tanda shall be Russian-inspired "Ojos negros", a traveling musical motif to which I devoted too many hours of research :)
15. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Ojos negros que fascinan" 1935 2:51
16. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Condena (S.O.S.)" 1937 2:39
17. Rodrigo  "Cuarteto"  0:29
Rhythmic yet complex, the songs of D'Arienzo's mature period are among my top favorites:
18. Juan D'Arienzo - Hector Maure "Enamorado (Metido)" 1943 2:33
19. Juan D'Arienzo - Hector Maure "Infamia" 1941 3:05
20. Juan D'Arienzo - Hector Maure "El olivo (El olvido)" 1941 2:51
21. Alla Pugacheva  "Etot mir"  0:33
We are only 3 weeks past the 115th anniversary of birth of Sebastian Piana, the composer who stubbornly created the whole genre of milongas for dancing, and who just wouldn't let the society reject the newborn milongas. Let's celebrate with Piana's earliest, slowest milonga compositions!
22. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Sentimental" 1933, 1933 3:10
23. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Del 900" 1933 2:54
24. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Milonga criolla" 1936 3:00
25. Tatyana Kabanova  "Mama, ya zhulika lyublyu cortina"  0:21
26. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "El Adios" 1938 3:09
27. Edgardo Donato - Romeo Gavioli y Lita Morales "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02
28. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:09
29. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24
I started a tanda of instrumental music of early D'Arienzo and quickly realized that it's a bit out of place for the middle of the evening ... just a tad too straightforward at a time in the energy wave when something more complexly rhythmic would make a better fit. OK, fixing it mid-tanda then.
30. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Joaquina" 1935 3:01
31. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A oscuras" 1941 2:48
32. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50
33. Carlitos Rolan  "Cuarteto2"  0:19

Get prepared to listen to Troilo's beautiful vals, "Flor de lino", "The flower of flax", often :) The beautiful celestial blue flower has become the mascot of our spring festival of tango. Let's all get excited about SLTF 2019 and welcome old friends of our community, Rod Relucio and Jenny Teters from Chicago, and first-time comers to Salt Lake Valley, Erin Malley and Doruk Golcu!!!
34. Anibal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz "Flor De Lino" 1947 2:49
35. Anibal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz "Romance De Barrio" 1947 2:35
36. Anibal Troilo - Alberto Marino y Floreal Ruiz "Palomita Blanca" 1944 3:20
37. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Zvezda (The Star)" 1984 0:28

Roberto Ray, 1935.
From tangos al bardo blog

On December 21, we celebrate the birthday of Roberto Ray, one of the truly indispensable voices of the formative years of vocal tango. In the 1920s, the dancing public believed that vocal tangos were only good for listening, and that a voice of a singer only distracted the dancers; at most, a few lines of a refrain were permitted to be sung. Then, together with such amazing talents as Francisco Fiorentino and Angel Vargas, Roberto Ray helped transformed the early, mostly instrumental danceable tango songs into a seamless union of the vocalist and the orchestra. Having started with Fresedo's orchestra in 1931, Roberto Ray was the first to blaze this path. The Argentines tend to believe that Ray didn't go far enough, that his singing retained too much of the operatic, Italian kind of a sweet flavor, and that only Fiorentino and Vargas mastered the rougher, more national vibe of singing. Still it was Roberto Ray's work which prepared the fertile ground for their success. Let's not forget that very few Argentine orchestras survived the disruptions of the Great Depression and continued to record through the mid-1930s. And in those trying times, Fresedo's remained the most elegant of the surviving bands!
Ray was born Roberto Raimondo on December 21, 1912, and he already had strong experience as an estribillista (refrain-singer) when he joined Fresedo's orchestra at the age of 19 in 1931. The times were very tough for the tango musicians, but the sweet, European voice of Ray (which never betrayed his barrio roots) helped Fresedo win the gigs with the rich and famous of the day. They stayed together for 8 years straight, and then Roberto Ray returned to Osvaldo Fresedo two more times. For tonight, I'm going to play the hits of the late 1930s, when Fresedo fully mastered inclusion of harp into the orchestra. It's just so breathtakingly beautiful!
38. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Angustia" 1938 2:
39. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "No Quiero Verte Llorar" 1937 2:42
40. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Nieblas del riachuelo" 1937 2:25
41. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33
Hugo Duval was born on December 13, 1928. This December "birthday kid" was still a little child, indeed, when tango went through the height of its Golden Years. Duval started singing professionally at 17, and at 21, he joined Biagi's orchestra - and stayed with Don Rodolfo until the great pianist's death. Biagi's quarter century at the help of the orchestra had many amazing high points of evolving styles, and Duval's late-1950s hits, tragic and rhythmic at the same time, are definitively among the must-play Biagi recordings.
42. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval "Solamente dios y yo" 1958 2:33
43. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval  "Alguien" 1956 3:14
44. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval  "Esperame en el cielo" 1958 2:52
45. Harry Roy  "South American Joe cortina 1"  0:26
I haven't played candombe milongas for too long! (And thank you Laura for a great tanda!)
46. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Azabache" 1942 3:03
47. Alberto Castillo  "El Gatito en el Tejado" 1957 2:37
48. Romeo Gavioli "Tamboriles" 1956 2:56
49. Adam Aston  "Nikodem"  0:20
50. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "Madreselva" 1938 2:39
51. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "Por La Vuelta" 1939 2:34
52. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "Mano a mano" 1936 3:16
53. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24
54. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Tango argentino" 1942 2:37
55. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "El encopao" 1942 2:34
56. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Danza maligna" 1940 2:25
57. Alla Pugacheva  "Etot mir"  0:33
December is also the birthday month of Manuel Buzón (December 18, 1904 – July 14, 1954). A singer, pianist, and orchestra director, he's been involved with tango professionally since the age of 11, in Argentina and abroad, but his band has left only a handful of quality records, and so it's largely forgotten today. Tonight, I selected just one vals to commemorate this great musician. Let it be a mixed tanda of ever-more-energizing valses! Bailemos?
58. Manuel  Buzón - Osvaldo Moreno  "Pichon enamorado" 1942 2:18
59. Alberto Castillo  "Idilio Trunco" 1946 2:06
60. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli  "La shunca" 1941 2:35
61. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Zvezda (The Star)" 1984 0:28
And of course Osvaldo Pugliese is also to be celebrated in December! Born December 2, 1905, he grew to symbolize the greatness of tango and the freedom against oppression. One really can't give tribute to Pugliese's genius in one short paragraph! Perhaps you can follow the blog label to read what I have written about Saint Pugliese before ... and of course just one tanda can't do him justice. 
62. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:49
63. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49
64. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "La Abandone Y No Sabia" 1944 3:12
65. Lyube  "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1"  0:18

Carlos Lazzari leading D'Arienzo memorial orchestra

We are finishing the night with the rhythmic madness and Pugliese-inspired suspense of very late D'Arienzo (and I must admit that I've been fooled by a mistaken annotation of one of the tracks in my collection, and played one recording of a band of D'Arienzo aficionados instead of the original ... although this band was anointed by King of the Beat himself in 1972 ... and its director, bandoneonist Carlos Lazzari, has been born in December too, on Dec. 9 1925, so it's only fair to celebrate him tonight) 
66. Los Solistas de D'Arienzo "El huracan" 1984 2:17
67. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Zorro gris" 1973 2:03
68. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Este Es El Rey" 1971 3:12
69. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "La Cumparsita" 1955 3:44

Tracing Russian roots of Argentine Tango

Does tango really have any Russian origins? In addition to the layers of Spanish, Italian, African etc. roots? I gave a talk about it in Russian, but I suspect that the English-speaking tango lovers might be interested too. The following is a brief summary of my presentation in Tyumen, Siberia, on October 19, 2018, followed by a "mini-longa" playlist.

Argentina, the nation of immigrants ... even its signature cultural heritage, the tango, is officially defined as a product of interaction and cross-fertilization of many cultures. Among the Europeans, Spain, Italy and France contributed the most. But "los rusos", the immigrants from the former Russian Empire (primarily Jewish), added quite a bit to the development of tango, too. Primarily through the poetry, through the sound of violin, and through the direct influences of Russian romance music.

The most influential of El Ruso poets was Luis Rubistein, a son of immigrant family from Ekaterinoslav.

Луис Рубистейн

Let's listen to his top songs - a beautifully nostalgic and at the same optimistic "Carnaval de mi barrio", subtitled "A street landscape in the style of tango"; a dark and hopeless tragedy of "Charlemos" where the final line is rumored to have meant "Forgive me for being Jewish" for the poet's circle; and "Samaritana", a vals of heartbreaking pain which finds a secret consolation.
(While we are talking about poetry, may I call your attention to the database of tango translations? )
01. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:25

02. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Charlemos" 1941 2:29

03. Los Provincianos (Ciriaco Ortiz) - Alberto Gomez  "Samaritana (vals)" 1932 2:58

Raul Kaplun orchestra

The 1940s are the high point of tango's Golden Age. It brought together the crazy rhythmic beat of the "D'Arienzo revolution" and the romantic lyricism of the violins. Especially the Jewish violins. Perhaps the most significant violin virtuoso of this period was Raul Kaplun, a son of immigrants from Kishinev. Together with the leader of their orchestra, Lucio Demare, Raul Kaplun led a veritable anti-D'Arienzo counterrevolution, fighting for the purity and tenderness of feelings of tango music and poetry. And their true manifesto is a beautiful tango composed by Kaplun, entitled exactly like this: "Una emocion", "A feeling".
04. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Una Emocion" 1943 2:41
The historic video is almost 25 years old; the dancer is no one else but Saint Gavito, a tireless tango proselytizer of the 1990s who considered this song to be a symbolic representation of tango at large.

Simon Bajour is another must-mention tango violinist. Growing up in a town near Warsaw, Bajour fell in love with folksy, Balkan and Gypsy sounds of the violin he first heard on radio. After escaping to Argentina, he combined the paths of a classic violinist and a tango musician - and never forgot his folklore roots. Perhaps you were lucky to witness how, in some Hungarian or Serbian tavern, violinists try to outdo one another, and suddenly one of the violins breaks into cow's moo, another one responds by dog's barking, and the third counters with the dawn thrills of a nightingale? There are no nightingales in the Americas, and the Argentines may not even recognize the sound, but in Di Sarli's "El amanecer" ("The sunrise") Bajour's violins sings like a creekside nightingale back home.
05. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "El Amanecer" 1951 2:29

Since we already mentioned the Roma tunes, I have to tell a few more words about the Gypsy  romances which influenced Russian music, and, by extension, tango in Argentina. I only mentioned one example in my lecture, and asked the tangueros to recognize more Roma motifs, so familiar to a Russian ear, later during the mini-milonga. The seminal role of the Gypsy choirs, especially the famed Count Orloff choir, in the development of Russian national romance is fairly well known in the old country. But it is a much wider regional phenomenon all across Eastern Europe. The folk music of all the ethnic groups living alongside with the Roma developed under the influence of Gypsy bands. One of my favorite examples is an American immigrant musician, Misha Tsiganoff, who is famous for his original Jewish klezmer compositions. So much so that many people believed that he was Jewish (but you can probably guess from the image his tombstone that it can't be further from the truth). Well, it turned out that Mishka had nearly two dozen artistic names, which all meant about the same "Mike the Gypsy" in various languages he sang in. If he recorded a song in Lithuanian, he used a Lithuanian name; for a Hungarian song, he was a Hungarian; same in Polish, Serbian, Romanian and so on! Another amazing story was a tale of a Maramuresh Roma musician who explained how they'd arrange the same piece differently for different ethnic and social groups, always making the song at home with their listeners. With a wink, he introduced the final arrangement as "a socialist realism creation for the Communist party bosses" :)
The Russian Gypsy romance below is instantly recognized by any Russian. You probably recognize it too...
06. Imperio Argentina  "Ojos Negros romanza rusa" 1934 3:39

This recording wasn't issued on a single. It was a kind of Youtube of the 1930s - a short "talkie" movie clip, likely the first one in Spanish, starring this black-curled dark-eyed Argentine beauty. The classic Russian Gypsy romance have been arranged into tango by a Spanish German composer. I described the story of the international migrations of "Ojos Negros" in great detail on this blog. Of course, for us dancers, the most familiar recording is different:
07. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Ojos negros que fascinan" 1935 2:51

"Wilno Carnival" -
a rare edition of Florian Hermann's sheet music,
glorifying his hometown

The "Dark eyes" had a really long history in Russia before the song became tango; it started from Valse Hommage, a popular score by Florian Hermann, a mysterious XIX c. composer. Just a few weeks ago, in the famous Pashkov House in Moscow, in an ornate library hall overlooking the Kremlin, I touched the first music score editions of the 1880s which turned Hermann's waltz into a Gypsy romance. And then in the National Library of Lithuania in Vilnius, I was privileged to see more rare sheet music of Hermann, the now-forgotten native son of Vilnius, and to confirm, for the first time, the span of Hermann's life (1822-1892). Looking for "the real historical Florian Hermann" was quite a quest of mine; you can read more in my blog.
Back to the "Dark Eyes" now ... in the 1930s, the song morphed not only into Argentine tango but also to a top-rated Russian tango song ... with its own distant echo in Argentine, but much later in the 1960s.
08. Frank Fox - Piotr Leschenko "Chernye Glaza (Dark Eyes)" 1933 3:15

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

Another "migrant tango" even got the title of "Russian Gypsy", "Gitana rusa". It is directly based on a composition with Russian lysrics smuggled into Argentina through the port of Odessa. But why is it subtitled "European tango", rather than "Russian"?

This Russian Gypsy turns out to have a really tragic story. Its creator, Saul Zhadan, a fiddler from Uman, has been murdered along with the rest of town's Jews in mass executions in the fall 1941. Zhadan's son Demetrio emigrated to Argentina (one has to remember that the United States virtually closed its doors to Eastern European immigration after 1923, so refugees from the Soviet Union had to go to South America instead). The father sent his son a wedding present - a tango! Entitled "Your eyes", it was dedicated to the bride, "beautiful Celia". The groom didn't seem to appreciate it at first, especially because the song's travel by steamers was too slow and it arrived late for the wedding. But in 1941, sensing that his father was no longer alive, Demetrio decided to donate his music into the good hands of tango musicians. Only, no one knew what the map of Europe will look like after the war, will there be Russia ever again ... so the song was subtitled generically "European"
10. Ricardo Malerba - Orlando Medina "Gitana rusa" 1942 2:47

... And, at last, the tango of Argentina completes a full circle and returns to Russia to its roots! The year is 1968. We see the only LP of Argentine tango ever recorded in the USSR, titled just that: "Argentine Tango". It is Cuarteto Buenos Aires, directed by Tito Bespros. With the help of late Julio Nudler's excellent book on the Jewish personalities of tango, and interviews of the descendants of Bespros's family, I was able to piece together the story of this amazing fiddler, born to immigrants  from Odessa in 1917, who played with OTV, De Caro, Juan Canaro and great many Golden Age orchestras, before convening his own band at the age of 39. Many international gigs and awards followed, until the Argentines managed to secure an invitation to the Old Country. And the quartet's invited vocalist, Siro San Roman, even left an amazing "Easter egg" in their "A media luz", where, from behind the Argentine classic, "Mommy Odessa" herself peeks out with a wink :) The album is available for download courtesy of Andres Wilks)
11. Tito  "Tito Bespros - Siro San Roman - Media Luz"  2:32
The singer, age 84, was the only surviving member of the conjunto when Andres made his discovery of the 1968 album. When the word spread,  with the help of this blog, Argentine TV journalists found Siro San Roman at a nursing home and brought him to the station for an interview. For a few months then, the old romantic singer shone as the newly discovered celebrity of his retirement community! Alas, Soro San Roman passed away in August 2018, age 85...

... and now on to a mini milonga where many of the songs from this story will sound ... along with a few which were just hinted  about ;)

13.  Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Cascabelito" 1941 2:32
14. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Patotero sentimental" 1942 2:34
15. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Charlemos" 1941 2:30
16. Viktor Tsoy  "Red-Yellow Days cortina long 3"  0:33
17. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Ataniche" 1936 2:32
18. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Union Civica" 1938 2:28
19. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Champagne Tango" 1938, 1938 2:25
20. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
Can you spot a "Gypsy Romance" tune in the following tanda, too? ;)
21. Los Provincianos (Ciriaco Ortiz) - Alberto Gomez  "Samaritana (vals)" 1932 2:58
22. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "En el volga yo te espero" 1943 2:40
23. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli  "La shunca" 1941 2:35
24. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina slow"  0:18
25. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Una emocion" 1943 2 :41
26. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Que solo estoy" 1943 3:04
27. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Ortego del Cerro "Una vez" 1943 3:22
28. Viktor Tsoy  "Red-Yellow Days cortina long 3"  0:33
And in the next tanda, another Roma motif not mentionedin the lecture....
29. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "El Adios" 1938 3:09
30. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:09
31. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:23
32. Zhanna Aguzarova "Cats" 1987 0:21
33. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Sentimental" 1933 3:10
34. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Del 900" 1933 2:54
35. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Milonga criolla" 1936 3:01
36. Viktor Tsoy  "Good morning, last Hero cortina long" 1989, 1989 0:35
37. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Ojos Negros (Oscar Strok)" 1968 2:28
38. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Adios corazon (reverb)" 1968 2:16
39. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental  "Bar Exposicion" 1968 3:26
40. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Zvezda (The Star)" 1984 0:28
41. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
42. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriendote" 1955 2:49
43. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 19562:47
44. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23
45. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz "Por Un Beso De Amor" 1940 2:46
46. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Amor  "Paloma (vals)" 1945 2:28
47. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Dejame Amarte Aunque Sea un Dia (vals)" 1939 2:55
48. Boney M  "Daddy Cool cortina"  0:21
49. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Ciego" 1935 2:57
50. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Nada Más" 1938 3:02
51. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Ojos negros que fascinan" 1935 2:51
52. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968, 1968 0:23
53. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
54. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "El pañuelito" 1959 2:42
55. Osvaldo Pugliese - Alberto Moran "Pasional" 1951 3:26
56. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "La cumparsita (Matos Rodriguez)" 1961 3:33

Buena Vista milonga playlist October 2018

I was stoked to return to "Buena" where we ran a very special vocal milonga of translated tangos last year, one of my most sentimental memories of Kiev. Buena's organizer told me that I was totally free to play the music of my choice as long as I don't stack vals and milonga and vals tandas 4 deep. And I knew that Buena Vista gathers an experienced and enthusiastic community, so the night promised to be a lot of fun. It actually turned out to be considerably more stressful than I ever counted on, with the organizer voicing displeasure with my music choices time and time again, in a harshly sectarian tone. "Canaro is what they play in Europe, but we are emulating Buenos Aires here so we won't dance to it"- "Rodriguez is trash, not tango" - "You shouldn't ever play more than 2 tandas a night of the music which isn't from the 1940s!" (BTW I got much better reviews from the guests ... but I had to scramble to replace all the supposedly nonconforming tandas, because the boss). If only I received a more specific assignment, I'd churn out a torrent of Troilo and Tanturi :)

01. Paco Mendoza & DJ Vadim  "Los Ejes De Mi Carreta - danceable cortina cut"  2013 2:12

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

03. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El pollo Ricardo" 1938 2:30

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

05. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Zorro gris" 1938 2:46

06. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24

07. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Tango argentino" 1942 2:37

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

10. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Como Has Cambiado Pebeta" 1942 2:37

11. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "En La Buena Y En La Mala" 1940 2:28

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

13. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Orillas Del Plata" 1935 2:44

14.Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "En Tu Corazon" 1938 2:47

15. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "Cuatro Palabras" 1941 2:12

16. Okean Elzi  "Bez tebe cortina"  0:31

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

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

19. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Algun dia te dire" 1939 2:16

20. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "No me pregunten porque" 1939 2:54

21. Boney M  "Daddy Cool cortina"  0:21

22. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "La trilla" 1940 2:21

23. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Catamarca" 1940 2:23

24. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Shusheta" 1940 2:24

25. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Nobleza De Arrabal" 1940 2:08

26. Caro Emerald  "A night like this cortina long"  0:29

27. Juan D Arienzo - Instrumental "Milonga, Vieja Milonga" 1937 2:33

28. Juan D Arienzo - Instrumental "De Pura Cepa" 1935 2:42

29. Juan D Arienzo - Instrumental "El Esquinazo" 1938 2:29

30. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Zvezda (The Star)" 1984, 1984 0:28

31. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray  "Adiós para siempre" 1936 3:03

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

33. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Arrabalero" 1939 2:32

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

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

36. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Asi Se Baila El Tango" 1942 2:36

37. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Noches Del Colon" 1941 2:36

38. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental "Comparsa Criolla" 1941 2:53

39. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Casillo  "Pocas palabras" 1941 2:27

40. Gilda  "Noches Vacias cortina"  0:22

41. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Salud, Dinero Y Amor" 1939 2:39

42. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Tengo mil novias" 1939  3:06

43. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores  "Fru Fru" 1939 2:57

44. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Mirale Land cortina"  0:31

45. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A media luz" 1941 2:31

46. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A oscuras" 1941 2:48

47. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Se va la vida" 1936 2:39

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

49. The Doors  "Riders of the storm cortina"  0:32

50. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Qué importa" 1939 2:17

51. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "La bruja" 1938 2:18

52. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Ansiedad" 1938 2:42

53. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "No Mientas" 1938 2:36

54. Kansas  "Dust in the wind cortina"  0:23

55. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Pena mulata" 1941 2:27

56. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Zorzal" 1941 2:40

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

58. Okean Elzi  "Bez tebe cortina"  0:31

59. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Jamas Retornaras" 1942 2:31

60. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44

61. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Trasnochando" 1942 3:04

62. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Lejos de Buenos Aires" 1942 2:54

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

64. Pedro Laurenz - Martin Podesta  "Al verla pasar" 1942 3:23

65. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Vieja Amiga" 1938 3:12

66. Pedro Laurenz - Instrumental  "Amurado" 1947 2:38

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

68. Rodrigo  "Cuarteto"  0:29

69. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Lita Morales "Noches de invierno" 1937 2:47

70. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Angel Vargas "Sin Rumbo Fijo" 1938 2:18

71. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Mario Pomar  "Temo" 1940 2:55

72. Pink Floyd  "Goodbye Blue Sky cortina long 2"  0:29

73. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas, glosas: Julian Centeya "Cafe Dominguez" 1955 2:58

74. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Ahora no me conoces" 1940 2:34

75. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Solo compasion" 1941 2:58

76. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "A quien le puede importar?" 1945 3:11

77. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33

78. Osvaldo Pugliese - Instrumental "Recuerdo" 1944 2:45

79. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes y Esmeralda" 1944 2:46

80. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Farol" 1943 3:22

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

A journey into the emotions of tango - a tribute to Jenna Rosenberg (1984-2018)

"Dam dancing" with Jen on a
hike in Brighton

A dear old tango friend has been taken away from us. We shared many dances and many laughs, many out-of-town trips and many hikes, and long, long conversations. Jen had an unforgettable personality, so sweet and full of empathy and rich on great friendships, and so impossibly super-shy and super-confident almost at the same time. The saddest thing is that Jen was only 34, and pregnant, when she was killed in a freak trail accident.

Remembering Jen made me write a special tango story of dances separated by sparse lines of narration. The request came from TEDx SLC, one of the many amazing projects Jen supported, volunteered for, and helped organize. Once before, Jen brought our tango club team to "immerse strangers into tango" during a TedX afterparty. This time, her organizer friends asked us to make a short presentation in her memory during the main event.

We've presented many different tango stories before - journeys into tango history, genres and styles, and my favorite travels into tango poetry. This time we needed something radically different - much shorter and strikingly poignant. And I knew right away that it would have to open with Di Sarli's 1955 "Verdemar"

The concept? It can't be a story about tango. Rather, we are taking a travel into the depth of emotions of tango, with three or four recorded pieces expressing the range from grief to joy to the healing warmth of memory. Can't use too many words. For the darkness and grief, nothing can outdo Verdemar. The joyful song can be a vals or a milonga, although I would be afraid to confuse people with an ambiguity of waltz-like forms which aren't strictly tango specific to the uninitiated? For the closure, we would pick something like Donato's "Yo te amo" as a happy gaiety yet nostalgic song, or "Remebranzas" of Pugliese or "Una emocion" for a more contemplative one. No deeply special choreography in the plans; rather, one skilled couple can begin a song, with more dancers joining for the closing stanzas. And of course we'll accompany the story with the images of our dear Jenna.

In a few days, Cassandra, an old dancing friend fo Jen's, took charge of the organizational aspects, modifying the following draft script of mine (I will add the actual TEDx's video in the end, hoping that they won't object to my use of a snippet of their very official recording):

TedX organizers asked our group, the Wasatch Tango Club, to give a presentation of tango dance in memory of our dear departed friend, Jenna Rosenberg. Jen was taken away in a tragic accident in the prime of her life. Both TedX SLC and the dance of Argentine tango have been her longtime passions, and we are so honored to dance in this great hall to remember her.

In a series of 3 dances, we are going to explore the emotional range of tango, from inconsolable grief to joy and exuberance to the warm glow of nostalgia and healing memories. Tune your hearts to tango and join us in your feelings.

We start with Verdemar, a song which is rarely danced, due to its raw power of grief and sorrow. “She was snatched away from us in the prime of her beautiful life,” cry out the lines. 

Our next selection is Ella es asi, a loving hymn to a woman who shone so brightly and who was never afraid to be her true self. The meaning of the title is simply, That's how she is. The musical genre isn't a regular tango, but rather a milonga, tango's irreverent, playful younger sister.

Finally, Yo te amo, a beautiful classic song selected for its joyful mood and it's rare feminine voice. I love you, my heart, for your gift of empathy and affection, go the lyrics...

... and now, the whole story of ours. May Mother Earth be soft for you, Jen!

San Diego Decir Tango playlist, September 2018

Many thanks to the amazing Patricia Becker for inviting me to DJ at Practica Tinto Chocolate in San Diego! So great to meet So Ca friends again! It's not even two hours of music, but a wonderful memory...
01. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Sinsabor" 1939 2:53
02. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:50
03. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli "Triqui trá" 1940 2:34
04. Gilda  "No Me Arrepiento de Éste Amor cortina long"  0:40
05. Juan  D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Internado" 1938 2:31
06. Juan  D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Ataniche" , 1936 2:32
07. Juan  D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Cencerro" 1937 2:40
08. Tatyana Kabanova  "Mama, ya zhulika lyublyu cortina"  0:21
09. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata" 1841 2:27
10. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada" 1941 2:22

Podesta with Alex Krebs orchestra!

September is a month to celebrate one of the most-played tango singers, Alberto Podestá. He was born Alejandro Washington Alé in San Juan on September 22, 1924 and lived to the age of 91 - even touring the US in his late 80s and famously performing with Alex Krebs's tango band in Baltimore! Given that Alberto Podestá started singing on stage at the age of 13, earning himself a nickname "Gardelito", after his father died and his family was left destitute, it means over 75 years on stage! By the age 15, of Alberto Podestá already moved to Buenos Aires to sing there, and at 16, recorded his first ageless hits with Miguel Caló, such as vals "Bajo un cielo de estrellas" (still under a different stage name - it was Carlos Di Sarli who gave him the now-famous scenic name of Alberto Podestá the following year). The milonga "Entre pitada y pitada" ("Between one whiff and another") was their first recording, said to have been commissioned as a jingle for a tobacco company:
11. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Entre pitada y pitada" 1942 2:32
12. Los Iracundos  "Puerto Montt rock" 1971 0:27
I just featured Jorge Ortiz, born on September 18, 1912, in three tandas the night before. There is only time for two tonight, showcasing the singer short but very productive stint with Calo, and long collaboration with Biagi.
13. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz  "A las siete en el cafe" 1943 3:07
14. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz  "Barrio De Tango" 1943 3:06
15. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz "Pa'que seguir" 1943 2:13
16. Soda Stereo  "Corazon elator"  0:28
17. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Todo te nombra" 1940 3:33
18. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Carrillón De La Merced" 1941 2:31
19. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Quiero Verte Una Vez Más" 1940 2:58
20. Gilda  "No Me Arrepiento de Éste Amor cortina long"  0:40

OTV in the 1920s

Adolfo Carabelli, an incredibly talented and very underappreciated jazz and tango musician, has been born almost exactly 125 years ago to date; I only had a chance to plane a lone track of his the previous tonight, but will make up for it tonight with two full tandas. Carabelli formally trained as a composer in Europe; having returned home for a summer break in 1914, he ended up stuck in Argentina due to WWI. By the early 1920s, he's built himself a name in jazz - and then Victor Argentina gave him a job of the musical director, which put Carabelli in charge of tango programming and Victor's house bound, the famous OTV, Orquesta Típica Victor. The OTV's talent pool and the zeal to innovate were just amazing; many musicians from Carabelli's jazz band took part, and soon, the band also started recording tangos under the name of Orquesta Típica Carabelli. But then, buoyed by Carabelli's achievements, Victor made a business decision to organize a whole array of house tango orchestras, undercutting the success of its flagship OTV on the radio. Just as importantly, the OTV musicians worked in the studio and slept at night, instead of working the night clubs and the milonga halls. further limiting its appeal to the dancing public. As the D'Arienzo Revolution unfolded in the second half of the 1930s, and as the dance scene of tango exploded again, Carabelli found himself on the sidelines, then lost his orchestra director job just as the Golden Age of Tango of the 1940s came into bloom. He died in oblivion 7 years later. 
21. Orquesta Típica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli) - Lita Morales "Noches de invierno" 1937 2:47
22. Orquesta Típica Víctor (dir. A. Carabelli) - Ángel Vargas "Sin Rumbo Fijo" 1938 2:18
23. Orquesta Típica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli) - Mario Pomar  "Temo" 1940 2:55
24. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24
25. Orquesta Típica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli)  "Nino bien" 1928 2:43
26. Orquesta Típica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli)  "Che, papusa, oi" 1927 2:37
27. Orquesta Típica Victor  (dir. A. Carabelli)  "Coqueta" 1929 2:47
28. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina long"  0:31
Tango historians argue, without ever agreeing, who created the paradigm of the Singer of the Orchestra which defined the vocal tango of the Golden Age, after the earlier orchestras carefully experimented with adding little vocal snippets into tango for dancing (as opposed to tango for listening, where vocal soloists were the norm ever since Gardel sang "Mi niche triste" in 1918). Both Ángel Vargas, in D'Agostino's orchestra, and Francisco Fiorentino, in Troilo's orchestra, demonstrated this equal partnership between the vocalist and the band by 1941. Tonight, we shall celebrate the great "Fiore", born September 23, 1905.
29. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Maragata" 1941 2:45
30. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "El Bulín De La Calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:29
31. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Te aconsejo que me olvides" 1941 2:58
32. Tatyana Kabanova  "Mama, ya zhulika lyublyu cortina"  0:21

Alberto Podesta with Laurenz's orchestra at Radio Belgrano
from tangosalbardo blog

Alberto Podestá has the fondest memories of the orchestra of Pedro Láurenz, especially remembering their super-fancy, same-style, same tailor shop suits. The night before, I played their dramatic tango classics. Let's turn to a couple of their excellent milongas tonight!
33. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá "Yo soy de San Telmo" 1943 2:31
34. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá "Maldonado" 1943 2:04
35. Pedro Láurenz - Martín Podestá "La Vida Es Una Milonga" 1941 2:25
36. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23
The Uruguayan band of Donato Racciatti is, alas, better known in Japan than in the West. Their pianist - whose name I don't even know, because Uruguayan tango is so much less studied - is totally awesome. But to me, Racciatti greatest strengths are his own compositions (eagerly picked by the leading orchestras of Buenos Aires),and, especially, his stunning female vocals. A signature example is "Hasta siempre amor", recorded in September 1958. Shall we mark the occasion tonight?

37. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
38. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
39. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriendote" 1955 2:49
40. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
Jorge Maciel was born on September 17 ,1920. It's impossible to pay tribute to him without playing "Remembranzas", a song which first propelled him to fame when he sang it with Gobbi's orchestra in 1948. Yet later, with Pugliese, Maciel outdid himself!
41. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Esta Noche De Luna" 1955 3:45
42. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Cascabelito" 1955 2:41
43. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranzas" 1956 3:41
44. Los Naufragos  "Zapatos Rotos rock"  0:34

Salamanca and his orchestra - Todotango photo

I already featured Salamanca, one of tango's most talented pianists and arrangers, who unfortunately left us too few records because of political blacklisting, in the previous post. Please read it. The guy was really amazing ... directed his first tango band at 14 and continued into his 70s ... 17 years with the King of the Beat, 380 D'Arienzo recordings featuring Salamanco on the piano!... One thing I may have to add is how masterfully Salamanca captured the new technical possibilities of the improving recording technology in the mid-1950s, adding signature flowing, higher-pitch sound of the violin into the arrangement. A truly unique tonal and emotional treasure.
45. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Adios Corazon" 1957 2:40
46. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Todo Es Amor" 1958 2:47
47. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Bombomcito" 1958 3:22
48. Juan D Arienzo "La cumparsita" 1955 4:03

Junando Practica playlist, September 2018

After the August madness of the Mountain Milonga Retreat, it's time to settle back into the normal tango routine. And so I get my first DJing stint after missing the whole previous month. Always love Sage's Wednesday night practicas ... ever since their inception, they draw a great crowd. Just wish we could keep on dancing a bit longer than the allowed two-hours-and-a-change.

We start from the old standby, Francisco Canaro's quintet's instrumentals

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

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

03. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Derecho viejo" 1938 2:28

This month marks the 35th anniversary of my university graduation; there have been virtual reunions and much remembering in the social networks, and one of the things we discussed was the music of the 1970s Moscow. I'll use a selection of disco cortinas from the school crowd faves of the epoch, get ready :)

04. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina slow"  0:18

Reynal singing with D'Arienzo orchestra.
From tangosalbardo blog.

When The King of the Beat re-assembled this orchestra after the painful split with the pianist Juan Polito and singer Alberto Echagüe, he picked Alberto Reynal as his principal vocalist. The frantic madness, and the rough dictatorial style, of D'Arienzo were literally wearing the musicians off, but it may have been the hardest for the singers. Reynal got sick and quit performing after just over a year, and died a few years later. He was only 38 (2 Sep 1908 - 27 Feb 1947). We are left with too few records to showcase his voice. The more prolific great voices of D'Arienzo's orchestra, Echague and Maure, always get the upper hand. The songs with the voice of Alberto Reynal belong to the transition period, and they are marked by the King's trademark rhythmic exuberance but the plaintive violins already make their strong mark. Since September marks Reynal birthday, I planned to showcase this period in a never-before-tested tanda. The impressions are decidedly mixed. The music seems more complex and varied than what I should have picked for the 2nd tanda of the night? But I think it should work great mid-milonga...

05. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Reynal  "Almanaque De Ilusion" 1941 3:00

06. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Reynal  "Chirusa" 1940 2:49

07. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Reynal  "El Corazon Me Engano" 1940 2:22

08. Boney M  "Daddy Cool cortina"  0:21

Singer Jorge Ortiz has been born in September as well (18 Sep 1912 - 18 Feb 1989). I started off by picking 3 very different tandas with his voice, and now I see that I later put all 3 of them back to back: valses and tangos of Biagi and Calo orchestras. Ortiz stayed with Biagi for 3 years and his name became almost synonymous with the greatest times of Biagi's orchestra. The singer's tenure with Calo lasted only his 6 months, and they recorded mere 7 songs, but these are amazing hits, too!

09. Rodolfo Biagi - Instrumental "Lagrimas y sonrisas" 1941 2:41

10. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz "Cuatro palabras" 1941 2:20

11. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz "Por un beso de amor" 1940 2:46

Biagi and Ortiz - from the Tango Archive project

12. Desireless  "Voyage Voyage cortina"  0:31

13. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz  "Pa'que seguir" 1943 2:13

14. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz  "Barrio De Tango" 1943 3:06

15. Miguel Calo - Jorge Ortiz  "A las siete en el cafe" 1943 3:07

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

17. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Todo de Nombra" 1940 3:33

18. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Carrillón De La Merced" 1941 2:31

19. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortiz  "Quiero Verte Una Vez Más" 1940 2:58

20. Tatyana Kabanova  "Mama, ya zhulika lyublyu cortina"  0:21

21. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Silueta porteña" 1936 3:01

22. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Tangon" 1935 3:03

23. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Milonga criolla" 1936 3:05

24. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina slow"  0:18

25. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Recien" 1943 2:43

26. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Todo" 1943 2:37

27. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Garua" 1943 3:11

28. Boney M  "Daddy Cool cortina"  0:21

Fiorentino and Piazzolla, two of the most influential
members of Troilo team. From tangosalbardo blog

The great singer Francisco Fiorentino, whose seamless integration into Troilo's orchestra set the high standard for vocal tango, is also a September birth boy. I mark this occasion by playing two Troilo tandas, one more relentlessly rhythmic, another more lyrical and complex. Born on September 23 1905, Fiorentino was already in his 30s when he joined the debut of Troilo's orchestra; his experience included playing bandoneon and singing as an estribillista for many tango bands. But it was his 7 years with Troilo which still fill the tango aficionados with awe.

29. Anibal Troilo & F Fiorentino  "El cuarteador" 1941 2:48

30. Anibal Troilo & F Fiorentino  "Toda mi vida" 1941 2:56

31. Anibal Troilo & F Fiorentino  "Te aconsejo que me olvides" 1941 2:58

32. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

33. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Mariquita no mires al puerto (vals)" 1945 3:01

34. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Isabelita" 1940 2:56

35. Enrique Rodriguez - El "Chato" Flores "Salud, Dinero Y Amor (Vals)" 1939 2:39

36. Gypsy folk  "Na poslednyuyu pyaterochku (Last 5 rubles)"  0:26

A mixed pre-Golden age tanda of favorites, with its of farm life and rough young years. Many orchestras played the final song, "El carrerito", but I think only Fresedo gave us the authentic voice of a tired cowboy imploring the last few of his stubborn cows  to cross a ravine. Tango isn't all about the big city living!

37. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Fama "La estancia" 1930 3:17

(and the middle song of the tanda celebrates one of my fav early tango bandleaders, Adolfo Carabelli, who was born on September 8, 1893)

38. Adolfo Carabelli - Carlos Lafuente "Pa' Que Lagrimear" 1933 2:37

39. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ernesto Fama  "El carrerito" 1928 3:09

40. Desireless  "Voyage Voyage cortina"  0:31

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

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

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

44. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina long"  0:31

In the last few days, I couldn't get "Y todavia te quiero" from my head. A superhit of 1956 has been recorded by nearly all major orchestras over the course of just a few months. Pugliese and Di Sarli, De Angelis and Varela, Basso and Federico ... D'Arienzo was one of the last bandleaders to turn to this dramatic song - and it's become one of just two records of his orchestra with an amazing voice of Libertad Lamarque. Tonight I featuring this recording in a tanda of late, dramatic, suspenseful D'Arienzo hits:

45. Juan D'Arienzo  - Libertad Lamarque "Y Todavia Te Quiero" 1956 2:57

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

47. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental   "El Huracán" 1944 2:23

48. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21

49. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno  "El tucu-tun" 1943 2:34

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

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

Jorge Maciel, born September 17 ,1920, came to the tango fame late. He sang for Gobbi's orchestra in the late 1940s and the early 1950s, but it was his work with Pugliese in 1954 - 1967 which gave us some of the most indispensable must-play tangos.

52. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Esta Noche De Luna" 1955 3:45

53. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Cascabelito" 1955 2:41

54. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranzas" 1956 3:41

55. Eruption  "One way ticket cortina long"  0:31

Fulvio Salamanca, born August 19, 1921 in a tiny town in the province of Santa Fe, may formally be the previous month's Birthday Man, but we shall celebrate him - likely the most talented of tango pianists - a couple weeks late. Fulvio convened his first tango orchestra at 14, and soon met Juan D'Arienzo when the King of the Beat was touring a neighboring province. After D'Arienzo's stellar pianists left - first Biagi, then Polito - he offered the job to a 19 years old Fulvio Salamanca. Few musicians survived the extreme pressure of working with D'Arienzo for long, but Salamanca stayed put for 17 years! They recorded 380 compositions together, some arranged by Fulvio himself. The years of Salamanca and D'Arienzo's work together were marked by an introduction of a more romantic style, when the fiery orchestra rhythm and the rule of the piano has become supplemented by the melodic voice of the violins. In those years, Salamanca has been repeatedly jailed for his membership in the Communist Party, but D'Arienzo kept rescuing him from behind the bars. 

Fulvio Salamanca knew the whole repertoire of D'Arienzo by memory, never looking into the score during performances. Nobody could imagine that, after so many years with the same orchestra, the pianist is capable of mastering any other style. But Fulvio had different ideas. Together with a bandoneonist Eduardo Corti they "conspired" to form a radio orchestra to play extremely dramatic tango music, to match the hottest trends of the year 1957. They didn't find their own distinctive style right away. A chance helped them. At a party, they overheard Armando Guerrico informally singing a new and totally unknown tango from neighboring Uruguay, titled "Adios, corazon". They decided to join forces and to play it together - and, after seeing Salamanca's arrangement, one of tango's greatest violinists, Elvino Vardaro, also decided to join them! It was a breakthrough. What a constellation of talents! Alas, because of the politics, Salamanca had fewer opportunities to record tangos, even though he continued to play and to lead bands till old age. But there are enough recorded hits for one good dramatic tanda!

56. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Adios Corazon" 1957 2:40

57. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Todo Es Amor" 1958 2:47

58. Fulvio Salamanca - Armando Guerrico "Bombomcito" 1958 3:22

59. Juan D Arienzo - Instrumental "La cumparsita" 1955 4:03