Barely two hours of music and so many great names to celebrate! So many "March birthday boys" of tango! My first pass resulted in a very heavily rhythmic playlist; I carefully reintroduced slower and more melodic and dramatic tandas into it, but did I perhaps overdo it in the end?
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| D'Arienzo and Biagi. From El Espejero blog. |
Rodolfo Biagi, born March 14 1906, the most handsome tango band leader of all times, played one of the critically important roles in tango's history as the creator of the signature frenzied piano style of Juan D'Arienzo - likely the key ingredient which propelled D'Arienzo's orchestra to incredible success in 1935-1938, and reawakened the whole world of tango, ushering in its Golden Age. After splitting from "the King of the Beat" D'Arienzo, Rodolfo Biagi turned his orchestra into the rival Kingdom of Rhythm, spanning the range from exuberant to tragic and somber yet invariably extremely rhythmic. Dancing to Biagi is a deeply personal experience, and it may be the only orchestra which makes even such a tango omnivore as myself look around carefully in search of partners. Tonight I have time for just two Biagi tandas - one early, intense and unabashedly rhythmic, another late and brooding. Let's open the night with the sound of Biagi!
01. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "La chacarera" 1940 2:24
02. Rodolfo Biagi - Teófilo Ibáñez "Gólgota" 1938 2:33
03. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Humillación" 1941 2:42
04. Alla Pugacheva "Etot mir" 0:33
05. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12
06. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "T.B.C." 1928 3:02
07. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Racing Club" 1930 2:34
08. Lyube "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1" 0:18
Alberto Echagüe was one of the signature "gangsta" voices of tango, a real porteño with a truly local sense of a voice, so idiosyncratically slightly off-time. His voice could mark the rhythm as powerfully as a percussion instrument. Not an opera singer by any means, but so tango! Whenever a dance floor loses steam, Echagüe is almost always the best rescuer, reenergizing the milonga like no one else.
Born in Rosario on March 8 1909, Alberto Echagüe started his capital city career with D'Agostino, but quickly became the signature voice of Juan D'Arienzo's early orchestras, sharing in their glory and in their low points (like when they recorded much-reviled tangos about hiccups or farts). When Juan Polito, D'Arienzo's 2nd pianist who replaced Biagi, split off from the King of the Beat, then Echagüe joined in the revolt as well. It was a far less amicable "divorce" then between D'Arienzo and Biagi. The King put his connections to work, this time, to suffocate the band of the disloyal musicians. The best halls and the recording studios turned their back on Polito, and by 1944, Echagüe was back with his old employer. Only one Echagüe tanda for tonight, alas.
09. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "No Mientas" 1938 2:36
10. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Nada Mas" 1938 2:43
11. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Mandria" 1939 2:22
12. ZZ Top "Sharp Dressed Man cortina" 0:25
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| Roberto Maida (smiling, in a gray suit in the center) with Francisco Canaro (with a bow tie, to the left of the mike) among the musicians of Canaro's orchestra. From Tango Archive |
Singer Roberto Maida is a March birthday boy as well. Born on March 3, 1908 in Italy, he traveled to Buenos Aires with his family at the age of 1.The Maida kid has been known for his voice, and tango was his passion. Barely a teenager, he started a career singing in the movies. At 17, he's got a job with Miguel Calo, and soon went on European tours which went almost uninterrupted for 7 years, getting him into the orbit of Carlos Gardel. Manuel Pizzarro, and Eduardo Blanco. It was the same circuit in which Francisco Canaro rotated as well, but they just tried a couple of tunes in those days. But after their return to Argentina, Canaro and Maida rediscovered each other, and joined forced for 5 years, recording almost 200 pieces together between 1934 and 1939. We will celebrate Maida by a milonga tanda first, then by a set of tango masterpieces.
13. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Largá las penas" 1935 3:08
14. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Milonga criolla" 1936 3:05
15. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Milonga brava" 1938 2:35
16. Los Iracundos "Puerto Montt rock" 1971 0:27
17. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y Romeo Gavoli "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:01
18. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavioli "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:09
19. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:30
20. Lyube "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1" 0:18
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| Mauré (left) with the King of the Beat, and his other, less prolific singer Lamas. From Tango Archive |
Héctor Mauré, born March 13, 1920, became the signature voice of Juan D'Arienzo's orchestra after the departure of Echagüe. A powerful, and markedly more melodic voice, than the raw masculinity of Echagüe's vocal (and it's generally considered to be a major DJ faux pas to mix these two great voices in one tanda!)A son of Italian immigrants, Mauré preferred to earn his money by boxing as a teenager. But a bad injury at 17 made him reconsider his plans, and make better use of his voice. In 1940, he joined D'Arienzo's orchestra, staying as their principal singer for 5 years with 50 recordings, until embarking on his solo career. Like many tango stars, Mauré was blacklisted after the government of Peron was deposed in 1955, but he never wavered in his love of tango even when the music could no longer bring him any money.
21. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "El olivo (El olvido)" 1941 2:52
22. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "Enamorado (Metido)" 1943 2:29
23. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré "Lilian" 1944 3:22
24. Los Naufragos "Zapatos Rotos rock" 0:34
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| Fom Tangos al Bardo blog |
One of the most versatile talents of tango, Enrique Rodriguez was born March 8, 1901, and back in the days played bandoneon with the orchestras of the Old Guard greats, like Pancho and Canaro, and with the prescient leader of the future rhythmic revolution of tango, Edgardo Donato. But when Rodriguez convened his own orchestra in 1936, he christened it an Orchestra of All Rhythms, covering both the Tango and the Tropical sides of the milonga of the 1930s-1940s (when the big dance parties featured two orchestras taking turns every half an a hour, one playing tango and the other, foxtrots, pasodobles and "tropical" genres_. Many orchestras dabbled in both genres, usually under different names, and only "crossing the lines" in recorded music. Rodriguez, however, dared to cover all genres at once, winning the market for the private parties, where bands capable of playing all beats were in special demand. And so in the popular culture of his day, Enrique Rodriguez received the highest acclaim for his foxtrots rather than for his excellent tangos. Tonight, we only have time for one vals tanda of Enrique Rodriguez, and then for one more of his tangofox. But the amazing energy of Rodriguez's tangos shouldn't be forgotten either, His is really an Orchestra of All Beats, exactly as claimed.
25. Enrique Rodriguez - El "Chato" Flores "Los Piconeros (Vals)" 1939 2:47
26. Enrique Rodriguez - El "Chato" Flores "Las Espigadoras (Vals)" 1938 2:47
27. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "En el volga yo te espero" 1943 2:40
I couldn't resist prefacing one of the best hits of Roberto Maida, "Ciego", about the blindness of love, with a snippet of Russian ballad of the blind....
28. Sergey Nikitin "Song of the Bkind " 1988 0:26
29. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Ciego" 1935 2:57
30. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Recuerdos De Paris" 1937 3:12
31. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Condena (S.O.S.)" 1937 2:39
32. Gilda "Noches Vacias cortina" 0:22
The signature song of the following tanda is Malvón, the hymn of the mallow-flower which is the symbol of our upcoming spring festival of tango!
33. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Oigo Tu Voz" 1943 3:09
34. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Malvón" 1943 2:59
35. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "La Abandone Y No Sabia" 1944 2:50
36. Harry Roy "South American Joe cortina 3" 0:21
Enrique Rodriguez is the reigning Rey del Fox, and we gotta play some of his signature foxtrots to celebrate his birthday tonight. As a side note: we've been to a tango marathon in Budapest where "Amor in Budapest" has been played, in lieu of "La Cumparsita", to close the milongas!
37. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Se va el tren" 1942 3:10
38. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "No Apures Por Dios Postillon" 1945 2:59
39. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Amor en Budapest" 1940 2:42
40. Viktor Tsoy "Good morning, last Hero cortina long" 1989 0:35
It's been less than two months since I finalized the story of Russian "Ojos Negros". Happy to play one of its best versions tonight!
41. Florindo Sassone = Instrumental "Ojos Negros (Oscar Strok)" 1968 2:28
42. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Adios corazon (reverb)" 1968 2:16
43. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Bar Exposicion" 1968 3:26
44. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
"The dark side of Biagi"
45. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval "Alguien" 1956 3:14
46. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval "Solamente Dios y yo" 1958 2:30
47. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval "Esperame en el cielo" 1958 2:52
a folk cortina presages a tanda of a very folk-minded orchestra of Juan de Dios Filiberto, the musician who insisted that there must be no divide between Argentine Tango and its other folkloric styles, and that all the rhythms of Criollo music go hand in hand. It's Filiberto's birth month too. The great violinist and orchestra leader has been born on the 8th of March 1885
48. Folk "Shumel Kamysh " 0:23
49. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Tus Ojos Me Embelesan" 1935 2:34
50. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Pensando En Ti" 1935 2:50
51. Juan De Dios Filiberto - Instrumental "Palomita Blanca" 1959 2:35
In the run-up to the Passover, it's time for a new Israeli-themed cortina, a superbly Oriental Mizrahi music piece. Hag Pesach Sameach!
52. Zehava Ben "Yerushalaim Shel Zahav cortina" 0:27
Astor Piazzolla was born in March too. March 11, 1921. The bandoneonist genius and one-time "enfant terrible" prankster of Troilo's orchestra who once to dreamed of nothing else than forgetting tango and leaving behind its Dark Ages, Piazzolla ended up being a savior of tango music in its darkest hour. It's as easy to love Piazzolla's Renewed Tango as it is hard to dance it. We start this mixed tanda with his superb 1982 "Oblivion"
53. Astor Piazzolla - Instrumental "Oblivion" 1982 3:36
54. Cirque du Soleil - Instrumental "Querer" 1994 4:37
55. Shigeru Umebayashi "Yumeji's Theme (In the Mood for Love)" 2001 2:30
56. Zhanna Aguzarova "Cats" 1987 0:21
57. Alfredo De Angelis - Instrumental "Pavadita" 1958 2:53
58. Alfredo De Angelis - Instrumental "Felicia " 1969 2:48
59. Alfredo De Angelis - Instrumental "Mi Dolor" 1959 2:51
60. Victor Tsoy "Blood Type (cortina long)" 0:36
Which song is the highlight of the Ultimate Tanda? The irresistible soft hit of Remembranza, or the Pañuelito, the little white kerchief which is so dear to us because Erskine Maytorena made it a highlight of QTango Orchestra's repertoire? Or the sensual extreme of the "Pasional"?
61. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
62. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "El pañuelito" 1959 2:42
63. Osvaldo Pugliese - Alberto Morán "Pasional" 1951 3:26
and we close the night with a hit of a Russian-American prodigy recorded with a Hollywood-Latin band:
64. Xavier Cugat - Dinah Shore "La Cumparsita" 1939 3:10
