Milonga Sin Nombre playlist, October 2015

We were prepared for this, 24th Milonga Sin Nombre to be the last one, after the landlord communicated that they don't want to continue. But just hours before the event we heard that we are granted two more months - and possibly more after they reevaluate the experience after New Years. Lots of people said they wanted to come to bid farewell to the tradition of two years, so I had to supersize the empanadas works - and it also means that I had to select the music on the fly...

Almost midnight, and the Old North Church's floor is full...

001. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "El pollito" 1951 3:22

002. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Don Juan" 1955 2:48

003. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Viviani" 1956 3:01

I may have had far too little time to work on the tandas, but "at least" I cut all new cortinas for the night.

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

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

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

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

Perhaps the most classic of the Odessa underworld songs, this klezmer-and-tango-influenced classic is known at least since 1920, in myriad remixes, but the original authors of "Murka" remain unknown.

008. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

My decision to play a trio of fav valses so early in the night (when the odds of an empty floor are so high) is totally vindicated - the floor comes alive!

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

010. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Ángel Vargas "Sin Rumbo Fijo (vals)" 1938 2:18

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

"Shumel Kamysh" ("Rustling reeds") is a classic Russian drinking song of old, another one with a totally murky history - some people repeat the Internet claims that it was originally written in by Fabre d'Églantine, a French songwriter and politician guillotined in 1794, but nobody has offered any proof...

012. Folk "Shumel Kamysh"  0:23

013. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Mano Blanca" 1944 2:43

014. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Ahora No Me Conocés" 1941 2:35

015. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Ninguna" 1942 2:59

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

017. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "A Mí No Me Interesa" 1941 2:43

018. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Cielo!" 1939 2:31

019. Rodolfo Biagi - Instrumental "La Maleva" 1939 2:35

Alfredo Rubin, a Buenos Aires tango musician, organized Cuarteto Almagro in 1997 to bridge tango nostalgia with the allusions to the music of the day. In Cosmotango, he finds inspiration in the 2001 Space Odyssey to create a very Halloween kind of a sound:

020. Cuarteto Almagro Almagro Cuarteto "Cosmotango (cortina 2)" 2003 0:18

We just celebrated Laurenz's birthday by playing a lot of his tandas - but not a milonga tanda yet. Continuing the tribute to the amazing bandoneonist, orchetra lader, and composer:

021. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Yo soy de San Telmo" 1943 2:31

022. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Maldonado" 1943 2:04

023. Pedro Láurenz - Hector Ferrel  "Milonga De Mis Amores" 1937 3:02

024. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

And of course October is also Calo's birthday month...

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

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

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

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

probably the most experimental tanda of the night. "Una vez" is so powerful and romantic a tango, and OTV made so few recordings under Mario Maurano that it's just hard to make a tanda which serves this song well. I tried matching it with the same-year compositions and arrangements of perhaps the most notable tango romanticist, Raúl Kaplún, who then played violin for Lucio Demare. BTW Ortega Del Cerro (who got his artistic name because he hailed from the highlands of Mendoza) was just 16 years old, and sang "Una vez" on his first day of work with Victor!

029. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Una emocion" 1943 2:42

030. Lucio Demare - Raúl Berón "Que Solo Estoy" 1943 3:03

031. Orquesta Típica Víctor (dir. Mario Maurano) - Ortega Del Cerro "Una Vez" 1943 3:22

032. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

033. Aníbal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz, Edmundo Rivero  "Lagrimitas de mi corazón" 1948 2:59

034. Aníbal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz, Alberto Marino  "Palomita blanca" 1944 3:21

035. Aníbal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz  "Llorarás llorarás" 1945 2:54

036. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

037. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "Tu el cielo y tu" 1944 2:59

038. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "Nada" 1944 2:45

039. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá  "La capilla blanca" 1944 2:55

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

041. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Llorar por una mujer" 1941 2:47

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

043. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Como has cambiado pebeta" 1942 2:37

044. Cuarteto Almagro Almagro Cuarteto "Cosmotango (cortina 2)" 2003 0:18

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

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

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

048. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

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

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

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

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

Rhythmic early instrumentals of Di Sarli setting the stage for the energetic vals tanda after the lyrical sadness of Demare:

053. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "La trilla" 1940 2:21

054. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Nobleza de arrabal" 1940 2:07

055. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Catamarca" 1940 2:23

056. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

057. Rodolfo Biagi - Instrumental "Lágrimas y Sonrisas (Vals)" 1941 2:40

058. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Por Un Beso De Amor (vals)" 1940 2:44

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

060. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

I played so many rhytmic Tanturi records with Castillo's voice recently, time to return to Campos and to the dramatic sound:

061. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Que nunca me falte" 1943 2:42

062. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "La Abandone Y No Sabia" 1944 2:47

063. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Oigo tu voz" 1943 3:07

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

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

066. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Romeo Gavioli "Amando en silencio" 1941 2:52

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

068. Cuarteto Almagro Almagro Cuarteto "Cosmotango (cortina 2)" 2003 0:18

Continuing tribute to Calo: a great milonga candombe which I couldn't play earlier this month

069. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Azabache" 1942-09-29 3:05

070. Alberto Castillo  "El Gatito en el Tejado" 2002 2:37

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

072. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

A lone alt tanda for the night

073. Fool's Garden  "Lemon tree" 1995 3:09

074. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole  "Over The Rainbow" 2001 3:32

075. Souad Massi  "Ghir Enta" 2008 5:06

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

077. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Romeo Gavioli, Lita Morales "Sinfonía De Arrabal" 1940 3:07

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

079. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavioli "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02

080. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

All three beautiful complex valses - as I danced it, I thought the 2nd one may have been a bit too complex / too long? But after quizzing dancers I understood that many people really enjoyed it.

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

082. Enrique Rodriguez - Instrumental  "Siempre fiel (vals)" 1938 3:38

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

084. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

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

086. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Yo no se llorar" 1933 2:36

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

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

And the third "birthday musician" of October:

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

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

091. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriéndote" 1955 2:49

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

The night moves towards a crescendo and instead of a possible milonga tanda, we get beat-and-suspense-packed 1970s D'Arienzos:

093. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Bar Exposición" 1973 2:33

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

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

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

097. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental "Mi Dolor" 1957 2:51

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

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

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

a bonus tanda by the popular request - we are no going past the official midnight closing time

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

102. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Ciego" 1935 2:57

103. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Invierno" 1937 3:26

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

105. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:48

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

107. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranza" 1956 3:41

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

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

(109 total)

Milonga Nuestra Playlist, October 2015

Pedro Laurenz (1902-1972)
Wikipedia photo

I tried featuring three great orchestra leaders who were born in the month of October - Pedro Laurenz (Oct 10, 1902), Miguel Calo (Oct 28, 1907), and Donato Racciatti (Oct 18, 1918). Last year we already had a flyer celebrating Calo and Racciatti. The music of Pedro Laurenz may be even more important to my playlist-building than even Calo's, because it covers so much stylistic ground and so many epochs of tango history. Laurenz learned to play bandoneon in Uruguay as a teenager, and his first stint playing tango was in Montevideo together with another future superstar, violinist Edgardo Donato. Several years after returning to Buenos Aires, Pedro Laurenz was hired to Julio de Caro's revolutionary new orchestra, together with an unsurpassed genius of bandoneon, Pedro Maffia. These guys contributed an unbelievable lot to the complexity, beauty, and spirit of the tango music. The two Pedros also recorded a number of duet pieces - in fact the very first Argentinian disk of the Victor label featured Pedro Maffia and Pedro Laurenz. Laurenz established himself as a great composer and arranger, often in close collaboration with Maffia and De Caro. In 1937 Laurenz convened his own orchestra, which recorded on and off until 1953. As the things got tough for tango orchestras, Pedro Laurenz remained faithful to the tango, collaborating with Salgan in the original Quinteto Real with its 3 tours of Japan and then briefly assembling his own quintet to remix an album of his compositions in 1966, entitled "Pedro Laurenz interprets Pedro Laurenz".

01. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Pimienta" 1939 2:52
02. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Derecho viejo" 1941 2:31
03. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Arrabalero" 1939 2:32
04. "Nature doesn't have bad weather"  0:24
05. Juan D'Arienzo "Don Juan" 1936 2:28
06. Juan D'Arienzo "Ataniche" 1936 2:32
07. Juan D'Arienzo "El Flete" 1936 2:56
08. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 2" 2007 0:18
Calo's vals super-hits
09. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "El Vals Sonador" 1942 3:29
10. Miguel Calo - Alberto Podesta  "Bajo un cielo de estrellas (vals)" 1941 2:37
11. Miguel Calo - Alberto Podesta  "Pedacito de cielo (vals)" 1942 2:21
12. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 1992 0:27
13. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Cascabelito" 1941 2:34
14. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Canta pajarito" 1943 3:16
15. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Tristeza Marina" 1943 3:05
16.  "Nature doesn't have bad weather"  0:24
Earlier-period, dynamic tangos of Laurenz
17. Pedro Laurenz - Martin Podesta  "Al verla pasar" 1942 3:23
18. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Vieja amiga" 1938 3:13
19. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "No me extrana" 1940 2:44
20. The Blues Brothers "Theme From Rawhide 3" 1980 0:20
Last October, I played Calo's super-hit candombe-milonga, "Azabache", in a mixed-orchestra tanda. I still find it counterproductive to mix together (so stylistically dissimilar) milonga pieces of Calo, so here we go with a mixed orchestra tanda again, this time featuring Calo's best classic milonga.
21. Miguel Villasboas "La Milonga Que Hacia Falta" 1961 2:18
22. Julio De Caro - Luis Diaz "Saca Chispas"1938 2:30
23. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Milonga que peina canas" 1942 2:22
24. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 1992 0:27
25. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y Horacio Lagos "Carnaval De Mi Barrio"  2:23
26. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50
27. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Horacio Lagos, Romeo Gavioli "Sinfonia De Arrabal"  3:09
28. "Nature doesn't have bad weather"  0:24
Beron or Podesta? Which of the two great voices rings the best in Calo's tangos?
29. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Jamás Retornarás" 1942 2:28
30. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Corazón, no le hagas caso!" 1942 2:57
31. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44
32. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 2" 2007, 2007 0:18
I used to say that "Mendocina" and "Mascarita" are so overplayed that these great Laurenz valses might as well be avoided ... but the winds of fashion must have shifted, and I don't hear them nearly as often now:
33. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta  "Paisaje" 1943 2:53
34. Pedro Laurenz - Carlos Bermudez y Jorge Linares "Mendocina" 1944 2:33
35. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Mascarita" 1940 2:53
36. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 1992, 1992 0:27
37. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Recuerdo de bohemia" 1935 2:36
38. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Vida mia" 1933 3:23
39. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Sollosos" 1937 3:27
A rock cortina marks transition to a 3-tanda alternative block
40. Victor Tsoy  "Blood type (cortina)"  0:36
41. Haris Alexiou "To Tango Tis Nefelis" 1998 4:07
42. Jem  "Come On Closer" 2004 3:47
43. 5Nizza "Soldat" 2003 3:13
44. Zhanna Aguzarova "Cats" 1987 0:21
45. Otros Aires  "Milonga Sentimental" 2005 3:57
46. Otros Aires  "Rotos en el Raval" 2005 3:53
47. Otros Aires dos  "Los Vino"  2:41
48. Canaro - Hugo del Carril  "Marcha Peronista cortina"  0:16
49. Carlos Libedinsky "Otra luna" 2002 3:43
50. Shigeru Umebayashi "In The Mood For Love" 2001 2:29
51. Jean-Marc Zelwer  "La Rêve De La Fiancée" 1990 4:59
52. Carmen Piculeata  "Variation Corelli" 2013 0:28
The dramatic highlights of the mature period of Laurenz's orchestra:
53. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Garua" 1943 3:09
54. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Recien" 1943 2:43
55. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Todo" 1943 2:37
56. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 1" 2007 0:17
Lomuto's rarely played valses have an unforgettable texture, and the Cuban-themed "Damisela encantadora" stands out especially strongly with its streaks of habanera beat. So Hans told me that I must have played this tanda before - and in fact I did in Missoula MT in May
57. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar  "Damisela encantadora (vals)" 1936 2:58
58. Francisco Lomuto - Instrumental  "Noche de ronda (vals)" 1937 2:34
59. Francisco Lomuto - Fernando Díaz, Mercedes Simone  "Lo que vieron mis ojos" 1933 2:22
60. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
Complex, rich, and danceable, the Quinteto Laurenz instrumentals may have been too much for the predominant skill level of the studio students - but there're so few of them now, and a few experienced leads and follows there too. The DJ's aim is to satisfy most of the audience, statistically speaking, but with so few people, the statistical turns into personal, and I'm getting queasy. Worse, I realize with a heightened clarity that the biggest reason why I organize, blog, and DJ may be selfish - simply to score more good dances for myself. That I might never get a kick just from helping to put together a good event - if I can't dance my fill there. So a deenergized milonga and my achy feet gradually make me feel dejected and tangicidal, and the quandary of choosing the strongest closing tandas just doesn't help. Will there be life after tango?
61. Quinteto Pedro Laurenz - Instrumental  "Orgullo Criollo" 1966 2:48
62. Quinteto Pedro Laurenz - Instrumental  "De puro guapo" 1966 2:48
63. Quinteto Pedro Laurenz - Instrumental  "Mal de amores" 1966 3:16
64. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
Lone Racciatti tanda of the night
65. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
66. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
67. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriéndote" 1955 2:49
68. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
69. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1943 2:48
70. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49
71. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
.... and we travel full 40 years back in time, fro 1966 to 1926, for the Cumparsita, interpreted by the duo of the greatest bandoneonists just as they were launching the musical revolution together with De Caro.
72. Pedro Láurenz - Pedro Maffia  "La cumparsita" 1926 3:01
73. Mecano  "Hijo De La Luna"  4:29
74. Goran Bregovic  "This Is A Film (feat. Iggy Pop)" 2003 4:18
(74 total)

Tango on the Rocks Festival Loco Tango Milonga playlist

So happy to be back in Denver and Boulder and to DJ at the Avalon once again! We had to cut our California adventure short, and to start driving East in the dead of the night, after Homer and Cristina's Berkeley practica, just to catch a short rest home and then to keep driving East to meet them again at the Merc 4 days later. But whatever it takes to support our dear Colorado friends in their most recent, most crazy project. Welcome to Tango on the Rocks, John Miller and Jesica Cutler's radically novel concept of a tango festival - an anarchically decentralized event where 3 nights of the milongas are organized by the notable local hosts at their classic venues, and only the Saturday matinee and night milongas are fully festival's. We had a blast at the Merc and Savoy and La Rumba and the Avalon and of course the Cheesman Pavilion! Homer and Cristina taught class after class, John and Homer and Marc and Jessica La Vitrolera DJ'd, Orquesta Tipica Natural Tango played live - with an amazing powerful bando section and a stunning shivers-down-your-spine trumpet solo, Grisha and Erskine and Olga jammed together too, Jurni and Naseema volunteered, Halina created an unbelievable dinner meal for the milonga, and it all would have been just like coming to root for the hometown team except this time around I signed up to play along, too. Thank you for your work and your talents and your sleepless nights, friends! Thank you for the tandas and the conversations and for your companionship! Here's to many more Colorado nights together!

Memories of the Merc, Savoy, and Cheesman milongas
(including photos from Naseema and Kim)

So my "work shift" falls on Labor Day's night. The dinner at the Avalon Ballroom is soo good, and so well advertised, that the crowds of people start filling the space right after the first chords of the first tango. But it still takes 3 full tandas before the first couples actually make it to the dance floor :) Everyone is so busy with their delicious baked salmon and their dinner table conversations :) But then, almost in an instant, el gente's on the floor dancing. (Later at night I learn that despite Halina's traditionally opulent super-abundance, the food actually ran out this time ... maybe that was the secret to the sudden shift of the public from the tables onto the floor ;) ... anyway, the music of the opening tandas provided a nice backdrop for the party).

001. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Champagne tango" 1938 2:30
002. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El garron" 1938 2:27
003. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Loca" 1938 2:57
004. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
005. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A media luz" 1941 2:31
006. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Te busco" 1941 2:26
007. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A oscuras" 1941 2:48
008.  "Katyusha"  0:33
009. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Amor "Paloma" 1945 2:28
010. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Lago  "Amor Y Vals" 1942 2:48
011. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Dejame Amarte Aunque Sea un Dia (vals)" 1939 2:55
012. Carmen Piculeata  "Egy kis cigainy dal" 2013 0:29
013. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Jamás Retornarás" 1942 2:28
014. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Cuatro compases" 1942 2:43
015. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44
016. Victor Tsoy  "Blood type (cortina)"  0:36
The first alternative tanda is united by its spring-like "up" feeling - the closing track stands out a bit because it achieves this effect with any guitar strings, just by exuberant singing a capella, but it is the sweetest piece of the set and I'm confident that it belongs there. Yet I am really stressed at this moment - as I was pretty much all day, actually - because it's such a difficult task for me, to try to build a semi-alternative playlist which will accommodate all tastes and rock everybody with its energy waves, those who love alt and those who sit it out. I wrote at length about "the alternative allure and quandary" last time when I DJ'd here. Tonight, too, several classics-only dancers remain uncomfortable with the musical format, and it weighs heavily on my mood. But the floor fills up with people, and I field my first "what-was-that-cool-thing" questions for the night, and my stress level begins to dissipate.
017. Fool's Garden  "Lemon tree" 1995 3:09
018. Jason Mraz  "I'm Yours" 2008 4:20
019. Damour Vocal Band  "Sway"  3:49
020. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
The vibe is passed on to a springy, smiley mixed-orchestra milonga set, getting just a touch more grounded at the end (where we leave Uruguay and return to BsAs ... but perhaps Miguel Villasboas's "El sentir del corazon", "La mulita", or "Mozo guapo" or even "Pena mulata" could have completed the tanda instead?)

021. Emilio Pellejero - Enalmar De Maria "Mi Vieja Linda " 1941 2:26
022. Miguel Villasboas - Instrumental  "La Milonga Que Hacia Falta" 1961 2:18
023. Julio De Caro - Luis Díaz "Saca Chispas" 1938 2:30
024. Carmen Piculeata  "Egy kis cigainy dal" 2013 0:29
025. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Tú, el cielo y tú" 1944 2:58
026. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Llueve otra vez" 1944 3:05
027. Carlos di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Lloran las campanas" 1944 2:57
028.  "Katyusha"  0:33
029. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "Tango argentino" 1942 2:37
030. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "En la buena y en la mala" 1940 2:26
031. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno "Como has cambiado pebeta" 1942 2:37
032. Victor Tsoy  "Blood type (cortina)"  0:36
The lone alternative vals tanda for the night ... I love the classic Argentine valses so much, and there could be so few vals tandas anyway, that I'd be hard pressed to give them up to play any more alt's. But this is a nice ethnic-vibe tanda mostly gravitating to the Old Bygone Poland. The first track is in Yiddish, a beautiful song inspired, as I understand, by an Ukrainian tune. Alas, to put it in the beginning of a tanda, I had to cut a wonderful segment of joyful klezmer from the ending section, just to make sure that a waltz transitions seamlessly into the next waltz...
033. Klezmatics - Chava Alberstein "Di Krenitse (milonga cut)" 2001 3:39
"She was pretty like an angel and fat like an intestine sausage". A humorous Polish folk romance from the antebellum Lwow which has been nicely remixed but, alas, largely without the flavor of the (now extinct) local dialect. For the milonga, I cut the ballad at the verse where it becomes clear that the star-crossed lovers are going to die, creating a new crescendo finale and skipping several more verses about their death, burial, etc.
034. Zespół Starling  "Ballada o pannie Franciszce (milonga cut)"  3:14
Felipe Antonio's is a small Argentine band playing classic scores with a distinct folk vibe, which kind of fits to this very folksy waltz tanda
035. Felipe Antonio  "A mi madre"  2:27
036. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
We start in the antebellum Poland again, and continue the European oldies tanda in Austria / Latvia / Russia and France. I wrote many more details about the stories of these songs last time when I played in Boulder (and still more here) - there is so much talent and so much pain and heartbreak behind their lines - please follow the links if you're interested!
037. Jerzy Petersburski - Mieczysław Fogg "To ostatnia niedziela" 1936 3:19
038. Frank Fox - Piotr Leschenko "Chernye Glaza (Dark Eyes)" 1933 3:15
039. Rafael Canaro - Roger Toussaint "La Melodia Notre Adieu" 1936 3:15
040. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
The Tanturi-Castillo tanda gradually accelerates in preparation for the nuevo milongas:
041. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "La última copa" 1943 2:39
042. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Recuerdo malevo" 1941 2:33
043. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "La Vida Es Corta" 1941 2:23
044. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide (long vocal cortina)" 1980 0:33
045. Otros Aires  "Un Baile De Beneficio" 2010 3:42
046. Juan Carlos Cáceres "Tango Negro" 2003 3:45
047. Kevin Johansen  "Sur o No Sur" 2002 4:53
048. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 1" 2007 0:17
049. silent pause
(a call for birthday valses which turn out to be quite chaotic ... so many birthday boys and girls show up, and so many other guests don't know them well, that figuring who's staying on the pista and who's leaving is all but impossible. Well, tango can accommodate a lot of chaos in it ... but ... note to self: if we ever play a birthday vals at a well-attended milonga with many out-of-towners, them we need to mark the birthday tangueros more clearly. Give them wreaths or bright ribbons for heads or arms? Introduce them better, too. A microphone may be necessary, too)
050. Enrique Rodriguez - El "Chato" Flores "Los Piconeros" 1939 2:47
051. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 1" 2007 0:17
and the following tanda is for the Avalon's traditional community / "waterfall" dance:
052. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Recuerdos De Paris" 1937 3:12
053. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Condena (S.O.S.)" 1937 2:39
054. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Solo una novia" 1935 3:23
055. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Invierno" 1937 3:25
056. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 1" 2007 0:17
057. silent pause  - a call for chacareras
058. "Chacarera del violin"  2:12
059. Carlos Carabajal  "De la Banda a Santiago"  2:21
060. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 2 (cortina)"  0:25
And, phew, the many specials, however wonderful, are over, and it's time to "whip the milonga back into action" with D'Arienzos - which works like a charm.
061. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Que Importa" 1939 2:08
062. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Indiferencia" 1938 2:31
063. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe "Mandria" 1939 2:22
064.  "Katyusha"  0:33
065. Edgardo Donato - Hugo del Carril "El vals de los recuerdos" 1935 2:18
066. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez "La Tapera - vals" 1936 2:54
067. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Quien Sera - vals" 1941 2:15
068. Victor Tsoy  "Blood type (cortina)"  0:36
a cooldown / dreamy vibe alternative tanda
069. Jem  "Come On Closer" 2004 3:47
070. Mecano  "Hijo De La Luna"  4:29
071. Haris Alexiou  "To Tango Tis Nefelis" 1998 4:07
072. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
and back into the energetic roll with the tanda of softly rhythmic Di Sarli instrumentals setting the stage for the trifecta of Otros Aires's milongas:
073. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "La Trilla" 1940 2:21
074. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Shusheta" 1940 2:24
075. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Nobleza De Arrabal" 1940 2:07
076. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 1" 1980 0:21
077. Otros Aires  "Milonga Sentimental" 2005 3:57
078. Otros Aires  "Rotos en el Raval" 2005 3:53
079. Otros Aires  "Los Vino" 2010 2:43
080. Carmen Piculeata  "Egy kis cigainy dal" 2013 0:29
the grounded, highest intensity tanda of the night:
081. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "La Yumba" 2011 2:57
082. Fervor de Buenos Aires  "E.G.B." 2007 2:26
083. Ojos De Tango "El Adios"  3:13
084. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
085. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Malena" 1942 2:57
086. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22
087. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29
088. Victor Tsoy  "Blood type (cortina)"  0:36
A surprise, unplanned special here - Grisha Nisnevich, Erskine Maytorena, and Olga Tikhovidova jamming together! When they finally dared to do it less than half an hour earlier, I suggested that they start after a more melodic / romantic randa - and here they blast in with two final milongas of the night.
089. Kayah & Bregovic  "Ta-Bakiera [This Tabakeria]" 1999 4:17
090. Kayah & Bregovic  "To Nie Ptak [Not a Bird]" 1999 4:40
091. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
The time is almost up and we swirl towards the dramatic crescendo with some of the best Uruguayan tangos, followed by a merged late De Angelis - Pugliese tanda.
092. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
093. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
094. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Queriéndote" 1955 2:49
095. Zhanna Aguzarova  "Old Hotel cortina long"  0:38
096. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "Felicia" 1969 2:47
097. Osváldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:48
098. Osváldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel  "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
099. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1961 3:33
100. silent pause  0:31
(followed by last-hugs & cleanup / furniture moving set)
and I doubt if I could ever possibly end the night without "Los ejes" if I ever DJ the closing milonga of a Colorado tango weekend again, because it's always the endless I-80 across the prairies of Wyoming which awaits me after it's over. Always the same repeating lines: "Es demasiado aburrido seguir y seguir la huella! Es demasiado aburrido seguiiir y seguiiir la huella..."
101. Paco Mendoza & DJ Vadim  "Los Ejes De Mi Carreta" 2013 3:23
102. Alacran  "Reflejo De Luna" 2010 3:44
103. Souad Massi  "Ghir Enta" 2008 5:06

The stats? Well, if you let me be "greedy" & count all contemporary / outside of Argentina tandas as non-classic, even the post-Cumparsita set, then we end up with an (arguably inflated) 11 / 13 alt / classic ratio. Wow. Could it even be true? Perhaps a more reasonable thing to do would have been to tally the Uruguayans among the classic, and to stop at La cumparsita. Then the alternative / classic ratio tallies as 8 / 15, with fully half of the remaining alt's being totally faithful to the classic tango and milonga genres. Now that's more or less what I had in mind.

P.S. Jessica already has (most of) her Pavilion Tango Colorado playlist up on Spotify, and Homer will probably add his alternative milonga playlist to his great DJ Resource page soon, too. 

Milonga Sin Nombre playlist - Aug 2015

The August 22 Milonga Sin Nombre was organized as a special thank-you celebration for the volunteers of the Mountain Milonga Retreat 2015 

Volunteer Appreciation night at the Milonga Sin Nombre
 "with the roaring comeback of the banana empanadas"
There are dark clouds of uncertainty about the future use of our beautiful venue -
let's hope that this twentieth Sin Nombre won't be the last one...

Mountain Milonga Retreat 2015, the largest one of the many annual retreats traditionally organized by the Wasatch Tango Club in the historic 1929 ski lodge high above the Salt Lake Valley, was a lot of fun - and whole lot of work. Hats off to our fantastic volunteers and staff, to our wonderful instructors and musicians and DJs, and kudos to all the tangueros who helped at every turn of this amazing tango weekend! Thank you for your generosity, thank you for the openness and friendship, thank you for the magic of the connections between souls - this is what makes the M2 so special and unique. See you again next year - please mark your calendars for August 12-15, 2016!

001. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Poliya" 1939 2:31
002. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "El Once (A divertirse)" 1945 2:43
003. Osvaldo Fresedo - Instrumental  "Arrabalero" 1939 2:32
004. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
005. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El flete" 1936 2:58
006. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Derecho viejo" 1939 2:24
007. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "El Cencerro" 1937 2:40
008. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
009. Anibal Troilo - Alberto Marino/Floreal Ruiz  "Palomita Blanca (Vals)"  3:22
010. Aníbal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz  "Romance de barrio" 1947 2:36
011. Anibal Troilo - Instrumental "Un Placer (Vals)"  2:19
012. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
013. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Llorar por una mujer" 1941 2:51
014. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "En la buena y en la mala" 1940 2:26
015. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "No te quiero mas" 1940 2:18
016. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
017. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podesta "No esta"  2:45
018. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podesta "Vamos!..."  2:48
019. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podesta "Al compas del Corazon"  3:19
020. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
a tanda of gentle milongas
021. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "Milonga sentimental" 1933 3:10
022. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Tangon (slow milonga)" 1935 3:17
023. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "Milonga del 900" 1933 2:55
024. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
025. Ricardo Malerba - Orlando Medina "Ricardo Malerba - Embrujamiento" 1943 2:52
026. Ricardo Malerba - Antonio Maida "Encuentro" 2:20
027. Ricardo Malerba - Orlando Medina "Gitana rusa" 1942 2:47
with the summer night of just 26 people, I feel that it's time to try four-tango tandas at last. It is a format I have virtually no experience with, but it just makes sense to play fewer, longer tandas on a night like this
028. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
029. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A media luz" 1941 2:31
030. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A oscuras" 1941 2:48
031. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Se va la vida" 1936 2:39
032. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50
033. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
favorite valses of Firpo's quartet which he convened after losing the big orchestra during the Great Depression years
034. Roberto Firpo "Olga (vals)" 2:10
035. Roberto Firpo "Para Las Chicas (vals)" 1942 2:14
036. Roberto Firpo "El Aeroplano (vals)" 2:14
037. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
August is the birth month of Demare, and I already started to celebrate it with a Demare-Quintana tanda 3 weeks back, Continuing now with a set of Demare's hits with the voice of Juan Carlos Miranda:
038. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Malena" 1942 2:57
039. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29
040. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22
041. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Manana zarpa un barco" 1942 3:22
042. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
043. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Recuerdo Malevo"  2:33
044. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Decile Que Vuelva" 1942 2:33
045. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Así Se Baila El Tango"  2:34
046. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "La vida es corta" 1941 2:25
047. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
048. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Zorzal" 1941 2:40
049. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Cuando un viejo se enamora" 1942 2:14
050. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Yo Soy De San Telmo" 1943 2:20
051. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 0:27
052. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Paciencia" 1938 2:31
053. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Alma del bandoneon" 1935 2:46
054. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Condena (S.O.S.)" 1937 2:39
055. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Invierno" 1937 3:26
056. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
057. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Jamas Retornaras" 2:31
058. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Trasnochando" 1942 3:04
059. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44
060. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Lejos de Buenos Aires" 1942 2:54
061. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
062. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Quien Sera - vals" 1941 2:15
063. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Con Tus Besos (vals)" 1938 2:23
064. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez "La Tapera - vals" 1936 2:54
It's always a question if it is a better idea to run a few alternative / unusual tandas back to back, or to spread them evenly in the milonga flow. I guessed that increasing energy and then transitioning to D'Arienzo will keep the dancers on the floor throughout this block of tandas, and it worked very well
065. Carmen Piculeata  "Egy kis cigainy dal" 2013 0:29
066. Kayah & Bregovic  "Ta-Bakiera [This Tabakeria]" 1999 4:17
067. Kayah & Bregovic  "To Nie Ptak [Not a Bird]" 1999 4:40
068. Goran Bregovic  "This Is A Film (feat. Iggy Pop)" 2003 4:18
069. Leonid Bykov  "Smuglyanka"  0:33
070. Fool's Garden  "Lemon tree" 1995 3:09
071. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole  "Over The Rainbow" 2001 3:32
072. Souad Massi  "Ghir Enta" 2008 5:06
073. The Blues Brothers  "Theme From Rawhide 2" 1980 0:18
The final tanda of "the trio of the unusuals" are the Golden-Age foxes
074. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Suavemente"  3:05
075. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "No Te Apures Por Dios Postillon "  2:59
076. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Contando las estrellas"  2:23
077. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
078. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Pensalo bien" 1938 2:27
079. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Que importa" 1939 2:17
080. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Ansiedad" 1938 2:42
081. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "La bruja" 1938 2:18
082. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
083. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Marejada" 1941 2:32
084. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "El ingeniero" 1952 3:25
085. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Cara sucia" 1957 2:48
086. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "El amanecer" 1951 2:30
087. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
088. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "El Ultimo Adios (vals)" 2:08
089. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Pajaro Herido (vals)" 2:18
090. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Lagrimas Y Sonrisas (vals)"  2:41
091. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20
My all-time favorite Laurenz hits are with Alberto Podesta, which, of course, means that I may be playing other Pedro Laurenz great tangos too seldom. Trying to fix it now (and switching back to 3-song tandas because we are almost out of out time and I still want to play the crazy late D'Arienzo instrumentals and the must-have Pugliese):
092. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Vieja amiga"  3:13
093. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Al Verla Pasar"  3:23
094. Pedro Laurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "No me extrana"  2:44
095. "Na Pua O Hawaii - George Ku Trio" 0:22
096. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La torcacita" 1971 2:31
097. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Zorro gris" 1973 2:03
098. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Este Es El Rey" 1971 3:10
099. "Lady Be Good - Sol Hoopii Trio" 0:23
100. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel  "Farol" 1943 3:22
101. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49
102. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel  "Rondando tu esquina" 1945 2:48
103. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1961 3:33
104. 17 Hippies  "Marlène" 2005 3:54
105. Eendo  "Eshgh e Aasemaani" 2011 3:31

Thank you! We couldn't hve done it without you! Share the memories, share the embraces, and see you up in the mountains next August!

Mystic Milonga playlist - Guest DJ Michael D'Elia

The 2nd annual Mystic Milonga Afterparty Tour gathered 24 of the craziest tangueros who just wouldn't part ways after the last Cumparsita of the Mountain Milonga Retreat 2015! We drove South to the Fremont Indian State Park to see its famous petroglyphs (some accessible from the pavement, others requiring ascending the airy Cliff Edge trial), checked into the antique log cabins and refurbished 1970s vintage school buses of Mystic Hot Springs, and reconvened in the Monroe City Park for an asado and a pavilion milonga, before retreating to the hot springs to soak under the glow of the Milky Way and  shooting stars of the Perseid flow. And capped the adventure by a hike in Bryce Canyon National Park the following day!

It was the guest DJ Michael D'Elia's first stint in our state, and the second-ever milonga in the vast Central Utah! Michael graciously shared his playlist for the night, which I reformatted here more or less along the lines of the rest of the playlist posts. See you again at Mystic next August! We shall go to see Goblins or Arches next time - it was great to see the hoodoos of Bryce twice, but now I think we'll need a new adventure!

01. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Alberto Gómez 1932 "Rodríguez Peña" Tango
02. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Alberto Gómez 1932 "Don Juan" Tango
03. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Alberto Gómez 1933 "Ventarrón" Tango

04. The Black Crowes -  1992 "Thorn In My Pride" Cortina
05. Francisco Lomuto -  1942 "Sentimiento Gaucho" Tango
06. Francisco Lomuto -  1943 "Catamarca" Tango
07. Francisco Lomuto - Fernando Díaz 1940 "Quiero Verte Una Vez Más" Tango
08. Radical Face -  2006 "Welcome Home" Cortina
09. Rodolfo Biagi -  1942 "Bélgica" Tango
10. Rodolfo Biagi -  1950 "Racing Club" Tango
11. Rodolfo Biagi -  1952 "El Recodo" Tango
12. Blind Melon -  1995 "Mouthful Of Cavities" Cortina
13. Francisco Canaro -  1936 "Dolores" Vals
14. Francisco Canaro -  1938 "Corazón De Oro" Vals
15. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida 1938 "Romántica" Vals
16. The Be Good Tanyas -  2000 "The Coo Coo Bird" Cortina
17. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1942 "Muñeca Brava" Tango
18. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1942 "Cuatro Compases" Tango
19. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1941 "Recuerdo Malevo" Tango
20. Gnarls Barkley -  2006 "Crazy" Cortina
21. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá 1944 "El Criollito Oriental" Milonga
22. Pedro Laurenz -  1944 "Milonga De Mis Amores" Milonga
23. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá 1943 "Yo Soy De San Telmo" Milonga
24. Beirut -  2006 "Postcards From Italy" Cortina
25. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino 1941 "Cascabelito" Tango
26. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino 1941 "Griseta" Tango
27. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino 1942 "Mañana Zarpa Un Barco" Tango
28. Kevin Johansen -  2002 "Sur o No Sur" Cortina
29. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno 1940 "No Te Quiero Mas" Tango
30. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno 1944 "Dicen Que Así Soy Yo" Tango
31. Enrique Rodríguez - Armando Moreno 1940 "Danza Maligna" Tango
32. Luminescent Orchestrii -  2005 "Amaritsi" Cortina

33. Francisco Canaro -  1938 "Retintín" Tango
34. Francisco Canaro -  1938 "La Maleva" Tango
35. Francisco Canaro -  1939 "Quiero Verte Una Vez Más" Tango
36. Diego's Umbrella -  2007 "Das Borjka" Cortina
37. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez 1936 "La Tapera" Vals
38. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1938 "Con Tus Besos" Vals
39. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales, y… 1940 "Estrellita Mía" Vals
40. M. Ward -  2003 "Duet for Guitars #3" Cortina
41. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray 1933 "Vida Mía" Tango
42. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray 1937 "Sollozos" Tango
43. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray 1937 "No Quiero Verte Llorar" Tango
44. Lhasa De Sela -  1998 "Desdenosa" Cortina
45. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1938 "Sácale Punta" Milonga
46. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1938 "Ella Es Así" Milonga
47. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1940 "Campo Afuera" Milonga
48. Laura Marling -  2008 "Ghosts" Cortina
49. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón 1942 "Tristezas De La Calle Corrientes" Tango
50. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón 1942 "Margarita Gauthier" Tango
51. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón 1942 "Corazón No Le Hagas Caso" Tango
52. CocoRosie -  2010 "Smokey Taboo" Cortina
53. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino 1942 "Malena" Tango
54. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino 1941 "El Bulín De La Calle Ayacucho" Tango
55. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino 1942 "Pa' Que Seguir" Tango
56. Radiohead -  2007 "Jigsaw Falling Into Place" Cortina
57. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1941 "Mi Romance" Vals
58. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1941 "La Serenata (Mi Amor)" Vals
59. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo 1941 "Recuerdo" Vals
60. Neko Case -  2006 "Dirty Knife" Cortina
61. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas 1942 "Ninguna" Tango
62. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas 1941 "Adiós Arrabal" Tango
63. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas 1945 "El Aristócrata" Tango
64. Jenny Lewis -  2008 "Bad Man's World" Cortina
65. Francisco Canaro - Ángel Ramos y Ernesto Famá 1933 "Milonga Sentimental" Milonga
66. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida 1936 "Milonga Criolla" Milonga
67. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida 1936 "Silueta Porteña" Milonga
68. Andrew Bird -  2009 "Tenuousness" Cortina
69. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1938 "El Adiós" Tango
70. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales 1940 "Triqui-tra" Tango
71. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos 1937 "Gato" Tango
72. DeVotchKa -  2004 "We're Leaving" Cortina
73. Juan D'Arienzo -  1966 "9 De Julio" Tango
74. Juan D'Arienzo -  1963 "El Choclo" Tango
75. Juan D'Arienzo -  1937 "La Cumparsita" Tango

Milonga Mas Alta playlist, Aug 2015

The old lodge fills with dancers - Sandra Angel's photo

I am trying, frantically, to catch up with the August playlists, please forgive me if I'm zipping by too fast for this incredibly eventful month, marked by Wasatch Tango Club's signature event, the Mountain Milonga Retreat!  The days and nights of living together, of ever-strengthening connections between the like-minded souls, of group hikes and communal meals, and much, much tango in a beautiful 1929 log-house ballroom! My heart is just melting with every memory of the Retreat, and I bow low to all the volunteers and crew members and helpers who make the "M2" possible! You are so awesome!

As an organizer of the 80+-strong gathering, I know that I must put up with many 3-hour sleep nights, with many missed tanda opportunities, and with a total deficit of time ... which also means that I can't get a good chance to play my own music selections. But I still jumped at a chance to play some music at a first-of-its-kind milonga of the "M2", the Sunday outdoor milonga at the top of a ski lift (a.k.a. Krista's Peak). I scoped the location last fall - the winter cafe terrace has an even but rough floor, and I packed a blue tarp to make it more pivot friendly. From this year's experience, I know that we'll need to bring a larger tarp or plastic sheeting, and a more powerful speaker set - and to expect a good crowd. Welcome to the first-ever Milonga Mas Alta, Utah's highest elevation milonga ever, where the music was almost an afterthought - and where I chose to play a lot of oldies "from the era when people really danced on dirt and oilcloth tarps"


01. Orquesta de Roberto Firpo  "Una Noche En La Milonga" 1929 2:56
02. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Famá  "La estancia" 1930 3:17
03. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Belen" 1929 2:44
04. Cuarteto Roberto Firpo "El Aeroplano (vals)" 1936 2:14
05. Los Provincianos, Alberto Gomez  "Samaritana (vals)" 1932 2:58
06. Cuarteto Roberto Firpo - Carlos Varela  "Barreras de Amor" 1936 2:36
07. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas  "Solo compasion" 1941 2:58
08. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Un Tropezón"  2:34
09. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas  "Una pena" 1941 2:55
10. Orquesta Típica Víctor (dir. Adolfo Carabelli) - Roberto Díaz  "Vieja calesita" 1929 2:40
11. Orquesta Tipica Victor (dir. Adolfo Carabelli)  "Che, papusa, oi" 1927 2:37
12. Roberto Firpo - Teofilo Ibanez  "Ya no cantas, Chingolo" 1928 2:56
13. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Yo no se llorar" 1933 2:36
14. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Si no me engana el corazon" 1939 2:31
15. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Inquietud" 1939 2:28
16. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Buscandote" 1941 2:49

and then we were off down the hill to make it to the final hour of DJ Serena's Tango Addicts Milonga at the lodge...

Milonga Nuestra playlist, August 2015

DJing the Nuestra

The "house milonga" of the tango school of the DF Studio makes a roaring comeback after a two-month summer break - wow, what a turnout! The "Nuestra" crowd is as always a mix of the aspiring students and the wider local community - and my concept of a music mix for the night was "no pre-Golden age records, some accessible music, lots of passion and drive, some alternative". (Especially since I hope to land an invite to DJ another part-alternative milonga out of town soon ... gotta work on the sets :) ... I managed to squeeze 4 alt tandas in 3 hours this time). The alternative and the powerful-drive tandas drew dancers on the floor really well, but still left me with a few questions to ponder...
01. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Champagne tango" 1938 2:30
02. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El garron" 1938 2:27
03. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Alma en pena" 1938 2:46
04. "Na Pua O Hawaii - George Ku Trio" 0:22
05. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Cara sucia" 1952 2:20
06. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Don Juan" 1955 2:48
07. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "El pollito" 1951 3:22
08. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 1" 2007 0:17
09. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Valsecito de Antes" 1937 2:19
10. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echague  "En tu corazon (vals)" 1938 2:46
11. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "Corazon de artista (vals)" 1936 2:22
12. "Lady Be Good - Sol Hoopii Trio" 0:23
13. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Adiós, Arrabal" 1941 3:10
14. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Mano Blanca" 1944 2:43
15. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas "Ahora No Me Conocés" 1941 2:35
16. Gypsy Folk  "Autumn Dew"  0:30
17. Rodolfo Biagi - Instrumental "La Maleva" 1939 2:35
18. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "Cielo!" 1939 2:31
19. Rodolfo Biagi - Andrés Falgás "La Chacarera" 1940 2:24
20. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19
21. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada" 1941 2:22
22. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Entre Pitada Y Pitada" 1942 2:33
23. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata" 1941 2:27
24. Adriano Celentano "Quel Punto"  0:27
The post-milonga cooldown set is an airy and mysterious alt tanda, a quality which we hardly ever get with the classic tango music.
25. Pentatonix  "Say Something (Christina Aguilera Cover)"  4:39
26. Yann Tiersen "Comptine D'un Autre Ete" 2001 2:21
27. Hindi Zahra  "Beautiful Tango" 2011 3:57

Tangueros fill the floor after just a few opening tandas.
Atakan's photo.

28. "Lady Be Good - Sol Hoopii Trio" 0:23
29. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Jamas Retornaras"  2:31
30. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Lejos de Buenos Aires" 1942 2:54
31. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón "Que te importa que te llore" 1942 2:44
32. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 2" 2007 0:18
Spirited valses from the period when Federico Scorticati, an Uruguayan-born virtuoso bandoneonist, led Victor label's house orchestra. Scorticati got his first bando at 8, and soon put it to work at the silent movie theaters of Montevideo. And he kept playing the same instrument, with well-worn keys, well into his 70s on tours across Latin America and Japan! 
All three famous singers in these records started their illustrious tango orchestra recording careers with Scorticati's "OTV". But this date in history is especially linked with the name of Lita Morales. On August 6, 1941, Lita made her last record with Donato's orchestra, and apparently took a maternity leave, from which she never emerged. Exactly a year later, Edgardo Donato fired her and both of his male vocalists over some unspeakable scandal - and then his whole orchestra instantly imploded, with musicians, composers, poets leaving, to never record any more tangos again. You can read a poetic reconstruction attempt of this dark drama on El Espejero's blog.
33. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Lita Morales "Noches de invierno" 1937 2:47
34. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Ángel Vargas "Sin Rumbo Fijo (vals)" 1938 2:18
35. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Mario Pomar  "Temo" 1940 2:55
36. Leonid Utesov  "Road to Berlin (slow)"  0:27
The final piece of this alternative tanda is contagiously rhythmic yet it may actually be the hardest to interpret as tango? If you know me, you may understand how I picked it, in part, for a common theme of "trains going North", but I am not so sure now.... What do you think?
37. Feist and Ben Gibbard  "Train Song"  3:03
38. Waldeck  "Addicted" 2007 3:51
39. Valery Meladze "Vera" 2009 4:06

40. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 0:27
41. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Noches Del Colon" 1941 2:36
42. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Recuerdo Malevo" 1941 2:33
43. ARicardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Comparsa Criolla" 1941 2:53
44. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19
45. Otros Aires dos  "Los Vino"  2:41
46. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Largas las Penas" 2011 3:02
47. Esteban Morgado  "Morena" 2005 2:27
48. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26

Lucio Demare (Totango photo)

August is the birth month of Lucio Demare ( 8/9/1906 - 3/6/1974 ), a romantic pianist whose talent matured during his decade in Paris in the 1920s and 30s, and who often played solo or accompanied singers. His Golden Era orchestra recorded only 50 or so pieces, and the recordings with the voice of Horacio Quitana are often overshadowed by the stellar pieces with Raúl Berón ("Una emocion!") and Juan Carlos Miranda ("No te apures Carablanca"!), but they are all beautiful.
49. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana "Solamente ella" 1944 3:15
50. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana "Torrente" 1944 3:10
51. Lucio Demare - Horacio Quintana "Igual que un bandoneon" 1945 3:02
52. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 0:27
53. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Germaine" 1941 2:58
54. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Catamarca" 1940 2:23
55. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "La trilla" 1940 2:21
56. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 2" 2007 0:18
57. Rodolfo Biagi "Lágrimas y Sonrisas (Vals)" 1941 2:40
58. Rodolfo Biagi - Jorge Ortíz "Por Un Beso De Amor (vals)" 1940 2:44
59. Rodolfo Biagi - Alberto Lago "Amor y vals" 1942 2:48
60. Enya & Enigma  "Delerium \ Flowers become screens"  0:27
61. Fool's Garden  "Lemon tree" 1995 3:09
62. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole  "Over The Rainbow" 2001 3:32
63. Souad Massi  "Ghir Enta" 2008 5:06
64. "Lady Be Good - Sol Hoopii Trio" 0:23
65. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Romeo Gavioli, Lita Morales "Sinfonía De Arrabal" 1940 3:07
66. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "El Adios" 1938 3:09
67. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales, Romeo Gavio  "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02
68. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19
These candombes have an irresistible drive and the floor fills quickly ... but the inexperienced tangueros seem to have a challenging time with their beat. Need to think about "milonga tandas on training wheels" ... could one play a fun set of milongas which are also beginner-friendly? Slower-paced Canaros?
69. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Azabache" 1942 3:05
70. Alberto Castillo y su orquesta "El Gatito en el Tejado" 1957 2:37
71. Romeo Gavioli y su orquesta típica  "Tamboriles" 1956 2:56
72. Oleg Gazmanov  "Summer Rains"  0:26
73. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
74. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
75. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi  "Queriéndote" 1955 2:49
76. "Palolo - Charlie Wilson" 0:27

"Muchacha" has a captivating vocal but may be weaker, overall, than required for the culmination tanda... The real high point here is Remembranza, another tango with a Parisian pedigree, composed in 1934 by bandoneonist Mario Melfi (best known for being a coauthor of Poema). August is Melfi's birth month (in 1905), and he sailed for Paris also in August, just shy of his 18th birthday - to never come back. On the sheet music, even the lyrics are in French!
77. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel  "Esta noche de luna" 1955 3:48
78. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel  "Muchacha" 1956 3:18
79. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
80. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1951 3:49
81. Goran Bregovic  "Maki Maki" 2009 3:33
We're already 15 minutes past the closing time, but the dancers beg for more and are granted two more songs while the cleanup is underway :)
82. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "Pavadita" 1958 2:55
83. Alfredo De Angelis - Instrumental  "Felicia" 1969 2:48