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