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)