Missoula Spring Tango opening milonga playlist, May 2017

It's such a pleasure to join the Missoula Spring Tango crew again, to reconnect with the old friends and to make new friends, and to breath the spring air of this beautiful town between the verdant hills, with its neighborhoods abloom with lilac. Many thanks to Patrick and Lori for organizing the event, to the hometown tangueros for being such a wonderful support team (and there were 10 Salt Lake tangueros in Missoula this year!), and to all volunteers, teachers, and DJs who made this great weekend possible.

Spring flowers on the tables ..
time to start a milonga

The opening milonga of the fest was announced as 90% traditional, and, in the end of the night, it worked as expected, with an approximately 2.5 non-trad tandas out of 25 total. But adding these little bits and pieces of non-traditional music didn't quite work the way I expected at first. I tried sneaking in "danceable cortinas" of alternative music, but they would invariably clear the floor and draw no dancers, so I cut short every single danceable cortina attempt. On the other hand the Downtown Dance Collective hall was ready 15 minutes ahead of time, and I started planning an impromptu bonus "pre-quel" tanda of alternative milongas for the handful of couples already eager to get onto the floor. But beyond this "tanda number zero", everything took a very classic shape.
001. Trio Garufa  "Silueta Porteña (Electro Milonga)" 2008 2:35
002. Bajofondo Tango Club  "Leonel, El Feo Milonga Cut" 2004 2:15
003. Otros Aires  "Perro Viejo" 2016 3:21
Missoula Spring Tango is a real international event (if only mostly because the friendly Canadian tango communities are "just" 5 or 6 hours drive away), and the opening milonga was 5 hours long, so I went to a big-event 4-song tanda format despite knowing that the smaller local milongas adhere to a 3-song format. The rest of the fest milongas actually kept the tanda lengths of 3 songs, so I am still unsure if my choice was the best. But hey, it worked pretty well, and it gave me just enough extra challenge, and it also made all of us proud about becoming "real big tango grownups" :)
004. Leonid Bykov  "Smuglyanka cortina long"  0:33
005. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Champagne tango (clean)" 1938 2:30
006. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "El garron" 1938 2:27
007. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Alma en pena" 1938 2:46
008. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental "Loca" 1938 2:57
I came to Missoula right off the plane from a root-searching trip to Israel, a country which has become independent exactly 69 years ago, on May 14, 1948. Tonight, some of the cortinas celebrate Israeli independence, and the first of them is an ode to the white-and-blue flag.
009. "Hadegel Sheli"  0:28

010. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Yo no sé por qué razón" 1942 2:43
011. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Mi piba" 1943 2:51
012. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Como has cambiado pebeta" 1942 2:37
013. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno  "Que Lo Sepa Al Mundo Entero" 1943 3:31
Another Israeli children's song, "Peace on you, beautiful country".
014.  "Shalom lach eretz nehederet" 1977 0:31
015. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echague "En tu corazon" 1938 2:46
016. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Valsecito de Antes" 1937 2:19
017. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Amor Y Celos" 1936 2:22
018. Fool's Garden  "Lemon Tree" 1999 0:40
019. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Yo no se llorar" 1933 2:36
020. Osvaldo Fresedo-  Roberto Ray "Sollosos" 1937 3:27
021. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Vida mia" 1933 3:23
022. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Nieblas del riachuelo" 1937 2:25
"Born for peace", another popular patriotic track
023.   "Noladeti Lashalom cortina"  0:36
In 1940, even Di Sarli's orchestra had to be intensely rhythmic in its repertoire, likely because the recording companies, encouraged by D'Arienzo's explosive success, still remained convinced that nothing else sells. Driving rhythmic and yet beautifully elegant in Di Sarli's way.
024. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Nobleza De Arrabal" 1940 2:07
025. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Catamarca" 1940 2:23
026. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "Shusheta" 1940 2:22
027. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental  "La Trilla" 1940 2:21
028. Cream Margot  "Krem Margo - Poka Igraet Dzhaz"  0:41
I am especially partial to the 3rd milonga in the set, the one where Milonga "sings of herself", a naughty, fearless girl from the barrio.
029. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Larga Las Penas" 1935 3:08
030. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "La Milonga De Buenos Aires" 1939 2:47
031. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Milonga brava" 1938 2:32
032.  "Hadegel Sheli"  0:28
Osvaldo Fresedo was born 120 years ago, on May 5, 1897. Time to celebrate Fresedo with an extra tanda, beyond everyone's beloved vocals of Robereto Ray which I already played half an hour earlier. Now it's time for the 1939-1941 recordings with the voice of Ricardo Ruiz and Fresedo's trademark cascading harp.
033. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Y no puede ser" 1939 2:28
034. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz "Viejo farolito" 1939 2:28
035. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz "Plegaria" 1940 2:24
036. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Buscandote" 1941 2:49
037. Soda Stereo  "En la ciudad de furia"  0:24
038. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Me Voy A Baraja" 1936 2:26
039. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "A Oscuras" 1941 2:47
040. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Soy Mendigo" 1939 2:32
041. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos "Lagrimas" 1939 2:50
042. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22
Troilo's late 1940s are nothng short of stunning, and "A unos ojos" is a rare gem among them.
043. Aníbal Troilo - Edmundo Rivero y Floreal Ruiz  "Lagrimitas De Mi Corazón" 1948 3:00
044. Anibal Troilo - Floreal Ruiz "Romance De Barrio" 1947 2:37
045. Anibal Troilo - Edmundo Rivero y Aldo Calderón "A unos ojos" 1949 3:10

046. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23
047. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "Cada dia te extrano mas" 1943 2:33
048. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "Despues" 1944 2:54
049. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "Lluvia de abril" 1945 2:42
050. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "La vi llegar" 1944 3:24
051. Zhanna Aguzarova "Cats" 1987 0:21
052. Rodolfo Biagi - Andres Falgas  "Son cosas del bandoneon" 1939 2:44
053. Rodolfo Biagi - Teófilo Ibáñez "Una Pena " 1938 2:54
054. Rodolfo Biagi - Andres Falgas  "Queja indiana" 1939 2:24
055. Rodolfo Biagi - Andres Falgas  "Cielo" 1939 2:32
056.  "Noladeti La shalom cortina"  0:36
057. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Zorzal" 1941 2:40
058. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Pena mulata" 1941 2:27
059. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada" 1941 2:22
060. V. Butusov  "Goodbuy America" 1996 0:40
061. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Solo compasion" 1941 2:58
062. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Ninguna" 1942 2:59
063. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Mano Blanca" 1944 2:43
064. Angel D'Agostino - Angel Vargas "Ahora no me conoces" 1940 2:34
065. AR Rahman  "Ringa Ringa cortina long 3"  0:29
066. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "El Bulín De La Calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:29
067. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Maragata" 1941 2:45
068. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Suerte Loca" 1942 2:52
069. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Toda mi vida" 1941 2:56
070. "Sting - Windmills Of Your Mind" 1999 0:24
Roberto Firpo was also born in May (May 10, 1884) and we'll celebrate both by dancing to the beautiful valses of his later-carrier quartets, and, later on, to a rare quality recording of his early Orquesta Tipica.
071. Cuarteto Roberto Firpo - Instrumental "Tus Ojos Me Embelesan" 1937 2:51
072. Cuarteto Roberto Firpo - Instrumental  "Sueño Florido" 1936 2:48
073. Nuevo Cuarteto Roberto Firpo - Instrumental "Atardecer campero" 1951 2:14
074.  "Hadegel Sheli"  0:28
075. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Recien" 1943 2:43
076. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Nunca tuvo novio" 1943 3:14
077. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Todo" 1943 2:37
078. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podesta "Garua" 1943 3:09
079. Alla Pugacheva "Million Scarlet Roses" 1982 0:19
080. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Te quiero todavia" 1939 2:54
081. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "No me pregunten porque" 1939 2:51
082. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Todo te nombra" 1939 3:07
083. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Abandonada" 1939 2:54
084.  "Bienvenido Granda - Percal (Cha cha cha)"  0:48
A special tanda of "Rey del Fox"
085. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Noches de Hungria" 1942 2:57
086. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "No Apures Por Dios Postillon" 1945 2:59
087. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Maruska" 1943 2:07
088. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23
089. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Queriendote" 1955 2:49
090. Donato Racciatti - Nina Miranda "Gloria" 1952 2:47
091. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Sus Ojos Se Cerraron" 1956 2:47
092. Donato Racciatti - Olga Delgrossi "Hasta siempre amor" 1958 2:57
093. Beatles The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 2006 0:19

Varela-Ledesma tanda. 12:30 am.

094. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Muchacha" 1956 3:19
095. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Si me hablaras corazon" 1956 3:18
096. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Que tarde que has venido" 1956 2:55
097. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Fueron tres años" 1956 3:26
098.  "Katyusha"  0:33
099. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores "Las Espigadoras" 1938 2:47
100. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno  "Con Tu Mirar" 1941 2:07
101. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores  "Los Piconeros" 1939 2:47
102. Damour Vocal Band  "SWAY"  0:39
the second non-trad tanda is a mix of contemporary tango orchestras, with both classic and new compositions, united by the grounded, dramatic vibe.
103. Orquesta Tipica Fervor de Buenos Aires "Quien Sos" 2007 3:08
104. Orquesta Tipica Fervor de Buenos Aires  "E.G.B." 2007 2:26
105. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "La Yumba" 2011 2:57
106. Analíá Goldberg y Sexteto Ojos De Tango "El Adios" 2011 3:13
107. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23
... and then, for a moment, we plunge from the XXI century back into 1929, for a mix of pre-Golden age bands:
108. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12
109. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Belen" 1929 2:44
110. Orquesta Tipica Victor (dir. A  Carabelli) "Coqueta" 1929 2:47
111. Orquesta de Roberto Firpo  "Una Noche En La Milonga" 1929 2:56
112.  "Noladeti La shalom cortina"  0:36
Aces of candombe, another mixed-orchestra tanda
113. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Mo  "El tucu-tun" 1943 2:34
114. Alberto Castillo  "El Gatito en el Tejado" 1957 2:37
115. Romeo Gavioli y su orquesta típica  "Tamboriles" 1956 2:56
116.  "Hadegel Sheli"  0:28
Just as "Cara sucia" begins to play, I receive a request from the organizers, to finish the milonga on time (I was ready to go for another hour or more lol, but it is hard to sustain a Friday night milonga past 2 am, especially at a location where many guests drove for many hours to get there). So the just-started tanda changes shape on the fly, becoming another mixed set:
117. Carlos Di Sarli - Instrumental "Cara sucia" 1957 2:48
118. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental "Ojos Negros (Oscar Strok)" 1968 2:28
119. Alfredo De Angelis - Instrumental "Pavadita" 1958 2:53
120. Alfredo de Angelis - Instrumental  "Felicia" 1969 2:47
121. Viktor Tsoy  "Good morning, last Hero cortina long" 1989 0:35
122. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel  "Rondando tu esquina" 1945-07-18 2:48
123. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49
124. Osvaldo Pugliese - Jorge Maciel  "Remembranza" 1956 3:41
125. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1951 3:49
126. Paco Mendoza & DJ Vadim  "Los Ejes De Mi Carreta" 2013 3:23
(126 total)

Star Valley, Wyoming, after-longa playlist

Very excited to have taken part in the first-ever regional tango gathering in Wyoming, also drawing dancers from Utah, Montana and Idaho to the beautiful Star Valley! Hats off to David and Lucia for sawing the seeds of Argentine Tango in the greater Idaho Falls area, to Lily for graciously opening her home to the visiting tangueros, and to Rusty of Rustlers Restaurant and Saloon in Thayne, WY, and his team, for hosting the inaugural dinner milonga!

Salt River Range ahead...

Primer milonga en Star Valley!

Afton kids welcome the Temple, September 2016

Our carpool drove from Salt Lake City through the mountain passes, still half-covered by the spring snow, and near the beautiful, giant Bear Lake, and through quaint Mormon towns with such old-world names as Paris and Geneva, before reaching the verdant banks of Salt River in historic Star Valley. The first white ranchers have visited the area, then known for the salt springs of Stump Creek, as early as in the 1850s, but the massive Mormon migration didn't begin until the 1870s, when the valley received its present "marketing name". An early prophecy even envisioned a future LDS Temple in this semi-wilderness, on the hillsides East of Afton. And just a century and a quarter later, the prophesied Temple emerged there for real (opened in the fall 2016, the only LDS Temple in the whole Wyoming). But Star Valley is no longer just a traditional ranching enclave. With its location barely an hour away from the rich-and-famous Jackson Hole, it attracts all sorts of outsider folk now, outdoorsmen, artists, seclusion-minded white nationalists, you name it. And now tangueros!

Los ultimos abrazos...

Gabriel, Guadalupe, and David took turns DJing. I got my chance just before the final embraces, with an hour of impromptu music ending in the final Cumparsita, sticking to the records not heard earlier during the event, mostly old favorites. And then we were off to rustic Maple Grove Hot Springs!

01. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Me Voy A Baraja" 1936 2:26

02. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "Alas rotas" 1938 2:31

03. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos  "A Oscuras" 1941 2:47

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

05. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Fama 1930 2:38

06. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instruental "Belen" 1929 2:44

07. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12

08. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

09. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama "Tormenta" 1939 2:34

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

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

12. Lyube  "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1"  0:18

Opening the swim
season @ Maple Grove

13. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "La mulateada" 1941 2:22

14. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Pena mulata" 1941 2:27

15. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Pena mulata" 1941 2:40

16. Soda Stereo  "Corazon elator"  0:28

17. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Tristezas de la calle Corrientes" 1942 2:46

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

19. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron "Jamás Retornarás" 1942 2:28

20. The Beatles "All you Need is Love cortina" 2006, 2006 0:19

21. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Cómo Se Pianta la Vida" 1940 2:23

22. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Danza maligna" 1940 2:28

23. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Mo  "Tabernero" 1941 2:33

24. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

25. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá "Nunca tuvo novio" 1943 3:14

26. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Recien" 1943 2:43

27. Pedro Laurenz - Alberto Podestá "Todo" 1943 2:35

28. Juan D Arienzo - Instrumental "La Cumparsita" 1955 3:44

Milonga Trasnochanda com Medialunas playlist, SLTF 2017

I had my plate already totally full with the Salt Lake Tango Fest organizer's duties, but after the DJing arrangement for the late-nighter fell through, people nudged me to take this extra assignment. And I gave in. So it's gonna be a triple-duty night: setting up the milonga while el gente isstill finishing the last sweet tandas of DJ Tommy at DF Studio; getting the medialunas in and out of the oven; and DJing. Sounds like fun!

Minutes after midnight, we are starting off with a gulp of intoxicating retro woodwinds, and the milonga floor fills really fast as the guests arrive from the just-finished evening milonga

01. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "La Melodia De Nuestro Adios" 1938 2:19

02. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar  "A la gran muñeca" 1936 3:01

03. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar "Por La Vuelta" 1939 2:30

04. Soda Stereo  "Corazon elator"  0:28

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

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

07. Quinteto Don Pancho - Instrumental  "Champagne tango" 1938 2:30

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

The only contemporary - but still very classic in its feel - set for the night

09. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Ella Es Asi (feat. Enrique "El Peru" Chavez)" 2011 2:32

10. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Largas las Penas" 2011 3:02

11. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Negrito" 2011 1:53

12. Soda Stereo  "Profugos"  0:33

A mix of Adolfo Carabelli's two tango orchestras. The early tango records show so much variety in mood and quality, it's much harder to mix them while sticking to the formal one-band one-period rule, and yet they are pure gold!

13. Orquesta Tipica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli)  "Niño bien" 1928 2:43

14. Adolfo Carabelli - Alberto Gómez "El 13" 1932 2:37

15. Adolfo Carabelli - Carlos Lafuentes "Pa' que lagrimear" 1933 2:37

16. Soda Stereo  "Corazon elator"  0:28

17. Anibal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "Toda Mi Vida" 1941 2:58

18. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "Maragata" 1941 2:46

19. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:30

20. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

21. Edgardo Donato  Horacio Lagos "Quién Será (Vals)" 1941 2:20

22. Edgardo Donato - Hugo Del Carril  "El vals de los recuerdos" 1935 2:18

23. Edgardo Donato - Félix Gutiérrez "La Tapera (Vals)" 1936 2:59

Since the Argentine maestros originally claimed that they aren't going to stay much later than 1 am, I began to phase out, gradually, the Argentine rock cortinas and to phase in Russian and Anglo ones. But the guys stuck around for much longer ... and the medialunas, coming from the oven one purposefully small batch after another, lasted a bit longer than I feared, too. 

24. Alexander Dolsky  "At last, rainy September! (cortina 2)"  1979 0:15

25. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Recuerdo Malevo" 1941 2:33

26. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Que Nunca Me Falte" 1943 2:42

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

28. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

29. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Pobre yo" 1929 2:12

30. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "T.B.C." 1928 3:02

31. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Racing Club" 1930 2:34

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

33. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental  "Se dice de mi" 1954 2:52

34. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "El firulete" 1958 2:29

35. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "La cara de la luna" 1959 2:29

36. Pink Floyd  "Goodbye Blue Sky cortina long 1"  0:34

37. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Jamás retornarás" 1942 2:31

38. Miguel Caló - Raúl Berón  "Corazón no le hagas caso" 1942 3:00

39. Miguel Calo - Raul Beron  "Tristezas de la calle Corrient" 1942 2:46

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

How can one dance the night away without the legendary voice of Lita Morales?

41. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Chapaleando barro" 1939 2:21

42. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y Ravio Gavioli "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:50

43. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos y Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:25

44. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 2 (cortina)"  0:25

45. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel  "Soñar y nada más" 1944 3:08

46. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel  "A Magaldi" 1947 2:50

47. Alfredo de Angelis - Carlos Dante, Julio Martel "Pobre Flor" 1946 2:40

48. Russian Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

49. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Recuerdos De Paris" 1937 3:12

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

51. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Nada Más" 1938 3:02

52. Russian Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

Oh, interesting, so I went for a second tanda of Tanturi's while skipping such top-notch rhythmic choices as D'Arienzo and Biagi?

53. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental  "Comparsa criolla" 1941 2:51

54. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental  "Una noche de garufa" 1941 2:32

55. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental "Argañaraz" 1940 2:21

56. Soda Stereo  "Profugos"  0:33

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

58. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata" 2004 2:27

59. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "La Mulateada"  2:22

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

A mixed romantic tanda "in the sweetest spirit of the post-1943 revolution times" when both the maddening rhythms and the seedy subjects were suddenly left behind.

61. Lucio Demare - Raul Beron  "Que solo estoy" 1943 3:04

62. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Alberto Carol "Bajo El Cono Azul" 1944 2:43

63. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Ortega Del Cerro "Una Vez" 1943 3:24

64. Russian Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

At 3 am, and with some dancers already dropping out, it's high time for a nearly-unstoppable dramatic wave

65. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Muchacha" 1956 3:19

66. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Que tarde que has venido" 1956 2:55

67. Hector Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Fueron tres años" 1956 3:26

68. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 2 (cortina)"  0:25

69. Francisco Lomuto - Jorge Omar  "Damisela Encantadora" 1936 3:00

70. Francisco Lomuto - Instrumental  "Noche de ronda (vals)" 1937 2:34

71. Francisco Lomuto  - Fernando Díaz y Mercedes Simone "Lo Que Vieron Tus Ojos" 1933 2:23

72. Kisty Hawkshaw  "It's gonna be a fine night cortina long"  0:34

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

74. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio "Sinfonia de Arrabal" 1940 3:07

75. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales y Romeo Gavio  "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02

76. Florindo Sassone - Instrumental  "Adios corazon" 1968 2:16

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

78. Lyube  "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1"  0:18

The only Rodriguez tanda for the night (which is too short, alas) will be of foxtrots, masquerading as a milonga kind of a tanda :)

79. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Se va el tren" 1942 3:10

80. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Maruska" 1943 2:07

81. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Noches de Hungria" 1942 2:57

82. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22

83. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Manana zarpa un barco" 1942 3:22

84. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29

we hit the magic threshold of 3 couples on the floor, and so, the final tandas are announced. Wow, what a night! (And I still catch 3 hours of sleep before work!)

85. Lyube  "Atas cortina"  0:35

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

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

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

89. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

90. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:48

91. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49

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

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

The survivors of the later-nighter of Salt Lake Tango Fest 2017!

Locotango playlist, Boulder. CO, January 2017

001. Paolo Conte  "Via Con Me" 1981 2:47

002. Feist and Ben Gibbard  "Train Song"  3:03

003. Piatnitsa  "Soldat" 2003 3:13

004. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 1 (cortina)"  0:24

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

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

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

Many new cortinas tonight, mostly from Argentine and Polish rock of the decades past.

008. Soda Stereo  "Profugos"  0:33

(the first tandas at the Avalon are more like ambient music for the sumptuous dinner served by Halina, the milonga's amazing host, and I play them relatively quietly. But beginning from the third tanda already, the dancers begin to fill the floor, and the volume goes up, too)

009. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Belen" 1929 2:44

010. Sexteto Carlos di Sarli - Ernesto Fama "Flora" 1930 2:38

011. Orquesta Tipica Victor (dir. A. Carabelli) -  "Coqueta" 1929 2:47

... OK, and a couple new Russian rock cortinas too :)

012. Lyube  "Bat'ka Makhno cortina 1"  0:18

013. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Negrito" 2011 1:53

014. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Largas las Penas" 2011 3:02

015. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Ella Es Asi (feat. Enrique "El Peru" Chavez)" 2011 2:32

016. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33

017. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Decíme Que Pasó" 1942 2:39

018. Carlos di Sarli - Roberto Rufino  "Adiós te vas" 1943  2:30

019. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental "Ensueños" 1943 2:42

020. Marek Grechuta  "Korowod"  0:32

I'm surprised how recent are these records of the once-overplayed nuevo tango hits of the bygone era, the era when we were making our first tango steps...

021. Lhasa De Sela "La Cara de la Pared" 2005 4:23

022. Carlos Libedinsky  "Vi Luz y Subí" 2005 3:18

023. Cirque du Soleil "Querer" 1994 4:34

024. Kult  "dziewczyna o perlowych wlosach"  0:30

025. Zazie "J'envoie valser" 1995  2:52

026. Amélie-Les-Crayons "Ta P'tite Flamme" 2002 3:01

027. Klezmatics "Di Krenitse (milonga cut)" 2003 3:39

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

029. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales "Chapaleando barro" 1939 2:21

030. Edgardo Donato - Romeo Gavioli, Lita Morales "Yo Te Amo" 1940 2:50

031. Edgardo Donato - Horacio Lagos, Lita Morales "Carnaval De Mi Barrio" 1939 2:25

032. De Mono  "Statki na niebie"  0:28

033. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Pocas palabras" 1941 2:27

034. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "La Vida Es Corta" 1941 2:26

035. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "Argañaraz" 1940 2:22

036. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 1" 2012 0:18

037. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "La cara de la luna" 1959 2:31

038. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "Corralera" 1956 2:05

039. Quinteto Pirincho - Instrumental "Arrabalera" 1950 2:47

A Polish-Yiddish klezmery fox cortina signals a special Old Poland-centered tanda...

040. Adam Aston  "Nikodem"  0:20

I always try to include a tanda of Eastern European antebellum music at the Avalon, and this time the set includes one lesser known but really amazing voice, the voice of Janusz Poplawski (1898-1971), who starred as the Warsaw Opera soloist in the late 1920s and early 1930s, before accepting an invitation to sing in the Polish Opera in Chicago. There are many tangos among Poplawski's nearly 700 recordings, and I picked "Grzech" ("Sin", a ballad of the fatal draw of the tango music, sensual embrace, and wine) just because it sounded very Euro-Argentine. Later on, I was surprised to discover the reason! This tango is composed by Eduardo Bianco, of "Poema" fame...

041. Janusz Poplawski "Grzech (milonga cut)" 1938 3:01

042. Piotr Leschenko  "Golubye Glaza (Blue Eyes)" 1931 2:59

043. Jerzy Petersburski - Mieczyslaw Fogg "To ostatnia niedziela" 1935 4:06

044. Gayga   "Graj nie zaluj strun"  0:34

045. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Yo soy el tango" 1941 2:27

046. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Maragata" 1941 2:46

047. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "El bulin de la calle ayacucho" 1941 2:30

048. "Katyusha"  0:33

We break for a birthday vals ...

049. Rodolfo Biagi  "Loca de amor"  2:16

050.  "silence 5s"  0:06

... and then for Locotango's traditional "waterfall" community dance and a chacarera

051. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Yo No Sé Llorar" 1933 2:36

052. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray "Vida mia" 1933 3:23

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

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

055.   "silence30s"  0:31

056. "Chacarera del Rancho"  2:21

057.   "silence5s"  0:06

As always, D'Arienzo classic resets the mood and refills the floor!

058. Juan D'Arienzo -  Alberto Echagüe "Que Importa" 1939 2:08

059. Juan D'Arienzo -  Alberto Echagüe "Ansíedád" 1938 2:32

060. Juan D'Arienzo -  Alberto Echagüe "Mandria" 1939 2:22

061. Lyube  "Atas cortina"  0:35

This may be my first playlist extensively featuring Trio Garufa, a Bay Area band of 3 musicians from 3 continents which brags about being the first (and perhaps the only) US orchestra to have played at milongas in Buenos Aires. I played a "regular" milonga and a slow-longa and also hoped to play a vals of theirs, but run out of time...

062. Trio Garufa  "Silueta Porteña (Electro Milonga)" 2008 2:35

063. Bajofondo "Leonel, El Feo (Milonga Cut)" 2004 2:15

064. Otros Aires  "Perro Viejo" 2016 3:21

065. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

066. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Muchacha" 1956 3:16

067. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma "Si me hablaras corazón" 1956 3:20

068. Héctor Varela - Argentino Ledesma  "Fueron Tres Años" 1956 3:27

069. Soda Stereo  "Corazon elator"  0:28

070. Orquesta Tipica Fervor de Buenos Aires "Quien Sos" 2007 3:08

071. Orquesta Tipica Fervor de Buenos Aires  "E.G.B." 2007 2:26

072. Analíá Goldberg y Sexteto Ojos De Tango "El Adios" 2011 3:13

073. Marek Jackowski   "Oprócz blekitnego nieba"  0:23

074. Color Tango  "Illusion de mi vida" 2005 3:00

075. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Romance de Barrio" 2011 2:41

076. Osváldo Pugliese "Desde El Alma" 1943 2:56

077. Marek Jackowski   "Oprócz blekitnego nieba"  0:23

078. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval  "Solamente Dios y yo" 1958 2:30

079. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval  "Alguien" 1956 3:14

080. Rodolfo Biagi - Hugo Duval  "Esperame en el cielo" 1958 2:52

081. Viktor Tsoy  "Good morning, last Hero cortina long" 1989 0:35

082. Trio Garufa  "Milonga_uruguaya" 2012 4:11

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

084. Otros Aires  "Digital Ego" 2016 3:04

085. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33

086. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "Cada dia te extrano mas" 1943 2:35

087. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "La noche que te fuiste" 1945 2:45

088. Miguel Calo - Raul Iriarte "La vi llegar" 1944 3:24

089. Marek Grechuta  "Korowod"  0:32

090. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Re Fa Si" 1972 3:01

091. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "La torcacita" 1971 2:31

092. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental "Zorro Gris" 1973 2:08

093. Gogol Bordello  "Pala Tute cortina 3" 2012 0:19

094. Fool's Garden "Lemon Tree" 1999 3:11

095. Jason Mraz "I'm Yours" 2008 4:20

096. Damour Vocal Band  "SWAY - danceable cortina cut"  1:39

097. Aya RL  "Skora"  0:33

098. Carlos di Sarli - Mario Pomar  "Duelo criollo" 1952 2:30

099. Carlos di Sarli - Mario Pomar  "Tormenta" 1954 3:38

100. Carlos di Sarli - Mario Pomar "No Me Pregunten Porque" 1952 3:29

101. Sandro de America  "Yo Te Amo cortina" 1968 0:23

102. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:49

103. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49

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

105. Juan D'Arienzo - Instrumental  "La cumparsita" 1951 3:54

106.   "silence5s"  0:06

(and the bonus post-Cumparsita track)

107. Jem  "Come On Closer" 2004 3:47

The stats: 15 classic and 10 nuevo / alternative / contemporary / European tandas ("40% alternative ration"). And all the flyers for the Salt Lake Tango Fest (coming at the end of March) are gone!
Now off to the hills :)

Tango, mankind's most unusual heritage

A UNESCO image

Tango is an element of the intangible cultural heritage of the humanity. On October 2, 2009 UNESCO famously called for its preservation.What most of us don't know is how special is Tango's place on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. 

The goal is to safeguard living traditions in the communities: UNESCO inscribes local cultural practices and traditions on the List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity to give them better visibility, to boost self-esteem of the local communities, to foster the global dialogue and to encourage the authorities to do more to safeguard them.The UNESCO process takes special care to avoid excessive commercialization of culture for tourism and for export. UNESCO's goal is for the cultural riches to remain vested in the community, transmitted from generation to generation in the natural way, and continuously developing with the flow of time; it strongly opposes the danger of "folklorisation"(where a quest for "strict authenticity" smothers natural evolution and transmission of culture). UNESCO clearly recognizes the clash between safeguarding cultural traditions vs. protecting copyright or ownership. Verbatim: "Indeed, as intangible cultural heritage evolves thanks to its continuous recreation by the communities and groups that bear and practice it, protecting a specific manifestation like the performance of a dance, the recorded interpretation of a song or the patented use of a medicinal plant may lead to freezing this intangible cultural heritage and hinder its natural evolution. Moreover, as the communities are the ones who create, maintain and transmit intangible cultural heritage, it is difficult to determine the collective owner of such heritage."

Argentine legislators joining the 2008 petition

The "where" and the "how".... The UNESCO process begins from defining the geographic range of the cultural practice, and its traditional mode of transmission (family, teacher-apprentice, observation and imitation?). Tango's "where" and "how" are unparalleled in the Representative List! It's geographic range is defined as the entire world - then the declaration seeks to safeguard tango's place of birth in Montevideo and Buenos Aires. There isn't any other musical / poetic / dance art form in the whole list which is defined as distributed world-wide yet needs safeguarding in its birthplace. With tango, much credit should be given to the global communities for making Buenos Aires a place of pilgrimage, a center of study, and a source of inspiration. That's why a globalized cultural phenomenon was able to revitalize its cradle. Time and time again, when tango was in danger at its place of birth, the expat communities lent hand to sustain it ... as early in the 1900s, when tango was disallowed by the Catholic Church itself, and derided as an African-influenced, underclass subculture by the purists at home, and then in the "dark days" of tango in the 1960s and 1970s, when the foreign music fans didn't let the tradition lapse, and of course beginning in the 1990s with the social dance wave going global.

With the traditional mode of transmission, tango is just as unique. UNESCO simply refused to narrow it down to something specific. So tango has become the only cultural legacy which has lots of "right ways" to pass on the tradition!

UNESCO asks, then, about a nominated cultural practice: How does it adapt to modernity? Are the traditional ways endangered? Are there urgent safekeeping needs? Any cultural asset worth being protected by UNESCO must conform to the human rights. Importantly, sacred practices and oral arts may be safeguarded, but neither religions nor languages themselves qualify for protection. In these respects, tango isn't totally unique, but it's still very special.  Verbatim: 

- tango both embodies and encourages diversity and cultural dialogue

- it adapts to new environments and changing times

The UNESCO declaration makes it an honorable duty of Argentina to nurture its tango community in BsAs, while strongly speaking against exclusive "ownership of culture", and for broad global dialogue, change, and diversity."Inscription of the element on the Representative List would contribute to visibility of intangible cultural heritage and a deeper understanding of the Tango as a regional expression resulting from the fusion of several cultures" 

The petitioners: The UNESCO declaration was sought jointly by the municipalities of Buenos Aires and Montevideo. In Buenos Aires, Luciana Blasco, a cultural event organizer who then served on the city council, spearheaded the petition, citing the existing 1998 City Law 130 which already called for the city to help its tango community. Such luminaries as Horacio Arturo Ferrer (1933-2014), an Uruguayan-Argentine tango poet of "Balada para un loco" fame and the creator of Argentine National Tango Academy, Leopoldo Federico (1927-2014), bandoneonist of such classic orchestras as Di Sarli and Troilo's, composer, and tango orchestra leader, Raul Lavie, a contemporary tango singer, José Gobello (1919-2013), the patriarch lunfardo expert, and Laura, second wife of Astor Piazzolla and chairwoman of his memorial foundation, joined. Such famed dancers as Mora Godoy and Miguel Angel Zotto supported the project (Mora, who describes herself as the most important tango dancer in Argentina, once famously dragged reluctant Pres. Obama onto the dance floor). Zotto, who already starred in Tango Agentino on the Broadway in the mid-1980, famously said that nothing endangers tango in today's global culture. We see a broad list of tango innovators and modernizers signing up for a project to preserve the heritage, but it should come as no surprise, being one of those contradictions which are always woven into the fabric of tango. Interestingly also, among the preexisting conservation efforts, they also listed both Day of Tango, December 11, and the virtually unknown Uruguayan Day of Tango, October 5 (this date commemorated the creation of FUTANGO (Federation of Uruguayan Tango) in 2005, but it kind of dissolved in the broader festivities of Uruguayan Heritage Days, and never really caught on). 

So many facets! The petition strongly emphasized cultural diversity as the very core of tango, a central part of its essence and roots, and its continuous development in cross-cultural fertilization. There were many cool details in the petition which which didn't make the cut in the UNESCO declaration. For example, in addition to tango proper, milonga, and "so called vals criollo", the petition sought to include the sub-genre of the milonga candombeada, too. In addition to musicians, poets, and dancers, the petition originally sought to include playwrights, script writers, historians, journalists, editors, website operators etc. Language of tango was petitioned for (since Lunfardo Academy was one of the movers behind the project), but UNESCO rules specifically disallow as broad things as language from the lists of cultural heritage.The petition also sought to include tango-related handicrafts (later on, filete won a separate UNESCO heritage designation). I can only assume that the broad scope of the proposed protections was eventually found to be too wide for the UNESCO process, which is more geared towards community artists and craftsmen than to the big-city editors, producers, and web designers

Superficial foreign fans and enforced authenticity? Another sentiment which didn't make the cut was a kind of a familiar lament about shallow understanding of the tango culture abroad. The petitioners suggested, in particular, that "the Europeans understand Tango as music of the belle-époque", with exaggerated sensuality of a luxury cabaret, and don't appreciate tango's humble, underclass roots. ( Irony mode on - to see tango with all these supposed sins of exaggerated sensuality, with the woman thrown around exactly as the petition complained, one doesn't have to go any further than the cool promotional clip of one of its most famous signatories, Mora Godoy! :) ) 

Of course this kind of a broad-brush cultural suspicion didn't fly, and the UNESCO declaration carefully avoided blaming the "superficial foreigners" or calling for "proper authenticity". But one has to understand that it's so common for the locals to start fearing loss of identity just as their cultural heritage finally gains appreciation and popularity abroad. More on it below... 

Pledges and failures: The petitioners pledged to spend hundreds thousand dollars to support tango life in BsAs and Montevideo, including promoting historical venues, creating tango hostels for visiting trainees, a huge documentation and record center, an institute and a fund to support milongas ... even half a million dollars to establish a tango museum in Montevideo! But hardly anything has been delivered. When, in 2013, the governments reported on its progress, they had just one modest achievement to brag about, a newly organized Tango Research Center in Argentina. As we know, many traditional milongas in BsAs (both indoor and outdoor) are under a persistent bureaucratic attack, losing venues completely, experiencing temporary closures. The cradle of tango needs protection, and the UNESCO declaration continues to require action.

Is this a right way to balance the aspirations of the global vs. indigenous communities? The Convention on the Intangible Cultural Heritage is only 13 years old, although it has been informed by UNESCO's decades of cultural protection and community development experience. Its pros and cons have been recently reviewed by Farah and Tremolada (2014). The core issue is familiar to us, tango lovers: it is the issue of indigenous control of cultural heritage vs. globalized identity drawing from a variety of cross-fertilizing cultures. The global community may fear being robbed of its means of expression, while the indigenous community may fear an identity crisis.

Prof. Farah lectures on legal frameworks
of safeguarding cultural legacy

Intellectual property (IP) models, especially copyright, are also widely used for cultural assets. Importantly, copyright protects the asset only over the defined period of time; then it falls into public domain for all to use. IP protection is also narrowly focused on money rather than on community values / sacred values. IP = fair exchange of cultural assets for commercial value, at the expense of freedom of expression. SADAIC and AGADU have long followed the IP copyright model for aspects of tango culture, and tango music and poetry did become a commodity, which has also become targeted for export very early on. Because of this commodification and the global market focus, an alternative IP protection tool of "geographic indication", has become impossible to apply to the tango culture. 

But, as UNESCO uderscores, living cultural tradition isn't a mere reproduction or copying. It includes creativity and innovation and this makes it even harder to apply IP framework. Safeguarding cultural heritage is likewise more complicated than mere protection. It also includes an obligation to let the cultural practices develop and evolve in a continuous process of social involvement.

In 1982, World IP organization and UNESCO already tried drafting a new framework for national laws for regulating folklore (potentially including bans on fusion forms or distorted forms of traditional culture). In this framework, wherever money was at stake, practicing folklore would have required a license from the government. This idea was fundamentally at odds with the freedom of expression, and the proposal didn't go anywhere. But the experience of drafting the failed, overreaching model framework was seminal for UNESCO's subsequent fine-tuned efforts to safeguard cultural heritage of the humanity. As a result, UNESCO defined indigenous cultural heritage as a living, evolving form of expression practiced by the communities, rather than rigidly codified by the governments.

DF milonga playlist, Dec 2 2016

It's primarily a "school milonga"although many people from the broader community show up. Still, I plan a list which is thicker on alternative and accessible music than usually. And I also reserve a special room for Pugliese, whose birthday falls on Dec. 2th, and on the composer Sebastan Piana, a later-November "birthday boy" whose life I've just reviewed. We are totally indebted to Piana for the music of milonga, but he also composed many great valses, and more than a few classic tangos.

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

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

03. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Shusheta" 1940 2:24

04. Carrapicho  "Tic Tic Tac cortina 2" 2007, 2007 0:18

05. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida "Recuerdos De Paris" 1937 3:12

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

07. Francisco Canaro - Roberto Maida  "Nada Más" 1938 3:02

08. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 4 (cortina)"  0:24

09. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental  "Comparsa criolla" 1941 2:51

10. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental  "Una noche de garufa" 1941 2:32

11. Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumental  "Argañaraz" 1940 2:21

12. Vitas  "7, the element cortina" 2012 0:23

The first Sebastian Piana's compositions for the night are his earliest trend-setting milongas:

13. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Sentimental" 1933 3:12

14. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Famá "Milonga Del 900" 1933 2:54

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

16. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 1 (cortina)"  0:25

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

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

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

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

A mixed tanda sampler of the romantic wave which splashed all over tango with the Argentine Revolution of 1943

21. Lucio Demare - Raul Beron  "Que solo estoy" 1943 3:04

22. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Alberto Carol "Bajo El Cono Azul" 1944 2:43

23. Orquesta Típica Víctor - Ortega Del Cerro "Una Vez" 1943 3:22 3:24

Both  "Caseron De Tejas" & "Paisaje" are Sebastian Piana's compositions, and, in a typical Piana way, he loves diving into history. The tile-roofed house (Caseron de tejas) from the era when the first valses just started to reverberate in the old barrio of Belgrano...

24. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Del Campo  "Caseron De Tejas" 1942 2:45

25. Pedro Láurenz - Alberto Podestá  "Paisaje" 1943 2:53

26. Pedro Láurenz - Juan Carlos Casas "Mascarita" 1940 2:53

27. Viktor Tsoy  "Good morning, last Hero cortina long" 1989 0:35

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

29. Enrique Rodriguez - Armando Moreno "Danza maligna" 1940 2:25

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

31. Viktor Tsoy  "Red-Yellow Days cortina long 3"  0:33

32. Soha  "Mil Pasos" 2008 4:07

33. Alacran  "Reflejo De Luna" 2010 3:44

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

35. Stas Borsov  "Anyuta cortina" 2000 0:21

And "Milonga de los fortines" is one of the longest "time travels" we enjoy in Piana's compositions, with the bugle call of the desert camps ("fortines" or little forts) of Argentina's Indian wars.

36. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Mariano Balcarce  "Milonga De Los Fortines" 1937 2:55

37. Orquesta Tipica Victor - Carlos Lafuente "Cacareando" 1933 2:45

38. Emilio Pellejero - Enalmar De Maria "Mi Vieja Linda" 1941 2:26

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

The Chaif Russian rock classic, while quite danceable, turned out to be lower on energy - but still nicely supported by the bracketing tracks in this tanda:

40. 5Nizza "Soldat" 2003 3:13

41. Chaif "Nikto ne uslyshit (Oy-yO)" 1994 4:26

42. Paolo Conte  "Via Con Me" 1981 2:47

43.  "Nature doesn't have bad weather"  0:24

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

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

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

47. Sting "Windmills Of Your Mind" 1999 0:24

Osvaldo Pugliese playing piano to an overflowing street.
From Historias & Canciones blog

We are celebrating the birthday of Osvaldo Pugliese tonight. Saint Pugliese has been so central to tango and indeed to Argentine culture that I hesitate writing about him. So much has been written, in so many places, there isn't anything I can add. Osvaldo, born on Dec. 2 1905, belonged to a family of the early tango musicians. His perhaps most famous composition, "Recuerdo", was created when Osvaldo was just 18, and registered jointly with his father (and with persistent rumors that Osvaldo's estranged brother contributed to the score). But Osvaldo Pugliese didn't convene the first orchestra with records until 2 decades later, and he started out quite faithfully following the stylistic path of his great teacher Julio de Caro. Yet it is Pugliese, and not De Caro, whom the tangueros are crazy about! Pugliese's wildly accelerating and decelerating beat has already made him a legend. Add to this his intense sincopation and arrastres. Overlay the music with politics and social justice ... with the orchestra which functioned as a workers' co-op, with his regular stints in jail, with blacklisting on the airwaves, with gangs of thugs battling the influence of Pugliese fans ... and you see how he is just a totally outsize figure in the Argentine culture. 

Oh, how I remember craving and at the same time fearing to dance to his complex and irresistibly driving music in my early tango years! Eventually I learned a simple but useful mnemonic rule about it, which goes like this: "Pugliese was a Communist -> Communist aesthetics glorifies the Factory Machine -> The unstoppable engine and the flywheel pick up speed and slow down, but their inertia dictates a nearly-uniform rate of acceleration and deceleration". I don't actually think that Pugliese's music has much to do with the industrial aesthetics, but his best tunes do accelerate and decelerate in a predictable, steady fashion! This forceful departure from the steady tango beat was quite revolutionary - but it also totally defied Pugliese in the genres of milonga and vals. Defied, I must add, until a further 35 years passed. It all changed in December 1979. Pugliese's orchestra toured Japan, month after month, city after city, overcome with homesickness. The director needed to revive a good memory of home to nurture his tired musicians, and he decided to make a new arrangement of a very old vals, "Desde el alma". They played it again and again afterwards! Because the breakthrough happened so late in tango history, it remained a one-of-a-kind modern vals gem, and it's a challenge to "tanda it up". Happy birthday, maestro!

48. Osvaldo Pugliese "Desde El Alma" 1979 2:58

49. Color Tango  "Ilusión de mi vida" 1997 3:00

50. The Alex Krebs Tango Sextet  "Romance de Barrio" 2011 2:41

51. Anzhelika Varum  "Autumn Jazz"  0:20

 "Sobre el pucho", the earliest of the acclaimed tangos of Piana's, composed when he was 19, and already with a story of a bygone barrio.

52. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré  "Dime, mi amor" 1941 2:40

53. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré  "Sobre el pucho" 1941 2:46

54. Juan D'Arienzo - Héctor Mauré  "Ya lo ves" 1941 2:39

55. Bravo - Zhanna Aguzarova  "Space Rock-n-Roll" 1993 0:12

56. Eendo  "Eshgh e Aasemaani" 2011 3:31

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

58. Kevin Johansen "Sur O No Sur" 2002 4:53

59. "Na Pua O Hawaii - George Ku Trio" 1992 0:22

Silbando, "whistling", is another early composition of Sebastian Piana (1925), but IMHO it shines the best with the 1950s record of Fresedo.

60. Osvaldo Fresedo - Héctor Pacheco "Pero Yo Sé" 1952 3:05

61. Osvaldo Fresedo - Héctor Pacheco "Silbando" 1952 2:51

62. Osvaldo Fresedo - Héctor Pacheco"Pampero" 1950 2:54

63. Russian folk  "Murka"  0:20

This tanda is crowned with another Sebastian Piana's jewels full of nostalgia, "Tinta roja"

64. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "El Bulín De La Calle Ayacucho" 1941 2:29

65. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Toda Mi Vida" 1941 2:55

66. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino "Tinta roja" 1941 2:59

67. Zhanna Aguzarova "Old Hotel" 1987 0:22

With "Estampa Federal", Sebastian Piana takes us even deeper into Argentina's history, traveling over a century back in time. The vals, about a love separated by exile, is set against the aftermath of the 1833 Revolution of the Restorers and the reign of the mazorquero death squads which followed.

68. Carlos Di Sarli - Alberto Podestá "Estampa Federal" 1942 2:42

69. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Rosamel" 1940 2:32

70. Carlos Di Sarli - Roberto Rufino "Alma mía" 1940 2:23

71. Maya Kristalinskaya  "Nezhnost (Tenderness)"  0:17

72. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Sorbos amargos" 1942 3:22

73. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "Manana zarpa un barco" 1942 3:22

74. Lucio Demare - Juan Carlos Miranda  "No te apures, Carablanca" 1942 3:29

75. Folk  "Shumel Kamysh "  0:23

76. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel  "Rondando tu esquina"  1945 2:49

77. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel "Corrientes Y Esmeralda" 1944 2:49

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

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

80.   "silence"  0:31

81. The Klezmatics with Chava Alberstein  "Di krenitse"  4:11