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El bandoneón y sus intérpretes: primera parte - Volver Tango
"El bandoneón y sus intérpretes: primera parte" is an episode of the Volver Tango documentary series. It combines narration with interviews to tell the story of the bandoneón, from its invention in Germany to its place in Buenos Aires tango. It then turns to the bandoneonists who shaped how the instrument is played.
Video 00:01:31 · Video 00:24:55 · Video 00:32:17
Origins and arrival
The narration credits Heinrich Band with inventing the instrument around 1835. It dates the bandoneón's arrival in Buenos Aires to about 1875 and notes that other accounts give 1874 or 1880. According to the film, the bandoneón entered tango around 1910 through the orquestas típicas criollas. One interviewee says that the early players, who learned by ear, slowed the music down and began playing legato.
Video 00:01:31 · Video 00:04:35 · Video 00:07:40 · Video 00:08:24 · Video 00:04:52
The instrument and its makers
Musicians demonstrate the irregular keyboard, where each button sounds a different note when the bellows open and when they close. Interviewees name the German Alfred Arnold "AA" instruments as the professional standard. They say supply stopped around the Second World War, which left players dependent on restorers and tuners. The narration presents Casa Mariani's production from 1942 as the only Argentine manufacture.
Video 00:10:40 · Video 00:14:42 · Video 00:17:23 · Video 00:19:14 · Video 00:22:34 · Video 00:18:46
Interpreters
The film contrasts Juan Maglio "Pacho", whose playing the film and an interviewee call soft and legato, with the more temperamental Eduardo Arolas. Interviewees say that Pedro Maffia and Pedro Laurenz, in Julio de Caro's sextet, laid the foundations for modern players. The episode closes with Ciriaco Ortiz and with Aníbal Troilo, whose style speakers describe as drawing on all three.
Video 00:24:55 · Video 00:25:46 · Video 00:32:17 · Video 00:39:09 · Video 00:42:59
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