Francisco Canaro · Tango By Year

1926

A Media Luz
One of Odeon's first electrical-recording matrices, made by Canaro's stand-in band (run by Minotto Di Cicco and Luis Riccardi) while Canaro himself was in Paris; notable for the bandoneón carrying more of the backing than the piano.
Solo en el episodio
Nobleza de Arrabal
Chosen to illustrate 'canyengue' slapped-bass syncopation, which Canaro's band and especially Fresedo's used heavily in this period.
Solo en el episodio

1927

Derecho Viejo
An adventurous, playful version from March 1927, picked to show the band picking up the pace after a run of sub-60bpm tracks.
Noche de Reyes
One of the winning entries in Max Glucksmann's annual Odeon tango competition; the lyric, despite the festive title, is a jealousy-murder story.
La Cumparsita
The least-heard of Canaro's three old-period recordings of the song (1927, 1929, 1933); closes the show since almost everyone knows the much more common 1933 version instead.
María
A simple vals Canaro liked enough to record twice: acoustically in early 1926, then again electrically in 1927; picked for its delicate piano playing.
Sangre azul
Picked for its violin counter-melody (obbligato) against delicate piano; used to explain what a counter-melody is.

1928

Entre sueños
Charlo
A man waiting for his lover in a room; Charlo jumps up an octave, 'how long I have waited', and has beaten death to be with her. Stenvoll says it 'kills me every time'.
Viejo ciego
Charlo
A lyric about a blind street violinist who one day isn't there; the bandoneón variación without a break is probably Minotto.
Nelly
Charlo
Two near-identical recordings, one with Charlo as estribillista and one a week later with Charlo as soloist; this is the soloist version.
Solo en el episodio
CapítuloThe Prince of Wales danced to De Caro
In 1925 the Prince of England had a tango band at his ball. It wasn't Canaro.
Arco iris
After-party: a Pedro Maffia composition entered in the 1928 Gran Concurso and a top-prize winner; complex advanced music played by Canaro with exquisite phrasing.
Berretines milongueros
After-party: a more typical romantic Canaro with phrasing and a hesitation in the melody at the start.
Entre sueños
Charlo
A man waits for his girlfriend; Charlo's first appearance on Canaro records changes the level of the band and softens it.

1929

La Morocha
Ada Falcón
The first recording issued under Canaro's new 'Series Symphonica Canaro' arranged-music label, and one of Ada Falcón's first recordings with his orchestra, right as their relationship began.
Solo en el episodio
Shique
An instrumental Canaro rarely attempted material this complex for; this arranged recording shifts mood several times across its three and a half minutes.
Solo en el episodio
Azulidad
Charlo
From Canaro's most genuine, sincere period with Charlo, one of the era's three or four top tango voices.
Vuelve Amorcito
Fiorentino
Played as a guess-the-singer game; revealed to be a young Fiorentino, at this point still primarily a bandoneón player who only doubled on vocals.
Felicia
Lavocah's pick as the best version of Felicia ever recorded, a tango now mostly associated with D'Arienzo.
Don Juan
The B-side of La Morocha's original release, chosen for a strong canyengue (syncopated slapped-bass) passage.
Tengo Miedo
Charlo
About the fear of falling in love; there is a non-dance Ada Falcón/Canaro vocal version, but this danceable Charlo version was played instead.
Quimera de amor
An instrumental by the composer of En sueños, with a Hawaiian guitar and a melody with an 'inherent logic'.
Chiqué
An instrumental from Canaro's arranged 'Serie Sinfónica,' chosen as proof of his creative peak in 1929, with Ada Falcón as his muse.

1930

La Guitarrita
An early version of a song known from many later bands (including D'Arienzo); part of Canaro's Serie Sinfónica, the first arranged music in tango, with unusually free piano from Luis Riccardi.
Con tu Mirar
Charlo
Played straight after the Serie Sinfónica track to show the contrast: the waltz puts every musician firmly back in a conventional dance-band role.
Príncipe Loco
One of the less common Canaro titles from this year, chosen for its unusual flavour out of roughly ninety candidates considered.
Un disco aún sin identificar
Ada Falcón (estribillista)
One of only a handful of recordings where Ada Falcón sings the shorter estribillo part for dancing, rather than as featured soloist.
Solo en el episodio
Siempre Te Amaré
One of Stenvoll's all-time favourite Canaro waltzes.
Don Segundo Sombra
Charlo
Played briefly (just the opening) to compare against Minotto's own version of the same tango, named for the famous gaucho character.

1931

Title unclear (good, bad and ugly)
Lavocah: 'I shouldn't like this tango but I do', an earworm.
Solo en el episodio
Title unclear (waltz)
A waltz Lavocah loves, played after reiterating that Sueño de juventud is not for dancing.
Solo en el episodio
Sueño de Juventud
Ada Falcón
A soloist's vals chosen to show the non-dance side of the catalogue; the song Di Sarli, Discépolo's close friend, never got to record because he lost his contract the same year it became a hit.

1932

Te Quiero
Ada Falcón
A hit from Canaro's stage show La Muchachada del Centro, sung in the show by Ernesto Famá but recorded for the label by Ada Falcón, said to dramatize their real-life romance.
Solo en el episodio
unclear (number from La Muchachada del Centro)
Ernesto Famá
Another number from the same stage show, noted for its offbeat, playful rhythm and a hard new beat that replaces the earlier tenderness of Canaro and Charlo; the lyric turns out to reference the Depression directly.
Solo en el episodio
Esclavas Blancas
Agustín Irusta
A tango about being slaves to the milonga's rhythm, later also recorded by D'Arienzo in 1940.
El Jardín del Amor
Agustín Irusta and Ada Falcón
A five-minute duet from La Muchachada del Centro, played out of free tempo with pauses, impossible to use at a milonga.
Solo en el episodio
Para ti, madre
One of four Canaro waltzes closing the show.
Solo en el episodio
Un disco aún sin identificar
A further Canaro waltz in the closing run, with pampa-themed lyrics.
Solo en el episodio
unclear (closing waltz)
The last waltz of the night, introduced as such but with its title not clearly caught.
Solo en el episodio
El jardín del amor
Ada Falcón
A hit from the stage show La muchachada del centro; Falcón's voice and held notes, and a counter-melody by a muted cornet or trumpet.
Solo en el episodio

1933

Pinta brava
From Canaro's Serie Sinfónica; the 1949 Pugliese version made the piece famous, and the homework is to hear them back to back.
Solo en el episodio
Milonga del novecientos
Ernesto Famá
A nostalgic milonga referring to the origins of tango around 1900, from the year milonga entered the dance orchestras.
Ventarrón
Ada Falcón
Falcón's solo interpretation (backed only by Canaro) in a year with many Ventarróns; Dag nearly made it the last song.
Solo en el episodio
CapítuloThree Cumparsitas, one matrix number
Canaro recorded La cumparsita three times with the same record number.
La cumparsita
Canaro's third recording (1927, 1929, 1933), a big-selling record with Minotto Di Cicco on bandoneón.
Solo en el episodio
Adiós juventud
Ernesto Famá
An exquisite violin solo with separately articulated notes and a special Famá performance.
Milonga sentimental
Canaro's first milonga, a classic where the beat is not regular.

1934

El tigre Millán
Ernesto Famá
Played as Famá's rarer solo version rather than the estribillo version familiar at milongas; Lavocah calls this Famá's best year with Canaro.
Decime adiós
Ernesto Famá
A second Famá/Canaro side played back to back with the first, from what both hosts call Famá's strongest year singing for Canaro.
Tormento
Charlo
Charlo's own composition, backed by Canaro, flagged as not to be confused with the similarly titled 'Tormenta'.
Solo en el episodio
S.O.S.
An unusually syncopated instrumental, later also known in a version with Maida singing; praised for making Canaro's normally square, hard beat really work.
Solo en el episodio
Ronda del querer
Carlos Galán
One of the Canaro waltzes later chosen for the first 1960s LP reissues, which is why it survives in good quality today.
Juan te quiero
Ernesto Famá
One of only two Canaro milongas this year, played for its irresistible rhythm.
Solo en el episodio
Ya vendrán tiempos mejores
Ada Falcón
Framed as capturing the spirit of 1934 - its sheet music subtitled 'Tango Optimista' - as a follow-up to 1933's 'Si yo fuera millonario'.
Un jardín de ilusión
Ada Falcón & Ignacio Corsini
A rare Falcón duet, the only time she and Corsini are known to have recorded together, in an unusually long, slow take.
Venganza
Azucena Maizani
A rare track Dag sourced from collector Bernhard Gebauer's tangodj.at database; the harshest lyric of the night, a dying man begging forgiveness while his lover mocks him.
Siempre así
Carlos Galán
A 'five-star' but less familiar Canaro waltz, chosen specifically because it wasn't one of the tracks reissued on 1960s LPs.
El amor de los troveros
Carlos Galán
Billed as 'ten times better' than the previous waltz - an epic, heart-tearing Canaro side.
Canto
Ernesto Famá
One of a sentimental pair of Canaro/Famá sides played back to back in the afterparty's closing stretch.
El pescante
Ernesto Famá
The second half of the closing Canaro/Famá pair.
Suavemente
Ada Falcón
Named one of Lavocah's favourite pieces of Argentine music; explicitly a foxtrot rather than a tango, and he warns listeners off Enrique Rodríguez's later 1940s version in favour of this intimate original.
Solo en el episodio

1935

CapítuloThe year Canaro recorded a third of all tango
One bandleader. 84 recordings. A third of everything tango released that year.
Ojos negros que fascinan
Roberto Maida
Played alongside the instrumental El buey solo to show Canaro's mature, smooth 1935-38 period with Maida.
El buey solo
A playful instrumental; Lavocah notes the square, metronomic beat under Canaro's changing textures.
La copla porteña
Ada Falcón
Picked as part of a run of women singers; Falcón is described as a mezzo-soprano backed by Canaro's orchestra.
De puro guapo
The Laurenz composition Laurenz himself couldn't record in 1935 for lack of a contract, so Canaro cut it instead.
De puro guapo
Played because we cannot hear Laurenz's version of the tango from this year.

1936

Yo También Soñé
Roberto Maida
A tango about waking up from illusions, its mood turning dark at the chorus.
El Porteño
Roberto Maida
A follow-up to Canaro's novelty 'tangón' rhythm, tried out at his theatre shows before being recorded; less exciting than the original.
Solo en el episodio
Noches de Amor
A Canaro waltz with an unusually long introduction, often shortened on later CD transfers; listeners heard an echo of Waldteufel's European waltz style in it.
Solo en el episodio
Amor
Roberto Maida
A Gardel composition about love's two sides, joy and pain; its theme is forgiveness, and Maida's velvety voice softens Canaro's martial beat.

1937

Mamita
Roberto Maida, Ángel Ramos
A slow, sad waltz, a duet to mothers that Dag calls less a tribute than close to an insult, from an orchestra that recorded over 300 waltzes.
Invierno
Roberto Maida
A very well-known Canaro/Maida tango, played because it had snowed in Bergen that day; Michael cautions DJs it's overplayed and shouldn't only come out in winter.
Recuerdos de París
Roberto Maida
About finding love like a son in Paris; notice the clarinet obbligato, one of the jazz instruments Canaro liked to use.
La Puñalada
Canaro's straight-tango version of D'Arienzo's milonga hit, recorded just weeks after D'Arienzo's, which Michael reads as a sign Canaro could no longer modernise.
Solo en el episodio

1938

El triunfo de tus ojos
Roberto Maida
Maida's last year with Canaro. Start time approximate.
Reliquias porteñas
A very danceable instrumental milonga. Start time approximate.
Nada más
Ada Falcón
Afterparty: Ada Falcón, backed by Canaro; she was in tension with Canaro and about to quit the scene.
Solo en el episodio
Un disco aún sin identificar
Ada Falcón
A second Ada Falcón side, a lyric about when the tango was danced 'heart to heart'.
Solo en el episodio

1939

El rey del bosque
An instrumental from a Canaro stage show labelled tango sinfónica, theatrical and hard to dance.
Milonga de Buenos Aires
Ernesto Famá
A fast, happy milonga with Famá, who is back with Canaro after Maida left.
Solo en el episodio
Vanidad
A Canaro tango no other orchestra recorded.
Noche de estrellas
First of a Canaro waltz set.
El vals del estudiante
Second of the Canaro waltz set.
Nostalgia gris
The most unusual of the three Canaro waltzes.

1940

Bésame, mi amor
Carlos Roldán
One of the few post-1938 Canaro tracks Stenvoll likes; Roldán's darker voice fits the lyric about a last kiss.
Solo en el episodio
La cara de la luna
From Canaro's Quinteto Pirincho: an old-style tango milonga, sometimes played at marathons, with an innocent early-days quality.
Solo en el episodio

1941

Papirusa
Stenvoll's one exception to his rule against playing Canaro from this era: an instrumental he felt was good and not recorded by other orchestras.
La vida en cien gramos
Carlos Roldán and 'Blackie'
A rare Canaro milonga, only in poor fidelity, with a second vocalist, a woman journalist known only by the nickname Blackie; lyric about weighing 100 grams of faith, peace and joy.
Solo en el episodio
La rompedora (El potro)
A Pintín Castellanos milonga that sounds like a horse; Canaro recorded it before D'Arienzo (1949).
Solo en el episodio

1943

Adiós pampa mía
Nelly Omar
Omar records just ten numbers with Canaro over two years; the special arrangements are by Mariano Mores.

1946

Adiós Pampa Mía
Nelly Omar
Omar's alto voice opens the song almost like a tango-canción before the dance tango proper begins; one of only about ten tipica recordings of her career.
Rosas de Otoño
Nelly Omar
Compared to Di Sarli's favourite version and the earlier Carlos Gardel recording; Omar's alto is called magnificent for this waltz.
Solo en el episodio
Dos Almas
Enrique Lucero
A lighter Canaro waltz played before the closing run of Pugliese and Troilo; the hosts admit the transfer quality isn't great.

1947

Vieja Cumparsita
Enrique Lucero
Proof there was a Cumparsita connection in 1947 after all: the melody quotes La Cumparsita throughout.
Sentimiento Gaucho
Nelly Omar
One of ten recordings Nelly Omar made with Canaro's orchestra over 1946-48; Lavocah says a great singer 'raises the level' of any tango she sings.
Noblesa de Arabal
Nelly Omar
Second of the Nelly Omar/Canaro pair played back to back; listen for the mid-song shift into habanera rhythm.
Solo en el episodio

1948

Nube gris
Alberto Reinas and Enrique Lucero
A waltz duet, starting with an octave piano introduction.
Un disco aún sin identificar
Alberto Reinas and Enrique Lucero
The second Canaro duet waltz; lyrics speak of looking for love and a woman's heart. Lavocah mentions a more complex version by Gobbi and one by a folk singer from 1949.
Solo en el episodio

1952

Flor de arrabal
A milonga with a joke ending Michael says is risky to play at a real milonga, since dancers enjoy the first three minutes then give the DJ a look when the trick lands.

1953

Compadre, ¿qué le va a hacer?
Alberto Arenas
A Troilo-written milonga from 1953 that Troilo never recorded; Canaro did.
Solo en el episodio

1954

Se dice de mí
Tita Merello
Merello's comeback studio version with Canaro; a no-nonsense lyric ('those who say I'm bow-legged haven't seen me in my nightdress').
Solo en el episodio

1955

Cara sucia
Juan Carlos Rolón
Played as something lighter after D'Arienzo, and to tell the story of the song's real, uncredited composer.
CapítuloThe ghost who wrote a hit and never got credit
Francisco Canaro's name is on the sheet music. He didn't write a note of it.

1960

Title unclear (late Canaro)
A late Canaro, played for fun, who died in 1964; the lyric is about a poor girl who climbs socially and is condemned for it.
Solo en el episodio