The Cabeceo

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Tango By Year, the podcast

Ricardo Tanturi

30 records across 15 episodes (20 play here), plus 2 chapters that mention them, in the order the music happened.

Records played, by recording year

19371948

0 of 30 heard

1937

  1. A la luz del candil

    Carlos Ortega

    Tanturi's debut year (his band grew out of medical school); a morbid lyric about a gaucho who stabs his unfaithful woman and her lover, then confesses, carrying their hair and heart in his bag.

    Only in the episode

1940

  1. La cumparsita

    Closing track: no version of La Cumparsita exists from 1941 at all, so Stenvoll used the closest recording, from mid-November 1940.

  2. Aracá Rará

    One of Tanturi's first instrumentals after a two-year gap without recording.

    Only in the episode

  3. Title unclear (instrumental)

    A Tanturi instrumental played straight after Todo te nombra.

    Only in the episode

1941

  1. ChapterThe doctor who could sing

    Tanturi found his singer at a hospital dance.

  2. La vida es corta

    Alberto Castillo

    An early-year, up-tempo Tanturi-Castillo track showing the pairing that had just found its footing.

  3. Adiós, pueblo

    A slower, more lyrical instrumental from later in the year, played to show Tanturi's sound shifting over 1941.

    Only in the episode

  4. Noches de Colón

    Alberto Castillo

    A tango about remembering dancing; Tanturi directs while another pianist plays in the same style, banging out the beat with playful little bells.

  5. El buey solo

    An instrumental with a beautiful piano part, available only now from Tango Tunes; simple formula of bells, creamy violins and a short killer variation.

  6. A record not yet identified

    A milonga about a swaggering suburban compadrito, with good bandoneons reminding Lavocah of a Troilo milonga.

    Only in the episode

  7. La vida es corta

    Alberto Castillo

    Chosen for Castillo's street-smart delivery and the 'life is short, live it' lyric, picked as advice for dancers returning after the pandemic.

1942

  1. La copa del olvido

    Alberto Castillo

    First of this year's Tanturi/Castillo pair, from the band nicknamed 'the medical orchestra'.

  2. Marisabel

    Alberto Castillo

    Paired waltz; Dag guesses Marisabel is just the woman's name in the lyric.

  3. Así se baila el tango

    Alberto Castillo

    More Tanturi/Castillo in the afterparty; Castillo's taunting verse reportedly started real fights.

  4. Esta noche me emborracho

    Alberto Castillo

    A Discépolo-lyric Tanturi/Castillo number.

  5. Moneda de cobre

    Alberto Castillo

    A third 1942 Tanturi/Castillo track whose opening lines reference Afro-Argentine history.

  6. La serenata de mi amor

    Alberto Castillo

    A bitter waltz serenade to a lost love; the last word is 'traición'.

    Only in the episode

1943

  1. ChapterThe audition that was recorded

    Campos got into Tanturi's band with a recorded audition.

  2. Muchachos, comienza la ronda

    Enrique Campos

    Campos's first recording with Tanturi after Castillo left in August; also a social tango Pugliese recorded with Chanel.

    Only in the episode

  3. Percal

    Enrique Campos

    One of the two songs Campos sang at his Tanturi audition, which was recorded; Caló and Troilo had also recorded it.

    Only in the episode

  4. Oigo tu voz

    Enrique Campos

    Tanturi's new singer after Castillo went solo, chosen for the thick, creamy violin sound typical of the orchestra's period.

  5. Muchachos, comienza la ronda

    Alberto Castillo

    Originally titled Muchachos, se armó la milonga, changed because lunfardo was forbidden; Castillo was already singing with Tanturi.

    Only in the episode

1944

  1. Calla, bandoneón

    Enrique Campos

    A waltz played for Michael's birthday, picked to contrast with Tanturi's rhythm-first 1941 sound.

    Only in the episode

  2. Añoranzas

    Alberto Campos

    A rarer Tanturi waltz with Campos rather than Castillo, in good Tango Tunes transfer quality.

1945

  1. De seis a siete

    Enrique Campos

    One of Campos's last recordings with Tanturi, about being stood up from six to seven at the cafe; Lavocah is moved by the creamy violins.

  2. Corazoncito

    Roberto Videla

    Afterparty: the changeover from Campos to Videla at Tanturi, with a recommendation for a recent Tango Tunes release of the 1945-46 Tanturi recordings.

1946

  1. Sombras

    Osvaldo Ribó

    Tanturi's singers changed during the year, from Enrique Campos to Ribó and Roberto Videla; this is Ribó's turn.

  2. Como Aquella Muñeca

    Roberto Videla

    The second Tanturi singer featured, after Ribó.

1947

  1. Remembranza

    Osvaldo Ribó

    Played to cover the Tanturi gap from the original show; compared with the better-known Pugliese-Massiel and Gobbi versions.

  2. San José de Flores

    Roberto Videla

    A fully danceable reading of a tango that, in Pugliese and Morán's later version, breaks out of dance structure entirely.

1948

  1. Papel picado

    Osvaldo Ribó

    A less conventional high voice (Ribó) that Lavocah asks listeners to give a chance; title means cut paper.

  2. Bolero

    Roberto Videla

    A complaint about how much attention foreign music (the bolero) gets, also recorded by Pugliese in 1947.

Tango By Year is Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah's, published here with their permission. The audio plays from SoundCloud.