Tango 1926-1927
Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah · 3 Mar 2021 · 2:56:45
Dag Stenvoll was sick, so Michael Lavocah ran the whole show alone, playing from Dag's playlist plus his own picks. The episode sits at the start of electrical recording (Victor from March 1926, Odeon from November 1926, both labels staying quiet about it so old acoustic stock would still sell), just as tango's six-piece sextets were recording prolifically because there were no written arrangements yet. Lavocah tracks the 'old guard' (Firpo, Canaro's stand-in band, Fresedo, Lomuto, Maglio, Guido) against Julio De Caro's sextet, already building the harmonic vocabulary that Troilo, Laurenz and Pugliese would use. Working-class 'arrabalera' singers Rosita Quiroga and Azucena Maizani are set against the more polished new arrival Libertad Lamarque. Lavocah names Osvaldo Fresedo his favourite orchestra of 1927, just before Canaro and Lomuto are lifted to a new level by singer Charlo.
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TBY Lost Afterparty V - 1926-1927Episode 34 · 10 Mar 2021 · 2:43:30What this episode gave Tangopedia
Facts said in the episode, each now cited to the minute it is said.
The term 'orquesta típica' began in 1909 as a marketing label coined by Greco and Canaro, so by 1926-27 tango's orchestral sound was already about 15 years into its development.
Victor introduced electrical recording in Argentina on 1 March 1926; Odeon didn't follow until November 1926. Neither label announced it publicly, by a gentleman's agreement, so buyers wouldn't stop purchasing the older acoustic-era stock still on shelves.
Victor introduced electrical recording in Argentina on 1 March 1926; Odeon didn't follow until November 1926. Neither label announced it publicly, by a gentleman's agreement, so buyers wouldn't stop purchasing the older acoustic-era stock still on shelves.
The only way to spot an electrical recording at the time was tiny markings: Odeon restarted its matrix numbering at 1 with a small 'e'; Victor later added 'VE' (Victor Electrical) to its labels, but gave no visible sign when the format first switched.
The only way to spot an electrical recording at the time was tiny markings: Odeon restarted its matrix numbering at 1 with a small 'e'; Victor later added 'VE' (Victor Electrical) to its labels, but gave no visible sign when the format first switched.
Chapter · 2:58
The Revolution Nobody Announced
In 1926, tango's sound quietly changed forever -- and the record labels told no one.
Lavocah opens with a Gardel milonga, noting it has the groove Piazzolla later gave Fiorentino in 1945, even though the danceable milonga rhythm as a dance form supposedly wasn't 'invented' until 1932.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 1:46 ·
A tender Gardel love song, which Lavocah compares to the 1959 Pugliese/Jorge Maciel recording of the same title.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:29 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Lavocah starts his Firpo run with a strong, melancholy-tinted number, calling Firpo a romantic with real melody underneath.
♪ Music · 2:00 ·
A second Firpo instrumental, intense and heavy-beated with complex violin harmonies; the title is never stated in the transcript.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:30 ·
A third Firpo instrumental played straight after the second; again the title is not said on air.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 1:30 ·
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.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:31 · The lyrics, on the song's page
An adventurous, playful version from March 1927, picked to show the band picking up the pace after a run of sub-60bpm tracks.
♪ Music · 2:00 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Watch it danced · 5
Chosen to illustrate 'canyengue' slapped-bass syncopation, which Canaro's band and especially Fresedo's used heavily in this period.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:30 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Chapter · 43:14
The Rigged Contest That Still Gave Us a Classic
Buenos Aires's biggest tango competition had a dirty secret.
One of the winning entries in Max Glucksmann's annual Odeon tango competition; the lyric, despite the festive title, is a jealousy-murder story.
♪ Music · 2:56 · The lyrics, on the song's page
An Agustín Bardi composition, played for its playful pizzicato violin; Lavocah notes D'Arienzo's later recording (from the late 1930s) is the most famous version today.
♪ Music · 2:00 ·
Another playful, pizzicato-heavy Fresedo number, picked to show violinist Adolfo Muzzi's three-finger pizzicato technique.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 3:15 ·
A darker-coloured Fresedo track, shown as a contrast to the playful ones played just before it.
♪ Music · 2:30 ·
A late, sweet and tender entry to the same Max Glucksmann 'best version' competition; Lavocah calls Fresedo his clear favourite orchestra of the year on the strength of this run.
♪ Music · 2:30 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Lavocah calls Lomuto 'Canaro's apprentice with a heavier bass' and picks this one for its strong violin playing from the very start.
♪ Music · 2:18 ·
A smoking-and-kissing love song that Lavocah pairs with Corsini's warm, 'countryside' voice, as a change of mood after the Lomuto track.
Only in the episode
Called the very first electrical recording made in Buenos Aires; Lavocah reads the lyric as the voice of the poor barrio criticising the sophistication of the city centre.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:55 ·
Chapter · 1:20:29
The Bridge the City Paved Over
A song written for a neighbourhood that was being destroyed.
Quiroga's version of a lyric mourning a barrio being redeveloped and paved over; Lavocah prefers Pugliese/Vidal's 1950 version for drama but likes this one just as much.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 3:01 ·
Introduces Lamarque's more sophisticated vocal style, contrasted with the rougher 'arrabalera' sound of Quiroga and Maizani.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:18 ·
Chapter · 1:28:45
The Tapes That Shouldn't Exist
The original masters were melted down in 1962. So why does this still sound so good?
A Paris-recorded Argentine band with an intensely melancholy sound Lavocah has a personal fondness for, built around bandoneonist Juan de Ambrogio ('Bachicha').
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:58 ·
A comic, spoken-dialogue version of the strike-themed tango Lavocah says the show had played a few weeks earlier under its other title, 'El Aocado'.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:58 ·
A French Odeon pressing by a Hungarian-Jewish bandleader who later fled the Nazis and settled, surprisingly, in Buenos Aires as a jazz bandleader.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 3:00 ·
A waltz by a full-time jazz band only later drawn into tango; Lavocah and listeners debate whether a flute or piccolos are audible in the background.
♪ Music · 2:05 ·
Watch it danced · 1
An old-guard waltz on the Victor label, featuring violinist Elvino Vardaro, who recorded on nearly everything Victor put out in this period.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:00 ·
A trio recording chosen to compare another 'singing violin' stylist to Vardaro; Ferrazzano had played on Firpo's first-ever performance of La Cumparsita in 1916.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 3:00 ·
Chapter · 2:02:56
The Prison Song That Outsold Everyone
A song about an innocent man in prison became the best-seller of 1927.
A prison-themed tango that, per Victor's own sales ledger, sold about 16,000 copies, roughly ten times a Julio De Caro record from the same year.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:39 ·
A one-off two-sided Victor record by the pianist (not yet a bandleader) that Lavocah calls the spookiest thing ever recorded in tango.
♪ Music · 3:00 ·
A house-band track chosen to show how unpredictably simple or advanced OTV's playing could be from one side to the next.
♪ Music · 2:30 ·
Watch it danced · 2
Lavocah argues this strong-melody, strong-beat band is the direct ancestor of D'Arienzo's later sound.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:30 ·
Chapter · 2:21:16
Where D'Arienzo's Beat Really Came From
You know this sound. You've just never heard where it started.
A second, wilder Maglio track played on request after listeners responded to the first.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:30 ·
The most harmonically advanced track of the night, with the band laughing in chorus at the start and a striking two-bandoneón variation at the end.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 2:49 ·
Played to showcase the Pedro Maffio/Pedro Laurenz bandoneón pairing that De Caro aficionados prize over the later Laurenz/Blasco combination.
♪ Music · 2:12 ·
One of the biggest hits of the era, sung by Maizani as another voice of the poor barrio.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 1:37 ·
Chapter · 2:42:55
Tango's Love Letter to Itself
A song that apologises to tango -- and loves it anyway.
A spoken poem, not a sung lyric, which Lavocah calls Maizani's greatest track and opens with lines he says every Argentine knows by heart.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 1:58 ·
Chapter · 2:47:20
Two Bandoneóns, No Orchestra
Just two musicians, no band -- and it's astonishing.
A bandoneón-duo recording De Caro had his two players make once their playing started attracting attention on its own.
Only in the episode
♪ Music · 3:00 · The lyrics, on the song's page
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.
The lyrics, on the song's page
Watch it danced · 4
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Tango By Year is Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah's, published here with their permission. The audio plays from SoundCloud.