Tango 1933
Dag Stenvoll y Michael Lavocah · 16 de sept de 2020 · 3:41:38
Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah look at 1933, the year of the first Argentine talking film, after the double blow of talking pictures and the Great Depression has culled the most sophisticated bands and bankrupted about half the record companies. The scene is less diverse, dominated by Canaro, Fresedo and Firpo plus the Victor house bands, with solo singers (Gardel, Charlo, Mercedes Simone, Ada Falcón, Corsini, Imperio Argentina) the real stars on the film poster. Fresedo is in what may be his best year; the milonga becomes a mainstream dance-band rhythm; Charlo goes solo with Victor; Lomuto, Donato and Cirilo Ortiz make memorable sides. The centrepiece is Elvino Vardaro's experimental sextet with Troilo on bandoneón, whose single test pressing of Tigre viejo was rejected by Victor and survives as one Vaseline-covered disc. The afterparty adds Polish tangos, foxtrots and waltzes.
0% escuchado
faltan 3:41:38
Lo que sigue, como se publicó
Tango 1939Episodio 19 · 30 de sept de 2020 · 3:55:18Lo que este episodio dio a Tangopedia
Datos dichos en el episodio, cada uno citado al minuto en que se dice.
Talking pictures and the Great Depression together caused a huge cull of musicians and orchestras in 1931-32, and about 50% of record companies went bust, leaving a less diverse scene by 1933.
The most sophisticated bands were eliminated: Marcucci, Petrucelli and Brignolo are gone, Maffia and De Caro have no contract at the start of the year, and Di Sarli is gone too.
The first Argentine talking film's poster puts the soloists such as Mercedes Simone in lights, with dance orchestras like Fresedo, D'Arienzo and Típica Victor in small print at the bottom.
The 1933 big three are Canaro, Fresedo and Firpo, none of them among the 1940s golden-decade big four; Típica Victor and Canaro bring a more European feel.
Fresedo's 1933 may be his best year: he has found a light, romantic style quite different from the heavier 1927-29 sextet, with a piano that is not the backbone of the orchestra.
Capítulo · 1:56
Tango loses its experimenters
In 1933 half the record labels were gone and so were the boldest bands.
The first recording of Fresedo's own romantic composition, which ended the previous show, with the instruments he borrowed from American music.
♪ Música · 2:55 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 2
A playful lyric full of wordplay on stuttering (such as saying 'jamón' for 'jamás'), impossible to translate.
Solo en el episodio
A waltz (not the tango Plegaria) by the Sureda brothers, sung with a glossa and a deep, organ-like bandoneón accompaniment.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:30 ·
A rural-style argument between Charlo and Simone in the style of a payada duel, with Simone giving as good as she gets.
Verlo bailado · 81
A Charlo composition, recorded after he left Odeon for a solo Victor contract; its lyric explains why Morán later wanted to sing it with Pugliese.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:30 ·
A sweet introduction on a sad lyric; chosen to cheer up after Cobardía.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 4:05 ·
A joyful track whose title means 'take it easy'; Dag thinks the violin solo may be Elvino Vardaro.
A socially critical lyric about cabaret luxury against starving workers, showing Gardel's willingness to sing anything.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:55 ·
A 19-year-old singer and actress with guitar backing, a new voice in the series and an alto, easier to record than a tenor.
♪ Música · 2:43 ·
Capítulo · 52:15
Women in dinner jackets
Tango's first women stars sang dressed as men.
A sweet guitar-backed milonga associated with female singers such as Rosita Quiroga and Azucena Maizani, who performed in men's clothes.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 0:16 ·
A slower, different version from the 1942 D'Arienzo one; an OTV house-band recording.
♪ Música · 3:49 ·
Verlo bailado · 2
A tango with a singer whose name suggests a non-Spanish, non-Italian origin; Vardaro's violin tone is mentioned as unmistakable.
The first recording of the song, which is better known from De Angelis's 1943 version; Dag loves the melody.
♪ Música · 3:25 · La letra, en la página del tango
A playful, macho lyric ('what am I going to do?') by Lomuto himself; also recorded by Canaro with Ada Falcón and by Gardel the same year.
A rare male-female duet waltz, which Lavocah says is lucky to have survived.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:51 ·
A Victor house band with a violin solo near the end; hosts debate whether it is Gobbi, concluding the tone is Vardaro's.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:33 ·
Capítulo · 1:28:48
Seven bars of Cirilo Ortiz
A waltz built from almost no notes.
A guitar-backed waltz in Ortiz's own name, an exquisite example of the 'talking bandoneón' with octave notes and very few notes.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:53 ·
Replayed at Lavocah's request to hear how few notes Ortiz plays, a clear influence on Troilo.
Solo en el episodio
A rocking Donato waltz with a piano melody answered by a cello counter-melody, played by one of his brothers.
♪ Música · 2:45 ·
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
♪ Música · 3:05 ·
A nostalgic milonga referring to the origins of tango around 1900, from the year milonga entered the dance orchestras.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 7
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
♪ Música · 1:53 · La letra, en la página del tango
A Firpo tango with lovely violins at the end, played to show his romantic, sentimental sound.
♪ Música · 2:25 ·
Capítulo · 1:59:42
The sextet Victor said no to
The best sextet of its day recorded one test and was told: not commercial.
A slow, melancholic Firpo waltz in poor sound, probably instrumental.
Solo en el episodio
Dag prefers her guitar-and-piano version to Gardel's 1933 recording with Canaro's orchestra; the lyric is about the mother of five brothers killed in the First World War.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:41 ·
Capítulo · 2:09:05
A tango about five dead brothers
Silencio is the sound of a mother after war.
The first recording of a Sebastián Piana and Homero Manzi milonga, an unusual sad milonga; its date is queried.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:35 · La letra, en la página del tango
A waltz of the same title as the Charlo tango, with guitar backing.
Solo en el episodio
Capítulo · 2:22:46
The record that survived in Vaseline
One disc. Covered in Vaseline. Hidden in a cupboard.
A single test pressing never released; Vardaro's sextet with Troilo, with tempo and volume dynamics, solos by Pascual, Troilo and Vardaro.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:34 ·
Played a second time after the discussion so listeners can follow the tempo changes and solos.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:13 ·
Capítulo · 2:38:00
Three Cumparsitas, one matrix number
Canaro recorded La cumparsita three times with the same record number.
Canaro's third recording (1927, 1929, 1933), a big-selling record with Minotto Di Cicco on bandoneón.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:34 · La letra, en la página del tango
Afterparty cortina: a US jazz recording by Clarence Williams.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:03 ·
A Polish tango ('Love will forgive you everything') by a top-level artist, from a rich Polish tango year.
Solo en el episodio
A Polish tango with Hawaiian guitar and violin counterpoint behind the singer, to show how widespread the Hawaiian guitar was.
Solo en el episodio
A bizarre, intense song by the Russian pantomime artist, recorded in Warsaw with Jerzy Petersburski on piano; Lavocah calls it a shocker.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:04 ·
A less well-known Donato waltz; first of three waltzes.
An exquisite violin solo with separately articulated notes and a special Famá performance.
♪ Música · 3:15 ·
Verlo bailado · 1
A waltz of European origin; Lavocah lets listeners guess the title from the Spanish lyric about the 'old Paris'.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:35 ·
Canaro's first milonga, a classic where the beat is not regular.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 68
First of three Fresedo tangos in a year he was huge, partly because the competition vanished.
Solo en el episodio
A Fresedo tango with Ray, about a little lady from Córdoba.
Solo en el episodio
Third Fresedo tango of the set, whose title Dag translated as 'scram'.
Solo en el episodio
A foxtrot that sounds more Argentine, showing Fresedo's North American influence.
Solo en el episodio
A less well-known foxtrot with a singer in a more English style and a much slower pace.
Solo en el episodio
First of three Donato numbers, a fast tango relying on violin pizzicato, played as a bridge to what D'Arienzo would do.
♪ Música · 1:51 ·
Verlo bailado · 1
Closing Donato number whose lyric begins 'What a plate, che!', which Lavocah says listeners will like even more.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:02 ·
Seguir por todos los episodios
Tango By Year es de Dag Stenvoll y Michael Lavocah, publicado aquí con su permiso. El audio se reproduce desde SoundCloud.