Tango 1938
Dag Stenvoll y Michael Lavocah con Carlos Puente (in the chat, collector who compiled the Euro Record CDs) · 10 de feb de 2021 · 3:15:28
Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah call 1938 explosive: one of the first great years for dance music, with D'Arienzo at his peak and the war in Europe approaching. Biagi is let go by D'Arienzo in June and has his own orchestra recording by mid-August on rival label Odeon, while D'Arienzo carries on with Juan Polito at the piano. Troilo and Lucio Demare make their first recordings, but the label system (RCA Victor and Odeon the only two left after the Depression) gives new bands one disc and then silence for three years. Around July the public turns from instrumentals towards vocal tangos with an estribillo, the shift visible in the Canaro and Fresedo discographies. Jazz is not dead: Harry Roy's British band tours Buenos Aires and scandalizes tango lovers with a rumba La cumparsita. The show leans on the danceable, with detours into soloists (Corsini, Magaldi, Mercedes Simone) and the advanced, non-selling end (Laurenz, Troilo, Demare).
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TBY Lost Afterparty IV - 1951Episodio 32 · 17 de feb de 2021 · 3:16:35Lo que este episodio dio a Tangopedia
Datos dichos en el episodio, cada uno citado al minuto en que se dice.
Biagi split from D'Arienzo in 1938, a break Lavocah thinks Biagi expected, and immediately started his own orchestra.
1938 brings the first recordings of Demare and Troilo, who begins to integrate the cerebral ideas of De Caro's school into the dancing mainstream.
The Harry Roy jazz orchestra, then the best paid jazz band in the world, travelled to Buenos Aires in April 1938 on the Alcántara and was contracted by Radio Belgrano, which spent two thirds of its annual budget on the fee; their rumba La cumparsita scandalized tango lovers.
D'Arienzo recorded 14 numbers with Biagi at the piano through June 1938, then 14 more with Juan Polito in the second half of the year.
The public taste shifts from instrumentals to vocal tangos around July 1938 (visible in the Canaro and Fresedo discographies), still with a short estribillo sung by the orchestra's singer.
Suena ahora
Para mí eres divina (Bei mir bist du schön)Enrique Rodríguez · 1938Warm-up before the show: the Spanish version of the global jazz hit Bei mir bist du schön, played to show a European song popular in Argentina and Rodríguez as an 'orquesta característica'.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:00 ·
Capítulo · 3:35
The jazz band that scandalized tango
In 1938 the best-paid jazz band in the world turned La cumparsita into a rumba.
Echagüe's first recording with D'Arienzo, a Biagi composition; the band falls back to just comping when he enters so his voice is exposed.
♪ Música · 2:43 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 21
An old Creole waltz; about half of D'Arienzo's early recordings were Creole waltzes because they put people on the dance floor. Start time approximate.
Verlo bailado · 159
One of the last two sides with Biagi at the piano, on the other side of Pénsalo bien. Start time approximate.
♪ Música · 3:00 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 17
The only Echagüe-sung tango the two play of the last Biagi disc; Lavocah calls it two minutes twenty of simple perfection. Start time approximate.
Verlo bailado · 368
Capítulo · 24:10
Fired in June, recording in August
D'Arienzo's pianist was out in June. By mid-August he had his own band on a rival label.
Biagi's first recording with his own band (his own tune, words by Francisco Gorindo): an intense lyric about Calvary, far from his later happy sound.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:10 ·
An instrumental from a few months later that shows the 'surprise' of the Biagi orchestra better than Golgotha. Start time approximate.
Verlo bailado · 3
One of Biagi's few waltzes, taken at a fast pace; short and irresistible.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 129
One of Fresedo's most intense recordings, fading in with the violins from a distance; biblical lyrics (Judas, Cain).
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:37 ·
One of Vargas's two 1938 recordings, three years before he started with D'Agostino; a nostalgic lyric about leaving Buenos Aires.
♪ Música · 3:45 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 38
The other Vargas side with the Victor house orchestra. Start time approximate.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 126
Firpo's own composition, with bird sounds; Dag compares versions to whiskey ageing, and Lavocah prefers Firpo's 1928 version.
♪ Música · 2:24 ·
Recorded in Paris by Francisco's brother; the composition is by Mario Canaro, with a different, countrified lyric than the Contursi words we know.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:41 ·
Maida's last year with Canaro. Start time approximate.
♪ Música · 2:50 ·
A very danceable instrumental milonga. Start time approximate.
Verlo bailado · 573
With his brother Roberto singing; Lavocah says it already sounds like Caló, with more drive than the 1940s version.
♪ Música · 2:34 ·
Verlo bailado · 2
A danceable milonga, not truly De Caro in Lavocah's view: he is disoriented by the D'Arienzo phenomenon.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:39 ·
Ortiz's trio in the intimate conversando style that influenced Troilo's introvert playing; a Canaro composition from the late 1920s.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:36 · La letra, en la página del tango
Capítulo · 1:33:09
Only two record companies
In 1938 you could record in Buenos Aires for exactly two companies.
Troilo's first disc, with the Comme il faut on the other side; an instrumental.
♪ Música · 1:23 ·
Played back to back to hear the dynamic range Troilo adds compared with D'Arienzo's 1936 version. Start time approximate.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 24
Capítulo · 1:45:10
The disc that 'didn't sell'
Troilo's first record was called a failure. Then nothing for three years.
Capítulo · 1:47:40
Troilo sings on a bad acetate
The only 1938 recording of Troilo with Fiorentino is from a radio acetate.
A live radio recording from Radio El Mundo (poor sound): shows Fiorentino's very plastic phrasing and the wider repertoire the band played.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:57 · La letra, en la página del tango
Laurenz's own 1937 composition, a hit as sheet music, here on his single 1938 disc.
♪ Música · 4:00 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 19
The other side of the disc: very advanced but still danceable.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 14
The other side of the disc that has Abandono; sung in full, which at the time did not fit the dance-band idea. Played by request of Haike.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:58 ·
Capítulo · 2:11:02
The orchestra that existed for six months
Demare and Vardaro once led an orchestra together. Nobody recorded it.
From Demare's first year as leader; the lush romantic sound is already there.
♪ Música · 2:44 ·
Verlo bailado · 2
An instrumental milonga unlike any other; hard for a DJ to place. Start time approximate.
Verlo bailado · 57
A new milonga to both hosts, by a bandoneonist who mostly played for others; poor sound.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 1:43 ·
Capítulo · 2:25:42
Why Donato sounds happy
One instrument made Donato's orchestra sound happy.
A Donato vals; the accordion in the band gives a lighter sound. Start time approximate.
♪ Música · 2:50 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 126
A milonga sung by Lagos and Randona, the falsetto stage name of a band violinist. Start time approximate.
La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 149
Corsini with guitars, singing the full lyric; Donato recorded the song too in 1938 but not happily.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 3:09 · La letra, en la página del tango
A waltz with guitars and a harp; Magaldi, who died that autumn, sounds like a 'cantor nacional' more than a tango singer.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:43 ·
Closing track: the British jazz band's rumba La cumparsita, recorded for Buenos Aires, which scandalized tango lovers.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:23 ·
Afterparty, Lavocah: Polish tango, played as a chance for a tea break.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:46 ·
Afterparty, Lavocah: a D'Arienzo version with Mazzeo's violin near the start, before Ada Falcón's.
♪ Música · 2:10 · La letra, en la página del tango
Verlo bailado · 3
Afterparty: Ada Falcón, backed by Canaro; she was in tension with Canaro and about to quit the scene.
Solo en el episodio
A second Ada Falcón side, a lyric about when the tango was danced 'heart to heart'.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 2:50 ·
A Polish tango by a male harmony group, like the Comedian Harmonists.
Solo en el episodio
♪ Música · 4:36 ·
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Tango By Year es de Dag Stenvoll y Michael Lavocah, publicado aquí con su permiso. El audio se reproduce desde SoundCloud.