Tango 1950
Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah · 2020-07-01 · 3:47:48
Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah call 1949-50 the biggest change tango music ever had: it emerges from the crisis brought on by government censorship and repression, new local labels break the long Victor-Odeon duopoly, and about nine orchestras record for the first time. Dag plays many obscure new bands (Mancione with Fiorentino, Kaplun, Salgán, D'Alessio, Gobbi, Francini-Pontier) alongside the soloists Marino, Castillo and Rivero. Troilo is out of contract after leaving Victor in 1949 and does not record for around a year, but pushes Piazzolla's modern arrangements; Varela leaves D'Arienzo mid-year, taking singer Laborde, and D'Arienzo has already turned toward the simpler 50s style; Di Sarli does not record; De Caro makes his warmest, best music. Pugliese in 1950 is Dag's favourite year, with Jorge Vidal and Alberto Morán, and the long second hour is a Pugliese fest. The show ends with Rivero's La cumparsita (Buccino orchestra) and a long afterparty.
What this episode gave Tangopedia
Facts said in the episode, each now cited to the minute it is said.
1949 to 1950 is the biggest change tango music ever had: after a crisis brought on largely by government censorship, the censorship lifts and tango refines and reinvigorates itself, with an explosion of new activity.
Mancione signed Fiorentino for two years, though he did not last that long. Victor may have recorded Mancione to fill the gap left by Troilo, who changed label that year.
Away from Troilo, Fiorentino's phrasing is freer and he sits more at the front of an orchestra less flexible than Troilo's.
Mancione told an interviewer that Fiorentino was late for a recording session of Te aconsejo que me olvides because he had missed a flight from Mar del Plata that crashed after takeoff, killing everyone on board except a small child.
Kaplun led his orchestra from the violin, as few did (about half are led from the piano, most of the rest from the bandoneón); he had played the strong violin marcato in early Lucho Demare and was with Miguel Caló before Francini; only about ten sides exist and they did not sell.
Records played · 45
Transcript
Transcribed by machine from the audio, then punctuated; names may be misheard. Tap any line to hear it. The episode is in English, and so is its transcript.
Dearest tango expert and enthusiast, Michael Lavocah. It's been two weeks and 18 years since 1932. That's why it felt so long. Yeah, it is, isn't it? And there's been a big crisis in tango. What can you say about 1950 as tango year?
What can I say about 1950? It's the thinking man's 1951. Oh. So, oh, I can't remember when it was. A few weeks back, we listened to music for 1951, and that was a real year of surprise and discovery for us as well, I think. Yeah. You and I, Dag, as well as for all the listeners, with lots of new material. But that's even more true in 1950.
“49 to 50 is the biggest change that tango music ever had.”
I think 49 to 50 is the biggest change that tango music ever had. Because, like you say, tango emerges from its crisis, brought on a lot by the government, actually, and by censorship. And censorship's lifted, and tango kind of refines its strength and reinvigorates itself. And there's an explosion of new activity. There are new record labels, Argentine record labels, after the scene has been a duopoly for a very, very long time with Odeon and Victor. Now there are local labels and they sign up a lot of the new bands. So I think there are nine orchestras that record for the first time in 1950.
So there's a lot of new music to listen to. There's a new and vigorous style, there's other orchestras that come back to recording as well, having not recorded for a while. So a lot of music. And when we tell everyone that I don't know what you're going to play, I really don't know what you're going to play tonight, because there's so much to choose from.
Exactly. It's different. I'd say 45 or even 32. You have more an idea, I think, what I'm going to play. But yeah, this is... And it amazed me when I look at 1950, I was really positively surprised by the number of really nice recordings that I never heard because they did not play at Milongas. I think it's going to be a really interesting night. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah. Curious to hear what you're going to play. And it's just, I just want to say, it's great to be here with everyone again and to see you all. I'm so happy about that. Yeah. We missed you all. Yeah, we did.
After this break. Yeah. So let's start with some of the new orchestras, as you mentioned. There are a lot of new ones and most of these aren't played at Melangas or just rarely. But some of them like Varela and Salgan you heard before and probably also heard music from. And others are more rare. So the first one I want to play is Alberto Mancione. And I want to start here because he has a singer that kind of projects us into next week's Troilo special. Francisco Fiorentino, who of course sang for Troilo until 43 but not at this point, and next week we're going to hear a lot and talk about Fiorentino, but tonight this is all you get of him recording by Alberto Mancione. So the recording is called Tinta roja, which is a song that Fiorentino also recorded with Troilo back in 41. Yes.
Getting Fiorentino on board really boosted the orchestra's popularity. And at gigs, we know that the crowd would just chant for Fiorentino to sing his old hits, which the orchestra didn't mind that much, actually, because it made things a bit easier for them. And it's even possible, because Troilo changed his record label this year, and it's even possible that that's why Mancione gets to record, because he's got Fiorentino, it's maybe sort of a complex music that's a bit like Troilo's, and so Victor are looking to fill that gap, and that's how maybe they get recorded. There must be a bit of a scoop for Mancione to get Fiorentino on board. It is. It is. Yeah, he signs him up for two years, but he doesn't stay two years. So let's listen to this song, Tinta roja, with Fiorentino singing.
A new orchestra whose signing of Fiorentino for two years boosted its popularity; Fiorentino phrases more freely here than with Troilo.
♪ Music · 2:19 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Michael, what to say about this song? Well, look what Teresa's just written: fantastic violin solo, really quality music, interesting music, nice to listen to Fiorentino. His relationship to the orchestra is not the same as it is with Troilo, is it? He's not as tightly integrated as before, more at the front. Yeah. And my feeling is that he's changed his phrasing, he's more free because Troilo isn't there to tell him what to do, and his phrasing is more free than it is with Troilo. Maybe that's because as well the band isn't Troilo, so when Troilo is there he is also a very flexible instrument and this instrument perhaps is not quite as flexible as Troilo, and so that's also changing the relationship. Very nice music. It's stretching the music, the vocals even more. A lot, and it's not the song I thought you were going to play. I thought you were going to play Te aconsejo que me olvides. Yeah. These were the two options.
Chapter · 9:33
The plane Fiorentino missed
Tango's most famous singer was late to a recording, and that saved his life.
And there's a story about that that Mancione himself tells in an interview, and he says to the interviewer, you didn't like the recording of Te aconsejo que me olvides, did you? And then he explains why not. Fiorentino was late for the recording session, and the reason he was late was because he missed the plane. He was in Mar del Plata and had to catch a plane up to Buenos Aires. It's not far. It's just a short hop. But he was late to the airport and he missed the plane, and the plane crashed after takeoff and killed everyone on board except for one small child. So when he arrived at the recording session, he was rattled. But we didn't hear that one. You can play it at the after party maybe if you want. I can play it at the after party, yeah. Yeah.
Next orchestra I never heard about until Tango Tunes came out with eight of his recordings a couple of years ago. Raúl Kaplun. Yes. Raúl Kaplun. Now, all the real geeks are getting super excited now. So Raúl Kaplun is a violin player, first of all, and there's not so many orchestras which are led from the violin. Mostly, you know, 50% are led from the piano, and then most of the rest are led from the bandoneón. And Kaplun is a really good player, first of all. In the early days of Lucho de Mare, in a tango like Sorbus Amargos, there's a really strong marcato in the violins, and that's Raúl Kaplun's violin. And he was with Miguel Caló before Francini made Caló's music so sweet. So an important musician.
And when he gets the chance finally to record, so this comes from one of the new record companies, doesn't it? It's Teca. Discoteca sounds like discotech. That's the clever part about the name. No one really knows much about this orchestra. Sorry, about the record label. There's a rumour that Teca stands for Troilo Kaplun, because these are two of the first artists on the label. So it's because of Teca that Raúl Kaplun gets the chance to record, and he records really advanced music. It's special.
Teca in 1950, it's a new company and they are really struggling with the materials, they're struggling with every aspect of the process. They're struggling with the recordings themselves. The first recordings are not made in a proper recording studio because they don't have one. So they're made at a film studio. And you need different qualities in a film studio and a soundstage than in a record studio. So the recording itself is not perfect. And then they're struggling with the materials and the production of the records. So the first records of Teca are quite poor in quality. And everyone who's on them in that first year suffers from that, and we listeners now suffer from that, because there's the brand new music of Troilo that starts in 1551 and the new orchestras like that. It's hard to really appreciate it. But this offering from Tango Tunes that you mentioned, it's the best game in town.
And I was surprised because Tango Tunes, they have concentrated on the core material most of the time. So when this edition of Raúl Kaplun came out, I'd never heard about him. I was very surprised. But interesting to listen to. And I'm going to play the instrumental tango, Tierra querida, Beloved Land. It's a Julio De Caro composition. And it was recorded by De Caro himself as far back as 1927. But the most known recording, I think, is the 1944 Pugliese recording. Absolutely. So this is a bit different. Let's listen to it and listen to Kaplun's work with a bow.
A violinist-led orchestra on the new Teca label; Dag picks it for the sharp marcato, colourful changes, bow work and an unusual modulation at the end.
♪ Music · 2:29 ·
That's a fabulous violin work. Can we just hear that again? That's my suggestion. Just play the same track again, because there was so much to listen to, wasn't there? So I guess everyone's ears got grabbed when he made his first solo. But before then, did you notice how sharp the marcato was? So this is an orchestra with a lot of colour. When we say a lot of colour, we mean that it's changing what it's doing a lot. So before this virtuosic solo, the marcato was really hard and sharp. And then at other moments, there's pizzicato, different kinds of accompaniment, a lot to listen to. And a completely gratuitous change of key. They didn't need that for the singer, but just at the end, they modulate, which is quite unusual in tango at all, but especially in an instrumental. Lovely quality from his violin.
So this people, what you just heard was not commercial. People didn't buy it. Too bad. So that's why there's only like 10 sides, and then that's it. What can we do? Michael, if you ever write a book like A Tango Story is part two or part three on the orchestras after 1945, will there be a Kaplun chapter, you think? I think there'd have to be. And that kind of goes with one of the real missing orchestras in the first book, which is Gobbi. Because Gobbi is another orchestra led by a fine violinist that makes advanced music that's got a lot of colour in it. So Kaplun, the closest reference point we have would be Gobbi, I think.
All right. I promise to play some Gobbi-related tonight. But before that, we're going to go on to another new orchestra. It's Horacio Salgan. Yes. Now, Salgan's been around for quite a long time, actually. Salgan has been around already for six years without recording. Now, that's a long time in tango, and it's particularly a long time in terms of the 1940s. You know, what was tango music like in 44? 44 was D'Arienzo playing Amaras, for goodness sake. In the 1950s D'Arienzo playing Canaro en París again. So it's a huge time and it would be wonderful to know what it sounded like, what Salgan sounded like in 44.
Probably more danceable, for one thing, because Salgan's an advanced orchestra and he's not so focused on the dancers. So it would have been more danceable. And what were the singers that he had before he became successful? They're great singers. He had Edmundo Rivero at one point and Jorge Duran. They were singing with Salgan through the 40s. So yeah, 50, finally he records. Yeah. And the first thing he records is a Pugliese composition, Recuerdo. I'm not going to play that, but I'm just interested that he picks a Pugliese composition. Well, he picks something that's from the Vanguard.
Okay, so my after-party list is growing because people are absolutely keen to hear that Kaplun tango again. So there's things to say about Recuerdo, but I'm going to save that for the after-party, Recuerdo Salgan. But what I will say about it is when Salgan made his debut, it opened again, you know, got a new set of gigs in it, a cafe. Pugliese came. Wow. Pugliese was there and they played the Recuerdo and at the end of it, it was all musicians. This was an orchestra that was La Pagina, musicians, so the public was other musicians. At the end of it, Pugliese went up to him and embraced him and said, Horacio, it's like you captured something of my soul. Oh wow. Can you imagine? So that's a compliment. What a compliment. Yeah. Yeah.
Chapter · 19:30
A compliment from Pugliese
Pugliese hugged a rival and said: you captured something of my soul.
“Pugliese went up to him and embraced him and said, Horacio, it's like you captured something of my soul.”
So what are we going to hear from Salgan? We're going to hear instead his own composition, Don Agustín Bardi. It's a tribute to an Argentine tango pianist, violinist and composer. And Filias also recorded this, but that was much later in the... Much later. So things to listen out for in Salgan style. It's quite happy. And he achieves that happiness through using the upbeat, not so much the offbeat, although technically speaking, that's the same thing, but not going one, two, but just emphasising the upbeat in a repeated way to the point that tango musicians give a name to his marcato, his style of accompaniment. They call it umpa umpa because of this bubbling upbeat that he has.
And Salgan's a pianist. We should just point that out and a very able pianist. And he's playing himself? And he's playing himself always. So that's what we hear. So right. Horacio Salgan, Don Agustín Bardi, instrumental.
Salgán's own tribute to the composer Agustín Bardi, witty and idea-packed with his bubbling upbeat 'umpa umpa' accompaniment.
♪ Music · 2:36 ·
What a piece of music. It's idea-packed, isn't it? He's just got so many ideas in it and he can't get them all out. You can hear why other musicians loved it. Really interesting and happy, isn't it? It's witty.
In English, we've got two words for being funny. One is humorous. You know, what did the dog say to the other dog? Simple jokes. But that's witty. It's so clever and intelligent and playful. The chichara, this long period of Cicciara at the beginning. That reminds me of something from Gobbi, which may, are you going to play Gobbi tonight?
I will, yes. Okay, so we may be hearing that again later on. So that's a kind of strange connection to have in 1950. Yeah.
And well, I remember now you worked on your Troilo book that Troilo made a joke about Salgán. He said he was the best band on the on player in Buenos Aires. Yes. What do you mean? It's like the motion he puts into the piano or it must have been like this?
Well, again, you have to wait to the after party now and we'll listen to Recuerdo because in the Recuerdo, we all know that the culmination of that piece is a fantastic bandagnón variación but Salgán takes it on the piano. So that's part of what he means, his ability to phrase on the piano.
Maybe we should skip the rest of the program and go straight to the after party. We'll have a few more songs. Next band out is Enrique D'Alessio. And he's also like, someone hasn't been around for a time, but he starts recording with his own orchestra.
Yeah, well, Enrique D'Alessio is one of these really important names that is not so famous because mostly he worked as a side man, as a lieutenant, if you like. So bonus points, what's the first time that Enrique, Enrique D'Alessio, come on people, type in the chat window, when's the first time that Enrique D'Alessio should come into our consciousness? Someone's written Castillo, no, before Castillo. Who is first bandagnon in Pugliese's first recordings, is it A. Osvaldo Ruggero or is it B. someone else? And the answer is B, it's someone else.
In those very first recordings Ruggiero is second bandagnon and there's this young guy called Enrique D'Alessio who's first bandagnon and then he quits, we don't know why. Maybe he wasn't entirely in sympathy with the Pugliese project because the band's sound doesn't change so much when he goes, it's like Ruggiero is already being formed into Pugliese's tool. So then he leads an orchestra for Castillo and later he leads an orchestra for Alberto Marino when he goes solo from Troilo. So those are two really big names to lead backing orchestras for and now he records a few numbers on Teca. But I think there's only six, only three discs.
So all the stories, 50s are very complex and complicated year because what else is going to happen in the middle of the year is Varela is going to quit D'Arienzo and form his own orchestra. Now, we'll remember, I hope, that Varela basically ran the D'Arienzo band from 1940 onwards. So not only is the first band in Yon, he's the arranger and the guy who's picking a lot of the material. So that's a huge loss. So D'Arienzo now needs one of these three-in-one guys. He needs someone who can basically run a band and is a good first band agnon and is a good arranger.
So he just takes D'Alessio, makes him an offer he can't refuse, just like he did with Varela 10 years previously. So D'Alessio cuts three records, I think. I was just looking today. I could only find six tangos and that's it. And then it stops again because he goes to work for Juan D'Arienzo. So this is a tiny little snapshot in this very fertile period in 1950 when new things are being tried. We can hear what he tries and it's really good.
Yeah, and I want to play this instrumental tango, Catamarca, which is the name of a province in Northwest, but I think here it refers to a street in Buenos Aires. And we know this tango from Carlos Di Sarli in 1940, don't we? Exactly, it's a very known instrument we're calling him a Di Sarli. This is much slower, so let's hear what Enrique D'Alessio has to offer, Catamarca.
An instrumental from one of D'Alessio's few sides on Teca, slower and not like the well-known Di Sarli version of 1940.
♪ Music · 2:46 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Chapter · 31:00
The singer with a transfer fee
A tango bandleader paid a football-style transfer fee for a singer.
It's a very different feeling to Di Sarli, but I remember you said in an earlier show we shouldn't really compare. It's better to just... Yes, forget Di Sarli. Forget Di Sarli. And it was very different to the first two things that we heard tonight. Perhaps not quite as advanced. Slower pace. Stronger beat. I'm curious to know what it would have been like to dance to, actually. Because there were a few moments where the beat really slowed down. So the tempo was a bit flexible, but a lot of the time there was a very strong beat for dancing.
Yeah, I'm wondering now. Yeah, we'll see in a year or two how to dance. Well, after this bit crazy start with just a lot of unknown material, I hope we still have some listeners. We'll get back to some more well-known territory. First, I want to play some Biagi. He only made four recordings this year and he didn't record so much in this period, but they're good.
And I want to play Matala, which means kill her. I was looking at this title, Matala, and I thought it was a girl's name or something. And when I read it was killer, I was curious about the lyrics and I was reading it. And he dreams about, or there's some voices when he's dreaming that says he's going to kill his old girlfriend who left him for other men. But he doesn't because instead he blames himself for awaking in her body the thirst for love. It's a great, it's a great lyric actually and I'm just going to read the ending and it says, it goes like this, but no, it's my fault, Lord, I put in her body the thirst for love, my cursed kisses made her like this, that's why I cry for her and for myself.
Wow, I never looked at the lyric, it's amazing of this tango before and I'm, I'm really glad that it didn't end the way that the title suggested. Exactly, because we've got enough of those. And after that I'll play the beautiful and unique vals Serenata campera, which is country serenade. It's, um, it's a romantic fluffy countryside waltz, includes galloping horses and chirping birds. And this is actually Hugo Duval's first recording with Biagi from September 1950.
Yeah, and I really like listening to that for another reason, which is in the later recordings, which are on a different label, I think they're on Columbia, there's a lot of reverb added to the master tape, which when you've got the headphones on and you're really listening, gets a bit uncomfortable, whereas here there isn't. So the timbre of Duval's voice is more easily appreciated. And who's the singer on Matala? It's Carlos Heredia. Can you say something about him? He only records a little bit for... I don't know anything about him. A minor singer, but suits Biagi very well. So Matala and then Serenata campera, vals.
A tango whose title means 'kill her': the narrator is urged in dreams to kill his lost love but blames himself instead.
Danced to it · 4 of 5
♪ Music · 2:50 ·
Hugo Duval's first recording with Biagi, a country waltz with galloping horses and chirping birds, with less reverb than later Columbia sides.
He's still got it. Yeah, he's doing the same thing, but it rocks. My impression of Biagi is that he just can't be bothered to work really hard. You know, he doesn't want to be rich. He's not a spendthrift. So he's made enough money to live comfortably. So he just kicks back and decides not to work as hard as D'Arienzo and the others.
And that's the reason why there aren't more recordings, because he was popular with the dancers as well. He could easily have done more at this time. And it has slowed down a bit, hasn't it? It's less mad. Early Biagi is rather mad, and this is less mad, less of the upbeats, although in the tango previously, we still had this really long delayed ending, but waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting, and then finally came the finishing beat. And yeah, super waltz. I like Duval's voice here very much. And I like Biagi's attitude.
It's a bit like you and me, Michael. We're not so concerned about becoming rich and famous. We just want to have fun. Yeah, exactly.
Next out is, yeah, the orchestra you already mentioned, Alfredo Gobbi. And I think you will, after early programs, there was a lot of good feedback on playing Gobbi. And I think we'll hear more about that milongas also after all these things are over. And in 1950, he made eight recordings. And four of them was with Jorge Maciel singing, who was Pugliese's vocalist later in the 50s.
Yes, he goes from Gobbi to Pugliese and takes some repertoire with him. Some of the songs, like Remembranza, he'd already sung with Gobbi in these years. Yeah. I want to play Estás en mi corazón, You Are In My Heart. And yeah, we've been talking about, I think earlier that it's something Pugliese-ish about the sound of Gobbi. But in this case I think it reminds me more of Troilo actually. It's dark, it's emotional, just like we like it. Let's listen. Yeah, let's listen to it.
I'm just going to read the first line from Estás en mi corazón, it's, today your memory took me by the hand like a blind man, like a lost traveler who doesn't know how to get home.
Dark and emotional Gobbi that Dag says reminds him more of Troilo than Pugliese; Maciel, later Pugliese's singer, sings with exquisite phrasing.
Danced to it · 4 of 10
♪ Music · 2:34 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Wow, I just love the way Maciel expresses emotion in this very extreme way. I have to confess, this tango wasn't really on my radar.
It's amazing, isn't it? I heard from the first moment two things that you said. First thing you said was it reminded you more of Troilo than of Pugliese. And I felt that. And the darkness that you commented on right there from the opening chords.
Gobbi is, someone else just commented, Jean-Pierre, a modest way of singing of Maciel. But that's actually the whole orchestra. The orchestra itself, on the one hand, it's in the same direction as Pugliese, but in another way, it's more modest. Gobbi's violin itself, it's a small sound, with the, you'd say, Argentine Spanish chico, for the style of the violin. And it's easy to overlook Maciel, because he's not got the same drama that he's going to have in a few short years' time with Pugliese. But his phrasing is exquisite, and it's a very good match there, this less dramatic style, to the sound of the orchestra.
Lots of colour. It's like a cross between Troilo and Pugliese, isn't it? Fantastic. Thank you for playing that. Yeah, I love it. I was listening after, I think it was our 1947 program we played Gobbi for the first time. And a week or two after, I listened to Mik Avramenko, online milonga from Kiev, and he played a Gobbi tanda and this was one of the songs he chose, so it was a good choice.
Me keep you listening anyway, let's go on to Juan Lorenzo. As you said, he lost Varela and he also lost his excellent singer, La Borda. Well, he goes with Varela. What's interesting though is that it's not the loss of Varela that's responsible for the change in style. Now in 1940, style and personnel changed together. The whole previous band went and that music was partly played a la Parisia anyway, so there were no charts for the new band to play. So Varela came in and constructed a completely new repertoire and a new style, but here in the first part of the year the band is already sounding like how we think 50s style D'Arienzo is going to sound.
So D'Arienzo himself has already turned his back on the 40s. And my guess is that's why Varela leaves. He's made sophisticated music with D'Arienzo. He's become famous. And then D'Arienzo decides to make simple music. So Varela says, my work is done here. Time to move on. Even in May, I don't know what tracks you're going to play, but even in May, there's two recording sessions and it's more than two numbers each time, D'Arienzo star. And there's three Varela compositions performed in that time. So yeah, his job's done, he moves on.
“He's made sophisticated music with D'Arienzo. He's become famous. And then D'Arienzo decides to make simple music. So Varela says, my work is done here.”
And it's seamless. From the point of view of what we hear, it sounds the same.
Well, I want to play first a waltz with a singer that's not very known. His name is Roberto Lemos. Yes, now this is a waltz that somebody else recorded with D'Arienzo in the 30s. Desencanto, it's called. Ah, then it's not the one I'm thinking of. But either way, I really want to get feedback from the people what you think of Lemos. I'm really interested to hear your opinions on his voice.
There's an interview with Lemos on Todo Tango and he's with D'Arienzo a very short time, but obviously it's the biggest band he ever played with. Later he sings with Sassone, for example. And in this interview, he only talks about Sassone and the minor orchestras that he played with, and he never talks about D'Arienzo. So my guess is he wasn't happy there and that's why he's there such a short time, that he didn't fit. But yeah, let's listen to the voice.
Yeah, well, it just makes seven recordings in 1950 and 51, three waltzes and four tangos, and this Desencanto is not the same Desencanto as the tango we know with the same name. And as far as I know, this is the only recording of this waltz. So, but before I play this, I want to play an instrumental tango, this Seguime si podés, this Follow me if you can, which is a very known composition. Canaro recorded this as far back as 28, but what we know best is the Pugliese 1953 recording, so after this. But D'Arienzo recorded twice, actually, first in 45 and then in 50. And I had really problems hearing the difference between these two recordings. There must be some, but I was just curious, why would he record it again, almost exactly the same?
Probably because in 1950, the record company has switched to tape masters. So he records a lot of his old material again in 1950. And then there's another improvement in recording technology in 54. And he records a lot of his old numbers again a third time. And if you're recording 40 numbers a year instead of the usual 20, then it's quite possible to re-record your old hits as well as the new stuff.
I guess it proves your point from earlier programs, Michael, that there's not so much new from D'Arienzo after the mid-40s. But nevertheless, this is great dance music. Yeah, and I have to say, I find it easier to dance to this than to the Pugliese version. The Pugliese version, you have to have heard it a few times to know the ending, because otherwise you've got no chance on the ending. The Pugliese, Seguime si podés, it's a killer ending. You have to memorize it. So, D'Arienzo, Seguime si podés and after that the waltz Desencanto.
A second recording (after 1945) of an instrumental Dag cannot tell apart from the first, likely made again after the switch to tape masters.
A waltz, not the Desencanto tango, apparently the only recording of this piece, sung by Lemos with a very fine vibrato.
Different opinion there, Michael, about the voice. What I noticed about the voice, sitting here with the headphones on, is the very fine vibrato that he used. Which is not something you associate with a D'Arienzo voice, you know, neither with an Echagüe, tough guy voice, nor with the smoothness of Mare and that period's over anyway. And D'Arienzo now is looking for the tough style, because who are the two singers at this point? Lemos comes once Laborde goes, but his idea is Echagüe, Laborde. So, yeah, perhaps not really fitting. I like the voice, but I can see why it might not really fit.
Yeah, but interesting to have that talk with Lemos about why he didn't mention D'Arienzo in his memoirs. Some story behind, I'm sure.
Let's go on to an old timer. He has a really comeback after stopping in 1944 and he has some great recordings from this year's 1949 to 53, and the top track from 1950 in my view is Mi dolor. It's absolutely fantastic. And I'm seeing Therese's here listening and she's going to love this. This is okay, I mean, it's stupid to say the best, isn't it? Because everything's personal. This is the best recording of Mi dolor by a long, long way, in my opinion.
And Mi dolor was written by Carlos Marcucci in about 1930. And he had a sextet at that time and he records it. And now he's out of work and he gets a job playing bandagnón in Julio De Caro's orchestra. So he brings this piece with him and it's perfect because the De Caro from this period, it doesn't really have very much to do with the De Caro that's gone before. It's much warmer. It's like De Caro has had a blood transfusion from Pugliese. The music breathes and it's got more bass and more human warmth than De Caro did before. Before, De Caro's music was a bit more intellectual, let's say.
Chapter · 57:40
The gentle De Caro
Tango's great modernizer made his warmest music at the end.
Of course, he's developing the language that everybody else uses. So now it's like he's had five years off and he's had time to digest everything that he's done. And the music's gone more into his own body. And these few recordings that we have, which were only medium popular at the time, because it's a bit old fashioned, they're beautiful. And De Caro makes his greatest performances of many of his numbers. There's a Flores Negras from 52 or 53 that's just wonderful.
“It's like Di Caro has had a blood transfusion from Pugliese. The music breathes.”
I'm really glad we're going to hear this. Right from the beginning, there's a tremendous sense of dynamic in the opening phrase. You'll all hear that, the way the bandagnons take the opening phrase and then the hesitation in the marcato underneath. It's superb. Yeah, I agree. It's the best version of this song. And it's also, I think, the singer Orlando Verri, he starts really nice after more than two minutes. That's unusual. So it's almost an instrumental. He just sings like an estribilista almost.
Yes, that's true, actually. But I like his voice, and it fits the band very well. All right, let's go. De Caro, Mi dolor, Orlando Verri.
Lavocah's top track of 1950 and the best Mi dolor by far; Marcucci wrote it c.1930, and De Caro's warm 1950 band lets the bandoneóns open it and keeps the singer back for more than two minutes.
Danced to it
♪ Music · 3:12 · The lyrics, on the song's page
A lot of nice words here, I think. I hope maybe we've converted a few people to De Caro here. Because if you've only heard the earlier stuff and you've not heard this, you're not going to know the full picture. As dancers, this is his best period.
Definitely. Love it. So full of ideas, but in a way that's easy for us to understand. People are asking for more of the De Caro, but I was planning to just play this one because there are so much other things to listen to. Well, maybe you have a chance at the after party, Michael. I wasn't thinking of it actually, because there's so much stuff to play tonight.
So next out is Francini-Pontier. They have a great recording from this year. A los amigos. Yeah, this is one of the tangos of the year, definitely. A los amigos. And there's not many versions. There's a Pugliese version, but that's not for another 10 years. And there was a Troilo version, but it wasn't recorded, because when Troilo switched record companies, there's a gap.
And he left, so Troilo leaves Victor, RCA Victor, in 1949 and he's without contract for a year and it's quite a bitter ending, it's a breakup. It's not just a contractual thing, it's a breakup, because Troilo is getting more advanced in his music and the executives don't like it, because they prefer if he just carries on doing the same thing and selling lots of records. And when Troilo hears about this, it's like, I'm Troilo, what are you talking about? He's really angry and he quits.
Chapter · 1:03:55
Why Troilo vanished for a year
In 1949 Troilo walked out of Victor, and the repertoire went in the bin.
And the reason that I'm telling this story is because when that happens, first of all, RCA Victor have got songs that they've recorded and haven't released yet and they get trashed. Really important Troilo repertoire goes in the bin. And then the first nine, 10 months, there's no other record company for him to go to. So he doesn't record. And it's in that period that A los amigos comes out. So we know the band, we're performing it, and we don't have that version. But we've got this great version from Francini-Pontier.
And if I'm not mistaken, this is the first time we hear what the double bass players call strapata. Strapata is when you go, you bounce the bow across the strings of the double bass. And at the end of it, at the same time, you hit the back of the bass. And I say what double bass players call, because earlier strapata used to mean something else in tango. Strapata means torn, ripped, very strong effect. But nowadays, we use that for this bass effect, which is also what classical players call it. Very distinctive. You'll hear it in the track, I'm sure.
Yeah, I like this track. It's not something you hear at milongas. That's a lot of our music for this program. Well, why not? I think you can dance to A los amigos. When I started out, we heard A los amigos by Francini-Pontier in the milonga. That was in the 90s. Then we learned better. We learned that we shouldn't play it.
It's the Tango Police. They're everywhere. They're in here. It's not the Tango Police out there. It's the Tango Police in here. I think this is super danceable. Yeah. Well, fuck the police. Let's play it. Yeah. Hit it.
One of the tangos of the year and Francini-Pontier's most danceable number; Lavocah thinks the double bass here first shows the 'strappata' effect.
♪ Music · 1:48 ·
People love this. We're going to play the Lusquilongos. People are throwing their hands in the air. You've made lots of converts.
Now, that's maybe one of Francini-Pontier's most answerable numbers, because it's so vigorous and it's not dominated by Francini's violin. Because Francino is such a virtuoso. He could easily play the Tchaikovsky violin concerto. And sometimes he kind of forgets that he's playing tango music and puts in a bit of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto. But there, it all works. It's really super vigorous.
And Francini-Pontier, it's a real equal orchestra. You have that first of all in the name. There's not many tango orchestras that were co-led. Often that resulted in the breakup, because one person wanted to be the number one, the dominant partner. And we could hear that in the music. At a certain moment you notice the piano, and then you notice the violin, and then you notice the bandignon. And the double bass also had a big role. So they're very equal as musicians.
And we know as well that he was very equal with the singers. Very often, Fiorentino and A.N. Other, there's the number one singer and the second singer. But in the Francini-Pontier Orchestra, that wasn't so. And as the singers came and went, the name that came first on the bill, I can't remember, it was either the person had been there the longest, or it was in alphabetical order. So it was nothing to do with who was the star. Must have been a very nice orchestra to work in.
Yeah, like Pugliese's, like a bit democratic. And now people are going to go and do the make a tandem with that challenge. Yeah, it's a tough one, actually, because a lot of the others are a bit too symphonic. But there's lots of Francini-Pontier instrumentals from this period. There's a La Jumba. It's not from 1950. I think that's 52. So you can listen. It's very different.
Once you've got Pugliese's La Jumbre, it's really hard to listen to another person's version. I think this one would probably have to be the last song of the Tanda. Yeah, I think so. Yeah, interesting challenge. I mean, for me as well, to make a Tanda around that. There we are. That's our homework, DJs. Our homework for next week. We'll have something on the Facebook group. We can all post our Tanda with A los amigos on there. Okay? Let's do that. And I'll do mine as well. I promise to do my homework and do mine too. Good, good, I'm looking forward to seeing that.
The next hour I think will be one of the best tango hours in your whole lives, because there's so much nice music from this year, and we just started. We have soloists, we have some surprises, and last but not least, we have Pugliese 1950. Pugliese 1950 is just the best, so we'll finish with that. But now I want to play a couple of songs, two songs by Los Albertos, the soloists Alberto Marino and Alberto Castillo, who both recorded with backing orchestras in 1950. And I found two songs I really like. One is Carillón de la Merced, it's by Marino. It's accompanied by Héctor María Artola. Now, Héctor María Artola was Troilo's main arranger in 1941.
So nearly all the arrangements from 41 and 42 are Artola, and at the same time he was playing in Fresedo's orchestra, while writing like two arrangements a day for Troilo and other people. Was that before Marino started singing for Troilo? Before Marino started, but when Marino was in the band he was still arranging, but there were two principal arrangers himself, Artola and Argentino Galvan, and there were other occasional arrangers as well, like Piazzola arranged 10 numbers for Troilo in the 40s. But 41, 42, he was pretty much the only arranger, did everything. So another one of these musicians like Enrique D'Alessio or Hector Vorella, capable of running his own band, but also a side man, a good side man and arranger.
Yeah. Second song about Castillo, Ha pasado. It's a waltz and it's accompanied by Ángel Condercuri, or Condesuri? How do you pronounce that, Michael? I think it's Condesuri, but it depends if you do it a Spanish way or Italian way, so I'm not really sure what they say in Buenos Aires. All right. Let's listen to the two Albertos.
Marino as a soloist; Artola, Troilo's main arranger in 1941-42, leads the backing orchestra.
♪ Music · 3:35 ·
A Castillo waltz with a backing that puts a pizzicato emphasis on beat two, a pattern similar to La bien pagá.
The two songs could not have been more different, could they? You gave us one song each from two of the top soloists. They couldn't have been more different. If we can remember the Marino, what I love, especially about Marino's solo recordings, is you can hear his voice better than you can with Troilo. And that's going to be for two reasons. The first reason is he's probably closer to the microphone than Troilo would permit him to be. Troilo would make sure that the singer didn't stand out too much. And we know that Barón was fired for turning up the volume on his microphone in the 50s. That's how seriously Troilo took that.
But the other reason is it's the other record company. And Victor were never as good as Odeon. They were good. And especially once tape came in, that made a big difference. But they were never as good as Odeon, and one of the reasons for that was a different brand of microphones. RCA Victor were using RCA microphones, which were good, but Victor, sorry, Odeon were using the German microphones made by Neumann, which are still used in recording studios today. They change hands secondhand for 10,000 euros. They're great microphones.
So closer to the microphone, better microphone. You can really hear the quality of Marino's voice there in a way that you can't hear that much in the Troilo recordings as you can in that solo one. What was Victor thinking about? I mean, everyone knows that the Germans have the best technology. Well, RCA also had very good microphones, but you needed different microphones for different jobs, you know. We could do a whole program just on this, but we won't, we won't, we won't. We'll do that another time, you know, for the nerds, nerds only night, and we'll talk about microphones and patterns and what's good for vocals and all kinds of stuff.
But yeah, and the Castillo one, I love the backing. And this unusual pizzicato that puts the emphasis on beat two. One, two, three, one, two, three, one, two, three. And as Teresa said, similar pattern to La Bien Pagá, which was, I forget, was it a copla? Before it was a waltz, there's a recording. The recording that comes to mind is a narrow one from 42, 43. But originally, it was not a waltz. It was another Spanish rhythm. Let's ask my laptop. Doesn't tell me. Doesn't tell me. Yeah, it's copla. So there's another example of copla in tango. Maybe that was the inspiration for the backing here.
You mentioned Troilo, and there isn't much Troilo in 1950, as you said, you changed record label and a few recordings. And this is also a reason actually why I picked this year for this week, because next week you're doing a Troilo special and I thought it would be nice to not have too much Troilo this year. But I'm going to play one song, because you recorded Para lucirse. It's an instrumental that I really like. I think you write about it also in your book, Michael.
I would say that this is like an etude. This is Piet Zola's etude for modern tango. So what happens to Troilo in 1950 is he has two streams in his music. So he continues the Troilo that we know, a tango deeply integrating the vocal and the lyrics, and he composes many new numbers. But at the same time, he champions the new repertoire of Piazzolla. Not only that, he appoints Piazzolla as principal arranger. So he gives him not entirely a free run, because Troilo is still there correcting the arrangements and removing the excesses, but he allows Piazzolla to try out all his new ideas. So it takes Piazzolla three goes to really get it right. And this is the first one. So it's like an etude. It's not really complete in the sense of the balance of the elements, but it's got all the things in it that Piazzolla is going to be using in the next few years.
And the other orchestra which champions these ideas in 1950, let's have a guess. Okay, everyone, just for one minute. The Troilo orchestra champions Piazzolla's new ideas in 1950. What was the other orchestra that did that, please? Big name that you all know, everyone knows. We'll just wait for 10 seconds once the ideas come in. Full easy? Nope, not fully easy. Can I make a guess? Not Gobbi? Yes, guess. Go ahead, go ahead, Dag, guess. Fresedo? Yes, it's Fresedo. Can you believe it?
Yeah. Well, I remember in the 51 program when we were playing this major Troilo recording from 51. Tangoango. Yeah, exactly. It's a very experimental and different tango. And I was surprised that Fresedo also played it. Yeah, Fresedo's full of surprises. Okay, so let's listen to this Troilo song from 1950, and the cello beautiful here.
Dag's pick for Piazzolla's 'étude for modern tango', Troilo's first take on Piazzolla's ideas; cello and double bass carry the intro, then Troilo's bandoneón solo.
Danced to it
♪ Music · 3:21 ·
Yeah, tango for listening. Beautiful. It is tango for listening, but that's fine, because 50% of Troilo's output is still tango for dancing. So he's pursuing two streams here. He's one of the most modern bands in 1950. Fantastic cello work there. Although the double bass was also quite heavily involved. When we were listening back to the different versions of La Bordona after the 1958 program, it emerged that in the Troilo version the cello and the double bass played the introduction together, and that's why it was so difficult to work out exactly what we were hearing. Here it was mostly cello, but when the space really opened out and Troilo took his bandoneón solo and the band kicked back, then you could hear the double bass of Kicho Diaz supporting Troilo. It's advanced music.
Yeah, and Troilo's solos are just beautiful, so simple, and it's so much emotion in those few tones, kills us every time. Yeah, and I'm looking forward to next Wednesday, we're going to have a whole night of Troilo, that'll be amazing. All right, we'll leave Troilo, but not quite, because I want to play a song by Francisco Rotundo. And the reason is not because of Rotundo, but because his singer this year is Floreal Ruiz, which is the singer as you know, I love. He sang with Troilo a bit earlier.
Francisco Rotundo is a guy with deep pockets and a big supporter of the regime. His wife is a senator. I can't remember her name, but his wife's a senator. So during the Perón time, he does really, really well. When he poaches Ruiz from Troilo, I mean, normally it's people like Troilo and Pugliese who do the poaching, but here someone does it to Troilo. And it's a massive amount of money that he has to pay a transfer fee. It's like a footballer. And part of the money goes to the record company to compensate for the lost earnings that Troilo's going to have. I think it was 100,000 pesos, which was a lot of money. Yeah, it was a lot of money. Ruiz gets a car as a signing on bonus. So Rotundo's splashing the cash. But he knows that if you want to be a top orchestra at the end of the 40s, you need a top singer.
So I guess we should be pissed off at Rotundo for paying Ruiz to leave Troilo, because I would have preferred to hear him at Troilo, of course, also in 1950. Well, we should be, but actually history is kind of kind, isn't it? Because then Troilo doesn't record for over a year. So that kind of diminishes our pain a little bit, but only a little bit. Diminishes our pain a little bit.
Okay, let's listen to Esclavas blancas. You played this at an after party, this composition, a few weeks ago I think. I can't remember whose version it was. 45, was it? Didn't we play Canaro's Esclavas blancas in 32? I think that was it. Could be at least. Well, it doesn't matter. It's a nice song, and it's Francisco Rotundo with Floreal Ruiz. Enjoy.
Played for Ruiz, whom Rotundo poached from Troilo for a transfer fee and a car; the quality of the orchestra rises when he sings.
Danced to it
I just love Ruiz's voice. He hasn't forgotten what he's learned with Troilo, has he? And as soon as he starts singing, the quality goes up. And he really delivers the lyric. That's special.
I have to say, without Ruiz's voice, I would get bored after a while by Rotundo. I mean, it prams the attention, but then there's not that much colour. Yeah, this is not an orchestra that's as complex as Troilo or Pugliese. It just bangs out the beat. Not that much colour, but interesting enough, and then Ruiz just takes the quality up a notch.
A bit like what happens with Canaro a lot of the time, isn't it? You know, when Maeda enters or Charlo enters with Canaro, the quality goes up, and that's what happened there.
Let's move on to another great Troilo singer, Armando Rivera, because this is the year he goes solo, isn't it? He records from 1947 to 1949 with Troilo and then he leaves Troilo in 1950. What happens?
It's a friendly thing. He's been there three years. He's become really famous. I'm not sure who takes the initiative. It must be Rivera, but he decides that he'd like to be a soloist again because he started out with guitars. So that's what happens, he's signed by Victor actually, and he does half the recordings with the guitar backing and half with an orchestral backing.
Okay, let's listen then to one song where he's backed by guitars, but I was Hermano tango, and the second song is backed by an orchestra called Víctor Buccino. It's called the Margot, the song. And Buccino, I was checking him on Tolo Tango and he plays the piano and he recorded some tracks with Rivero in this period. And he died actually a hundred years old in November 2018, imagine. Wow.
Just a year and a half ago, this guy died. No. I guess that we missed some opportunities there. I was thinking the same thing. To talk to him. Yes. He was playing for Rivero. Yeah. He was born in 1918. Wow. Never mind.
Let's listen to these two Rivero songs. And Rivero, it's always a pleasure to listen to Rivero singing.
Rivero as a soloist with guitar backing after leaving Troilo; Dag prefers his guitar recordings in this period.
♪ Music · 3:35 ·
Rivero with Buccino's orchestra, a lyric about a girl who renamed herself in a French style for the cabarets; the orchestra is not Troilo, but Rivero lifts it.
Oh, direct infusion of happiness to listen to whatever you are singing. You know, generally in this period, my heart has gone for the guitar recordings. And then when the orchestra started up, at the beginning, I was sitting here thinking, well, it's not Troilo, is it? And then I'm just being honest with you folks, you know, and then Rivero entered and he just slays us.
Listen to me, the way he delivers the lyric, the orchestra is just there for him, of course. You know, in a way it's kind of easier to appreciate his voice because the orchestra isn't as good as Troilo. Yeah. It's not doing so many things. So yeah, again, the quality goes up when he enters, when Rivero enters, but then the orchestra is totally at the service of the singer and he delivers a wonderful performance.
Yes, and uh people are commenting on the lyrics, um this is about changing your name into a frenchified version because that's what they like in the cabarets. Yeah, and as um what was it Theresa saying, as he hits the lowest notes he has a beautiful timbre. Well, the timbre is good everywhere but it's really special when he hits the low notes. Yeah, and that's what's difficult to hear when you're at a milonga unless it's really, really silent, and you will miss it. Rivero's voice is difficult for the milonga. Absolutely. Um, okay, Rivero, we'll hear more Rivero next week in the Troilo special. Great, look forward to it already.
Next, uh next part is the again back to the obscure corner. I want to play a solo piano recording, a guy called Luis Visca. You know him, Michael? Well, Luis Visca was one of D'Arienzo's pianists back in 34, 35, wasn't he? Yeah, he was. Before Fassoli, who was before Biagi, it was Luis Visca. Ha ha! You can't catch me out.
And yeah, this is really nice. It really rocks. But it doesn't sound, it doesn't really sound like 1950. It sounds like 1930, I think, in a way. Yeah, maybe this, yeah. What is it? It's Sacati la Carrerita? Or what's the title?
No, I want to play Compadrón. It's his own composition, actually, which was recorded back in 27 by Gardel, Canaro, Lomuto, Fresedo. And we know, the one recording we know best is the one by D'Arienzo with Mauré from 42. But then in 1950, he gets the chance to record this as a solo artist, just on his piano.
Oh, I'm really looking forward to listening to this. My suspicion is it's not going to sound modern, but it's going to be really good. Yeah, it reminds me. Well, I'm thinking about in 1932, you remember we had this De Mara track, piano. He's playing the piano, just backing one singer. Backing Agostino Rooster. That was sensational. Exactly. My surprise of the night.
And the same thing happened this week. I was looking for this, so I just pre-listened to it on the DJ database I used. Tango DJ at... Yeah, Bernhard's database. Yeah, Bernhard's database. And I couldn't find it anywhere on YouTube, Spotify, anywhere, and I asked, actually asked our friend Teresa, she had it, and she had one other recording by this, by Luis Visca from the same year, but not this one which I really wanted to hear. And so I asked Bernard again, could he send it to me, and he did, so thanks a lot to Bernard again for being so generous to share this music.
Yeah, and it's a very good recording. I mean, the quality is, it's not bad for 1950 because I think it's one of the Japanese transfers. So yeah, and about, I read on Total Tango about the Luis Visca and he said that he left that orchestra because his father died in 34. I don't know why he had to leave that orchestra but something happened apparently. Well, he was always, um, let's say I don't have quite the right adjective, a weak personality, so he just couldn't cope. I mean, it was already, you know, not the most reliable co-worker, but he just couldn't cope.
Yeah, it says on Total Tango that he was a man deeply melancholic, fragile and often sick. Yeah, fragile, I think fragile is the word. Yeah, well, this is a little bit the feeling that I get when I listen to this song. He's kind of naked and alone with his piano. So um, let's just listen to it. It's Luis Visca, Compadrón, solo piano.
A solo piano recording of Visca's own composition, melancholic, simple and 'naked', found by Dag through Bernhard's DJ database.
♪ Music · 2:37 ·
Oh, this guy just gets to my heart. I don't know about you, Michael. Yeah, but it's what I expected. Not modern. Takes us back to an older time. Yeah, I like it very much. Yeah, melancholic. Yeah, melancholic, simple, naked, just him and the piano. So it's very different from the more richer 1950s repertoire.
It's another side to tango, isn't it? Imagining how all these pianists would have sounded when they were by themselves. So they had to provide the full sound. We've just got a couple of solos from Biagi from, what, 1927. And it really helps to understand him as a musician. So it's nice to have that. So that was a real surprise.
I don't have that myself, that track, and I enjoyed listening to it. I'm happy because I didn't want to ask you if you had it because I wanted it to be a surprise. Well, I'm also imagining to be, to hearing this live would be spectacular in just a small club in Buenos Aires. A smoky piano bar. Yeah, yeah. Definitely. Great. Yes. A basement, maybe. You have to go downstairs to get there. Exactly. Two flights.
We're approaching the end. And before we go to the great Pugliese finish, I want to play a song by Lomuto, Francisco Lomuto, because Lomuto dies this year in December. Yes. I'm just going to spit it out here. Lomuto's got great timing. It's just a strange thing to say.
Chapter · 1:53:04
Lomuto's last session
The elder statesman recorded his final tango weeks before he died.
So during the really hard years, around 1948, when tango's almost snuffed out in Buenos Aires, Lomuto goes to Spain. So he tours in Spain for almost two years. Then he comes back in 49 and Lomuto is a real member of the old guard, you know, musically speaking. He's Canaro's younger brother, something like that, or maybe Canaro's elder brother, something like that, and he's not going to be able to make modern music. Um, so musically speaking, it's maybe this sounds tough, musically speaking he dies at exactly the right moment because he can't compete with what Troilo and Fresedo and Pugliese are doing. So exit stage left. Francisco Lomuto.
“He dies at exactly the right moment because he can't compete with what Troilo and Fresedo and Pugliese are doing.”
But he has nice voices, doesn't he, in 1950? Now, if memory serves, it's Miguel Montero who goes on to sing with Pugliese. That's the guy. I want to play the tango Tarde. It's a very sad tango. And yeah, Montero sings. And it's actually, it's Lomuto's last recording from October 27th this year.
I'm glad we're going to hear this. It's got another color. I wouldn't have guessed it was Lomuto if I heard it at the milonga or anywhere. Do you want to hear it? Let's play it. Let's play it.
Lomuto's last recording, made on 27 October 1950, very sad and darker than his usual sound.
Danced to it · 3 of 4
♪ Music · 2:39 ·
It's very dark for Lomuto, isn't it? Yeah, but I mean, so people are, there's lots of surprise being expressed in the chat window, but we shouldn't be too surprised. Now, one of the earlier programs, it's hard for me to remember exactly which years we've done, but I think in 44, we did 44. And that was the second show we did, right, and you played um a Lomuto instrumental from 44 I believe on that night, which also surprised people, because people go, oh, that doesn't sound like Lomuto. So Lomuto always has got some dark coloring and uh you know this, I call it the elephant beat, there's always, it takes you down. So yes, there are some changes there, there's a bit of evolution um but still sounds like Lomuto to me. Um, I, I love Eileen Marder's comment here, Eileen's a DJ from the United States, I'm very happy that she's joined us: Lomuto is filled with passion and longing. Yeah, it's, but in a slightly modest way perhaps. Montero's voice is a really good match for the sound of the orchestra in that year, wouldn't it? Wouldn't it have been great for everyone to go to a Lomuto gig with Montero in that year and listen to 20 tracks like that. Wow. Amazing.
It's funny though, I think in our last event we had the event photo was from 1932 and Lomuto was at the beach in Mar del Plata. Very different feeling than this song. Yeah, true. It's a long time since 1932.
Yeah. Well, and yeah, speaking of event photos, this program's event photos on Facebook was with the new singer that Pugliese had, because Montero wasn't singing for Pugliese yet, and the man who's together with Pugliese this time, Jorge Vidal. My favourite singer with Pugliese, definitely, personally. The power, what can I say, the power of Jorge Vidal's voice. Jorge Vidal's voice is like an earthquake.
“Jorge Vidal's voice is like an earthquake.”
It's a deep baritone and I like it especially with the orchestra. All Pugliese's voices have special qualities but I like it because for me it has the same mix that the orchestra itself has, which is this collision or union between beauty and an almost violent power. And he's got that.
Pugliese in 1950, as I think I wrote in the description of this program, it's my favourite year definitely, because you talked also before about Pugliese finding his style through this. Yes, and I think it's no accident, I mean, we can talk about this more if we ever do 1949, but I think it's no accident that Pugliese finds his style exactly at the moment when the orchestra is put under the most pressure. But we'll talk about that another time.
“It's no accident that Pugliese finds his style exactly at the moment when the orchestra is put under the most pressure.”
Well, 1950 has 16 recordings and at least 10 of them in my view are just fantastic, amazing, outstanding. Yeah, I mean, what a team he's got, because the other singer is Morán at this time. So you've got Morán to do the more romantic stuff and make the girls weep, and then for everything else you've got Jorge Vidal, and you've got the instrumentally the band's on fire. I nearly swore, they're live on air. I'm glad I didn't. The band is really on fire. They must have been... My hair's standing on air and just thinking about it.
Let's listen to Ventanita de arrabal and Vieja recova. Of course it has to be played. So you're going for the double Vidal? Yeah. Well, we'll hear more of Liesa after, but now we need a double Vidal.
The first of the 'double Vidal'; Vidal's deep baritone is described as like an earthquake.
Danced to it · 5 of 7
♪ Music · 2:50 · The lyrics, on the song's page
A lyric about a man who gives a coin to a beggar and recognises a former cabaret hostess from the old marketplace; Lavocah explains 'se le dio vuelta la taba'.
Jesus. That's... Can I go and have a little lie down for five minutes? Yeah, I'll keep talking. That's so powerful. It's so emotional. And he really feels the lyric.
So the lyric Vieja recova is the old marketplace, I think it had probably already been demolished when Vidal is singing this. If you type Vieja recova Buenos Aires into Google, you'll find a picture. It was a built market with a big arcade with arches.
Chapter · 2:08:10
The beggar from the old market
A coin, a covered face, and a woman he once knew.
So the guy says that he's going home late at night, you know, imagine you're walking home from the Malonga through the city centre at 2 in the morning, something like that, and there's a woman begging and he throws her a coin. That's the first verse. And then he notices that she covers her face as he gets close to her and he walks on and he thinks, wait a minute, I know her. And he remembers that more than 10 years previously, she was one of these coperas, nightclub hostesses, and now she's ended up begging in the streets. And that's what he sings about.
And yes, so I just quickly searched the lyrics and pasted some of them in the chat window. And Vidal makes quite a few changes to the lyrics. But there's one bit that's hard to understand. Se le dio vuelta la taba. Now, taba means a bone. And there's an old form of gambling known all over the ancient world where you would throw bones and see which way up they would land, and they had this in Argentina, they would throw the ankle bone or the heel bone of a cow, and it could land one of three ways. So if you say, the bone turned over, se le dio vuelta la taba, which is in fact the title of a tango, isn't it? From Lomuto, from the 30s. It means your luck changed. So I just wanted to explain that, because otherwise the line is incomprehensible if you don't know what it's about.
But Vidal slays me with that. Such a powerful voice. Goes right through me. And it's a little bit like we talked about with Rivero, that it's a bit hard to play at the longest because he goes really low, so you need a special, like... I think it's okay. Yeah, because, I mean, that's so powerful, you're going to capture the people, I think. Play it, people. Play it.
Pugliese Vidal, tanda, don't be afraid. You know, the people deserve the best and that's the best, so let's play more of it. I know there's only like 10 songs with Vidal but you know, we can at least play those 10, can't we? Yeah. Now we have two of them, but we need to hear some instrumentals also from 1950, or maybe I'll just play one actually, because I see time is running, so I want to play De floreo, which is a beautiful song. It's just so beautiful.
De floreo is one of only three compositions by Julio Carrasco. Julio Carrasco is the, well, officially he's the third violin in the orchestra. He's the guy who composed Flor de Tango, which is this super aggressive number from 1945. Super aggressive, wonderful, wonderful composition. And when Camerano retires in 58, Pugliese offers Carrasco the post of first violin and he turns it down because he doesn't want to be a section leader. He just likes to be a sideman, and I think that's a pity. I mean, we don't know what he sounded like, but if Pugliese asked him, you can be sure he was pretty good, and I think when we listen to De floreo and you hear the wild aggression of the whole orchestra, that gives us an idea of how he probably sounded. And it has one of the most beautiful violin solos in the history of tango, I think.
And then we have to, of course, listen to a song also with Alberto Morán. And there are several nice ones from this year, but I think I'll go for Llevátelo todo. Oh, God. Yeah. Okay, so Llevátelo todo. It's an old tango from the late 20s, right? Yes, yeah, yeah. Llevátelo todo means take it all. So if you don't speak Spanish, the lyrics, if it's not your first language, they kind of seep in very slowly to you. And one day I sat down and I looked at the lyrics while listening to Morán, as we're going to do now, and you're going to die, people, because when, take it all, what's the all that's being spoken about? Who's taking? A guy sings to his brother, his own brother, and he says, brother, I'll give you everything. I'll give you all my money. I'll give you the shirt off my back, but don't take her. Don't take my woman. That's the all that he's speaking about. And Morán slays it. This is one of Morán's best performances for me.
One of only three compositions by violinist Julio Carrasco, with wild orchestral aggression and one of the most beautiful violin solos in tango.
It's not perhaps one of the most romantic ones, but in terms of power, because the orchestra is just burning with this blue-white intensity, a burning performance. It's magnificent. You're killing us tonight, though. Yeah, yeah. Well, we're approaching the end now, so we should be almost dead after all this beautiful music. So Pugliese, De floreo, instrumental, and then Llevátelo todo with Morán singing. Morán is, by the way, my favorite Pugliese singer.
Chapter · 2:13:50
Take it all, but not her
A tango where a man offers his brother everything he owns, except one thing.
A late-1920s tango whose lyric is a man telling his own brother to take everything but not his woman; Lavocah calls it one of Morán's best.
Morán is the best, Michael. There's no discussion about it. Okay, you're right. Morán's the best. After that, there's nothing left. It's like 101 out of 10. Heartbreaking performance. Heartbreaking. Fantastic.
Can you feel the heat? Imagine dancing to Pugliese in 1950. Live. Can you imagine? Unbelievable how it must have been. Yeah, because you see, today's orchestras, you hear them recordings and they're so-so. And then you hear them live, it's like, wow, it's amazing. And yes, think about that. For could you answer live, yes, they would have been better live. Think about that. They're just in a studio here, no atmosphere. Yeah, imagine all the bands live would be great. Yeah, all of them. All the bands were better live. Let's time travel. Yeah, make sure you're rich and not wanted by the government and then you'll be okay back in those times, yeah.
Okay, it's La cumparsita time, which means that we are coming towards the end. There are four recordings from this year and there's just one that's interesting and it's the obvious choice. It's the one by the orchestra Víctor Buccino, and if you follow the talk earlier, you know that this is the band who had Rivero singing for him this year. Rivero is singing La cumparsita in 1950 and it's the only recording by Rivero of this classic. So of course we have to listen to it. And also I think this playing Rivero now, it kind of creates a bridge to next week's Troilo special.
But before I play this, I guess we should say, as we always do, thanks to you, Michael, for sharing your incredible knowledge of tango music with us. It's such a pleasure to be back here in the seat. And I just really want to thank everyone who's come back to us, you know, after a week away. I missed you guys. And it's wonderful to be with you again. So, yeah, thank you. And thank you, of course, to our sponsors, to Tango Brasso in Bergen, to Tango Norfolk here in my city and to the Maribu. And I hope to see many of you next week for the Troilo show. It's going to be huge.
So let's finish with the orchestra Víctor Buccino, who died, as I said, in November 2018, 100 years old, and here he plays, he backs, I should say, Edmundo Rivero, La cumparsita, 1950. Enjoy. And maybe if you stick around, there'll be some music after. I think there could be.
The only one of the year's four La cumparsita recordings worth hearing, Rivero's only recording of the song; Dag bridges to next week's Troilo special.
♪ Music · 2:53 · The lyrics, on the song's page
Yeah, unusual version of La cumparsita, isn't it? Very nice. Very nice version. So should we say goodnight or you want to say more music? No, come on, let's listen to some music. Yes! We're all still here. How many of us are still here? I'm not sure. You say that required a version, at least you announced earlier. Well, let's go right back to the beginning. This is what we get. I think let's go right back to the beginning and listen to Kaplun's Tierra querida again, and then immediately after that I'm going to play Gobbi's Pelele.
Replayed at the afterparty because listeners asked to hear it again.
♪ Music · 3:05 ·
A rarely heard Gobbi instrumental whose long opening 'chicharra' (a sound effect like a cicada) Lavocah calls sexy.
Danced to it
What did you think of that then? A track we hardly ever hear. I think that's great. And the chichara at the beginning is just so sexy. I love it. Really nice, really nice. It's not heard often enough, I think. What else do you want to hear? Actually, I know we didn't listen to the year's least fashionable orchestra, Alfredo De Angelis. Again, Michael. Again, but there's a track from this year that I particularly like. And looking at the conversation in the chat window, it's actually quite important that we play it because it's Gloria.
Now, Gloria is a tango that is told from the woman's point of view, and the woman criticises the man. She says, you know, watch out. The way you're carrying on, it's not going to work. So it is really rare to hear the woman's point of view in a tango. And 1950, so 1950 is a year in which tango kind of goes modern. It reinvigorates itself, shakes itself up. So it's also the year then in which De Angelis' music is the most vigorous. And he has some really quite strong beats. So if you don't like De Angelis, if you find it too sugary and just too much violins, try listening to De Angelis from 1949 and 50, because it has a different flavor that you might like.
So this is Carlos Dante singing. There's also a version very well known with Nina Miranda, I think, is it, singing with Donato Rechatti's orchestra from Uruguay? But this is more Buenos Aires style. Let's listen.
A tango from the woman's point of view warning a man that girls are not toys, in a vigorous De Angelis year.
Danced to it · 5 of 6
♪ Music · 2:41 ·
How about that? That's Chicas and I Son. Girls aren't toys. Great tango. Now, where else did we cover through tonight? Because we're going to end up with a Pugliese fest. I'm going to leave everybody limp and wrung out like wet rags because Pugliese, that's where we have to go. Now, what do we need to cover before then? Salgán. Yes, we need to listen to the Salgán Recuerdo where the famous variación from the trio section is played on the piano. But not only that, it happens in the middle of the tango. So this is Salgán at his most inventive.
Salgán's debut record, a Pugliese composition; the famous bandoneón variation from the trio section is played on the piano, in the middle of the tango.
♪ Music · 3:09 ·
Look at the musicians in the chat window. The musicians are going crazy. They could appreciate just how complex it is. Perhaps, you know, better than I can and the rest of us can. Really exciting stuff. Musically, extremely satisfying. Hope you like that. Lots of requests coming in for other orchestras in the chat window. Teresa Faust is desperate to hear something from Enrique Mora. No, I'm not playing him. Sorry. It's my after party and I'll play what I want to. Ricardo Pedevilla has been requested by a few people. What about the Di Sarli 1950? There isn't any.
He's at home in Olivos in the garden enjoying his family and the company of his children with his feet up. He's in lockdown exactly for a whole year, that's what he's doing, but this creates a space because there isn't another orchestra like Di Sarli, is there? Ever. So if he's gone, a space disappears and into this space moves another orchestra that's being requested in the chat window, which is the orchestra of Ricardo Pedevilla. Now I have mixed feelings about this orchestra. If we just compare it to Di Sarli, it's a four-star orchestra and not a five-star orchestra because he's kind of inspired by Di Sarli but he doesn't have the pianist. You know, that's what Di Sarli said when he lost his whole orchestra in 56 and people said, Maestro, aren't you worried? He said, no, it's no problem. We've still got the pianist who's the most important person in the band. And Ricardo Pedevilla, who's the pianist, is not Di Sarli. So he doesn't have the Di Sarli touch.
And the other thing he doesn't have is the Di Sarli marcato. So the special thing about the Di Sarli is that it's violin driven and not bandagnon driven. The violins go and the bandagnons don't play with an arastre. They play softly, just so at the end of each note of the beat, the violin sound dominates. Now that's unique in tango and it requires special restraint from the bandagnon players and it requires the instruction of the maestro because otherwise the bandagnon players are going to get involved in the act. And that's exactly what happens with Ricardo Pedevilla. The bandagnon players can't help themselves, so the marcato sounds basically like all the other orchestras do. It doesn't sound like the Di Sarli marcato, and the piano doesn't sound like Di Sarli, but it's still interesting enough to play one track. Let's listen to the Ricardo Pedevilla El amanecer, The Dawn, very famous track of Di Sarli, 1950 style. Have a listen and see what you think.
A Di Sarli-like orchestra filling the gap left by Di Sarli's absence, but with an ordinary bandoneón marcato rather than the violin-led Di Sarli one.
♪ Music · 2:19 ·
What did you think? Interesting, but not disarly. I think that kind of sums it up. But I'm glad we heard it. Let's go straight on and listen to some D'Arienzo from 1950. Yeah, I think I'll play a little tanda. I'll play three. And, you know, you've got time to go and refill your wine glass or what have you. You're on fire, Michael. So first, 1950 is a great year, isn't it? It is. It's a really great year.
So we should listen to a little bit more D'Arienzo because he's kind of like cheerleading this lift to a more vigorous interpretation in the music. So I'll play three. Two you'll know. And the third one, not everyone will know. So Canaro en París, with its chromatic opening scale, that really shows what's going to happen. And then we'll go straight on and listen to Don Juan. And then the third one, Tucumán, not nearly so well known. Three really great tangos from D'Arienzo, and then I think I'd like to play one more Rivero number and then we'll get into Pugliese and then we'll all die. That's it. So D'Arienzo 1950.
First of three D'Arienzo instrumentals; the chromatic opening scale shows where the 1950s style is heading.
♪ Music · 2:40 ·
Second of the three D'Arienzo instrumentals played as a small set.
A less known third D'Arienzo instrumental that mixes well with the other two; Dag mentions listeners in Belgium play it.
So I'm happy to hear that this Toucquemane is at least being played in Belgium. Well done, Jean-Pierre. But it's not a track I hear very often at all. I think it's really nice and mixes nicely with the two we've just heard, of course. Also El Simpatico, which is from 1951, another underplayed track, which, Jean-Pierre, I'm sure you're also playing in Belgium, so that's good news.
Now, before we go on with our programme... Oh yeah, don't forget your homework. Make a tinder with A los amigos of Francini-Pontier. It's not easy. Not easy homework this week. Including for me.
So that's your homework. There are one or two frustrated Miguel Caló fans, so we're gonna play two Caló tracks, one by Miguel Caló and one by another Caló. First of all, we're gonna play La trampera. Now, La trampera, it's a milonga. I think it's the first milonga tonight. It's written by Troilo, but of course Troilo's out of contract in 1950, so he doesn't record it with his orchestra, not until a little bit later. But there's a really charming version by Miguel Caló in good fidelity from 1950, and this is it.
A charming milonga written by Troilo; Troilo, out of contract, did not record it until later.
Danced to it
That's fun, isn't it? Now, there's another Caló, there are many musical Calós, there's another Caló, Roberto Caló. Now, Dag, do you want to come on and tell the people what you think of Roberto Caló? I think he stinks. He thinks he stinks. Now, the reason that Dag thinks Roberto Caló stinks is because he's listened to the CD on Euro Records, which presents Roberto Caló from like 1956 to 58, something like that.
Now, in 1956, Roberto Rufino joins Roberto Caló's orchestra, and that of course propels it to a new level of fame because it's Rufino, but it also completely destabilizes the orchestra and it breaks up not long afterwards. But in the early 50s the orchestra is completely different. It sounds much more like Troilo than it does Miguel Caló, and it's more popular than Miguel Caló's orchestra in the first half of the 1950s. So I'm going to play a Roberto Caló tango now for you, Dag, and I really hope you like it. I'm a little bit nervous.
And you know, the bands, to really show what they do sometimes, they would do, for example, Troilo does a selection of tangos of Julio De Caro, so it's like 60 caro numbers arranged into one song. Roberto Caló in 1950 plays a number of Troilo numbers. He plays Cibandagnon, which was on the flip side of Para lucirse, which you played, a disc that was in such poor quality that it was withdrawn as soon as it came out, but Roberto Caló also played that and recorded it in 1950. And his arranger, who was the pianist, Julio Medovoy, did a selection of tangos of Aníbal Troilo. So now something I think most people here won't have heard, which is always nice and fun, a Troilo medley done by Caló's brother Roberto in 1950. I tried to keep an open mind.
A selection of tangos by Aníbal Troilo arranged by pianist Julio Medovoy; Lavocah wanted Dag to hear what the 'other' Caló did.
♪ Music · 2:38 ·
How many of them could you recognise? There's two I still can't get. The one before Toda mi vida and the one before the very last one. So, different kind of music in 1950. Yeah, not our favourite, but an interesting one. So I promise not to play any more interesting music. If I was going to play more interesting music, I would play Edgardo Donato from 1950. Actually, what I would do is I would play it and invite you to guess, and none of you would be able to guess. So that's something else you can do. Go away and listen to Donato from 1950. You're in for a shock.
Somebody wonders if it was Guapiando before the last one. Thank you to you. I will listen again. I really want to get them all. Right, staying on the Troilo theme, let's listen to one more Edmundo Rivero song, and it will be Audacia. And we know this is one song he was singing with Troilo. So as you're listening to this, hopefully you're going to enjoy it, but maybe you'll also be thinking, God, what would this have sounded like with Troilo in 1950? So Edmundo Rivero, Audacia.
A song Rivero sang with Troilo; Dag asks what it would have sounded like with Troilo in 1950.
♪ Music · 2:03 ·
Okay, Julio De Caro 1950. The two I've picked are Boedo and Soy bailarín. So Boedo, it's not De Caro's most, well, it is exciting, very, very interesting, but maybe not the warmest. But here he gives a warmer treatment. Don't forget that Pugliese recorded it in 48 to kind of support De Caro's comeback. And then after that, Soy bailarín, which is another vocal number. And the singer is the same guy that we heard in Mi dolor, Orlando Verri. And then after that it's the Pugliese Fest. So I hope you're ready for that.
Ines is asking for La Rojoela. I'm not going to play that. I'm going to play Boedo, just one instrumental of De Caro. And I spun the dice and it landed on Boedo. If you want to hear La Ravisuela, you can do that after the show. So Boedo and Soy bailarín of Julio De Caro.
A warmer treatment of an exciting but cool piece; Pugliese had recorded it in 1948 to support De Caro's comeback.
♪ Music · 1:47 ·
Jesus Christ.
It's great, isn't it? It's really interesting to ask ourselves, what are the differences between that De Caro and the previous one? And one of the things that I noticed, especially just listening now, is that it's not frightened of the double bass anymore. Now, we know the double bass was a difficult instrument to record, but it was possible to record the double bass. You can hear the double bass very clearly in Carlos Di Sarli's 28 to 31 sides on Victor. But you can't hear De Caro's double bass in the same year. He doesn't like the double bass. He doesn't like bass. He likes melodies.
And the only photograph we've got of De Caro in the recording studio shows the bass player over there in the corner, as far away from the microphone as humanly possible. But in that track, we could hear the bass and the violin was warm, wasn't it? It wasn't just interesting. It was warm. Very nice. So it's all about the bass. Let's go on and listen to one more De Caro, and then it's Pugliese time. And this is Soy bailarín, I'm a Dancer, with Orlando Verri on vocals. He's the same vocalist we heard singing in Mi dolor.
A vocal number by the same singer as Mi dolor, showing another side of De Caro; the double bass is now clearly audible.
♪ Music · 2:34 ·
Nice, huh? Another side of Julio De Caro. So now it's time for the Pugliese Fest, and then we're all gonna die. So how are we going to structure this? Because we've got Vidal, we've got Morán, and we've got a couple of instrumentals as well. We've already heard De floreo, so that leaves only two instrumentals from 1950. I'm going to play the lot. I think we're going to finish with Vidal, because Vidal is so powerful after that there's just nowhere else to go. I think he's even more powerful than Morán, and Morán's powerful.
So here's my plan. First Pastoral, really interesting and advanced instrumental tango. It's Beethoven, it's Beethoven. Then I will play the Morán tanda, which will have in Mientras todavía and Quiero verte una vez más. The Morán Quiero verte una vez más, do you know that, people? The Alberto Morán Quiero verte una vez más, that's to die for. And then we'll have Don Aniceto, which is an instrumental that very few people know, which will not give you any respite at all from the intensity, a real killer. And then we'll have the three Vidal numbers that are left to us, which include one milonga, and I'm going to play the milonga last of all. So that's the program. I'll type the song names in the chat window as we go.
So Pugliese records very few numbers at this time because of the repression of the state, but we will have listened to them all by the end of the evening. Yeah. So how many songs is that? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven. So we've got 20 minutes, 20 minutes to go. As they say in the film The Philadelphia Story, buckle your seatbelts, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.
First of the Pugliese fest: an advanced instrumental that Lavocah says is Beethoven.
Danced to it
♪ Music · 2:50 ·
Lavocah calls it '200 proof' Morán, in a tandita of Morán sides.
Strong stuff, isn't it? It's, you know, 200 proof, doesn't get any stronger. So now the remaining Morán track from 1950 is Quiero verte una vez más. Quiero verte una vez más means I want to see you one more time. Now, as you listen to this, remember that it's a Canaro number, and it's a family affair. The composer is Mario Canaro, and the main version is by Francisco Canaro. Now, I would kind of suggest that from Canaro to Pugliese is the biggest musical distance that's possible to exist within tango, but Pugliese does it. He takes a Canaro number and converts it into a masterpiece of drama and tension, as he did the previous year in 1949 with Pinta brava, which we haven't yet listened to in this program because we haven't done 1949 yet. So there's something to look forward to.
So, Quiero verte una vez más. I want to see you one more time. When Morán sings it, you believe him. You really feel the drama and desperation in his voice. So here we go, Quiero verte una vez más, Pugliese style.
A Mario Canaro piece (main version by Francisco Canaro) that Pugliese turns into drama and tension, as he did with Pinta brava in 1949.
So Gerardo picked up on the lyric there, and he says, you know, the lyric is really intense, and isn't it a bit too much? I'd like to say it's not a bit too much. One of the lines in that lyric was, I can't even remember why it was you left. Now, this is a sharing place. We share our feelings here. If you don't share your feelings, please give up tango now. Yeah, please. Because your partner deserves it when you dance with them.
And I know that feeling, the feeling of you've got into an argument and broken up with your ex, and it's so fucked up that the most important thing is the fact that you've broken up, and I can't even remember why it was. So I know that feeling. Yeah, it's not a very healthy feeling. I really hope that I don't make such a step again in my life, but I know what that's like. So I want to say it's real life. That's what tango lyrics give us, real life in all its terrible glory. So let's go swiftly on.
And now we'll have, in fact, there's two more instrumentals. The first one is very little known. I think most of you will never have heard this before. It's called El tobiano, which I believe means the horsefly. So if you've ever gone raspberry picking in an outdoor place, not in your back garden but in a farm, there are these really big flies that come and sting you. These are the horse flies. Here we go.
A very little known instrumental; Lavocah thought the title meant horsefly, but the chat suggested it means a horse.
Danced to it
♪ Music · 2:50 ·
An instrumental very few people know, a killer with no respite from intensity.
Awesome, huh? Thank you for everybody that's contributing to the correct meaning of El tobiano. The jury is still out, but a lot of people think it's a horse and I've confused it with El Tabano. I probably need to do a bit more homework. So we've done Morán, we've done the instrumentals, now it's time for Vidal.
Now I've changed my mind about the order, I think, and we're going to start with the milonga. Yeah, I want to introduce the three songs left from the dollar we haven't heard. I want to introduce them and then I don't want to speak anymore, okay? So first we'll listen to them longer.
Un baile a beneficio means a benefit dance in English, though the time that we most hear the word benefit in this context is in cricket and football, where a certain match is a benefit match, and that means all the receipts, the gate receipts, that the money from the tickets is given to the player, either because they're retiring or to celebrate them. So that's what Un baile a beneficio means. It's about a benefit dance done for a guy who's got out of jail, but things get out of hand. It's a really great story. There's a lot of singing, it's a really, really long lyric, you can go away and look at that.
That will be the first song. The second song is Barra querida. Barra is a gang of friends, it's a wonderful, wonderful Argentine Spanish word that we don't have a word for in English, and then the third and final song for tonight will be Por qué canto el tango? Why do I sing tango? And I'll try and look up the lyric and post that for everyone while we're listening.
Thank you very much for joining us tonight. Thank you to Dag for the inspiration to create this possibility, which has meant a great deal to me personally in this time. Thank you to all of you who join us week after week, and you may think you just sit there, but you share your feelings with us and I feel that and I respect that. Thank you to Pugliese for giving us music that really takes us to the max. So here we go. So here we go, Un baile a beneficio.
A long-lyric milonga about a benefit dance for a man out of jail that gets out of hand.
Danced to it · 5 of 14
Dag explains barra as a gang of friends, an Argentine Spanish word with no English equivalent.
Danced to it
The final song of the night, the last of the remaining Vidal numbers.
Danced to it · 1 of 3
Tango By Year is Dag Stenvoll and Michael Lavocah's, published here with their permission. The audio plays from SoundCloud.