Saturday, January 28, 2012

Tanda of the Week 04 / 2012 -
Juan D'Arienzo (instrumentals)


1. Juan D'Arienzo - "La catrera" 1938
2. Juan D'Arienzo - "Por que razón" 1939
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "El pollito" 1938
4. Juan D'Arienzo - "Maipo" 1939




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The original post: "I played this improvised tanda last thursday in our small local milonga in Helsinki and the dance floor was on fire. I went to dance this one myself too and although I know the songs very well I could hardly keep up with the unmatched and overwhelming energy and dynamics that D'Arienzo throws at you. I truly gave it my all but I could still picture the maestro conducting the dancers and his orchestra shouting: "You need to give more!" It's amazing how versatile tango music actually is and that these songs were recorded more than 70 years ago!"

D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - iTunes Store

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Tanda of the Week 03 / 2012 -
Francisco Canaro con Roberto Maida


1. Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida - "Invierno" 1937
2. Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida - "Recuerdos de París" 1937
3. Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida - "Condena // S.O.S." 1937
4. Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida - "Paciencia" 1938 

http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/4EygMbkBTNWw7GjMncjM3W
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1016159131This weeks tanda is from DJ Arina Grigorieva from Moscow. She runs a small club El Tango de Plata (www.eltangodeplata.ru) and small milonga in Moscow with her parents. Thank you Arina! Invierno is like the second coming of "Poema" and definitely one of the finest from Canaro. Unfortunately "Invierno" is not abailable on either Spotify or Deezer and I could only find the instrumental version of "Condena (S.O.S.). Also Deezer only had the Rafael Canaro version of "Paciencia" with the singer Luis Scalon.

"The association with [Roberto Maida and] Canaro began in November 1934 but only on March 20, 1935 they recorded again: "Alma de bandoneón", "No hay que hacerse mala sangre", "Cambalache" and the ranchera "Viva el casorio".
The agreement was made verbally and was to last six years, but they only worked together for five years because the singer split with Canaro when the latter hired Ernesto Famá and Francisco Amor. It was a true problem of professional jealousy. Roberto Maida recorded with Canaro around 200 tracks."

- Excerpted from "Cuadernos de difusión del Tango", Nº 9, directed an published by Salvador Arancio.

- By Salvador Arancio, Todo Tango

Canaro, Francisco - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Maida, Roberto - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Tanda of the Week 02 / 2012 -
Roberto Firpo Orquesta

Listen to the tanda - MP3

1. Roberto Firpo / Carlos A. Varela - "No quiero verte llorar" 1937
2. Roberto Firpo - "La despedida" 1936
3. Roberto Firpo / Carlos A. Varela - "Puente viejo" 1935
4. Roberto Firpo - "El compinche" 1937

This weeks guest dj tanda comes from Paul Svirin from Ukraine. Here's what he has to say about the tanda:

"When people hear the name of Roberto Firpo they usually either imagine the sound of 20's or recall the instrumentals of his quartet from the 40's. But in mid-30's he had recorded many songs with his unique soft sound. Once heard, you will never forget it…yes, these are the real 30's… this is real Firpo... The tandas made of Firpo's music of that period bring a great romantic mood the dancer. This one can be some rhythmical relax between milongas (especially the first 3 melodies) and at the same time a bridge to a forthcoming more rhythmical tanda."

Firpo, Roberto - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Varela, Carlos A. - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Tanda of the Week 01 / 2012 -
Florindo Sassone

Listen to the tanda - MP3 - Spotify

1. Florindo Sassone - "Bahia blanca"
2. Florindo Sassone - "La viruta"*
3. Florindo Sassone - "La trilla" 1951
4. Florindo Sassone - "A la gran muñeca"

* "Bar expocision" on Spotify due to "La viruta" being unavailable.

This weeks tanda is from Florindo Sassone. My collection of Sassone is rather limited but I sometimes like to play this tanda and I think Sassone has great arrangements and a style that is very suitable for dancing.

"Little by little he was shaping a style of his own, a rare blend of Osvaldo Fresedo's and Carlos Di Sarli's, but he achieved something which had nothing of the two of them but it was all Florindo Sassone's. It is notable how an artist can be influenced by other artists and in spite of that being able to reach a personality absolutely his own.

He cultivated an authentic kind of tango with a strong preference for the purity and clarity of the melodic line, framed within the attractive elements of a lucid play of sound resources, always pleasant and with a carefully polished design. Frequently we can discover some additions of embellished overtones, modernly interspersed, somewhat alien to the orthodox traditional structure of tango orchestras.

He was not fond of showcasing the soloists, but he stressed the varied gamut of effects and nuances by the different instrumental sections of the group."

- By Jorge Palacio (Faruk)
on Todo Tango


Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Tanda of the Week 52 / 2011 - Olavi Virta (tango Finlandia)

Listen to the tanda - MP3 
Finnish Tango Playlist on Spotify

1. Bruno Laakko & Lepakot / Olavi Virta - "Unohtumaton koti" 1939
2. Bruno Laakko & Lepakot / Olavi Virta - "Vain yhtä pyydän"1939
3. Isku Orkesteri / Olavi Virta - "Mikä mielesi muuttanut on" 1944
4. Isku Orkesteri / Olavi Virta - "Marjukka" 1944

Merry Christmas and happy New Year! I had the pleasure of dj'ing in a grand new years eve ball in Helsinki. The event was organized by the "We Love Helsinki" collective that has had great success organizing retro-dance parties where people dress up and dance all night to 30s to 70s finnish music from tango to foxtrot, swing and rock and roll. It was my second time dj'ing at these events and the massive party had probably close to 800 people and I also gave a short argentine tango lesson to about 150 students!

Anyway... inspired by playing a 2 hour set of only finnish dance music I'd like to share another tanda of finnish tango and from none other than the Carlos Gardel of Finland: Olavi Virta (1915-1972), who made almost 600 recordings in 1938-1963 of which 136 were tangos. Here's four songs that are less well known and I surely could find songs that would present the maestro better but these songs have been some of my personal favorites for a long time so here goes. The first two were recorded for Columbia recordings in 1939 and at the beginning of the songs you can hear the young singer introducing the orchestra, song and the vocalist as it was the custom of Columbia at that time. The orchestra was Dallapé who made these recordings under the pseudonym "Bruno Laakko & Lepakot (The Bats)". The last two songs were recorded in 1944 for a short lived finnish record company "Isku" and Olavi Virta recorded with the company orchestra "Isku-orkesteri".

I will add some more description of the songs and lyrics later when I have more time. I hope you enjoy the music.