Monday, March 24, 2014

Tanda of the Week 13 / 2014 - Héctor Varela instrumentals



1. Héctor Varela - "La catrera" 1957
2. Héctor Varela - "Nueve de julio" 1957
3. Héctor Varela - "Mi dolor" 1953
4. Héctor Varela - "Pa' que te oigan bandoneón" 1956

http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/5E8o968GujxwHfcE0NY6S1
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/819796401One of my favorite milongas in Berlin is the "Café Dominguez" in Mala Junta on sundays. It is a milonga from 3pm to 9pm and it  often ends with such high energy that you think you're in one of the best festivals ever... until you remember it's just the normal sunday milonga. The music is excellent and it's wonderful to finish a milonga when the floor is fully packed until the very last song and many people still have energy enough to continue to the next sunday milonga, Max & Moritz.

Another interesting thing about Cafe Dominguez is that they have a crew of five Dj's taking turns as the musicalizador of the night. This tanda is inspired by one of the last tandas of a set from Dj Frank Seifart in a Cafe Dominguez milonga a long time ago. I have forgotten the actual songs and all I do remember from it was that I was dancing to massive Varela instrumentals and was expecting the tanda to finish with the biggest of them all,  "Pa' que te oigan bandoneón", as it did. Mr. Seifart managed to capture the high energy of the dance floor perfectly and got the dancers to give even more. For me, this song trumps even the bigger than life "Este es El Rey" from D'Arienzo. It's not full steam all the way but when the song hits the 1:30 mark you know you're in a tango roller coaster of passion like no other.

I was juggling the songs back and forth to find a right order for them. I like the intro of "Nueve de julio" for an opening of a tanda, but I feel it works better as a second song, as after the intro I get slightly lost in trying to recognize the song and thinking if I like this or not. So therefore I chose to go with "La catrera", which is a fine version of the classic song and I think it starts strong, clear and is more inviting than basically any of the other songs. The massive intro of "Pa' que..." might scare off a lot of people, if I had it as the first song, but by the end of the tanda I believe they're more attuned to embracing all that Varela has to give. And for the people who would rather sit out Varela I hope the first song gives them a clear enough signal to do just that. The third song "Mi dolor" from 1953 takes a small step back from the grand later 50's sound and I feel it gives a small breather before the finale of the tanda.

All comments about the tanda are appreciated. I was making this one watching Real Madrid vs. FC Barcelona and now just danced to the tanda myself and I loved it on both occasions. But, needless to say this tanda is not for every dancer and every milonga.

anyways... Enjoy the tanda!

I came across a good discography of Varela here.

Varela, Héctor - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store 


Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Tanda of the Week 12 / 2014 - Alfredo De Angelis / Carlos Dante - valses - Dj Antti Suniala




http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/75YRgzboZAkfokAM5wAxxGhttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/815809591While the tangos of Alfredo De Angelis are often not that well received, I've hardly ever heard anybody saying that they don't like the valses of De Angelis. The cream of the crop might be the valses recorded by the Carlos Dante and Julio Martel duet but these valses with only Dante as the singer are superb too. "Pampa y cielo" is a more unknown vals and a few times I've played it the ending has come as a suprise to many dancers, therefore I have it as the second song. There's a second version of "Ilusión azul" by De Angelis from 1964 with the singers Juan Carlos Godoy and Roberto Mancini.



De Angelis, Alfredo - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Dante, Carlos - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Tanda of the Week 11 / 2014 - OTV / Marcucci / Carabelli

http://www.viento-norte.de/


1. Orquesta Típica Víctor / Carlos Lafuente - "Nunca tuvo novio" 1930
2. Adolfo Carabelli / Alberto Gómez - "Alma" 1932 - TangoTunes
3. Carlos Marcucci / Carlos Lafuente - "Si supieras" 1931
4. Adolfo Carabelli / Alberto Gómez - "Manón" 1932


http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/5yiOuujkB3FRtvgDczN2H2
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/808765291I had a great weekend in Germany playing in Nou Mitte in Berlin on Friday as well as the 2. Viento Norte Festivalito Milonguero in Eckernförde on Saturday. Viento Norte was an Encuentro of about 180 dancers all dedicated to the art of perfecting the ronda and dancing in small space. It was my second encuentro that I went to and in both cases the dancing, floorcraft and atmosphere were exceptional. And it is not only great to experience it on the floor but it is also a great pleasure to play for such a crowd. The encuentros are definitely something I'm looking forward to participate and Dj at more in the future.

Although this, for me quite exceptional, tanda doesn't really represent my set too well, I decided to share it here on the blog since a few people came to ask me what was the last song of the tanda. I played only one tanda of early 30's tango and decided to combine some of my favorites from that time period. This whole tanda can be seen as a variation of a tanda of various orchestras I had previously posted on TOTW28/2012. This time Carlos Lafuente is joined by Alberto Gomez as a singer. The last song is "Manón", which has been recorded as well by Osvaldo Fresedo in 1942. The Fresedo version is not that bad at all until it gets ruined by the hammond taking the song from the bedroom straight to the elevators of a shopping mall.

Enjoy!

Orquesta Tipica Victor - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Carabelli, Adolfo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes

Tuesday, March 4, 2014

Tanda of the Week 10 / 2014 - Miguel Caló y Alberto Podestá



1. Miguel Caló / Alberto Podestá - "Percal (second take)" 1943
2. Miguel Caló / Alberto Podestá - "Yo soy el tango" 1941
3. Miguel Caló / Alberto Podestá - "Si tú quisieras" 1943
4. Miguel Caló / Alberto Podestá - "Dos fracasos" 1941

5. Miguel Caló / Alberto Podestá - "Me casé con un sargento" 1941

http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/2wq2bY4NrL7WcPiESNJFgzThis weeks tanda is again a contribution from Stefan Ok from Germany.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/801549581"I use the transfers of Buenos Aires Tango Clubs "Cuatro Compases". This compilation includes the second take of the famous Percal, which sounds more direct, clear and less dramatic than the version of the first take, that we are all used to hear [The version on Spotify is not of great quality - Antti]. If the time is right I offer a 5th song, like a "hidden bonus track", the Caló/Podestá polca "Me case con un sargento", actually recorded on the same day as "Dos fracasos". This is a funny piece, which is actually quite danceable and a lot of dancers and Dj's already showed their agreement on the dance floor. If I want to keep the energy serious and official I just don't play it, but if you need an icebreaker for friday night for example, then people are getting really relaxed by this song without distracting them too much."


Thank you Stefan!

Unfortunately the polca is not available on Spotify, but you can listen to "Me casé con un sargento" on YouTube. I hope Stefan doesn't mind me choosing one of the most famous Finnish polcas "Säkkijärven Polkka" for a cortina on Spotify.

As a peculiar side note, the second take of "Percál" is available on Spotify but only on three compilations of Cuban music (or music popular in Cuba). "Percál" was indeed a huge international hit but why it was the rare version of "Percál" that was chosen for these compilations, I do not know. But knowing how much effort is not put into making some compilations, I will not lose my sleep over this. 

If you have trouble recognizing the different versions and are unsure if you have the both versions in your collection or not, I recommend listening to the ending of the songs. The first take has a longer ending than the second take. Start counting beats from the last "per-CAAAL" and you'll notice the difference.

Calo, Miguel - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - iTunes Store
Podestá, Alberto - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store