D'Arienzo's neglected singer

You probably have heard of Héctor Mauré, Alberto Echagüe and Armando Laborde - all wonderful singers at various periods of Juan D'Arienzo's orchestra.  I love them all, as each one brings a different colour to recordings.  (Oh, to have experienced them singing live!!)

But, have you heard the expressive voice of Juan Carlos Lamas?  He didn't sing for long with D'Arienzo, before forging a career in the movies, according to the biography in Todotango. (His good looks may have helped a little.)

Listen to this very danceable tanda with a few of my Lamas favourites. Though, I would have included the superb Viejo tintero.

I do wish more DJs would play his songs!
PP

Alberto Podestá (22 Sept 1924 - 9 Dec 2015)

One of the great singers of the Golden Age of Tango has passed away.

Alberto Podestá's talents were recognised before the age of 18 by the renowned Carlos Di Sarli, when he was asked to sing for the orchestra of El Señor del Tango. During his long and successful career he also sang for the great orchestras of Miguel Caló, Pedro Laurenz and Francini-Pontier. Todotango reproduces an interesting interview with Podestá, with insights into his long career in tango.

So many of his beautiful recordings are played regularly in milongas - and for good reason!  Here are just a few of my favourites:  Nada (with Di Sarli),  Que nunca me falta (with Laurenz) and Que falta que me haces (recorded in the 60s with Caló) danced here by Geraldine Rojas and Javier Rodriguez.

He will not be forgotten.
PP

Two for the price of one

Prominent tango orchestra directors of the Golden Age made use of several singers in their repertoires.  Who can forget Carlos Di Sarli with Roberto Rufino, Jorge Duran or Alberto Podesta? Juan D'Arienzo's best known singers Alberto Echague, Hector Maure and Armando Laborde also brought different qualities to the orchestra, and strongly influenced the end-product. The same could be said about most other great Golden Age orchestras. But seldom did the singers actually share the same stage.

As orchestra director, Alfredo De Angelis cleverly chose to combine the complementary qualities of his singers, more often than most. Carlos Dante teamed up with De Angelis in 1944 and in the same year was joined by Julio Martel. Recording 17 numbers together, they became the best known De Angelis duo.What a treat it would have been to see them live!




Want to hear more?  Here's a great tanda of tangos to feast upon.

And to finish - a dessert. One of my all-time favourite De Angelis / Dante & Martel valses: Pobre flor, playfully performed by the vals specialists, Julio Balmaceda and Corina de la Rosa.

PP

The singer - just another instrument in D’Arienzo’s orchestra?

Juan D’Arienzo, the King of Rhythm apparently once said that the human voice should be no more than an instrument in the tango orchestra. He blamed the declining popularity of tango in the late forties on the starring role of the singers. However, thanks to D’Arienzo’s high energy tangos, valses and milongas, dancers continued to be drawn irresistibly to the dance-floor.

He recorded with a large number of singers, yet I find myself returning to just two of them: Alberto Echagüe and Hector Mauré. Despite his views on the singer’s role, these fellows certainly left their very distinctive imprints on their recordings with D’Arienzo, perhaps despite him! The hard voice of Echagüe reminds us that the stories of these pieces – in this case Pensalo bien - are usually set in uncompromising, working-class neighbourhoods. Here's a treat - a historic video clip of Alberto Echagüe singing Paciencia with D'Arienzo's orchestra.

Contrast that with Hector Mauré singing Amarras whose more refined voice lends everything a more romantic feel. Which is better? Just depends on the mood. I love dancing to them both.

Finally, Geraldine and Javier perform to Humillación sung by Mauré



Do you prefer to dance just to instrumentals, or do you like the singers, too?

PP

Los cantores de Carlos Di Sarli

Occasionally a strange story does the rounds that traditionally, singers should not feature in the music played at a milonga, ie. that the DJ should play only instrumentals. It probably originated from, and was confused with, the reluctance of porteños to dance to recordings of the legendary singer Carlos Gardel, out of respect for him and his untimely death. Certainly the great tango orchestras who used to play nightly for the dancers in the milongas of Buenos Aires had no problem including singers – Famá (Canaro), Campos & Castillo (Tanturi), Vargas (D’Agostino), Maure (D’Arienzo), to name just a few.

At this year’s Sydney International Tango Festival, Pat realised, after DJ-ing the Saturday milonga, that most of her selection involved singers – not deliberate, but just the way she had charted the moods & energies of the evening. Yet, the music received rave reviews, including from BsAs choreographer, Mario Morales. Could it have been that it was the frequent use of singers that enhanced the tango experience for the dancers?

I’m particularly taken with the singers that accompanied Carlos Di Sarli in the 1940s & 50s – somehow he managed to assemble a stable of consistently high quality male singers. When they sing, they often tug at the heart-strings, bringing out the romantic in me – something that allows the music to take over the dance.

Make your own judgment by listening to these five singers:
Alberto Podestá singing Nada in 1942 (he’s still performing in Buenos Aires), Roberto Rufino - Anselmo Acuña el Resero (1943), Jorge Duran - Tu Intimo Secreto ( 1945), Mario Pomar - Bailemos (1955), Roberto Florio - Porque regresas tú (1956)
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a recording by Horacio Casares on the internet, so at your next milonga, you might want to put in a request for ‘Hasta siempre amor’ (1958, among the last of Di Sarli’s recordings).

Music with these singers is also popular in dance performance, and in my opinion, the following interpretations capture the essence of dancing to Di Sarli:
Ney Melo & Jennifer Bratt - Nido Gaucho (Podestá)
Milena Plebs y José Almar - Un tango y nada mas. (Duran)
Marcela Guevara Y Stefano Giudice - Y todavia te quiero (Florio)
Maximiliano Cristiani y Juliana Maggioli Tormenta (Pomar)
Finally, because I couldn’t find a tango performance to my liking with Rufino, here are those wonderful world champions Daniel Nacucchio & Cristina Sosa dancing one of his milongas – Pena Mulata

Bob