Osvaldo Pugliese, Jorge Maciel

Orchestra: Osvaldo Pugliese

Singer: Jorge Maciel

Period: 1954–1967

My next post was supposed to be about Fast/Late milongas of Canaro, but I have changed my mind in the very last moment. On Thursday evening last week I DJ-ed an outdoor milonga. It was quite cold but still quite many people came. During the whole evening I was trying to keep the energy high so that the dancers don't get cold and don't go home. Unexpectedly, mainly for myself :), I have decided to play as the last tanda Osvaldo Pugliese with Jorge Maciel. And I liked it a lot. So here comes our new chapter…

A friend of mine commented the previous post about Pugliese: "Many of my most memorable tandas were Pugliese's". He gets the point and I definitely share his opinion. Jorge Maciel is my favorite singer of Pugliese. The songs are not the easiest to dance, but if you put emotions to the dance you have a high chance for a special experience.

DJ:

What I wrote to the post about early recordings of Pugliese will apply here as well. Surely a tanda with Maciel can be "the tanda"of the evening. I usually like to finish the evening with some lighter music (e.g. Donato or Canaro), but that Thursday for some unknown reason I had played Pugliese in the end. And I think it worked pretty well... I would suggest not abusing this type of music. If you play it every week it will lose its exceptional mood and you will not be able to achieve as great an effect as you would have liked to...

Song examples:

Esta Noche De Luna, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1955
Bailan Sebastian Arce - Mariana Montes
Bailan Fabian Peralta - Virginia Pandolfi
Bailan Julio Balmaceda - Corina de la Rosa
Bailan Sebastian Achaval - Roxana Suarez
Bailan Edwin Espinosa - Virginia Pandolfi

El Pañuelito, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1959

Cascabelito, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1955
Bailan Juan Martin Carrara - Stefania Colina

Remembranzas, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1956
Bailan Gaston Torelli - Moira Castellano 
Bailan Ismael Ludman - Maria Mondino
Bailan Ozgur Demir - Cécilia Berra

Adiós Corazón, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1958

El Adiós, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Jorge Maciel, 1963

Francisco Canaro - Slow / Early Milongas

Orchestra: Francisco Canaro


Singers: Ernesto Famá, Roberto Maida, Instrumental

Period: 1933–1937

Compared to other orchestras, Francisco Canaro has the biggest collection of good quality, popular, enjoyable, playful and easy to dance milongas. I don't think anybody will disagree with this statement. There's a very high chance to hear at least one Canaro milonga tanda in every milonga. I personally love them and I never get bored with them.

There are so many great and famous songs I would like to share, that is the reason why I have decided to split Canaro's milongas into 2 posts. Once again, chronology and evolution of style of orchestras will help us. Earlier milongas are much slower than the later ones. Yet, they have great energy and they bring a lot of fun to the dance floor.

DJ:

A tanda of older milongas of Canaro is a great choice for any circumstance. They are appreciated by both beginners (slow, regular rhythm = easy to dance) and advanced dancers (if you know every single beat of a song you can make great things with the dance). Those songs can be played at any time during the milonga: early (when you don't want to take the energy too high wondering what to do next), in the middle (e.g. after some higher energy, fast tanda of tango) or late (when your dancers are already tired, those milongas will bring them back to the floor).

Song examples:


Milonga Sentimental, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Ernesto Famá, 1933
Bailan Mario Consiglieri - Anabella Diaz Hojman
Bailan Dani 'El Flaco' Garcia - Silvina Valz


Yo me llamo "Juan te quiero", Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Ernesto Famá, 1934
Bailan Claudio Forte - Barbara Carpino

Negrito, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Carlos Galan, 1934, Bailan Maximiliano Gluzman - Mirta Tiseyra
Bailan Horacio Rodríguez - Lili Jammes

Larga Las Penas, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Roberto Maida, 1935, Bailan Rodrigo Fonti - Mila vigdorova
Bailan Fausto Carpino - Veronica Toumanova

Milonga Criolla, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Roberto Maida, 1936
Bailan Sebastian Arce - Mariana Montes
Bailan Chicho Frumboli - Juana Sepulveda

Silueta porteña, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Canta Roberto Maida, 1936
Bailan Diego El Pájaro Riemer - Maria Belen Giachello
Bailan Ozgur Demir - Marina Marques

Milonga de Antańo, Orquesta Francisco Canaro, Instrumental, 1937, Bailan Gonzalo Orihuela - Solange Chapperon

Alfredo de Angelis - Valses

Orchestra: Alfredo de Angelis


Singer(s): Carlos Dante, Julio Martel, Oscar Larroca, Floreal Ruíz

Period: 1944–1961

Comment:

So far I have been writing only about tangos. But now the time has come: valses!

As I wrote before, de Angelis is probably more famous for his valses than for his tangos and milongas. I would split his valses between early and late ones. The early ones (1944-1950) are very popular and highly appreciated by most dancers. The late valses (1950-1961) are less popular and many dancers don't like them. I personally love the late ones, especially those sung by the duo Dante - Larroca. Have a look on the video examples and you will notice the difference very quickly.

DJ:

The valses of de Angelis are similar to the milongas of Francisco Canaro: you can go the whole evening without using them, but you will probably do better to put them on your list :). The late valses are not really appreciated by many dancers, but one tanda played at the right moment may work. Give it a try and challenge your dancers a bit :)

The energy of the de Angelis' valses is quite high but it does not mean that they are very fast. It is not the beats per minute, but rather the orchestration that makes the difference. I propose you a small experiment: compare Lina, Criolla or Como Las Margaritas with d'Arienzo's Mentias or Pabellon de Rosas. All songs have similar beats per minute (aprox 70), but the valses of d'Arienzo seem much slower...Interesting, isn't it?


Song examples:

Mi novia de ayer, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Floreal Ruíz, 1944

El Vals De Nochebuena, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Carlos Dante, 1944

Soñar y nada más, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante y Julio Martel, 1944

Ilusión Azl, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Carlos Dante, 1945
Bailan Sebastian Arce - Mariana Montes
Bailan Fernando Sanchez - Ariadna Naveira

Pobre Flor, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante y Julio Martel, 1946

Pequeña, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Carlos Dante, 1949
Bailan Julio Balmaceda - Cecilia Gonzales

El Santo de la Espada, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Julio Martel, 1950

Criolla, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante, Oscar Larroca, 1951

Como Las Margaritas, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante, Oscar Larroca, 1952

Lina, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante, Oscar Larroca, 1952

Adiós, Adiós, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Cantan Carlos Dante, Oscar Larroca, 1955

Angélica, Orquesta Alfredo de Angelis, Canta Juan Carlos Godoy, 1961

Alfredo de Angelis - Overview

I have mixed feelings when I write about Alfredo de Angelis. When I started to dance tango and learn about tango orchestras, I did not like de Angelis at all. The first 2 things that were coming to my mind were: the music is boring and sounds as if it was recorded by someone on a cheap Casio synthesizer... I obviously changed my mind since then, but I think there's a bit of truth in what I was thinking before. Some songs sound "neutral", they are between: fast and slow, rhythmic and lyric, they don't really inspire me to dance. I'm pretty sure that de Angelis was not using Casio, but some of his late songs are not very sophisticated. A few of them sound like ballroom tango music, which is usually simpler in its form (simpler does not mean worse, it's just different, because it serves a different purpose).

After reading all the bad things that I have written above, you can ask: why do I bother and write about de Angelis. The answer is simple: it is a very important and frequently played orchestra. There are many amazing and famous songs. You probably know them very well: e.g. Pregonera, Pavadita, Volvamos A Empezar. Every time I hear the last one, I get goosebumps and feel melancholic.

Alfredo de Angelis is probably the only out of the important orchestras that is more famous for his valses than tangos. His valses are surely between the most frequently played both in Buenos Aires and in Europe. This is why I will start with them....

Osvaldo Pugliese - Early Recordings

Orchestra: Osvaldo Pugliese

Singer(s): Roberto Chanel, Alberto Morán, Instrumentals

Period: 1943–1950

Comment:

We finally get to an orchestra that is not so well known and definitely not appreciated by everybody, especially by some of less experienced dancers. I love early Pugliese (which does not mean I consider myself more experienced dancer :). Songs from that period have very little to do with the orchestras we have discussed so far (rhythmic and happy Donato with Lagos, melodic and lyrical di Sarli with Rufino, old and easy Carabelli, energy-driving d’Arienzo with Ramos). Pugliese sounds harsh, a bit “dirty” and discordful. My personal favorite songs from that period are Raza Criolla and Corrientes y Esmeralda.


DJ:

I would be happy if on each milonga DJs played at least one tanda of Pugliese from the early period. In Buenos Aires it actually the case, in Europe not really. I don’t play it as often as I would like to. I feel that several conditions should be met to play a successful early Pugliese tanda:

- many dancers on the floor (critical mass),

- good level of dancers (less experienced dancer may not appreciate the music so much)

- good energy of the event

- proper timing (ideally evening/night milonga, a few hours after the start).

Song examples:

Mala Junta, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1943
Bailan John Erban - Clarissa Sánchez

Farol, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Roberto Chanel, 1943
Bailan Diego "El Pajaro" Riemer - Maria Belen Giachello

Recuerdo, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1944

Raza Criolla, Orchestra Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1945
Bailan Sebastian Jiménez - Maria Inés Bogado
Bailan David Palo - Milena Plebs

Hoy Al Recordarla, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Alberto Morán, 1945

Mentira, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Alberto Morán, 1945

Tiny, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1945

Derecho Viejo, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1945

Rondando Tu Esquina, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Canta Roberto Chanel, 1945

La Yumba, Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese, Instrumental, 1946