Rodolfo Biagi - Valses

Orchestra: Rodolfo Biagi

Singers: Alberto Amor, Andres Falgas, Jorge Ortiz, Teófilo Ibáñez, Hugo Duval, Instrumental

Period: 1938–1956

Biagi is very highly ranked when it comes to his selection of valses. They are amongst my favorites. The variety of songs is quite high and many recordings are available on CDs (aprox. 22 ). We will find faster ones (in general recorded between 1938-1939) and slower ones (mostly later recordings). All of them have a very clear rhythm, but several songs (e.g. Paloma) are more melodic and softer than others.

DJ comment

You don’t risk anything by playing a tanda of Biagi valses in any milonga. They always work very well. The quality of the recordings is consistently very good which makes building tandas easier. For me most of the songs are great and I am happy to hear any of them. 

Song examples:

La Loca de Amor, Canta Teófilo Ibáñez, 1938

Amor y vals, Canta Alberto Lago, 1942
Bailan Chicho - Juana
Bailan Claudio Forte - Barbara Carpino
Bailan Mario Consiglieri - Anabella Diaz Hojman

Cuatro Palabras, Canta Jorge Ortiz, 1941
Bailan Fausto Carpino - Stephanie Fesneau
Bailan Alejandro Berón - Verónica Vazquez
Bailan Jaimes Freidgen - Mariana Dragone

Lágrimas y Sonrisas, Instrumental, 1941

Paloma, Canta Alberto Amor, 1945

Viejo Porton, Canta Teófilo Ibañez, 1938, Bailan Arce Montes
Bailan Gustavo Naveria - Giselle Anne
Bailan Sebastian Jiménez - María Inés Bogado
Bailan Ozgur Demir - Marina Marques
Bailan Nestor Ray - Silvina

Adoración, Cantan Hugo Duval, Carlos Heredia, 1951
Bailan Claudio Forte - Barbara Carpino
Bailan Thierry Le Cocq - Alessia Lyndin

Rodolfo Biagi - Overview

If you ask DJs or dancers to give an example of orchestras playing good, rhythmical music in most cases the first choice will be Juan d'Arienzo, the second Rodolfo Biagi. I think this is the correct answer, for Biagi to be just after d'Arienzo :). I love Biagi's music. When I hear any of his songs in a milonga, I immediately start searching for a partner to dance it :).

Biagi has worked with many famous musicians like Juan Maglio "Pacho", Carlos Gardel, Juan Canaro. In 1935 he joined the orchestra of Juan d'Arienzo. It was a very important moment. His integration to D'Arienzo's orchestra influenced his own musical future, and at the same time had an impact on d'Arienzo's style, which set a new direction for the tango music! Guardia Vieja period had finished, Golden Age had started. Biagi left d'Arienzo's orchestra in 1938 to set-up his own orchestra.


Amongst Biagi's recordings, one can find a wide and diverse selection of music. His tangos from the early period (1938 - 1945) are faster and very rhythmic. Later (1946 - 1962) they are still rhythmic, but slower and much more melodic. His valses are great and should not be missed in any tango event! My favorite ones are Viejo Portón and Paloma. As far as I know there are only 7 milongas available on CDs. But there are real pearls. One of them, possibly the best milonga of all times: Flor De Monserrat.

For more detailed biographical and discographical information please go to:
Todo Tango - Rodolfo Biagi

In the next post I will start from presenting Biagi's valses....

Rafael Canaro

Orchestra: Rafael Canaro

Singers: Aldo Campoamor, Luis Scalon, Raul Sanders, Carlos Dante, Roger Toussaint, Instrumental


Period: 1927–1948

In this post I'd like to write a few words about one of less famous orchestras and it's leader Rafael Canaro. There are many not widely known facts about Rafael and I am more than happy to share some of them with you. Rafael was a brother of Francisco, one of the biggest and most famous tango musicians of all times. In the family there were 3 more brothers, each of them was a tango musician and an orchestra leader: Humberto, Juan and Mario.

The Canaro family was coming from Uruguay. We should not think that tango equals Argentina and Buenos Aires. The contribution of Uruguay and Mondevideo to the history of tango is significant. Other musicians coming from that country were: Edgardo Donato, Julio Sosa, Miguel Villasboas and many others. The most famous tango "La Cumparsita" was composed in 1919 by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez in Montevideo.

Rafael Canaro spent more than 10 years in Europe. He lived and recorded mainly in France (some songs are in French), but also in Spain and Germany. He composed (together with Francisco) one of my favorite tangos: Sentimiento Gaucho

DJ comment:

In my opinion Rafael Canaro recorded his best songs in Europe (1929-1939). You will find there lots of songs from repertoire of his brother Francisco, but they sound quite different. If you want to calm down the milonga and make your dancers hug each other more, a tanda of Rafael Canaro is a great choice.

Rafael Canaro's orchestra is one of the "non-mainstream" ones. I tend to avoid frequently playing tandas of those orchestras. I like keeping their special and less popular character. Other orchestras in this category could be: Jose Garcia, Donato Racciatti, Hector Varela, etc... But this is only my personal preference, you are free to do as you feel right.

Song examples:

Viejos Tiempos, Canta Aldo Campoamor, 1939

Paciencia, Canta Luis Scalon, 1938

Que le importa al mundo, Canta Luis Scalon, 1938

Yo no sé por qué te quiero, Canta Raul Sanders, 1936

A Montmartre, Canta Carlos Dante, 1929

Rien que nous deux , Canta Raúl Sanders, 1937 - in French

La mélodie de notre adieu, Canta Roger Toussaint, 1936 - in French