Héctor Varela

Orchestra: Héctor Varela

Singers: Jorge Falcón, Argentino Ledesma, Rodolfo Lesica, Fernando Soler, Armando Laborde,  Instrumental

Period: 1950–1979

Héctor Varela has recorded a few hundreds of songs, but only very few titles (10-12) are known to the wider tango audience. Between 1939 and1949 Varela played in d'Arienzo's orchestra, so there's no surprise that his own orchestra was playing very rhythmically. At the same time many songs are dramatic and the singers are very prominent.

I really like Varela's milongas. They are quite difficult to dance, but their energy and humor (e.g. in case of Hazme Cu-Cu) are great! Several valses are very good and it is worth listening to them.

DJ Comment

I think Héctor Varela is an example of "tango fashion". He became very popular some years ago. One could hear a tanda of his music at every big festival. I feel that recently he is becoming a bit less popular, giving space to some other "in-fashion" orchestras (like currently Donato Racciatti).

I am not the biggest fan of Varela's music. But I know that many dancers love it, so I play it occasionally. If I do it, it's normally in a bigger place with high number of tangueros. In my opinion this music is not appropriate for  small, local milongas. If you play a tanda of Varela you may increase the volume a bit, so that people feel more energy and get carried away...

Song examples:

TANGOS

Fueron tres años, Canta Argentino Ledesma, 1956
Bailan Fabian Peralta - Lorena Ermocida
Diego Riemer - Mariana Dragone

Fumando Espero, Canta Argentino Ledesma, 1955

Muchacha, Canta Argentino Ledesma, 1956

Qué Tarde Que Has Venido, Canta Argentino Ledesma, 1956

VALSES

Una Lagrimita, Canta Jorge Falcón, 1973

Igual Que Dos Palomas, Cantan Argentino Ledesma, Rodolfo Lesica, 1953, Bailan Sebastian Jimenez Maria Ines Bogado

Gota de lluvia, Cantan Argentino Ledesma, Rodolfo Lesica, 1956, Bailan Sebastian Arce Mariana Montes

MILONGAS

Con Flauta Y Guitarra, Cantan Jorge Falcón, Fernando Soler, 1973
Con Flauta Y Guitarra, Cantan Armando Laborde, Rodolfo Lesica, 1973
Bailan Sebastian Arce - Mariana Montes

Haceme Cu-Cú, Cantan Jorge Falcón, Fernando Soler, 1973

Azúcar, Pimienta Y Sal, Cantan Jorge Falcón, Fernando Soler, 1973

Silueta Porteña, Canta Argentino Ledesma, 1956

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

Juan d'Arienzo, Osvaldo Ramos

Orchestra: Juan d'Arienzo

Singer(s): Osvaldo Ramos


Period: 1965–1974

Comment:

By far Osvaldo Ramos is not the most important singer recording with Juan d'Arienzo. Nevertheless I wanted to share it in a separate chapter because I like a lot some of their songs. And there are some really nice performances online. Enjoy :)


DJ:
There are not too many songs recorded by Ramos with d'Arienzo. The energy of several of them is amazing. If you play them in right moment, it can be  the best part of the milonga... Not that we are talking here about 60ies and 70ies, which is much later than the majority of classical tango music played in milongas. For me it still sounds good and can be played even in quite "conservative" milongas. There are not many other orchestras from that period about which I could say the same .


Song examples:

Mi Dolor, Orquesta Juan d'Arienzo, Canta Osvaldo Ramos, 1972, Bailan Sebastian Arce - Mariana Montes

Sentimiento Gaucho, Orquesta Juan d'Arienzo, Canta Osvaldo Ramos, Bailan Sebastian Jiménez - Maria Inés Bogado

Dimelo Al Oido, Orquesta Juan d'Arienzo, Canta Osvaldo Ramos, 1974

Remembranzas, Orquesta Juan d'Arienzo, Canta Osvaldo Ramos, TV recording