European Tangos part 1

The opinions on European tangos are very mixed. Some conservative tangueros don't consider them appropriate for milongas. Other, more “progressive” dancers and DJs simply love it! A few years ago a festival organizer ”advised” me not to play any non-Argentinian music because the dancers don’t appreciate it. Playing it turned out to be a great success :).

As usually, I think that the best approach is in-between. European tangos should be played in milongas, because they add variety and make milongas more interesting for the dancers. At the same time those tangos should not be abused by playing them too often. The dispute between "conservative" and “progressive” sides is not so important anyways… Vast majority of dancers will probably not realize that they are hearing and dancing to European music :).

In this and few other posts I will present you some of my favorite European orchestras and tangos. Some of them are famous and popular. Others are unknown, but worth discovering.

The most famous and frequently played European orchestra is Rafael Canaro. Some time ago I have written a post about him:

http://tangomusic4all.blogspot.com/2012/10/rafael-canaro.html

Some of my favorite songs are the following:

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

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

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

Jean Auguste Pesenti was a leader of another orchestra, which I would like to present in this post. Unfortunately, I can’t find any online information about this ensemble. You can find several interesting recordings below:

Duelo Criollo, Jean Auguste Pesenti, 1932

Poema, Jean Auguste Pesenti canta Nena Sainz, 1932

Paris, Paris, Jean Auguste Pesenti canta Nena Sainz, 1933 

More to follow in coming posts. Stay tuned :)

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