Tanda of the Week 50 / 2014 - Di Sarli / Pomar - DJ Antti Suniala

 

1. Carlos Di Sarli / Mario Pomar - "No me pregunten por qué"
2. Carlos Di Sarli / Mario Pomar - "Tormenta" 1954
3. Carlos Di Sarli / Mario Pomar - "Corazón" 1955
4. Carlos Di Sarli / Mario Pomar - "Bailemos" 1955


Here's a quick tanda with Di Sarli and Pomar as was requested on the Facebook group of Tanda of the Week. All these songs are from the Archivo RCA : Carlos Di Sarli Vol. 2 album. Enjoy!

Di Sarli, Carlos - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Pomar, Mario - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store

Tanda of the Week 49 / 2014 - Anibal Troilo - DJ Michael Lavocah

 

1. Aníbal Troilo / Floreal Ruíz - "Confesión" 1947
2. Aníbal Troilo / Floreal Ruíz - "La noche que te fuiste" 1945
3. Aníbal Troilo / Floreal Ruíz - "Mis amigos de ayer" 1946
4. Aníbal Troilo / Edmundo Rivero - "Sur" 1948

This week I have the pleasure of featuring a beautiful tanda from Michael Lavocah, the author of the highly acclaimed "Tango Masters: Aníbal Troilo" and "Tango Stories: Musical Secrets". And as my readers might have noticed, the blog has featured plenty of tandas of Anibal Troilo earlier, and nothing makes me happier than publishing another one. Here's what Michael wrote about the tanda and the music of Troilo from the late 40's:

In the early days of the tango revival, the only Troilo we heard at the milonga was the brilliant 1941 sides with Fiorentino. It was the only Troilo we had at the time. It is also the most accessible dance music Troilo ever recorded, the music that sounds most like the other bands. It's such a pity that he recorded almost nothing in the years 1937-1940 - we would play a lot more Troilo in the milonga if he had.

As more of Troilo's recordings began to be released, they were not particularly well received by the modern public. The energy of the sides from 1942 is often radically lower than those from 1941, and we didn't know how to listen to more sophisticated music. Many communities stuck to the "easier" 1941 sides.

The situation is much better now, with Troilo-Marino regularly played at many milongas and even chosen for performances. But Troilo's later sides from the 1940s - still very much from his dance era - are still relatively rare flowers at our milongas. This is perhaps the most sophisticated dance music ever recorded, requiring plenty of active listening. It won't be suitable for every tango environment, but it's music I wish were better known. Much if it has more energy than the mid 1940s sides which have now become accepted.

This is a real tanda I played at the High Noon Tango Marathon in Berlin this summer, August 2014. I played on Sunday afternoon from 12 noon to 6pm, with another DJ to follow me, and played this tanda in the last half hour, just before a milonga tanda. The level of the dancers was high and the room was really together, with a responsive crowd and a coherent flow on the dance floor, so I felt the tanda had a good chance of going down well.

The songs cover 1945-1948. Troilo's singers at this time are Floreal Ruiz, who is more lyrical, and Edmundo Rivero, whose voice is darker. Rivero's voice has a such a strong personality that I don't play tandas just of Rivero. Ruiz is an easier choice, but I wanted to see if I could finish with Rivero's "Sur", an outstanding tango (Troilo's favourite vocal tango) very seldom played at the milonga, so I made a mixed tanda.

"Confesión", known to many people from the lovely recording by the Orquesta Típica Porteña from 1931, makes a very strong opening with its crashing syncopations and dramatic lyric. After this, "La noche que te fuiste" is relatively soft and calming, but still a strong choice, even if it's not as common at the milonga as Caló's slightly simpler version. The third song, "Mis amigos de ayer" is the weakest song in the tanda - still a five star song however, and a good match to the previous one. "Sur" then provides the emotional highlight. Because of the large dynamic range in this song (at the end Rivero drops his voice almost to a whisper), the DJ needs to be ready to tweak the volume, but in this case it wasn't necessary because the dancers were all in the music and room was completely quiet - just as it should be.

- Michael Lavocah

You can read more about Troilo's dance music in his book, "Tango Masters: Aníbal Troilo", available on amazon or direct from him at www.tangomusicsecrets.com  

Troilo, Anibal - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store