Saturday, March 19, 2016

Tanda of the Week 11/2016 - Juan D'Arienzo - DJ Francesco Cieschi



1. Juan D'Arienzo - "Este es El Rey" 1971
2. Juan D'Arienzo / Osvaldo Ramos - "Sentimiento gaucho" 1965
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "Inspiración" 1967
4. Juan D'Arienzo / Osvaldo Ramos - "Mi dolor" 1972


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/2Jjv9fVAgcMphB3ARVORIqThis is a guest DJ tanda from Francesco Cieschi from Berlin. He's a part of the amazing team organizing the monthly Loca milonga in Berlin. Here's what he had to say about the tanda:

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1649956961"Very well, here we have a very powerful tanda. Would I use these songs at any time? Of course not. But at the right moment, with the right people on the dance floor, this is a blast! 

 It starts with a shock. “Este es el rey” is a very peculiar and a very powerful song. Therefore I would suggest to "announce it" with a fitting high energy cortina, maybe not Norah Jones or Jeff Buckley. “Sentimiento Gaucho” is a very wellknown song, played also by many other orquestas, such as Canaro, Lomuto, Biagi, Racciatti, Varela and so on. Still powerful. The bandoneons rock, but there are also nice violins, voice and some piano 'easter eggs' to dance on. “Inspiracion”. Same thing, but instrumental. Very well known song played by many orchestras. Powerful, but still danceable. And also here, I love the piano 'easter eggs'. A light variation close to the end, getting ready for the last piece. 

Did I say it starts with a shock? It ends with a boom! “Mi dolor”, particularly this version, is one of the best tango songs ever! It's a matter of taste, but I'm really sure I'm not alone here, am I? Here I really don't need to say anything else. Power, beautiful voice and a crazy variation. It's fun, really. The overall mood and atmosphere of the tanda stays the same. I don't use it as a rule, in fact I don't have many rules, but changing abruptly the mood of a tanda doesn't make much sense for me. The third song leaves some space for a breath, here and there. And, at least regarding the songs with singer, we have the same theme. You know, a man was in love with a woman, this woman betrayed him, now he is suffering, he wants to forget her but he can't, and he would like to have her back. Well, it's not very original, but still."

Thank you Francesco!

Unfortunately the correct version of "Mi dolor" wasn't available on Spotify or Deezer (at least in Finland) so I had to replace the song with another version, which also has Osvaldo Ramos singing, but the version packs way less punch than the 1972 version with D'Arienzo.

Be sure to check out other tandas from Juan D'Arienzo!!

D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

14 kommenttia:

  1. This gets my vote as possibly the worst tanda on Tanda of the Week. With so much great D'Arienzo dance music available, no milonga DJ should have to resort to non-dance music such as these Ramos songs.

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    1. Wow! One could say: "I don't like his voice", or "I don't like the late tangos", or "I prefer to dance the piano solo of por que razon like it were just compas, cos it's easier". Fair enough. And yes, there is a lot of great D'Arienzo's, maybe even better ones, whatever that means. But saying something like "It's not danceable" (non-dance music?), if it's what you meant ... wow!
      And the sentence: "No milonga DJ should have to resort to ...". Apart from the fact that I heard those songs all over the world: Paris, Moscow, Zurich, Buenos Aires, Istanbul, name one capital of Tango. Also, last time I checked there was no Bible of the DJ. What you need to resort to depends on the people you got on the dancefloor, not on what you like. I see putting on music like a service to the people, not to me :)

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  3. Ivan Vickosis wrote "I can also reassure you these songs get plenty of airtime, over here in London"

    I think you're mistaken Ivan. Over the 15 years in which I've danced in milongas (and even a few tango discos) in London, I've very rarely heard these songs played.

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  4. If I'm thinking about travelling to hear a DJ, I'll look for trusted recommendation because it's depressing going to a milonga that has music one dislikes. I'll also check to see what if anything the DJ has put on TOTW.

    This tanda isn't my thing at all. But I have heard Francesco DJ several times in Berlin, albeit a year ago now. It's true my judgement has clarified and changed since then and perhaps what Francesco plays has too. But then at least I liked most of his music. There was a tendency towards some of what I call drama but I found that across a lot of the Berlin scene. What I'm trying to say it wasn't by any means all like this tanda. There were many, a majority of good trad tandas for me. So if one was to draw conclusions - say before committing to travel - about *most* of what a DJ plays based on what they post on TOTW, those conclusions might be fairly off the mark. But in the absence of any better method what else can one do?

    Still, submitted tandas by other DJs are very useful but because you can look at say the submitted Fresedo tandas of Dj Sevin Egemen: http://tandaoftheweek.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/tanda-of-week-07-2011-osvaldo-fresedo.html

    versus DJ Goran http://tandaoftheweek.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/tanda-of-week-27-2013-osvaldo-fresedo.html and even though I have heard nothing else by these two DJs I would immediately want to hear the former DJ play over the latter.

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    1. Re "sacrilege": I suppose not all of us have that focused religious zeal about these tracks. I'm surprised by the implicit intolerance there since you apparently share the view ("Tango can be like marmite") that it's different strokes for different folks. I've no problem with the idea that taste, like the herd-like pursuit of religion is probably irrational.

      While we're on the topic of blind pursuit I for one don't rate a DJ based on their "renown", preferring other things on which to base such conclusions - like the music they actually play.

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    1. I'm not sure what invisible "us" you're claiming to your cause - never a good sign, that. Not, presumably, those dancers who leave London to dance outside it.

      Interesting that many great Argentinian social dancers know, love and have been dancing that "same old same old" for fifty, sixty years or more. They know the orchestras, they know the tracks that DJs play, they know the words and their tolerance for all of us so comparatively new is a good deal quieter than yours.

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  8. Another version of this tanda with just the instrumentals https://archive.is/Z1hv9#selection-3977.0-4141.4

    I could find only one D'Arienzo 50s vocals (poor imo) on TOTW and no post 55 D'Arienzo instrumental tanda that I could see. There's a need for at least one of those I think.

    I listened to tracks from the (more or less random) Album La punalada on Spotify, which sounded like a lot of late D'Arienzo. From there I know and like e.g. Canaro en Paris, La punalada, Paciencia, Independencia, El internado, Felicia, Jueves.

    Others like El Marne and Tucuman, maybe are good but I just don't know well enough to say for sure.

    Of the songs maybe El vino triste. Maybe others but I don't know them well enough and I'm much more sceptical about the songs from that era.

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  9. This comment thread is confusing.

    This is a pretty typical, and great, tanda ... with eminently danceable songs I've heard hundreds of times in different milongas and events. I'll try to avoid personal criticism but Chris's comments made my brain hurt.

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  10. great entry, I did not know that such a story was ;)

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  11. Loved it!. it's a great share, I found your blog in google. Wonderful work by publishing it. Is this google blogging system? Thank you for this priceless knowledge. You are doing great job friend

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