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THE MYSTERY WE UNDERSTAND
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PLAYLIST
1. SOY GARDEL, Alberto Paz
2. LA CANCION DE BUENOS AIRES, Carlos Gardel
3. VIEJO RINCON, Carlos Gardel
4. EL PANGARE, Carlos Gardel
5. EL MORO, Carlos Gardel
6. EL CIRUJA, Carlos Gardel
7. SILBANDO, Carlos Gardel
8. EL CARRETERO, Carlos Gardel
9. MI NOCHE TRISTE, Carlos Gardel
10. MILONGUITA, Carlos Gardel
11. POBRE PAICA, Carlos Gardel
12. MANO A MANO, Carlos Gardel
13. BAJO BELGRANO, Carlos Gardel
14. SOY UNA FIERA, Carlos Gardel
15. TOMO Y OBLIGO, Carlos Gardel
16. MELODIA DE ARRABAL, Carlos Gardel
17. SILENCIO, Carlos Gardel
18. VOLVER, Carlos Gardel
19. CUESTA ABAJO, Carlos Gardel
20. EL DIA QUE ME QUIERAS, Carlos Gardel
SYNOPSIS
Every year on this date, June 24th, I’m haunted by the image of the freak airplane crash that took the lives of Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Lepera in 1935. For most folks born outside South America, it is nearly impossible to understand what it meant for the nation of Argentina, and many other South American countries, to wake up on the morning of June 25, 1935 to the chilling news shaped in bold letters headlines that, except for minor variations in copy, were saying the same unthinkable fact: GARDEL IS DEAD.
Gardel and Lepera had become very successful partners in the tango-for-films department. Under contract with Paramount, Carlos Gardel was becoming a box office attraction in South America because of his personal appeal, his baritone voice, and his successful tours around Western Europe. Yet, the underlying attraction of Gardel, the music and lyrics of his tangos, had presented a public relations problem for the Hollywood suits. There was something about the language and jargon embedded in the lyrics of the tangos Gardel sang that didn’t fly very well outside Buenos Aires.
So they brought Alfredo Lepera, a Brazilian born writer and poet then living in Buenos Aires. His mission was to write new lyrics in a more palatable Castillian language that would be universally understood and appreciated in all of South America and Spanish speaking Europe. The resulting body of work represents the most popular and celebrated songs that are easily recognized by people all over the world, even when many may not realize that they were all written for films starring Carlos Gardel. Can you remember hearing any of these titles: Cuesta abajo, Volver, Melodia de arrabal, El dia que me quieras, Por una cabeza…? It was during a promotional tour for his latest film, El dia que quieras, that Gardel and Lepera met their untimely deaths. First Puerto Rico, then Cuba and finally Colombia were visits that attracted large crowds eager to see, touch and listen to Carlos Gardel.
Towards the end of the tour, Gardel and his entourage boarded a plane at Medellin airport for a short flight to Cali, where he would make his final appearance on a radio program before returning to New York, in time to board a ship to Buenos Aires to fulfill a promise he had made to his mother, that is, spending more time with her. The aircraft never got completely airborne as it suddenly veered of course and slammed into another aircraft waiting to enter the runway. Among a twisted pile of melting metal and an infernal blaze, Gardel ended his mortal existence.
Almost instantly he became immortal, and his image, his legacy and his works eternally became the subject of a religious adoration and veneration for a large majority of people spanning many generations.
When his remains arrived in Buenos Aires almost a year later, the city came to a grinding halt. He laid in wake for a day at the Luna Park arena, located where Corrientes Avenue begins to grow up into the heart of the city. Dignitaries, musicians, singers, artists, and plain people all shed tears of sorrow and mourning before his casket began its final journey along Corrientes Avenue to the cemetery of Chacarita where he was laid to rest. The slow pace of the funeral march was accentuated by a shower of flowers and tears being cast from every balcony and every door along the way.
Soon he traveled to Spain and was met with great success. Then he ventured into Paris where he became the darling of a decadent aristocracy who catapulted him into international fame. He kept returning to Buenos Aires in what became trips “to enjoy the city as a visitor, rather than as a resident.”
The Radio Broadcasting Company brought him to New York from where he made history by broadcasting a program via telephone lines to Buenos Aires. Paramount saw in Gardel their golden opportunity to enter the Latin American film market. At the time of his death, he had become an idol among fans from all over Latin America.
So, if shouldn’t come as a surprise that this June 24th, as it has been happening since 1935, men and women in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mexico will listen to Gardel with a very special purpose, to continue paying respect to his memory, to continue admiring a singer that sings better every day.
Perhaps what it is most important to understand about Gardel, the man, the myth, the icon, is the identification that the common people of Buenos Aires have with his rise to fame from humble beginnings. With his unmatched fame and success, and his eternal smile, he has been shining a ray of hope over the tribulations of those who face life challenges from a less than ideal social standing. Gardel is the epitome of the socially challenged immigrant who made it out of the tenement and into the royal palaces of Europe all the while retaining the modesty, humility, loyalty and generosity of those who never forget the friends they make on their way up because they know that they’ll still be there when it’s time to come down. The eternal smile reminds us of that.
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MY OLD MAN WAS A GOOD GUY
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PLAYLIST
1. PA’ UD AMIGO, Horacio Laguna
2. MI VIEJO, Piero
3. PAPA QUERIDO VIEJO, Trio San Javier
4. ABUELO, DULCE ABUELO, Trio San Javier
5. PRIMERA CARTA PARA MI SANGRE, Tito Segura
6. EL PADRE, Alberto Paz
7. ADIOS NONINO, Astor Piazzolla
SYNOPSIS
In the beginning God used water and dirt to create life. Since then, fathers and sons have continued the eternal ritual of growing up and multiplying.
It is true that the seed needs the fertile ground to sprout, but the tree that results from that union, only grows and becomes strong because it knows that it is its destiny to give shade to the land where it germinated.
The paternal figure is alarmingly absent from the ethos of the tango, perhaps because of the circumstances of the period were it began its genesis without a father.
Not so, in other musical expressions from diverse regions around the country.
Astor Piazzolla, raised in New York, brought the figure of the father to the tango in a very poignant way when he wrote his masterpiece Adios Nonino, in memory of his father who passed away in Argentina while Astor was working in North America.
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HERE COMES THE DOC
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PLAYLIST
1. FLOR DE FANGO, Alberto Castillo
2. CON PERMISO SOY EL TANGO, Alberto Castillo
3. YO LLEVO EL TANGO EN EL ALMA, Alberto Castillo
4. CUCUSITA, Alberto Castillo
5. LOS 100 BARRIOS PORTEÑOS, Alberto Castillo
6. ASI SE BAILA EL TANGO, Alberto Castillo
SYNOPSIS
The proletariat and marginal people who came to power with the rise of Peronism did not need to imitate the upper classes to disguise their origin. By contrast, they were proud of themselves. In the mid 1940’s, when the anti peronism establishment baptized the immigrants from the provinces “cabecitas negras” (black heads because of the color of their skin and their hair), instead of feeling offended, the peronist working class base adopted the insult with pride for their origin.
Evita understood the social transformation that was taken place. Those who were labeled “grasas” (greasers) by the elitist upper class became the affectionate and dear fellow “grasitas” when she turned the verbal adjective and disparaging insult into a symbol of pride.
Alberto Castillo, more than a singer was also a symbol. Perhaps without intending it, he found a place where his vocal capacity was not as important as his emblematic character. Although he had been singing since 1934 during his years as a medical student, his professional debut came in 1939 with the orchestra Los Indios directed by Ricardo Tanturi.
Those who know consider that Castillo’s voice had a good pitch and a tone that was both jokingly and funny, with a drawl on the phrasing and an exaggeration of gestures that set him apart from the stereotypes of the time. They looked at him with sympathy. At least Castillo was different than the massive proliferation of Gardel imitators that had appeared since the accident in Medellin.
After leaving the Tanturi orchestra in 1944 Castillo formed his own orchestra and finally found his definitive form. He amplified strokes, featured the distinctive aspects of his wardrobe, and when he become a movie actor, he stressed the marginal conversational aspects of his phonetics as Gardel had done it before to accentuate the suburban cadences of his speech.
Instead of trying to reflect reality, appearing as the college educated singer he was, and consequently dressing in agreement with the canons of the middle-class, Castillo chose the path of classlessness. He choose costumes of bright blue fabrics, suits with very wide crossed lapels that reached nearly to the shoulders. He wore ties with a wide and square knot that was in contrast to the fashion of the elegant middle class that called for a tight and narrow knot. The coat rampant backwards and a handkerchief protruding exaggeratedly from the pocket. Wide waist trousers with wide cuffs completed the attire that was more a dare than clothing.
The wardrobe that Castillo wore were the fashion created by Guillermo Divito as a ridicule to the commons person. From a position as the drawing pen for the oligarchy, Divito, a famous comic strip creator of classics like El otro yo del Dr. Merengue and Fallutelli, accented lines as if they were a ridiculous caricature reflecting from a mirror . On the opposite side, Castillo along with prizefighter Jose Maria Gatica assumed the role of prototypes of the marginal class that had shown their loyalty to Juan Peron on October 17, 1945. And although nobody actually dressed like them, by elevating their wardrobe to the grotesque, they transformed self-confidence into aggression. This tendency is present in the singer’s lyrics. Castillo makes fun of the middle-class and its uptight rules.
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TANGO’S CENTRAL CASTING
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PLAYLIST
1. EL SOLITARIO, Carlos Acuña
2. TE LLAMAN MALEVO, Anibal Troilo with Angel Cardenas
3. DUELO CRIOLLO, Carlos Di Sarli with Mario Pomar
4. COMPADRON, Juan D’Arienzo with Hector Maure
5. UNION CIVICA, Miguel Calo
6. CHE BANDONEON, Susana Rinaldi
SYNOPSIS
The lyrics of many tangos describe a cast of prototypical characters that appeared in Buenos Aires with the coming of age of the descendants of the first wave of disenfranchised immigrants.
The guapo, for example, was feared, envied and respected. His education took place on the streets of Buenos Aires. He worked typically as a butcher, horse breaker, or horse carriage driver. He was not always a rebel. Political bosses hired him for his temerity, his skill with the dagger, and in turn provided him with protection from the police. His Sundays were filled with all kind of gambling activities. He was admired in his neighborhood for his courage and reputation for being in the winning side of hundreds of fights, and for the deep scars that capricious blades had left on his face.
Same as the gauchos who carried a long knife that could also be used as a machete, the guapo preferred a blade. He chose a short blade dagger with a functional hil. The knife of the Pampas got shortened in the suburb. It went from being an ostentatious luxury wore on the waist to become a threat hidden in the confines of a vest. From being flaunted it became a premonition.
Another character often mistaken for the guapo or the compadre was the compadrito. He was essentially an imitator, a halfway guapo, a bragging insolent. He was notorious for his gratuitous provocation, for boasting a fake courage, and for claiming someone else’s exploits as his own. While the guapo only used soft spoken words, silences and stares, and dominated with his presence and conduct, the imitator resorted to shouting, to the self praise and also his flatterers. The compadrito was not loved nor respected. At best he was feared by those women he had under his control. He was a gaucho decayed into a common man, or a common man decayed into a gaucho. He walked with a breaking swagger as if trying to make himself small. He had a particular aversion for the town folks who dressed properly, calling them cajetillas to insult them, and amusing himself by provoking fights so he could brandish his dagger and mark the faces of his targets.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, a German named Henry Band created, and a company named Union manufactured, one of the most important characters of the tango, the BAND-UNION or bandoneon.
Its role was to become a story or hundreds of stories. To be the melancholic transmitter of the porteña nostalgia rooted in the original immigrants’ uprooting. To represent the sadness of a past impossible to recover, and the reflection of the distance of the childhood landscapes.
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A CHAT WITH VALORIE HART AND ALBERTO PAZ
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SYNOPSIS
Alberto and Valorie, are Argentine tango master teachers from New Orleans, LA, USA. They are known to the world of tango for their wonderful newsletter/blog El Firulete.
Aside from El Firulete, Alberto and Valorie produce other blogs, podcasts and materials. See blogroll on the right.
In 2007 they published the definitive reference on structure of the Argentine tango, based on solid field and archival research. They watched and interviewed the scores of the old-time milongueros and systematized the knowledge in this unique book.
This book is an excellent help for dancers and teachers to sort out what and how to learn about the Argentine tango.
The topics of the interview: the evolution of the modern social tango, the teaching and learning styles, cultural differences. All accompanied by great musical intermissions, selected by Alberto and Valorie.
PLAYLIST
1. RECUERDO, Osvaldo Pugliese
2. DERECHO VIEJO, Juan D’Arienzo
3. GUAPEANDO, Anibal Troilo
4. LA CUMPARSITA, Alfredo De Angelis
5. BAILARIN COMPADRITO, Alfredo De Angelis with Oscar Larroca
6. ASI SE BAILA EL TANGO, Ricardo Tantri with Alberto Castillo
7. EL ONCE, Carlos Di Sarli
8. LA MARIPOSA, Osvaldo Pugliese
9. JOAQUINA, Juan D’Arienzo
10. MANANA ZARPA UN BARCO, Carlos Di Sarli with Roberto Rufino
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SPEAKING OF TANGOS
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PLAYLIST
1. TRASNOCHE, Sexteto Tango
2. SI TE VIERA GARAY, Eladia Blasquez
3. HABLANDO DE TANGOS, Angel Vargas
4. LA CLAVADA, Gran Quinteto Real
5. MI NOCHE TRISTE, Sexteto Tango with Raul Lavie
6. GUAPO Y VARON, Edmundo Rivero
SYNOPSIS
Although the dance known as the tango originated in Argentina, the word didn’t. In 1786, a full century before the emergence of the tango dance in Argentina, the word was being equated with dancing the bamboula in New Orleans. This is the first time the word ‘tango’ appeared in print. Reacting to a complain from Bishop Cyrillo about Africans dancing the bamboula on Sabath, Governor Miro ordered that “los tangos o bailes de negros (the tango, that is, the black’s dance) be delayed until after vespers.
In 1803 the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy used tango as a variant of tangano , the stone that is used in the game of the same name.
In 1835, Esteban Pichardo, in his dictionary of Cuban voices defined tango as a meeting of blacks born in Africa to dance to the sound of drums.
In Buenos Aires they called tango to the houses where the black performed their dances.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the town hall of Montevideo certified the presence of candombes to which it called indistinctly tambos or tangos, prohibiting them for the sake of public morality, and severely, punishing its practitioners.
By 1899 the dictionary of the Spanish Royal Academy added a second definition, celebration and dance of blacks or town folks in America.
The use of the word tango also has origins in some African towns. The slave driver called tango the rendezvous points of slaves in Africa and America.
The Argentine society remained relatively unchanged until 1860 as far as great transformations of the population. It was averse to changes and it had inherited from Spain its conservative nature. The traditional idea was that the nobles couldn’t engage in manual labor, and besides leisure, they ought to dedicate themselves to religious or military activities.
When the children of these native Spaniards took over the governmental functions after the revolution of 1810, they could not change the deep ideology of the dominant class and they only could produce to the social structure lawyers, doctors, clergymen or businessmen.
This brought upon the idea of seeking the arrival of European contingents who could sustain the Argentine development.
The constitutional text of 1853 indicated, “the federal government would foment European immigration and may not restrict, limit nor burden with taxes the entrance in the Argentine territory of foreigners who come to work the land, improve the industries and introduce the sciences and the arts.”
That ingenuous vision of immigration faced reality real soon. The idyllic Europeans that incarnated the values of the civilization did not choose the path of immigration. Those who risked a trip of such magnitude to look for a better destiny were those because of their enormous misery left extremely poor places like Galicia in Spain, Naples, Genoa and the island of Sicily in Italy.
Instead of cult Florentines able to enjoy the works of the Dante, or Spaniards readers of Don Quijote, the souls who arrived in Buenos Aires were generally illiterates, without profession nor trade, who had not had any contact with the millenarian cultures of their countries.
They were men for whom the museums were places prohibited like they were for the gauchos of the Pampas, men who faced a feudal social structure where the land was already distributed among the hands of a few landowners.
The reaction of the oligarchy to the potential political effect of these popular masses was to persecute them. Many displeased immigrants returned to their countries. Others, in spite of being the targets of ridicule and tirades stayed. They did not have another option. They became Argentines and built the country.
They also gave the tango their enormous contribution. They made it nostalgic and melancholic, as the uprooting always is.
Thus, as the Spaniards brought to Argentina their taste for the theater, the Italians contributed their musical passion, their good ear and theirs love for singing.
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GARDEL’S BIRTHDAY – A CELEBRATION
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PLAYLIST
1. MILONGA PARA GARDEL, Osvaldo Pugliese with Abel Cordoba
2. MI NOCHE TRISTE, Carlos Gardel
3. BARRIO REO, Carlos Gardel
4. MI BUENOS AIRES QUERIDO, Edmundo Rivero
5. MANO A MANO, Ricardo “Chiqui” Pereyra
6. SUS OJOS SE CERRARON, Libertad Lamarque
7. TOMO Y OBLIGO, Carlos Gardel
8. SOLEDAD, Julio Sosa
9. SILENCIO, Osvaldo Pugliese with Jorge Maciel
10. MELODIA DE ARRABAL, Osvaldo Pugliese with Abel Cordoba
11. SIGA EL CORSO, Carlos Gardel
12. A MEDIA LUNA, Carlos Gardel
13. EL DIA QUE ME QUIERAS, Carlos Gardel
14. VOLVER, Hector Falcon
15. POEM CARLOS GARDEL, Alberto Paz
16. CAMINITO, Carlos Gardel
SYNOPSIS
December 11 is National Tango Day in Buenos Aires in commemoration of the birthdays of Julio de Caro and Carlos Gardel. This special edition of EL CANTO CUENTA SU HISTORIA is dedicated to celebrate another anniversary of the birthday of Carlos Gardel.
Carlos Gardel representing the lyrics of tango was born December 11, 1890 and Julio De Caro representing the music of tango was born December 11,1899.
The story behind the date tells that one night of 1965 composer Ben Molar, standing on the corner of Corrientes and Esmeralda, on his way to celebrate Julio De Caro’s birthday came out with the great idea of an national day for tango.
Eleven years later, after fighting bureaucracy and getting no official response, Molar issued the threat of a great radial, television and media campaign announcing the organization of a monster festival in support of the “Day of the Tango”. The Luna Park was reserved for the 11 of December. The pressure worked. On November 29, 1977 Ben Molar received the news that the Decree Nº 5830/77 of the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires had been signed. On December 19, 1977 by Decree Nº 3781/77 the Federal government established December 11 the “National Day of the Tango.”
Enjoy.
Argentine-born actor, radio announcer and performer Tito Licausi died December 5, 2008 in Miami, where he resided for years and conducted “La hora del Tango” on Radio Caracol (1260 AM). We’re paying a right and sincere tribute to a man who with his work has projected the Argentine image through the media wherever he has been called to act. He is the author of the book “Gardel is not a myth” that was distinguished at the Book Fair in Buenos Aires.
With more than 70 years as an actor, he has been featured in Argentine films such as “Nace la libertad” and “El juramento de Lagardere,” among others, and also worked for Radio WADO in New York.
We remember his voice and honor his memory in his final journey.
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LA HORA DEL TANGO WITH TITO LICAUSI
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PLAYLIST
1. RESPONSO, Daniel Binelli
2. ESTA NOCHE ME EMBORRACHO, Edmundo Rivero with Victor Buchino
3. LLORANDO LA CARTA, Julio Sosa
4. CASCABELITO, Angel Vargas with Angel D’Agostino
5. CHE BANDONEON, Marcelo Biondini
6. AMOR Y TANGO, Jose Basso with Eduardo Borda
7. CAMBALACHE, Solomon Yidou
8. TIEMPOS VIEJOS, Hugo del Carril
9. TACONEANDO, Carlos Gardel
10. DUELO CRIOLLO, Carlos Di Sarli with Jorge Duran
11. ACQUAFORTE, Osvaldo Pugliese with Miguel Montero
12. TE ACONSEJO QUE ME OLVIDES, Carlos Gardel
13. SI SOY ASI, Francisco Lomuto with Fernando Diaz
14. MAS SOLO QUE NUNCA, Angel D’Agostino with Angel Vargas
15. ME LLAMAN SENOR, Marcelo Biondini
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Tell us what you think, and where you are. How far are we reaching, and how far can we go.
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WHEN THE TANGO GOT THE BLUES
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PLAYLIST
1. TANGO MIO, Alberto Paz
2. CUIDADO CON LOS 50, Carlos Di Sarli
3. TIERRA QUERIDA, Osvaldo Pugliese
4. PIMIENTA, Osvaldo Fresedo
5. LOS MAREADOS, Hugo Baralis
6. MI BUENOS AIRES QUERIDO, Carlos Gardel
SYNOPSIS
In the early times the tango was not stranger to the social commentary but its tone was festive and trivial.
Although it lacked a lyric for the argumentation and the message, the anecdotes of the city were recorded in the allegory of the title and the illustration and the song that adorned the title page of the musical score.
The tango kept its joy until the arrival of the professional lyricist who knew how to extract from the misery of its personages succulent benefits of popularity.
The arrival of the tango with a plot framed the end of the glorious age of the old guard and its most outstanding characteristics, Bohemia, interpretative improvisation, primacy of the dance, absence of a singer, survival of the reduced ensembles and amateurism.
Once upon a time happiness climbed over the pink mud walls of the suburb, and it permeated the Sunday clothes of the compadrito and the noisy chit chat of the lasses in the inner door.
The individual and collective failures of the Argentine man who had his greater poet in Enrique Santos Discepolo, contributed enormously to the saddening to the tango.
The old happy tango was left behind buried by that disclosed national sadness, hoping that the Argentines understand that the world is not a filth and that the sun rising every morning is the image of the always renewed joy to live, to live in that beloved land.
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