My choice for this week is ‘Milonga, vieja milonga’ (Juan D’Arienzo, 1937). I reviewed 70 performances.
My favorite: Marina Marques & Ozgur Demir.
I also liked the performances by Barbara Carpino & Claudio Forte, Amanda & Adrián Costa, Julia Gorina & Aníbal Montenegro, Michelle Marsidi & Joachim Dietiker and Evelina Sarantopoulou & Theodore Georgedakis.
D’Agostino’s milongas are underappreciated, and the last two numbers from this set are seldom heard at tango events. This is a pity because these songs are both a pleasure to the ear and very fun to dance to. The closing number, with its subtle dynamic and rhythmic changes, has now become an all-time favorite of mine.
My choice for this week is ‘Te aconsejo que me olvides’ (Aníbal Troilo with Francisco Fiorentino, 1941). I reviewed 49 performances.
My favorite: Barbara Carpino & Claudio Forte.
I also liked the performances by Moira Castellano & Gastón Torelli, Stefania Colina & Juan Martin Carrara, Noelia Hurtado & Carlitos Espinoza and Inés Muzzopappa & Federico Naveira.
I am admittedly not a big fan of Pugliese. There is an exception to my reservations about his orchestra, however: his collaboration with Jorge Vidal. Unfortunately, Pugliese and Vidal recorded only seven tangos together (plus one milonga), so the options for a DJ are very limited. To spice things up and challenge seasoned dancers, I sometimes substitute ‘Testamento de arrabal’ with Argentino Galván’s ‘Pa’ mí es igual‘ (1951), which also features Vidal on vocals. (Galván arranged some songs for Pugliese in the mid-40’s, and his orchestra, while clearly distinct in style, shares some similarities with that of the celebrated pianist from Villa Crespo.) Another possible substitution is Galvan’s ‘Cuando yo me vaya’ for ‘La cieguita’: while musically the song doesn’t fit as nicely, the lyrics are evocative of both ‘Testamento de arrabal’ (“Tan sólo una cosa pido, que me llore un bandoneón”) and ‘Puente Alsina’ (“A la barra de Boedo, Caballito y Puente Alsina”).
My choice for this week is ‘Temo’ (Orquesta Típica Victor with Mario Pomar, 1940). I reviewed 38 performances.
My favorite: Noelia Hurtado & Carlitos Espinoza.
I also liked the performances by Cecilia Piccinni & Andrés Molina, Juana Sepulveda & Mariano Frumboli, Paula Tejeda & Lucas Carrizo.
These tangos from D’Arienzo’s collaboration with Héctor Mauré are full of emotion, and mark an obvious contrast with his earlier period with Alberto Echagüe.
My choice for this week is ‘La capilla blanca’ (Carlos Di Sarli with Alberto Podestá, 1944). I reviewed 36 performances.
My favorite: Michelle & Murat Erdemsel and Roxana Suárez & Sebastián Achával (ex aequo).
I also liked the performance by Natacha Lockwood & Claudio Coppola.
A “gently melancholic” tanda about things past (“la milonga porteña, que nunca más volverá“). I am not at all bothered by the fact that the first song was recorded more than a decade after the other three and does not feature Ángel Vargas–especially since ‘Café Domínguez’ is one of the most beautiful tangos of all time–, but purists might want to replace it with ‘Mi viejo barrio’ or ‘Quien tuviera dieciocho años’ (both from 1944 and sung by Vargas).
My choice for this week is ‘Invierno’ (Francisco Canaro with Roberto Maida, 1937). I reviewed 56 performances.
My favorite: Noelia Hurtado & Pablo Rodríguez.
A dreamy, evocative Di Sarli/Rufino tanda with a marine flavor.