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12/17/2016
Orlando Goñi: Sympathy for a devil (Introduction)
This is the text introduction to my article on Orlando Goñi. The article's twelve illustrations with captions are here.
Copyright © 2016 by Michael Krugman. All Rights Reserved.
Pianist Orlando Goñi is best known for his indelible contribution to Aníbal Troilo's orchestra between 1937 and 1943, and for the massive success of the brief solo career that followed, though it produced no commercial recordings. Born Orlando Cayetano Gogni in 1914 in Buenos Aires, Goñi made his professional debut at age thirteen in Alfredo Calabró's orchestra and soon after formed a sextet with his childhood friend Alfredo Gobbi. He performed with Miguel Caló, Manuel Buzón, and Anselmo Aieta. His unique, largely improvisatory style, influenced in part by the swing piano of Afro-American jazzman Teddy Wilson, was a key ingredient in the artistic success of the Troilo orchestra in its early years. Troilo tried to get his later pianists to imitate Goñi's style, with limited success. Goñi truly was insustituible, irreplaceable, as it says in the ad for his debut at the Palermo Palace.
Goñi met Aníbal Troilo while playing with Buzón and later with Juan Carlos Cobian. The two men shared not only a personal friendship, but an intense musical kinship as well. When Troilo formed his own orchestra in 1937 he invited his friend Goñi to be his pianist. Goñi, an inveterate bohemian, gambler, alcoholic, and drug user, took on an essential musical role in the group—his piano was its driving force—but he was often late for rehearsals and performances, or worse, absent altogether. Following a morning radio performance in September 1943, the story goes, Goñi told one of the band's violinists, Hugo Baralis, not to bother showing up for that evening's gig because he, Goñi, wouldn't be there. Both men were absent that night, both were sacked. [1] However, my researches to date suggest, but do not prove, that Troilo’s group did not appear on the radio during the month of September. It was a relatively inactive month for the band: they did not appear at the Tibidabo cabaret, their usual nightly haunt, until the very end of the month (28 September). My partial archive of radio schedules for September give no evidence of appearances by the Troilo orchestra. Further research is needed.
Historical accounts of Goñi's dismissal emphasize the pianist's dissolute lifestyle, portraying his frequent absences as the height of deliberate, devil-may-care bohemianism. The contemporary observer may wish to consider a somewhat tempered view of the situation. As a person suffering from multiple addictions—gambling, alcohol, and drugs are three that we know of—Goñi was seriously ill, and that illness may have produced any number of debilitating secondary symptoms including sleeplessness, mood swings, cognitive disturbances, adrenal exhaustion, tremors, etc. Furthermore, our study of the El Mundo newspaper reveals that Troilo was working his musicians quite hard during the weeks leading up to Goñi and Baralis's dismissal. One day in particular stands out: On the morning of Wednesday 4 August 1943, the band played five live segments in 2.5 hours on LR1 Radio El Mundo (three or four segments spread out over 3.5 hours was the norm). That afternoon, they recorded four songs for RCA Victor (two or three songs per date was the norm); the session must have consumed the entire afternoon and may have extended into the early evening hours. Next, the band was slated to appear at 9 p.m. on the wildly popular Ronda de Ases (“Round of Aces”) radio show, a tournament of típicas in which Troilo's men would meet and compete with the orchestras of Fresedo, Tanturi, Emilio Orlando, and Antonio Rodio, with most of Buenos Aires excitedly listening in. If, after that long day at the radio and in the studio, an exhausted, intoxicated Goñi had failed to show up for an episode of the all-important Ronda de Ases, forcing Troilo to drop out of the competition or settle for a pickup pianist, it's not hard to understand why the ever-kindly bandleader would have reached the limit of his tolerance.
In any case, it may be that Goñi's debilitated condition
made it simply impossible for him to keep up with the rest of the band.
Whether or not the fourth of August was in fact the day of Goñi's final,
fateful default—the precise date is uncertain—our data from El Mundo
gives us a very clear idea of the stresses under which this haunted soul
was operating. The fourth of August was also the date of Goñi's last
studio session with Troilo. The band would not record again until 30
September. By then, Goñi had moved on.
Upon his dismissal by Troilo, Goñi formed his own orchestra, with which
he achieved instant acclaim and enjoyed extended engagements at the Bar
El Nacional and the Palermo Palace—for a total of nineteen consecutive,
sold-out weeks—as well as appearances on LR3 Radio Belgrano. As a "mere"
orchestra pianist, Goñi had never before been named in newspaper ads,
though he was well known to the fans. But as the leader of his own band,
he was the subject of a remarkably vigorous advertising campaign
rivaled only by those for superstar singers Castillo and Rufino. As a
result, the ads in El Mundo provide us with rich documentation of Goñi's
rapid rise to fame, and his ignominious decline.
Note: Much of the historical background for this introduction was taken from Néstor Pinson's biography of Orlando Goñi at todotango.com and from Michael Lavocah's Tango Masters: Aníbal Troilo.
[1] There are several versions of the story, differing in minor details.
Twelve illustrations with captions are here.
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Orlando Goñi: Sympathy for a devil (Illustrations and captions)
These are the illustrations and captions for a chapter on Orlando Goñi. The text-only introduction to the chapter is here.
Photos and text Copyright © 2016 by Michael Krugman. All Rights Reserved.
1.
GRATITUDE. (3 December 1943) Orlando Goñi's new band debuted to much
fanfare at the Bar El Nacional, Corrientes 974, on 1 December 1943. A
large display ad heralding the debut may be lost to history—it has been
torn out of the only extant copy of El Mundo for that day—but we do have
this heartfelt smaller piece from two days later, which says, "In the
name of his orchestra and his singer RODRIGUEZ LESENDE, Orlando Goñi is
grateful for the applause given to him in tribute on the night of his
debut."
Antonio Rodriguez Lesende (1905-1979), an established
singer with an impressive list of orchestra credits—Osvaldo Fresedo,
Julio De Caro, Francisco Lomuto—is described as follows by Gaspar
Astarita in a biography on todotango.com:
"His elegant and touching way of expression, his clear diction and his
sweet accent, plus his well deserved fame, made of him the singer most
sought-after by the orchestras."
2.
MARSHALLING THE TROOPS. (18 December 1943) "Since his debut at the Bar
El Nacional, 25,000 people have applauded The Marshal of Tango with his
grand tango orchestra," says this ad, which, though rarely seen, is the
oft-cited evidence of Goñi's instantaneous success. (Note: Some accounts
say that the El Mundo newspaper "reported" these attendance figures. In
fact there was no report in the paper itself, just the ad.) But there's
more to it than that. Following two extensions of his original
contract, Goñi's sold-out appearance at El Nacional would last a total
of ten weeks. If 25,000 people applauded him in the first two weeks, how
many might have done so in ten? Plus he still had a nine-week run ahead
of him at the Palermo Palace—advertised several times a week in El
Mundo—and he appeared also at the Prince George Hall (capacity 4000),
the ANBA, the Centro Región Leonesa, and several of the barrio sports
clubs. All in all, Goñi's total audience from the date of his debut (1
December 1943) to the date of his last advertised performance (10
December 1944) might have reached 500,000, at a time when the population
of Buenos Aires was only five million.
3. MY AUTOGRAPH. (25 December 1943) Orlando Goñi wrote only one song that we know of, a milonga called Mi regalo
("My Gift"). In this somewhat cryptic, Christmas-day ad, he offers the
song as a gift to his fans, along with a stylized autograph. (Originals
must have been in great demand at the time.) The text reads: "Today, to
all the visitors to the Bar Nacional, I offer MY GIFT. (Signed) Orlando
Goñi, December 1943."
4.
ARRABALERO. (26 December 1943) In the midst of their record-breaking
appearance at El Nacional, Goñi & Co. took the time to play a few of
the barrio social clubs including this one, the Club Social y Sportivo
"Buenos Aires" in the barrio of Caballito. Though Goñi was anything but
old-fashioned, the artwork here—the funky, partly-stippled, fishtail
lettering, the calligraphic script, and the deliberately distressed
photo that almost looks like a watercolor—is strongly redolent of the
old arrabal, the working class barrios at the outskirts of the city, with their compadritos (tango-dancing wiseguys), organitos (portable barrel organs), and conventillos
(shabby rooming houses). The ad, which bears the unmistakable
handwriting of Publicidad Santa Cruz, refers to the show as an
“Exclusive Premier” though Goñi’s band had been spellbinding the crowds
at the Bar El Nacional since its debut on 1 December.
5.
MUSICAL CHAIRS. (9 January 1944) Goñi was held over for the month of
January at El Nacional, but singer Lesende didn't last that long. He
quit in early January and retired soon after; he was not to sing again
for several years, according to the bio cited above. On
the ninth, he was replaced by the duo of Raúl Aldao—who had been
sharing the mic with Angel Vargas in D'Agostino's orchestra since August
'43—and Osvaldo Cabrera, of whom little is known except that he would
sing with Di Sarli in the late 50s without recording. The ad notes the
change in the lineup, and assures fans that Goñi is "reissuing" his hit
songs to fit the new vocal talent.
6.
MOST SUCCESSFUL EVER. (15 February 1944) Goñi's debut engagement at the
Bar El Nacional was originally slated to run for the month of December,
but it was extended to include the following month, and then two weeks
more, for a total of ten weeks. On the last day, a Tuesday, the bar's
management placed this opulent, five-column ad at the bottom of a page
in El Mundo. It pictured Goñi and his entire outfit, including the new
singers Aldao and Cabrera. Other band-members at this time were Antonio
Ríos, Roberto Di Filippo, Eduardo Rovira and Luis Bonnat on bandoneones;
Rolando Curcel, José Amatriain, Antonio Blanco and Emilio González on
violins; and Domingo Donnaruma, on double bass. The somewhat lapidary
text, slightly abbreviated for clarity, reads as follows: "Prado and
Blanco [owners of El Nacional]... offer a cordial farewell and a sincere
'See you soon' to the popular pianist Orlando Goñi who... achieved the
most brilliant and successful engagement ever recorded in the annals of
the Bar El Nacional."
Surely the perfect placement for this
farewell ad would have been at the bottom of the day's radio page in El
Mundo. But that spot was already occupied by a same-sized, look-alike ad
from the Palermo Palace announcing Goñi's debut there the following
day. The two "anchor" ads for the Goñi orchestra ran side by side, on
facing pages—an unprecendented exposure for the man and the band.
Quick
quiz for tango-history geeks: What other "renegade" pianist occupied
the stage of Bar "El Nacional" immediately after Goñi's departure from
the Bar El Nacional? The answer is below.
[Answer:
Osvaldo Donato with singer Horacio Lagos. They had begun a series of
afternoon shows at the Palace on 1 February, and now moved to the
evening slot.]
7.
ASCENDING THE THRONE. (16 February 1944) "The irreplaceable, romantic
pianist of our popular music," crows this ad, "Orlando Goñi with his
Grand Orquesta Típica and his brand new singers." The Palermo Palace was
no stranger to publicity, and they went all out for Goñi's debut on
this Wednesday in February. The jumbo, five-column ad, occupying nearly a
third of a page, is even bigger than the one the Palace placed for the
debut of Castillo's orchestra the previous September. In addition to
Goñi and his singers, it promised guest performances by Castillo
himself, Washington-Bertolín, the radio hosts Ivan Caseros and Juan
Zuchelli, and others, including a glosa artist, Carlos Waiss.
8.
THE OCTOPUS OF EMOTION. (27 February 1944) The copy reads, "The Great
'Hit Offensive' continues at the Palermo Palace with Orlando Goñi and
his típica. His fingering, [like the] tentacles of an octopus, capture all the emotion of tango! Exclusive in this room."
9.
HEAVY HITTERS. (24 June 1944) The six weeks following Goñi's final
performance at the Palermo Palace must have been packed with rehearsals
with his latest singer, former Troilo bandmate Francisco Fiorentino,
though Goñi's personal demons may have slowed progress somewhat. Though
both men were at the peak of their popularity, there were no gigs during
the month of May. The first advertised appearance of the
Goñi-Fiorentino binomial was on Sunday 4 June at the Prince George Hall,
hosted by the Círculo de Floresta. (The succinct headline of the ad
was, "Sensational!!!!") The second gig was this one-night "homage" to
Goñi and Fiorentino at the Palermo Palace, with guest performers Roberto
Rufino, Domingo Federico, the típica Maipo, Mary Lirio, and Harrison's
Tropical Boys. Also pictured are Rufino, whose eight-week stint at the
Palace would end on 30 June, and Alberto Castillo, whose return
engagement would begin on 1 July.
10.
WHY GO ON? (26 August 1944) After three months under Goñi's
unpredictable leadership, Fiorentino had resolved to form his own
orchestra with Astor Piazzola as director. The new partnership was
announced on 29 August. This show at the Centro Región Leonesa would be
the final advertised gig for the Goñi-Fiorentino binomial.
11.
SINGER OF THE MONTH CLUB. (8 September 1944) Teaser ads in the days
preceding this engagement asked: "Orlando Goñi?..." and "Orlando Goñi
with?..." The question mark turned out to be singer Alfredo Castell, a
virtual unknown. Castell didn't stay with Goñi long. There were a few
one-night stands during the month of September along with this recurring
appearance at the Empire Espectáculo Dancing Restaurant beginning on 8
September. The ad only appeared once. None of Goñi's ads during the
month of October named a singer, so it's hard to be sure whether Castell
was still on board or not, leaving us with yet another question mark:
"Orlando Goñi with?..."
12.
CALCULATED RISK. (10 December 1944) In November Goñi debuts with a
highly-regarded vocalist, Raúl Berón, newly parted from Miguel Caló,
with whom he had recently recorded the vals Jugando, jugando ("Gambling,
gambling") among others. Working with Goñi must have been quite a
gamble for Berón: anyone could see that the pianist was rapidly drinking
and drugging himself to death. The two played a total of five
advertised gigs: 11 November at Argentino Juniors football club; 12
November at Barracas Central; two nights at ANBA, the Buenos Aires
Swimming Association on 18 and 19 November; 1 December at the Palacio de
Baile in the Parque Retiro; and this one, Goñi's final advertised
appearance, on Sunday, 10 December at the social headquarters of the
Chacarita Juniors football club, hosted by the Mutualidad Tatay Civic
Association. Increasingly ill, Goñi would retreat to the home of a
friend in Montevideo, where he died two months later, on 5 February
1945.
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11/28/2016
Our tango vocabulary: CORRALÓN (First in a series)
Tango word: CORRALÓN
Part of speech: Noun
Appears in the tangos: Arrabalera, Tres esquinas, No te apures Carablanca, Barrio de tango, Manoblanca, and 52 others. (Links are to TangoDecoder versions of the songs.)
Though the word corralón appears in at least fifty-six tangos, its meaning isn't immediately clear. None of the present day porteños I've asked recognize the word, or know what it means. It's a bit old-fashioned, and not in current use. You might think it to be a variant of the word corral, an enclosure in which animals like horses, cows, or other farm animals are kept. And that is true in Uruguay; there, a small corral is sometimes called a corralón. But in the tango songs I've examined, the word corralón always has one of two meanings:
- a large multi-family house or tenement. (E.g., WordReference.com)
- a large yard; a timberyard. (E.g., ReversoDictionario.com)
The first usage is seen in the song Arrabalera composed by Sebastian Piana with lyrics by Catullo Castillo, and sung by Tita Merello in the film by the same name:
Mi casa fue un corralón
de arrabal bien proletario....
"My
house was a real working-class tenement," proclaims the song's
narrator, as she prepares to detail the long list of her credentials as
an arrabalera, a gal from the arrabal, the outlying, working-class quarters of Buenos Aires. No, she wasn't born in a corral, nor a barnyard, nor a pig-sty. She was born in a multi-family house or tenement, probably one of the famous conventillos (lit., "little convents") of Buenos Aires.
The second usage, which is the more common by far in tango lyrics, is found in many familiar songs. Angel D'Agostino's Tres esquinas ("Three corners") is one example that many dancers will recognize by ear, since it is the last word in the last line of the frequently-heard song:
Bajo el cielo de luna llena
duermen las chatas de corralón.
"Under the full-moon sky / sleep the flat-bed wagons of the timberyard." Another key word in this passage is chata, which is a horse-drawn, flat-bed wagon that was used to haul timber and other goods. The two words often appear in the same song. Las chatas de corralón were a common sight in the old arrabal.
A similar image is found in the second verse of No te apures Carablanca (Roberto Garza and Carlos Bahr):
Me achica el corazón
salir del corralón
porque me sé perdido.
Me tienta la ilusión
que ofrece el bodegón
en su copa de olvido.
"My heart sinks/shrinks
as I leave the timber yard
because I know I'm lost.
The illusion of the bar tempts me
with its cup of oblivion."
One more, just for the fun of it. This one from Aníbal Troilo and Homero Manzi's Barrio de tango:
Así evoco tus noches, barrio tango,
con las chatas entrando al corralón
y la luna chapaleando sobre el fango
y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.
That's how I remember your nights, tango barrio,
with the flatbed wagons pulling into the timber yard,
the moon splashing in the mud,
and in the distance the voice of the bandoneón.
By the way, the two main industries of the arrabal were ironworks and timberyards, according to Horacio Salas in his highly informative book El Tango.
(It's only available in Spanish, unfortunately, and the newer, abridged
and illustrated version is missing a lot of good stuff from the
original 1986 edition.) The sound of the smith's hammer striking the
anvil, the saws rending huge logs into lumber, and the trotting horses
pulling their creaky chatas were the principle sounds of the arrabal. That, and the voice of the bandoneón, of course.
Do you have something to add about the word corralón? Feel free to leave a comment below....
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11/27/2016
Subtitled Video #31B: PERO YO SÉ ("But... I know") Azucena Maizani,
The magnificent tango Pero... yo sé ("But... I know") sung by its author, Azucena Maizani, with subtitles in Spanish and English by Tango Decoder. Face-to-face lyrics in Spanish and English are below the video.
| Llegando la noche recién te levantas y sales ufano a buscar un beguén.* Lucís con orgullo tu estampa elegante sentado muy muelle en tu regia baqué. Paseás por Corrientes, paseas por Florida, te das una vida mejor que un pachá.
De regios programas
Yo sé que en las madrugadas,
Con todo el dinero |
Night is falling But I know that inside |
Azucena Maizani (1928)
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11/23/2016
Songs indexed by title: Tango Decoder's English-language versions (updated)
Here's
an index of all our English-language versions of tango, vals, and
milonga lyrics. Just click on the title, and view the page. All pages
have face-to-face lyrics and many include subtitled videos. Let us know
in the comments section if you find anything you like!
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11/22/2016
Subtitled Video #51B: QUÉ BIEN TE QUEDA ("How well it suits you") Tanturi/Campos, 1943
QUÉ BIEN TE QUEDA / Cómo has cambiado
(How well it suits you / How you've changed)
Tango, 1943
Music: Vicente Salerno
Lyrics: Juan Mazaroni
English-language version and subtitles by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com.
See also: Qué bien te queda as recorded by Osvaldo Pugliese with Roberto Chanel.
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Sutitled Video #59B: NO AFLOJÉS ("Don't give up") Tita Merello, 1949
No aflojés (Don't give up)
Tango, composed 1934
Música: Pedro Maffia / Sebastián Piana
Letra: Mario Battistella
Performed by Tita Merello in the 1949 film Morir en su ley directed by Manuel Romero. Piano accompaniment by Victor Buchino.
English text and subtitles by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com witht he collaboration of María Rosa Braile.
You may also like: NO AFLOJÉS as performed by Orquesta Típica Angel D'Agostino.
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Vos, que fuiste de todos el más púa,
Vos fuiste el rey del bailongo |
You who were the sharpest of all, You were the king of the dances |
NOTES:
* Tell me with what skeleton key: The verb batir is used in the Lunfardo imperative voice, batí, meaning, "tell me." Ganzúa is a skeleton key, or in underworld slang a piece of bent wire thieves used to pick locks.
* Swaggering wiseguy: compadrito. The compadrito was a kind of half-baked, early 20th-century imitation of the historically prior guapo.
"[The compadrito was] distinguished by gratuitous provocation, false
pride, and the claim to great deeds which were not his own." (Blas Raúl
Gallo, cited in El Tango by Horacio Salas, Editorial Planeta Argentina,
1986) However, the compadrito, with his provocative attitude
and his highly stylized manner of gesture and movement, is said to have
made an important contribution to the development of tango dance and
style.
* Lo de Laura y La Vasca: Lo de Laura was an early tango
dance hall hosted by "la Morocha" Laura Montserrat in the last years of
the nineteenth and the first years of the twentieth century at Paraguay
2512. (It was still open in 1915; no one is quite sure when it finally
closed its doors.) Laura's was luxurious, had a wealthy clientele—which
included many jockeys and other figures of the horse-racing
community—and often featured the legendary pianist "El Negro" Rosendo Medizábal (1868-1913), composer of El entrerriano,
believed to be the oldest tango in the modern repertoire. María La
Vasca was the proprietress a smaller, competing establishment.
* beautiful young girls: churrascas, variant of churra, "girl."
* showoff heel-tapping: taconear compadrón. In standard Spanish, the verb taconear means
to click, stomp, or stamp, or to tap or click one's heels, esp. in
dancing. In popular speech, it can mean a bold or arrogant way of
walking. The noun compadrón, Lunfardo for a showoff or a loudmouth, is here employed as an adjective. Hence taconear compadrón means "showoff heel-tapping."
* paving the cobblestones: The verb revocar in this context means to cover over with a mixture of cal cemento (lime cement) and water. It's not in any dictionary that I could find, but several porteños of my acquaintance agree on this.
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11/21/2016
Subtitled Video #61: MONOTONÍA ("Monotony") Lomuto/Omar
MONOTONÍA ("Monotony")
Tango, 1936
Composer: Hugo Gutiérrez
Lyricist: Carlos Bahr
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Francisco Lomuto with vocal by Jorge Omar, 3 December 1936.
Spanish lyrics transcribed by Fernando Seco. English-language version and subtitles by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com.
Dedicate to Theresa Faus, with gratitude.
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A tumbos va el carretón, triqui-ti-tran Dormita sobre el pértigo el boyero |
The cart goes jolting onward, triqui-ti-tran Snoozing on the shaft of the cart, the ox-driver, |
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11/20/2016
Subtitled Video #60: BAILARÍN DE CONTRASEÑA ("Ticket-Stub Dancer") D'Agostino/Vargas, 1945
BAILARÍN DE CONTRASEÑA
("Ticket-stub dancer")
Tango, 1945
Composer: Victor Felice
Lyricist: Carlos Lucero
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Angel D'Agostino with vocal by Angel Vargas, 27 August 1945. RCA-Victor 60-0768 80780.
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11/18/2016
Subtitled Video #59: JUDAS ("Judas") D'Arienzo/Mauré, 1942
"A good mink stole meant more to you than all my sincerity...." That about says it all.
Our subtitled video, followed by face-to-face lyrics in Spanish and English. English-language version by Michael Krugman.
Judas
Tango, 1942
Music: Carlos Marchisio
Lyrics: Carmelo Santiago
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Juan D'Arienzo with vocal by Héctor Mauré, 29 December 1942.
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Vida... Cargué mi cruz Mala... |
Life... Soul.... I bore my cross Wicked... |
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11/16/2016
Gobbi's Tribute to Troilo (1945)
This
ad appeared in the "El Mundo" morning newspaper in the latter half of
1945. It describes a "Grand Tribute of Sympathy" in honor of Maestro
Aníbal Troilo and his orchestra with his singers A. Marino and F. Ruiz.
Troilo and his boys were slated to perform at the event, which was
hosted by his friend, violinist and bandleader Alfredo Gobbi. Gobbi had
launched his own orquesta típica a year earlier.
Guest performers included El Cuarteto de Antaño (unknown to me); the highly-regarded tango/canyengue couple Los Mendez; Volonte Jazz (unknown); Lucio Lanzoni and his típica (unknown to me); the Dakota Jazz Sextet (unknown); poet and lyricist Celedonio Flores (Corrientes y Esmeralda, Mano a mano, El bulín de la calle Ayacucho, and many more); jazz Los Dados Rojos ("The Red Dice," a frequent accompanying act to the típicas this period); and the popular singer Roberto Carlés and his guitarists.
Attending guests included Alfredo De Angelis, Carlos Dante, Julio Martel, Argentino Galván, Héctor Vargas; poet, playwright, lyricist, activist, and puppeteer Enrique S. Discépolo; songstress Tania; lyricist José María Contursi (author of Troilo's hits Esta tarde gris and Gricel, among others), popular poet Héctor "El Triste" Gagliardi, and comedic film actor Fidel Pintos.
Homenajes ("tributes") like this were a regular feature of the Buenos Aires tango scene during the Golden Decade (1940-50), and Aníbal Troilo was one of the most frequent recipients. It doesn't mention it in this ad, but an homenaje often included the awarding of a pergamino ("parchment" or "proclamation"), often signed by the attendees, and sometimes a gold medal, too. Lots of pomp, lots of circumstance. That's how they like it in BsAs.
The site of the tribute, the Confitería Congo at 717 Avenida Forest (and its earlier incarnation, La Colmena, "The Beehive"), was a frequent site of dances during the Golden Decade. The place itself was not large, but during the summer months it opened its landscaped jardín de verano ("summer garden") which boasted 5000 square meters (54,000 square feet) of open-air pista in addition to its elegant indoor ballroom. This event took place during the summer, so it may have attracted quite a large crowd.
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11/12/2016
Subtitled Video #59A: NO AFLOJÉS ("Don't give up") D'Agostino-Vargas, 1940
NO AFLOJÉS (Don't give up)
Tango, composed 1934
Música: Pedro Maffia / Sebastián Piana
Letra: Mario Battistella
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Angel D'Agostino with vocal by Angel Vargas, 13 November 1940.
English-language version and subtitles by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder.com.
English-language version and subtitles revised, notes added, 20 November 2016 with much assistance from María Rosa Braile. With thanks!
You may also like: NO AFLOJÉS as sung by Tita Merello in the 1949 film "Morir en su ley."
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Vos, que fuiste de todos el más púa,
Vos fuiste el rey del bailongo |
You who were the sharpest of all, You were the king of the dance |
NOTES:
* Tell me with what skeleton key: The verb batir is used in the Lunfardo imperative voice, batí, meaning, "tell me." Ganzúa is a skeleton key, or in underworld slang a piece of bent wire thieves used to pick locks.
* Swaggering wiseguy: compadrito. The compadrito was a kind of half-baked, early 20th-century imitation of the historically prior guapo.
"[The compadrito was] distinguished by gratuitous provocation, false
pride, and the claim to great deeds which were not his own." (Blas Raúl
Gallo, cited in El Tango by Horacio Salas, Editorial Planeta Argentina,
1986) However, the compadrito, with his provocative attitude
and his highly stylized manner of gesture and movement, is said to have
made an important contribution to the development of tango dance and
style.
* Lo de Laura y La Vasca: Lo de Laura was an early tango
dance hall hosted by "la Morocha" Laura Montserrat in the last years of
the nineteenth and the first years of the twentieth century at Paraguay
2512. (It was still open in 1915; no one is quite sure when it finally
closed its doors.) Laura's was luxurious, had a wealthy clientele—which
included many jockeys and other figures of the horse-racing
community—and often featured the legendary pianist "El Negro" Rosendo Medizábal (1868-1913), composer of El entrerriano,
believed to be the oldest tango in the modern repertoire. María La
Vasca was the proprietress a smaller, competing establishment.
* showoff heel-tapping: taconear compadrón. In standard Spanish, the verb taconear means
to click, stomp, or stamp, or to tap or click one's heels, esp. in
dancing. In popular speech, it can mean a bold or arrogant way of
walking. The noun compadrón, Lunfardo for a showoff or a loudmouth, is here employed as an adjective. Hence taconear compadrón means "showoff heel-tapping."
* paving the cobblestones: The verb revocar in this context means to cover over with a mixture of cal cemento (lime cement) and water. It's not in any dictionary that I could find, but several porteños of my acquaintance agree on this.
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11/09/2016
Subtitled Video #57b: PA' QUÉ SEGUIR ("Why go on?") Caló/Ortiz, 1943
Pa' Qué Seguir?
("Why go on?")
Music: Francisco Fiorentino
Lyrics: Pedro Lloret
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Miguel Caló with vocal by Jorge Ortiz on 19 January 1943. Odeon 8372 12494
English-language version by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com. All Rights Reserved.
This time in American history has a certain epochal finality to it—the age of democracy seems to be coming to an end. My musical soundtrack for this moment is Pá qué seguir.
"Why go on?"
| Con la noche enfrente, revolviéndome, dolorosamente a mi conciencia pregunté: Pa' qué seguir? Cada paso por la vida es un fracaso, es una herida más Mientras que luchando por no ser y por vivir, me despedazan el deber y mi sentir. Y por pensar cuando volvió llorando, buscando mi piedad, pidiendo mi perdón, mirándola en el barro más la hundí riéndome; llorándola después, después cuando al partir, vivía el drama de estar solo, solo con la voz de mi sentir. [Trágico dilema, drama sin final, llama en que se queman tantas ansias, tanto mal, por este amor que me llora su agonía hora tras hora... mas, todavía mas. Noches y más noches sin morir, no vivo yo mas que una angustia dolorosamente atroz.] |
With the night ahead of me, tossing and turning... I painfully question my conscience: Why go on? Each step in life is a disaster, is one more wound. While I’m wrestling with living and dying, duty and my feelings are tearing me apart. And to think when she came back in tears, seeking my pity, asking my forgiveness, seeing her in the mud I pushed her further down, laughing at her; later I wept for her when, on parting, I lived the drama of being alone, with only the voice of my feelings. Tragic dilemma, drama without end, flame that burns with such anguish, such pain, for this love that cries out in agony hour after hour... more, still more. Nights and more nights without dying, I feel nothing but a terrible anguish, and nothing more. |
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11/08/2016
Subtitled Video #57: PA' QUÉ SEGUIR ("Why go on?") Troilo/Fiorentino, 1942
Pa' Que Seguir?
("Why go on?")
Music: Francisco Fiorentino
Lyrics: Pedro Lloret
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Aníbal Troilo with vocal by Francisco Fiorentino on 14 December 1942. RCA-Victor 39812 84188.
English-language version by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com. All Rights Reserved.
Troilo's signature vocalist Francisco Fiorentino was also a gifted bandoneonista, so it's not surprising that he could write a song this good. It's said this was also the last song he sung with Troilo's orchestra.
This time in American history has a certain epochal finality to it—the age of democracy seems to be coming to an end. My musical soundtrack for this moment is Pá qué seguir.
"Why go on?"
| Con la noche enfrente, revolviéndome, dolorosamente a mi conciencia pregunté: Pa' qué seguir? Cada paso por la vida es un fracaso, es una herida más Mientras que luchando por no ser y por vivir, me despedazan el deber y mi sentir. Y por pensar cuando volvió llorando, buscando mi piedad, pidiendo mi perdón, mirándola en el barro más la hundí riéndome; llorándola después, después cuando al partir, vivía el drama de estar solo, solo con la voz de mi sentir. [Trágico dilema, drama sin final, llama en que se queman tantas ansias, tanto mal, por este amor que me llora su agonía hora tras hora... mas, todavía mas. Noches y más noches sin morir, no vivo yo mas que una angustia dolorosamente atroz.] |
With the night ahead of me, tossing and turning... I painfully question my conscience: Why go on? Each step in life is a disaster, is one more wound. While I’m wrestling with living and dying, duty and my feelings are tearing me apart. And to think when she came back in tears, seeking my pity, asking my forgiveness, seeing her in the mud I pushed her further down, laughing at her; later I wept for her when, on parting, I lived the drama of being alone, with only the voice of my feelings. Tragic dilemma, drama without end, flame that burns with such anguish, such pain, for this love that cries out in agony hour after hour... more, still more. Nights and more nights without dying, I feel nothing but a terrible anguish, and nothing more. |
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Raúl Iriarte's Gentlemanly Return to Caló, 1945
For a brief period in 1945, Miguel Caló's star vocalist Raúl Iriarte left the band, along with its pianist, Osmar Maderna, to form a new orchestra. It didn't last long, as indicated by this report in Cantando weekly that appeared in late 1945 or early 1946.
"The vocalist Raúl Iriarte, who previously responded to the baton of Miguel Caló, will again perform with said orchestra. Iriarte, who until a few days ago belonged to the orchestra directed by Osmar Maderna, now separated from that maestro, comes to share hits with Caló's new orchestra. The news spread quickly, giving rise to numerous rumors. Nevertheless we can affirm that this is the result of a series of amicable arrangements that in no way alter the gentlemanly ways of these artists." (Cantando, 1945)
Good to know!
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11/07/2016
Caló, Iriarte, and Arrieta at Ocean Dancing, 1945
"Once
again joining the group of his former director, Raúl Iriarte reappears,
a performer whose manly voice and distinctive personality have marked
him as one of our star singers. Here we see Caló's orchestra with his
singers Iriarte and Arrieta at the cabaret Ocean Dancing, where night by
night they are winning more applause."
(Iriarte, wearing a light colored suit, stands in the back row directly behind the microphone. Arrieta is to his left.)
Source: Cantando, 1945. Photo: Tango Time Machine.
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11/01/2016
Subtitled Tango Video #56: TODO TERMINÓ ("It's all over now") D'Agostino-Vargas 1942
"I
alone know what I suffered by forgetting you, by tearing you out of my
heart. And now that I’m wise to your tricks, I want nothing to do with
you!"
I love this little-heard D'Agostino song that was recommended to us by Mariola Golińczak, so I decided to decode the lyrics by Mario Soto. Nothing mysterious, really, just a straight translation. What impresses me is the forthrightness of the narrator. Borges once said that tango lyrics are "the effeminate whinging of jilted pimps," and with a lot of songs that's just how it seems. Here, the narrator's pitiless riposte has a more forceful, direct quality that demands respect. Take that, Borges!
[Radiolandia Photo courtesy of Lucas TangoDJ and tangoarchive.com. Used by permission, with gratitude.]
TodoTango identifies Mario Soto (20
August 1912 - 20 April 1995) as a lyricist, commentator, actor and
scriptwriter. He seems to have struggled as an actor and scriptwriter,
but he distinguished himself as a lyricist with the milonga COMPADREANDO
and the tangos EL YACARÉ, ME LLAMAN TANGO, and the present example, TODO TERMINÓ.
Soto had two other roles that pique my curiosity. One was as the business manager and announcer for the orchestra of Angel D'Agostino: imagine all the curious minutiae of tango lore that must have been stored in his brain! The other is as the glosa artist for D'Agostino, Alfredo Attadia (during Angel Vargas's brief solo bid in 1943), Pedro Laurenz, Osvaldo Pugliese, and possibly others. The glosa artist was a guy who would introduce the songs during live or radio appearances, often reciting a brief poetic verse of his own composition intended to complement the lyrics of the song. The glosa is to my mind part of the hidden history of tango. It was quite common during the Golden Age—and anyone who lived through the era would have been familiar with the custom—though only a few of the verses survive on recording.
The jazzy ad shown above was prepared by the Santa Cruz publicity
agency for the D'Agostino orchestra's appearances at Club Atlético
Estudiantes during Carnavál. It appeared in the "El Mundo" newspaper's
Dance Guide on Saturday, 13 March 1943, and several other times during that year's celebrations.
TODO TERMINÓ (It's all over now)
Tango, 1942
Music: Alfredo Attadia and Ismael Spitalnik
Lyrics: Mario Soto
English-language version by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder
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Hoy que la vida te venció, |
Now that life has defeated you, you have come back to see if you can take refuge in my love. The only thing that could have brought you to my corner is your humiliation by the man who made you grovel at his feet. The pardon you’ve begged for evokes only spite in me. So you see, your disgrace taught me to be the judge of you. Therefore, without pity I condemned you. Back then I might have forgiven everything!... everything! But now your repentance comes too late, my faith remains undone. I alone know what I suffered by forgetting you, by tearing you out of my heart. And now that I’m wise to your tricks, I want nothing to do with you. Not even your tears move me to pity, because by weeping you’re lying, too. It will be better for us both if you forget, like me, that’s the best I can do for you. |
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Subtitled Tango Video #56: TODO TERMINÓ ("It's all over now") D'Agostino/Vargas 1942
"I
alone know what I suffered by forgetting you, by tearing you out of my
heart. And now that I’m wise to your tricks, I want nothing to do with
you!"
I love this little-heard D'Agostino song that was recommended to us by Mariola Golińczak,
so I decided to decode the lyrics by Mario Soto. Nothing mysterious,
really, just a straight translation. What impresses me is the
forthrightness of the narrator. Borges once said that tango lyrics are
"the effeminate whinging of jilted pimps," and with a lot of songs
that's just how it seems. Here, the narrator's pitiless riposte has a
more forceful, direct quality that demands respect. Take that, Borges!
TodoTango identifies Mario Soto (20
August 1912 - 20 April 1995) as a lyricist, commentator, actor and
scriptwriter. He seems to have struggled as an actor and scriptwriter,
but he distinguished himself as a lyricist with the milonga COMPADREANDO
and the tangos EL YACARÉ, ME LLAMAN TANGO, and the present example, TODO TERMINÓ.
Soto had two other roles that pique my curiosity. One was as the business manager and announcer for the orchestra of Angel D'Agostino: imagine all the curious minutiae of tango lore that must have been stored in his brain! The other is as the glosa artist for D'Agostino, Alfredo Attadia (during Angel Vargas's brief solo bid in 1943), Pedro Laurenz, Osvaldo Pugliese, and possibly others. The glosa artist was a guy who would introduce the songs during live or radio appearances, often reciting a brief poetic verse of his own composition intended to complement the lyrics of the song. The glosa is to my mind part of the hidden history of tango. It was quite common during the Golden Age—and anyone who lived through the era would have been familiar with the custom—though only a few of the verses survive on recording.
The jazzy ad shown above was prepared by the Santa Cruz publicity
agency for the D'Agostino orchestra's appearances at Club Atlético
Estudiantes during Carnavál. It appeared in the "El Mundo" newspaper's
Dance Guide on Saturday, 13 March 1943, and several other times during that year's celebrations.
TODO TERMINÓ (It's all over now)
Tango, 1942
Music: Alfredo Attadia and Ismael Spitalnik
Lyrics: Mario Soto
English-language version by Michael Krugman for Tango Decoder
|
Hoy que la vida te venció, |
Now that life has defeated you, you have come back to see if you can take refuge in my love. The only thing that could have brought you to my corner is your humiliation by the man who made you grovel at his feet. The pardon you’ve begged for evokes only spite in me. So you see, your disgrace taught me to be the judge of you. Therefore, without pity I condemned you. Back then I might have forgiven everything!... everything! But now your repentance comes too late, my faith remains undone. I alone know what I suffered by forgetting you, by tearing you out of my heart. And now that I’m wise to your tricks, I want nothing to do with you. Not even your tears move me to pity, because by weeping you’re lying, too. It will be better for us both if you forget, like me, that’s the best I can do for you. |
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10/28/2016
Subtitled Video #55: AZABACHE ("Jet") milonga-candombe, Caló/Berón, 1942
AZABACHE ("Jet")
Candombe-milonga, 1942
Music by Enrique Francini & Héctor Stamponi
Lyrics by Homero Expósito
Recorded by Orquesta Típica Miguel Caló with vocal by Raúl Berón, 29 September 1942. Discos Odeon 8368 A.
English-language version and subtitles by Michael Krugman for TangoDecoder.com.
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¡Candombe! ¡Candombe negro! ¡Retumba con sangre y tumba
¡Ay, tus cadelas que tiemblan |
Candombe, black candombe!* Ay, your hips that sway Candombe, candombe negro! |
NOTES AND COMMENTARY:
* candombe: Candombe is
an Uruguayan music and dance that comes from African slaves. It is
considered an important aspect of the culture of Uruguay and was
recognized by UNESCO as a World Cultural Heritage of humanity. To a
lesser extent, Candombe is practiced in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
In Argentina, it can be found in Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Paraná, and
Corrientes. In Paraguay is continued this tradition in Kamba Kua (Camba
Cua) in Fernando de la Mora near to Asuncion. Also in Brazil, it still
retains its religious character and can be found in Minas Gerais State.
(Wikipedia)
* the street seems to be moving: The image is of a street teeming with drummers and dancers during the candombe ritual.
* drumming: the tumba was
one of the characteristic drums used in candombe. Its sound is felt
physically as well as heard. Today, the name refers to the lowest pitch
drum of the conga family.
* brown-skinned gal: morenita. In
this and the following stanza the sheet music transposes the letters L
and R in imitation of the speech of an Afro-argentine candombero, and it
is sung that way in the Caló/Berón version.
* jet: Azabache. Jet
is a type of lignite, a precursor to coal, and is considered to be a
minor gemstone. The adjective "jet-black", meaning as dark a black as
possible, derives from this material. (Wikipedia)
* The original
candombe ritual of Montevideo's Costa del Sur originated in 1808 and
ceased in 1827-29. The candombe of Buenos Aires had its apogee under the
rule of Buenos Aires governor Juan Manuel Rosas (1829-52). With loss of
Rosas' patronage and the first of a series of yellow fever epidemics
that struck particularly hard in the principally African barrio of San
Telmo, the candombe street parades ceased and the candombe moved to
clandestine dance halls called academias (academies). There,
the African candombe was danced coterminously with European and native
partner dances like the mazurka, polka, zamba, and milonga. In that
choreographic melting pot, the tango developed and thrived.
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SALOMÉ: Cobian's Unrecorded Femme Fatale (Now with audio....!)
"As a composer Juan Carlos Cobián is, alongside Enrique Delfino,
the creator of the so-called tango-romanza; in 1917 the latter composed
"Sans Souci", and Cobián wrote "Salomé", with which they paved the road
for avant-garde tango. Cobián was an evolutionist to such an extent
that the publishers did not accept his early tangos because they
regarded them as «wrongly composed». The truth is that they were far
beyond the popular music of the time."--Todotango.com
Cobián's Salomé has never been recorded, to my knowledge. Perhaps someone more musical than I am—a modern orquesta típica, perhaps—will procure the partitura one day, and let us hear the composition in some form. Any takers? The best I can do is to offer my English-language version of Enrique Cadícamo's lyrics to the song. I hope you enjoy them!
NEWS FLASH! In response to our request above, Julian Rowland has recorded a lovely version of Salomé for the piano. Hear it now.
[Salomé, 1899 by Jean Brenner (1836-1906).]
Salomé
Tango
Music: Juan Carlos Cobián
Words: Enrique Cadícamo
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Por llamarte Salomé |
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