[Tango-L] Contemporary classical tango orchestras, interpretations, recordings, compositions

[Konstantin Zahariev]

Hi Manuel,

I understand and appreciate your sentiment - you will notice I
acknowledged in my posting the still-prevalent Pugliese/Piazzolla
major trend. I do see things finally beginning to move and branch out
more. So get Sans Souci and Fervor de Buenos Aires for a Calo stream
and Di Sarli stream highly danceable tango, or your preference of the
several OTs in the D'Arienzo stream instead. And Orquesta Escuela de
Tango (OET), for a potpourri(*) of styles (if tangostore ever gets the
sampling of their first CD right - I think it is completely
mislabelled).

Orquesta Escuela de Tango is having a growing influence, I think, and
the students that go through it would hopefully branch out and start
orchestras that would introduce more variety.

It isn't even the case that a start-up band has to get "locked-in"
into a particular style, or existing bands have to persist in only one
style. It is entirely possible, as expertise increases, to introduce
new styles in one's orchestra. In fact I hope that, just as musicians
wanted to emulate (late) Pugliese/Piazzolla for the challenge and
possibilities, they would begin to see learning to play in different
styles as a new, equally difficult challenge.

I also hope valses and milongas would finally get their due.

What about a Donato (1930s to early 1940s) stream? Man, that would be SWEET!

How about some band, out there, try to learn and record a killer
faithful version of "Ella Es Asi" milonga? Or a faithful Di Sarli
stream interpretation of "La Mulateada" milonga? What about a faithful
D'Arienzo stream interpretation of "La Cicatriz" milonga?

What about an Orquesta Tipica Victora version of "El Chamuyo" tango,
or D"Arienzo stream "Pensalo Bien"? Eh, maybe too hard to find another
Echague for the latter, though..

What about Biagi-stream valses? Possibilities are endless... and
musically the challenges seem very exciting and satisfyingly hard.

With best regards,

Konstantin
Victoria, Canada

(*) I actually do not have OET CDs yet and what I heard has not
completely knocked me over for the non-Pugliese stuff, but given their
focused expertise and years of gathering the historical style
information down to minutest detail for each instrument, I suspect
this is more an artifact of the mp3 and the fact that I cannot listen
to the complete songs for a full impression. Their two CDs are in my
wishlist and just waiting to gather more CD to order again.




On 10/2/07, WHITE 95 R <white95r at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>  Hi Konstantin,
>
> You've done a good job of listing so many good contemporary tango
> orchestras. Thanks for your good work, I'm going to use your list to do more
> research of good, danceable tango music of higher sound quality. However, I
> will say that too many of these orchestras are emulating the later Pugliese
> orchestra or perform Piazzolla style compositions. Generally, the
> contemporary tango orchestras tend to play in the late 50's or later styles
> of tango which came after the tango dance fell from it's apogee.
>
> I do not mean to say that Pugliese is not danceable, or that all the late
> 50's and later music is unsuitable for dancing. But in reality, I rarely if
> ever have heard tango played in the style of the '30s, '40s or early '50s.
> That's entirely too bad because that's exactly the absolutely best tango
> music for dancing in a rhythmic, compact manner. For me the music from the
> Pugliese orchestra and others like it is like a dessert. I would not go to a
> restaurant and order an 8 course meal consisting of Tiramisu, chocolate
> mousse, keylime pie, peach melba, apple pie, blueberry cobbler, napoleons
> and cookies..... That's exactly the feeling I get when a DJ plays nothing
> but music like that...
>
> I've actually sat (not danced, mind you) through hours of Pugliese,
> Piazzolla, late Darienzo, late D'Agostino, late Troilo, Basso, Sexteto Mayor
> and the like with occasional loong tandas of Gotan, Bajofondo, Tangophobia,
> Tangheto, Libedinsky or other forms of neo-tango-like music...... Again, I
> don't mean to sound like some hide bound tango taleban, but in reality I
> prefer the more authentic stuff of the 30's, 40's and 50's. There is nothing
> intrinsically wrong with the other stuff. There is no question of the
> artistic ability of the musicians. Actually, I do from time to time enjoy
> dancing tango-like to some non tango music, but I do wish that more
> orchestras played arrangements more like the old orchestras I like so much.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Manuel
>
> www.tango-rio.com
>
> > Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 21:18:21 -0700
> > From: anfractuoso at gmail.com
> > To: tango-l at mit.edu
> > Subject: [Tango-L] Contemporary classical tango orchestras,
> interpretations, recordings, compositions
>
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > This is an attempt to provide some starting points for exploration of
> > contemporary classical tango orchestras, interpretations, recordings,
> > and compositions.
> >
> > A.
> > I will try to focus on what is for dancing, not just for listening,
> > but in any case it should be confined to classical tango (as
> > previously defined).
> >
> >
> > B.
> > Size does matter, in my opinion. Krasimir says he does not care if a
> > band is a cuarteto or sexteto or a trio or larger size, as long as it
> > is a danceable tune. I would like to suggest that Orquesta Tipica (OT)
> > configurations do make a significant difference in (a) sound quality
> > and complexity and (b) danceability. These two are related, so it does
> > matter, for dancers, what the size of the band is. Why?
> >
> > Smaller configurations just cannot provide the sheer wall of sound of
> > 4-5 bandoneons or violins, or the density and complexity of the
> > musical texture that OTs produce. Consequently, it is easier to get
> > tired of the sound of a trio or a duo or a cuarteto (there are some
> > exceptions) and it does sound sparse in most cases. I also find that
> > it is much harder for smaller bands to offer the kind or rhythmic
> > consistency that experienced argentine OTs can.
> >
> >
> > C.
> > In exploring what is available, I think one would find growing amounts
> > of danceable music in the following general categories:
> >
> > 1. New interpretations or recordings of well-known compositions
> >
> > 2. New interpretations of existing but not well-known compositions
> >
> > 3. New compositions in new or historical orchestra styles or streams(*)
> >
> > 4. Re-creating historical orchestra styles
> >
> > 5. All of the above applied to Milongas and Valses
> >
> > (*) a "stream" here means a style of orchestral interpretation that
> > has a lot of common ground with a historical style, but also a number
> > of different elements.
> >
> > In what is below I am only addressing a subset of what fits into these
> > categories.
> >
> >
> > D.
> > Here is a list of tango orchestras playing in historical or own
> > styles/streams. Most are active and formed within the last ten years,
> > most are full OTs; some are defunct or older formations (but past
> > 1970s), and some are sextetos/septetos or cuartetos (noted below).
> >
> > Of course we are waiting for musicians to branch more, away from the
> > usual Pugliese/Piazzolla - D'Arienzo major-minor dichotomy of streams.
> > It is already happening - with the M. Calo and Di Sarli streams, and
> > the Orquesta Escuela de Tango phenomenon. Patience!
> >
> >
> > Miguel Calo style:
> > Sans Souci
> > Don't know about original copositions, but their Calo is almost
> > perfect, as faithful to the original style as possible without
> > completely losing separate identity.
> >
> > Carlos Di Sarli style/stream:
> > Fervor de Buenos Aires, Gente de Tango. I know more about Fervor de
> > BA. The pianist/leader Javier Arias does a great Di Sarli stream
> > orchestration, and has a growing list of original compositions in the
> > same stream.
> >
> > Juan D'Arienzo style/stream:
> > Los Reyes del Tango, Orquesta Juan D'Arienzo, Los Solistas De
> > D'Arienzo (cuarteto?). Los Solistas, even though only
> > cuarteto/quinteto (I think), plays so well it is almost hard to
> > believe it is not a full OT. OJDA focuses a bit too much on rhythm and
> > late D'Arienzo; Los Reyes is imaginative but their lead violin bothers
> > me as it seems too inferior to the magic of someone like Puglisi's.
> >
> >
> > Other Orquesta Tipicas:
> >
> > Orquesta Escuela de Tango:
> > Many historical styles - this is a tango orchestra school (!) -
> > probably the most exciting and significant development in the last ten
> > years. Look up Ignacio Varchausky, who along with friends seems to
> > have been the engine behind organizing this and literally saving the
> > tango orchestra expertise from extinction! Notice the names of Ramiro
> > Gallo (violin soloist/teacher; has a quinteto Ramiro Gallo, also plays
> > in El Arranque), Andrés Linetzky (piano and teacher, plays in Vale
> > Tango), Ignacio Varchausky (plays contrabajo in El Arranque)
> > Historical tango styles:
> > recorded(?): Di Sarli, Troilo, D'Arienzo, Pugliese, Gobbi
> > taught: Troilo, Pugliese, Salgán, Piazzolla, Di Sarli, Federico,
> > D´Arienzo, Fresedo, Gobbi, De Caro
> >
> >
> > Fernandez Fierro (late Pugliese, Piazzolla streams but mostly steady
> rhythm)
> >
> > Imperial (Pugliese, mostly steady rhythm)
> >
> > La Furca (Pugliese-like stream)
> >
> > Rodolfo Mederos OT (Troilo, Pugliese streams)
> >
> > Cerda Negra (Troilo, Pugliese streams)
> >
> > El Afronte (mixed; Pugliese)
> >
> >
> > Other smaller configurations (quinteto, sexteto, septeto), of
> > potential interest to dancers:
> >
> > La Excelsior (Pugliese/Piazzolla?)
> >
> > Color Tango (Pugliese)
> >
> > El Arranque (various)
> >
> > Vale Tango (various, Pugliese, does a bunch of milongas and valses)
> >
> >
> > E.
> > Here is an incomplete list of new original classical tango
> > compositions. Most of these are danceable:
> >
> >
> > Fervor de BA (Di Sarli stream)
> > Javier Arias (leader of)
> > Quien Sos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQL96Wa6aMs
> > E.G.B.
> > Despojo (con Bonfiglia)
> > Pibita (con Mauricio)
> >
> >
> > Rodolfo Mederos OT: (Troilo/Pugliese stream?)
> > Rodolfo Mederos:
> > Abran Cancha (milonga)
> > La Alegria De Encontrarte
> > En Otro Lugar De Mi
> > Contraluz
> > Ropa Vieja
> >
> >
> > Fernandez Fierro (late Pugliese stream):
> > Yuri Venturín (Contrabajo y dirección)
> > Sin dudas y con firmeza:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQJAMfgeZTM
> > 011: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McetUSo72Tc
> >
> > Julio Coviello (bandoneon)
> > Lengua seca
> >
> > Julián Peralta (piano, but not in band anymore)
> > Waldo
> > Punto y Branca
> > Prólogo
> > Mal Arreado: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7-OdhwySdQ
> > Final
> >
> >
> > Imperial (Pugliese stream):
> > Gerardo Martinez Argibay:
> > A Salvador Aliende
> > El Equilibrista (vals)
> > Pablo Bernaba
> > Maradoneando (milonga)
> >
> > Matilde Vitullo:
> > Feos, Sucios y Malos
> > El loco Milonga (tango)
> >
> > Karina Martinelli:
> > Facón grande
> > Tango villero
> >
> > Hernán Bartolozzi (Bandoneón, with Imperial; also with Color Tango)
> > Cadenero
> > La Maquina Tanguera
> > Mina
> > America Antes De La Memoria
> >
> >
> > Cerda Negra (mostly teenagers!)
> > Agustin Guerrero (leader of)
> > El Flaco
> > La Bronca del Pueblo
> >
> >
> > El Afronte: (mixed; Pugliese)
> > Gabriel Atum:
> > Pueblada
> > Maldita
> >
> >
> > Vale Tango (has Ariel Espandrio on violin, do a lot of milongas and
> valses)
> > Andres Linetzky:
> > Vals De La Rosa (vals)
> > Rey De Copas
> > Los Ojos
> >
> >
> > If you want to explore these, or want to get your hands on the
> > recordings, please buy their CDs. These are mostly young people that
> > have contributed to saving from
> > extinction, preserving, and restarting the classical tango stream, and
> > they deserve all the support we can give them.
> >
> > One place that has most/all of this material above is
> > www.tangostore.com (I have no affiliation or interest in their
> > business or prosperity). They would ship to most regions of the world,
> > as far as I know, and there are 45-second previews on the songs on
> > most of the CDs.
> >
> > I hope this helps a bit. Please do not shoot me down for omitting
> > something or misplacing or mis-classifying something. It took a long
> > time to compile and write this, and I offer it as is.
> >
> > With best regards,
> >
> > Konstantin
> > Victoria, Canada