Friday, January 31, 2014

Updates


Here's a list of recent updates to the blog. You can also find the updates page on the top of the blog as shown in the above picture.

Updates 05.02.2014

The following tandas have been updated with links to Spotify and/or Deezer playlists.

Updates 31.01.2014

The following tandas have been updated with links to Spotify and/or Deezer playlists.

Monday, January 27, 2014

Tanda of the Week 05 / 2014 - Florindo Sassone instrumentals



1. Florindo Sassone - "La guitarrita" 1951
2. Florindo Sassone - "Don Esteban" 1948
3. Florindo Sassone - "Maipo" 1951
4. Florindo Sassone - "La trilla" 1951

http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/0Q0tt30UkupU5ebencEJiAI recommend everybody that are interested in what's going on in the Dj's head to have a look at SuperSabino's tango blog, which includes numerous interviews from Dj's around the world. Also my interview can be found there.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/768308711Another interesting thing on the blog is how SuperSabino has compiled some statistics of favorites and dislikes of the Dj's interviewed. The "Orchestras or singers not tolerated" post lists De Angelis, Varela and Sassone as the most disliked by the Dj's. 

When you read the individual interviews you might find more of the reasons for why some orchestra might be considered "not tolerated". A few things to remember are that a lot of artists had long careers and while someone might not stand or want to play for example Osvaldo Pugliese from 1950s and beyond, the same person might be a lot more accepting for Pugliese pre 1950s (although personally I was very suprised to see names like Troilo, Rufino, Fiorentino and Berón on this list). I believe part of the hate that this weeks featured orchestra Florindo Sassone gets is exactly because of this. At least for me there is a clear difference in the style of Sassone's recordings depending on the time of recording. I am also aware that it is said that Sassone gets hate in Buenos Aires for imitating Carlos Di Sarli. Then again Jorge Palacio phrased his view and praised Sassone's style in the following manner in his article of Sassone in TodoTango:

"Little by little he was shaping a style of his own, a rare blend of Osvaldo Fresedo's and Carlos Di Sarli's, but he achieved something which had nothing of the two of them but it was all Florindo Sassone's. It is notable how an artist can be influenced by other artists and in spite of that being able to reach a personality absolutely his own."


What I've heard played in milongas from Sassone has been the late 50's and 60's recordings which has been available in good quality and I can totally understand the hate actually even from the Di Sarli comparison reason. For me the earlier Sassone had more edge and a personal style but later ends up sounding more like a watered down Reader's Digest version of Di Sarli.

I have not yet been able to find the late 40's and early 50's recordings in a quality that I'd be comfortable playing in a milonga apart for some songs. So for example I'd gladly play the songs in this tanda, especially "Maipo", if I could find them in great quality. "La Trilla" is the only one in good quality. Even the "Archivo RCA: Florindo Sassone" compilations turned out to be ripped from earlier bad quality releases instead of actual original shellacs as I was hoping.

I'm totally aware of how way too challenging for dancing almost all of the vocal songs (with Roberto Chanel, Jorge Casal and others. Great singers but....) are and therefore I'm more a fan of these few great instrumentals of Sassone. In general I believe that the early fifties was a great time for instrumentals. For example I can't stand much of early 50's vocal D'Arienzo although I love the instrumentals. For further proof listen to this playlist of mine of the instrumental tangos from 1952.

So... the point of this long post is... Yes Sassone deserves a lot of the hate. Yes there are still some good recordings from Sassone in my opinion. And... where can I find "Maipo" in good quality?

This is what happened in this Dj's head today.

Ps. I can't be 100% sure on the recording dates of the songs of the tanda.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Tanda of the Week 04 / 2014 - Octeto Tibidabo


1. Octeto Tibidabo - "En esta tarde gris" 1966
2. Octeto Tibidabo - "Malena" 1966
3. Octeto Tibidabo - "Garúa" 1966
4. Octeto Tibidabo - "Percal"


http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/5TAtonMFeQfQpGGtyRLrQV
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/761647141Octeto Tibidabo is an orchestra that I was introduced to by Ignacio Varchausky from the Tango Digital Archive. First song he played for me was "La Ví Llegar" (YouTube) to showcase the quality of the whole orchestra and in this song particularly the violin of Enrique Francini (violin for Caló, Francini-Pontier and numerous other orchestras).

Story goes that although Octeto Tibidabo consisted of only seven musicians, Mario Kaminsky, who was a producer for the Microfón Argentina record label and who to my understanding put the "octeto" together, thought that octeto sounded a lot better than septeto.

The members of the orchestra were Leopoldo Federico and Osvaldo Montes on bandoneons, Enrique Mario Francini, Reynaldo Nichele and Mauricio Mise on violins, Enrique Marchetto on contrabass and Atilio Stampone on piano. I remember Varchausky telling me it was also Stampone who was conducting the orchestra. And searching for what little information I could find about Octeto Tibidabo I was only able to find that Stampone had played in a cabaret called "Tibidabo" already as a teenager. (And since I'm currently temporarily living in Barcelona, I was happily suprised to wander into an amusement park called Tibidabo.)

The octeto released an album in 1966 called "Soy del 40"and the recordings are all instrumental versions of great classics of tango from what looks like to be the repertoire of Anibal Troilo. Unfortunately online stores like the iTunes Store as well as Spotify only have a compilation album "Bailando Tangos del 40", which has only five of the twelve recordings. However even these five are great songs and I decided to make a tanda of the songs available on Spotify. You are surely able to find more of the songs for listening on YouTube. To my knowledge the original album has yet not been released on CD.

So if you're looking for something post golden age to play but want to stick to more traditional compositions and arrangements with a high level of musicians, Octeto Tibidabo could be your choice, especially if you can get your hands on the full original album. Enjoy!

Stampone, Atilio - TodoTango
Federico, Leopoldo - TodoTango
Francini, Enrique Mario - TodoTango






Friday, January 17, 2014

Tanda of the Week 03 / 2014 - Di Sarli y Durán


1. Carlos Di Sarli - Jorge Durán - "Vieja luna" 1945 - TangoTunes
2. Carlos Di Sarli - Jorge Durán - "Yo" 1945 - TangoTunes
3. Carlos Di Sarli - Jorge Durán - "Qué no sepan las estrellas" 1945 - TangoTunes
4. Carlos Di Sarli - Jorge Durán - "La vida me engañó" 1946

http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1rEPsB7y2awoQCkZrF79sv
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/756074511Happy New Year everyone! Again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates and new tandas, but I have been too busy or distracted with life in Barcelona (moving back to Berlin in April) and also working for my other real job of circus arts and directing a new show for a festival in Finland (see the trailer here YouTube - Vimeo). I decided that I will post tandas when I have the right time and the right mood and loosen up on the goal to post one tanda every single week. But do not fall in to despair. I still love doing this blog and many guest dj's and readers are showing great support and giving more reasons to go on.

So here you have the Tanda of the week three by Di Sarli with Durán on the vocals. Jorge Durán recorded with Di Sarli between 1945-1947 and 1956-1958 and these songs are from the first time period. You can also listen to a tanda of Di Sarli and Durán that I posted earlier on Tanda of the Week (TOTW 44/2010).

I recommend checking out Carlos Di Sarli on TangoTunes.com for high quality digitalizations of original Di Sarli shellac recordings.

PS. I will be Dj'ing in the 4th Tango Frostbite Festival in Finland in February and in the 2nd Viento Norte Festivalito Milonguero in Germany in March.

Di Sarli, Carlos - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Durán, Jorge - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store