Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Tanda of the Week 47/2015 - Osvaldo Pugliese Instrumentals - DJ Antti Suniala

1. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Verano porteño" 1966
2. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Pata ancha" 1957
3. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Emancipación" 1955
4. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Patético" 1948


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/0Md2EsqX1YvtBBUwU55vSvSorry for the lack of updates recently. I was overwhelmed with my gigs and life in general in October.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1459412345This is a tanda that I played in two events in Germany the last month. First one was the "Tangotanzen Macht Schön" milonga in Berlin and the second was a Night of the Arts special milonga in the beautiful city museum of Schwerin. In "TTMS" I was asked to play a couple of alternative tandas but I somewhat dodged the task by playing a variation of this tanda from Ariel Ardit as well as this Pugliese tanda. I figured that playing the great Pugliese version of the Astor Piazzolla classic "Verano porteño" (Spotify/Deezer) would work well for the crowd. Although it's not one of Pugliese's best known or most popular recordings, the orchestra does a great job in, somewhat ironically, toning down the original composition into an arrangement that ends up being very danceable.

The rest of the tanda is put together from some of the biggest songs from the Pugliese instrumental discography. What I find interesting is that this tanda goes the unusual way in starting from the later recordings and going back in time towards the end. I didn't want to remain in the 60's recordings for the whole tanda and I also wanted to finish with a relatively clear structured song. Usually there's a huge change in the dynamics and quality of the songs when playing music from almost a 20 year time frame, but the 1948 "Patético" holds it's own remarkably well, due to strenght of the song itself (seriously.... this is one of absolute favorites) but also somehow being of great quality in comparison to some other songs from that time period. When I played the tanda I also made sure to have a long enough gap in between the songs and turn up the volume and bass a bit for the first moments of "Patético" to hide any differences in the sound qualities.

The tanda worked wonderfully well both in Berlin and in Schwerin, where this tanda was applauded.

If you (or even if you don't) like the earlier 40's Pugliese better then I recommend checking out the tanda with Roberto Chanel as the singer. I have put quite many Pugliese tandas on the blog but clearly there's still plenty of room for a lot more. I think I'll focus more on the earlier 40's instrumentals (which I play in every milonga) the next time.

Enjoy!

Pugliese, Osvaldo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store


Friday, October 16, 2015

Tanda of the Week 42/2015 - Donato Milongas! - DJ Antti Suniala


It's a busy month for me since I'm playing in

16.10. NOU - BERLIN
17.-18.10. LA ENDORFINA MARATHON - POZNAN
23.10. TTMS - BERLIN
24.10. SCHWERIN - GERMANY
30.10. TANGO OTOÑO - SWEDEN

and I might as well add one more to the list:

01.11. BRIGHTANGOTHON - UK 

Hope to see you in one of these lovely events!

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1. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "La milonga que faltaba" 1938
2. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "Cara negra" 1942
3. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "Campo afuera" 1940

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1JazCJG24nDh7lkRok3Xhehttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1416038105

Here's a nice energetic milonga tanda for your friday nights! Enjoy!

Donato, Edgardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Lagos, Horacio - TOTW - tango.info



Sunday, October 11, 2015

Tanda of the Week 41/2015 - Héctor Varela y Rodolfo Lesica - DJ Antti Suniala


1. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Historia de un amor" 1956
2. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Y todavía te quiero" 1956
3. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" 1951
4. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Paciencia" 1951


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/6AnMBSPZPO8gTQrhTSpENP
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1409831835I hadn't realized before that Varela and Lesica had recorded such an excellent version of the D'Arienzo classic "Paciencia", so I decided to try to make a tanda around the song. Varela's "Paciencia" was published interestingly a month and a half later than D'Arienzo himself had released the song with Alberto Echague. In many cases it seems like every orchestra in the 1950's had to have their own version of a big hit such as this one.

Varela, who himself played in D'Arienzos orchestra previously, continued the strong rhythmical style of his mentor but also made it his own. I've never been a fan of the 1950's recordings from D'Arienzo with Echague even though I absolutely love most of the D'Arienzo instrumental recordings from that time period. The singing of Rodolfo Lesica is a lot more pleasing to my ear in this version and the orchestra plays nicely restrained in comparison to some of the other Varela recordings.

"Paciencia" was of course recorded by D'Arienzo with Enrique Carbel already in 1937, and this version is my favorite. Some might also like the version of Francisco Canaro with Roberto Maida.

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Now about the tanda. For a few reasons, it was very difficult to put this tanda together. Mainly because of the rather limited number of recordings from Varela with Lesica and also because a lot of them really are not on the level of "Paciencia". So I wanted to start the tanda with one of the most known songs from Varela "Historia de un amor", which is pretty much a pop hit of it's time as it was recorded by many non-tango orchestras as well  all the way from Argentina to Finland. Also because Varela is disliked by some dancers, I want to have a very recognizable song first so it's an easy to choice for the dancers to go dance or go for some fresh air.

I wanted to continue with another hit song in "Y todavia te quiero" (also recorded by Di Sarli, Pugliese and D'Arienzo). These two songs probably are the best known songs from Varela/Lesica. The third one is in my opinion another excellent version of a big song - "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" was recorded by Troilo/Fiorentino in 1941 and is one of the most popular songs in the Troilo discography. I think Varela's version is very nice although I feel that the songs comes to a very sudden end and I like the arrangement of Troilo better.

So the tanda has the two big hits from Varela followed by two Varela's versions of  big tango classics. Notice the recording dates and slight difference in sound/recording quality going from the second to the third song. DJ's might want to boost the volume at least temporarily a bit for "El bulín..." to make up for the difference.

I could've looked for a more consistent style and energy by using more songs from the 1951-1953 recordings of Varela, but like I said it was impossible to find songs that would've been of the same quality of (meaning as good as) "Paciencia". So even though there's some fairly clear difference in the styles of the first two and the last two songs in this tanda, I believe that having four strong songs with less consistency is better than a tanda of weaker songs with more consistency.

Enjoy!

Varela, Héctor - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store  


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Tanda of the Week 39/2015 - La Juan D'Arienzo



1. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Este es el Rey"
2. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Felicia"
3. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Gallo ciego"
4. La Juan D'Arienzo - "La cumparsita"

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/74Y4F4JmZKiWlOHVwZomii
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1386296785I finally had the chance to hear La Juan D'Arienzo live at the World of Tango Festival in Finland and I'm not sure if I can find enough superlatives to describe this experience. My jaw literally dropped to the floor at the soundcheck from the very first notes of "Este es el Rey" and the hottest orchestra of today proved to be worthy of all the hype behind them and exceeded all my expectations. You could see such joy and euphoria on the faces of the dancers as they joined in the hurricane of rhythm as if the king of the compas - Juan D'Arienzo - himself had been there in flesh.

And this was really as good, and as close to the real thing, as it gets. The La Juan D'Arienzo is obviously a tribute orchestra that executes flawlessly the style of Juan D'Arienzo's 1950's to 1970's rhythmical "overdrive tango". I can appreciate Sans Souci's repertoire of Miguel Caló and I have heard Color Tango live with their repertoire of Pugliese and others, as well as Misteriosa Buenos Aires and their powerful and beautiful Di Sarliesque set, but I dare to say that no other orchestra has accomplished capturing the style of their idols so perfectly as La Juan D'Arienzo. Well let's not forget Los Reys del Tango, which I have also heard live but with a smaller line up. And of course there's no denying that Solo Tango is amazing and they perform a lot of D'Arienzo - but there's only so much you can accomplish with a cuartet. It is a unique occasion to hear a full "orquesta típica" of such musicians in Europe and the difference in sound and quality is huge.

If there's one thing more I could've asked for, then yes, I would've loved to hear something from the earlier D'Arienzo repertoire, with the perhaps more subtle and sophisticated overdrive of the earlier years... but the orchestra had us mesmerized completely with their two sets, that came up to a massive total of 24 songs, and there was no fatique in neither the orchestra or the dancers. The orchestra members also proved to be not only great musicians, but also great entertainers, as they kept a very high energy stage-presence throughout the concert.

Unfortunately there is no way that their recordings could come even close to the energy of their live sets, but still you can hear the talent and passion that has been put into their music. The orchestra is currently on their first European tour and I sincerely hope all the success in the world for them and that I will have plenty of chances to hear them live again. Check their tour photo below and if you have a chance to go see them live then that should be your top priority in life from now on.

For the most update information on the orchestra and their tour I recommend checking out the Facebook page of La Juan D'Arienzo. Their album "Cortando clavos" is available on Spotify, Deezer and is sold at least in the iTunes Store.

Enjoy!

- DJ Antti Suniala, www.tandaoftheweek.net



Sunday, September 13, 2015

Tanda of the Week 37/2015 - Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - Valses - DJ Antti Suniala

World of Tango festival 2015, Tampere Finland.





I have the pleasure of DJ'ing at the grand milonga/concert of the World of Tango Festival the coming Saturday! The festival has an amazing line up of great tango orchestras and DJ's as well! It will be an honor to "share the stage" with the orchestra La Juan D'Arienzo, one of the hottest tango orchestras of today following the style of Juan D'Arienzo (1900-1976).

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1. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Un placer" 1936 - TangoTunes
2. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Irene" 1936 - TangoTunes
3. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Tu olvido" 1936 - TangoTunes 

 https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1ogcr4jVoPHLCoUAGzH3uphttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1374195805I can't believe I haven't posted these lovely valses by D'Arienzo with Walter Cabral before! Then again, after five years of tandas I can't be very sure anymore. Which reminds me of the task of updating the tags for artists and styles. I'll start using tags like "D'Arienzo - Vals" and "D'Arienzo - Instrumental tango" from now on. I hope it helps with navigation of the site and finding what you might be looking for.

Enjoy!

------------

Check out the video below of "La Juan D'Arienzo".


Friday, September 4, 2015

Tanda of the Week 36/2015 - D'Agostino / Garcia - DJ Xenia




I will be playing my UK premiere at the Brightangothon in Brighton in the end of October!

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1. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "Era en otro Buenos Aires" 1947
2. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "El trece" 1951
3. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "Alma de bohemio" 1947
4. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "La cumparsita" 1952

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/37JlbiH8XRFc9oodbtz4uiThis weeks guest DJ tanda is from DJ Xenia from Israel. The tanda showcases later recordings from D'Agostino with the singer Tino García. Here's how Xenia introduces herself:

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1363697095"I am an Israeli DJ traveling abroad and playing music in Europe. I see myself as a very diverse DJ, being able to play light and dynamic music, keeping high and flowing energy, or creating more sophisticated and calm atmosphere depending on the dancers need.

My first education (MA) was in the field of history of XX century culture, so I could continue my research when arrived to tango, and it allows me to bring you a lot of lesser known danceable music.

A part of my style is introducing a new danceable music from the end of twenties to the middle of fifties. Please, pay attention: the keyword is 'danceable', not 'new'".

You can check out Xenia's DJ page at https://www.facebook.com/Tango.DJ.Xenia
And her interview with DJ Super Sabino at http://supersabinotango.blogspot.it/2014/10/xenia-mikhailov-part-of-my-style-is.html

Thank you Xenia!

Have a nice weekend all!

D'Agostino, Ángel - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Tanda of the Week 35/2015 - 1950's instrumentals - Federico, Biagi, Varela & Polito! - DJ Antti Suniala



I will be playing at the La Endorfina tango marathon in Poland in October!

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1. Domingo Federico - "Leyenda gaucha" 1952
2. Rodolfo Biagi - "El recodo" 1952
3. Héctor Varela - "Mi dolor" 1953
4. Juan Polito - "El internado" 1952

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/61wwEewQeQnbRJKCSOJWQU
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1351759575I believe I've been hyping the early 1950's instrumental tangos a fair amount and that's exactly what I'll do again in this post. I played this tanda last Sunday and I thought it came out really good. It's a mix of songs that are difficult to fit into tandas of equally great songs from the same orchestra; the only exception possibly being Biagi's "El recodo", but even then you would fall short in my opinion. I wouldn't say the other three songs in this tanda are such classics as "El recodo" but they are definitely some of the best the individual orchestras have in their discography and top notch songs that all have very high energy without being overly uptempo and also great bandoneon variaciones to finish the songs off. Also Polito's "El internado" is one of the few songs available to mere mortals in high quality.

Juan Polito (read the biography at Todotango.com) played in D'Arienzo's orchestra on two time periods and "El internado" is indeed very D'Arienzoesque. Still the arrangement is slightly different and the great pianist gets to showcase his skills in wonderful fashion.

Enjoy!

------

PS. The cortina is from the band of my talented girlfriend and I had the opportunity to be part of filming and directing their first video. Check it out!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Tanda of the Week 33/2015 - Tanturi/Campos - TangoTunes - 5 Year Anniversary of TOTW!



Five years ago I started my blog Tanda of the Week with the simple idea of sharing my love for tango music with the world, and while at it, sharing some thoughts about what makes tango music so great and how to construct good tandas. I was still a beginner DJ (when it came to tango music) and I had no idea that the blog would become this popular or that I'd be still doing this after five years!

The last years have been quite a ride for me as a DJ and I've had the pleasure and privilige to DJ in some of the most prestige milongas and festivals around the world and will keep doing so hopefully for many years to come! I'd like to thank all of the DJ's who have helped me with the blog by sharing their guest DJ tandas and of course all of my readers for your comments, likes, shares and recommendations. You have all been irreplaceable.

I had to take a break for some summer holidays and my gigs/trips to the wonderful Tango d'Amore festival in Odessa, Ukraine and the High Noon marathon in Berlin, Germany, but now the blog and weekly tandas are back stronger than ever. There's still so much of beautiful music to share with all of you.

Un abrazo,

DJ Antti Suniala


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1. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Sollozo de bandoneón" 1943 - lyrics
2. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Calla bandoneón" 1944 - lyrics
3. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "La abandoné y no sabía" 1944 - lyrics
4. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Igual que una sombra" 1945 - lyrics

spotify:user:anttiveikko:playlist:1WS1swI9IkZmB5DbC4TwhR
 http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1338795295I received quite an amazing present for the anniversary and for this weeks tanda from TangoTunes.com. The fine folk at TangoTunes have released two compilations of freshly digitized shellacs from none other than Ricardo Tanturi with the singer Enrique Campos. The first compilation, contains 32 songs from 1943-1944, and the second compilation has 21 songs from 1945 to 1946, and this makes for the entire catalog of 53 recordings of Ricardo Tanturi together with the singer Enrique Campos, valses, milongas and duets with Roberto Videla included.

Some of Tanturi's songs have been very difficult to get in good quality, and for some reason many of the songs have been cursed with a lot of reverb, which had been artificially added at some point by the record companies. So it's amazing to have these songs in their original form, straight from the shellacs, in the way they were supposed to sound like. So please have a listen to the samples provided at the TangoTunes store. The Spotify and Deezer playlists I am able to provide for you to listen to these songs do not contain the releases of TangoTunes.

The tanda itself contains one of the most popular songs from Tanturi/Campos: "Calla bandoneón" from 1944. I see a story develop throughout the tanda as the singer goes through different phases of misery and loss as the bandoneon gently weeps. "Iqual que un bandoneón" would've been a great song for the tanda as well, but I was unable to find it on Spotify.

Enjoy!


Tanturi, Ricardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes
Campos, Enrique - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Tanda of the Week 22/2015 - Tango Pohjan Tähden - Alternative tango!

Tango Pohjan Tähden, Minneapolis, USA


The following is based on a true story and no names have been changed... I did the unthinkable and played at an alternative milonga!

Another announcement is that I have recently moved from Berlin back to Finland and it is Helsinki where this story takes place.

Our tango association "Amigos del Tango" has two weekly milongas at our dance studio "El Atico" in Helsinki, and a while back the second milonga was changed to an alternative one. The "El Huracan" milonga is 70% traditional and 30% alternative and I took on the challenge to play there last Sunday. For some obvious reasons of being a full time artist (yes, a beautiful mix of a dancer's servant and an artist with a personality... among the other artforms and things I'm involved in) and not having the luxury to afford to always choose where I play, meaning - I need the money. As well as having the luxury of being a strange mix of a hard core traditionalist and an occasionally open minded human being and therefore deciding that with great pleasure I will play for this milonga and the dancers there. Let me explain....

I have been a DJ for 20 years now and

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Tanda of the Week 21/2015 - Rafael Canaro - DJ Daniele Argelli


This weeks tanda comes from guest DJ Daniele Argelli. Here's what he wrote:

"Hi Antti. My name is Daniele Argelli, from Italy and I find your website very inspiring for the career as a tango dj I’m working on building. I might be wrong but I haven’t found any Rafael Canaro tanda on TOTW, which I think is a pity since I think he recorded some very danceable music – although nowhere near as good and as plentiful as his more famous brother [Francisco Canaro]. A Rafael Canaro tanda I’ve played that people seemed to like is this:

1. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Qué le importa al mundo"
2. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Envidia"
3. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Resentimiento"
4. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Cuando el corazón"

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

TOTW - The Year 2013



Here's the second edition of the TOTW Yearly Reviews! This time we're looking into the tandas posted in the year 2013.

I split the tandas into two groups: The traditional and the not as traditional tandas. As you may have noticed the blog is not only about the theory of constructing perfect traditional tango tandas but there's also space for more variety and sometimes I want to simply showcase a certain orchestra and their music. I hope this list will help you to explore, find your favorites and especially for the beginning DJ's to understand styles of tango music better. Often the definitions of what is or is not traditional vary slightly and there's some music that is borderline this or the other. However after a quick look, I believe the way I have split the tandas will satisfy most dancers, DJ's and the tango police.

I will later do a similar post for the previous years as well.

Have a look at the review of TOTW - The Year 2014.

Enjoy!

- DJ Antti Suniala



THE TRADITIONAL

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Tanda of the Week 18/2015 - Rotundo, Varela, Mancione valses - DJ Antti Suniala


Greetings from Tallinn Estonia! I arrived yesterday for the first night of the Viejo Tallinn Tango Marathon and will be playing here on Sunday. Last weekend I was attending the Tango Devoradores Marathon in Wroclaw Poland as a dancer only. I have never been to that many marathons and it's interesting to see these two marathons back to back both as a dancer and a DJ. The scale of the events is very different as the Wroclaw marathon had close to 350 dancers and 13 (!) DJ's, while the Tallinn marathon has about 150 dancers and 5 DJ's. In Wroclaw there were the pre- and afterparties and DJ's were playing only 4 hour sets but in Tallinn I fortunately get to play 6 hours, which I think is the perfect lenght for a DJ set.

There's also another very fundamental difference in the two marathons: The style of music. While in Wroclaw I had to wait for DJ number 7 Mik Avramenko from Ukraine to get a great set of traditional tangos centered around the likes of Troilo, Di Sarli and D'Arienzo - In Tallinn the event kicked off with classic tangos from both the first two DJ's Andrea Dedo from Italy and James Bates from Belgium and I'm expecting the same to continue.

I don't want to be a tango police here and commit a career suicide but I will share my view on the matter and it's something I've discussed with many other DJ's coming from a more traditional stance on tango music. There's nothing wrong with the occasional special selection and the Donatos and Lomutos etc. But many DJ's go so far into centering their set around the likes of Canaro, Donato, Rodriguez and some Guardia Vieja that the set feels out of balance and the occasional Troilo will not save the set for me. And it is not just that I don't get to hear my favorites but also the fact that the general mood and dynamics of the songs from these orchestras is so different that I feel like a lot of the passion that should be in the music is missing and instead all we're getting is at it's best nice and comfortable music for snuggling. I do want a lot more from my tango music. More edge, passion and yes even some drama. And yeah uptempo valses and milongas too. And then... I'm ready to snuggle also.

Thursday, April 9, 2015

Tanda of the Week 15/2015 - Lucio Demare - DJ Antti Suniala


Greetings my fellow tango addicts. I'm going on another small tour as shown on the picture above. Hope to see some of you on the dance floor!

Before discussing this weeks tanda, let me say a few words about the great Trasnochando festival that we had here in Berlin the last weekend. It was the first edition of the festival and was organized by Frank Seifart, James Bates and Monica Suteau, who is the fairly recent addition to the killer team whos influence has done wonders for the Berlin scene. The sold out festival had a nice venue with character and great music from start to finish. I strongly recommend bookmarking this festival for next year and to get your tickets early!

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1. Lucio Demare / Juan Carlos Miranda - "No te apures, cara blanca" 1942
2. Lucio Demare / Horacio Quintana - "Igual que un bandoneón" 1945
3. Lucio Demare / Juan Carlos Miranda - "Mañana zarpa un barco" 1942
4. Lucio Demare / Horacio Quintana - "Torrente" 1945

Thursday, April 2, 2015

Tanda of the Week 14/2015 - José Sala (Rosario) Instrumental - DJ Antti Suniala



1. José Sala - "Recuerdo" 1953
2. José Sala - "Sábado inglés" 1953
3. José Sala - "Lágrimas" 1954
4. José Sala - "Nueve de julio" 1953


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/7tqPnjMzKwFaQTj2ELWUg2http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1196101291This week I'd like to introduce the pianist/director and the orchestra of José Sala from Rosario, Argentina. 

"Sala recorded between 1953 and 1973 on Columbia (1953-1954), TK (1955-1958) and Europhone (1972-1973). Throughout his career he recorded over 400 numbers. We pay fair homage to a musician who, without exaggeration, meant the symbol of the best tango in Rosario at the time of its highest splendor."


Enjoy!

Sunday, March 29, 2015

Tanda of the Week 13/2015 - Juan D'Arienzo instrumentals 1935-1937


1. Juan D'Arienzo - "Nueve de julio" 1935 - TangoTunes
2. Juan D'Arienzo - "Comme il faut" 1936 - TangoTunes
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "Jueves" 1937 - TangoTunes
4. Juan D'Arienzo - "Gallo ciego" 1937 - TangoTunes

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/0cKZeMpxSS7Tv92RKa1gIM
The folks at TangoTunes.com have made yet another release of the music of Juan D'Arienzo! These songs were released already earlier but after renewing their whole digitization and mastering process we can enjoy the music in even better quality.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1192475891In order to listen to the song samples of the TangoTunes releases, please click on the TangoTunes links next to the songs on the above list. The Spotify and Deezer playlists have the songs from other commercial releases since the TangoTunes releases are available only on their online store.


While the songs sound great and due to the release I received a few songs in clearly better quality than what I had before... some of the songs do have more shellac record noise than many other releases out there and I'll leave it to you to decide what you think of it.

The reason for this is explained by TangoTunes: "After the transfer gentle declicking and removal of pops is applied. Since mid 2014 we do not use any automatic algorithms anymore, as they distort the whole sound spectrum too heavily. Instead, we chose to accept the inevitable surface noise when transferring a shellac."

I have personally carefully edited or filtered some of these tracks for my own use with slightly lesser record noise. Using the basic EQ of a mixer will not do the job but for example the iTunes or WinAmp softwares have something like a 10-band equalizer and cutting out the 8K and 16K bands might be a good solution although not an optimal one. With Traktor Pro I use a special filter that I've adjusted to my needs and that works quite well if I haven't pre-edited the song.

Here's what was said in the TangoTunes newsletter:

"We happily announce the first three compilations of the new Golden Ear edition: "Todo de Juan" 1–3, crisp and clear Tango sound with ever-rhythmic, dynamic Juan D'Arienzo. "Todo de Juan 1–6" will comprise all tunes from Juan D'Arienzo 1935–1939 in chronological order.
With the Golden Ear edition we establish new important facts:
  • Only full discographies in right chronological order on the albums.
  • Renewed and better digitization and mastering process. Read more about the digitization chain.
  • New file format AIFF: 16bit/44,1 kHz, mono. It's come to replace the previous M4A (all previous releases will still be offered in M4A). AIFF is as user-friendly and playable in practically all music players. FLAC stays as usual in 24bit/96 kHz, mono.
  • New bundles and base prices: 1,49 € AIFF, 1,79 € FLAC. FLAC and AIFF are shipped separately (no more double files like former FLAC+M4A). The reduced bit rate/sample rate leads to the reduced price of the AIFF.
If we say, we changed everything in the digitization chain, this may sound dramatic, but it's true: Everything. We hired the best sound engineer we can possibly dream of, established a shiny new audio station in Vienna and finally come up with new file formats and simply good Tango sound!
Whether you already bought one or the other tune or a whole compilation of D'Arienzo – when you buy an album from the Golden Ear edition, you will be compensated with store credit for the substituted tunes. Please visit our website for more detailed information about our compensation offer.

I made this tanda based on the songs from the first three compilations and with a time span of 1935-1937. Almost all of the D'Arienzo instrumental tangos from that time period are very playful so I tried to look for the ones that would at least start with slightly stronger tones even if they would end up partly cheerful. One thing to notice is that the second song "Comme il faut" is shorter than the others and the arrangement doesn't have the bandoneon solo/variacion in the end.

All the songs are very classic and were recorded by many other orchestras as well so I would recommend comparing these songs to versions from different orchestras and also other time periods. For example... compare this D'Arienzo version of "Gallo ciego" to Pugliese's version from 1959. When I started dancing tango it took me quite a while to even realize that they are actually the same composition!

Enjoy!

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

Tanda of the Week 11/2015 - Enrique Campos with Ricardo Tanturi - DJ Antti Suniala

Enrique Campos.
S. f. (Foto: Museo y Centro de documentación AGADU)


1. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Muchachos, comienza la ronda" 1943
2. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Por eso canto yo" 1943
3. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Así se canta" 1943
4. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Cantor de barrio" 1945


http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1eCVNauVX0bMijnXoOyXIWhttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1174606071Today we celebrate the birthday of Enrique Campos (10.3.1913-13.3.1970), one of the greatest singers of tango! The tanda starts with his first recording with the Ricardo Tanturi's orchestra "Muchachos, comienza la ronda" and we continue with the tango theme and devote the rest of the songs to the role of being the great singer that he was.

Read more about Enrique Campos on TodoTango , a translation to "Muchachos, comienza la ronda" and listen to more of the tandas with Enrique Campos on Tanda of the Week.

Enjoy!

 Tanturi, Ricardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Campos, Enrique - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store

Sunday, March 8, 2015

TOTW - The Year 2014



Spring is almost here in Berlin and although it's a bit late I thought of doing a short review of the 36 tandas posted on the blog in 2014. Since I recently updated the complete TOTW playlist on Spotify I have been listening to the tandas of the blog a lot more and I have to say we have a lot of great music here. Thank you all for the suggestions, feedback and guest DJ's for their contributions!

I split the tandas into two groups: The traditional and the not as traditional tandas. As you may have noticed the blog is not only about the theory of constructing perfect traditional tango tandas but there's also space for more variety and sometimes I want to simply showcase a certain orchestra and their music. I hope this list will help you to explore, find your favorites and especially for the beginning DJ's to understand styles of tango music better. Often the definitions of what is or is not traditional vary slightly and there's some music that is borderline this or the other. However after a quick look, I believe the way I have split the tandas will satisfy most dancers, DJ's and the tango police.

I will later do a similar post for the previous years as well.

Have a look at the review of TOTW - The Year 2013.

Enjoy!

- DJ Antti Suniala


THE TRADITIONAL


THE NOT AS TRADITIONAL


Some useful tags you can use searching for music on TOTW -

Tango - Vals - Milonga tandas
1920's - 1930's - 1940's - 1950's tango music
Favorite tandas by Dj Antti Suniala
Tandas by guest DJ's 

Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Tanda of the Week 10/2015 - Black Magic - Mixed orchestras - DJ Antti Suniala

De Angelis, Rotundo, Varela and D'Arienzo


1. Alfredo De Angelis / Oscar Larroca - "Volvamos a empezar" 1953
2. Francisco Rotundo / Floreal Ruíz - "Resignate hermano" 1952
3. Héctor Varela / Argentino Ledesma - "Un remordimiento" 1955
4. Juan D'Arienzo / Jorge Valdez - "Destino de flor" 1957


http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1HuHsYTsMsFMstkhNO0X4ihttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1167936751This weeks tanda is an experiment into the dark arts and black magic of mixing songs from different orchestras into one tango tanda. Mixing orchestras in a tanda is not common practise and is generally frowned upon especially when not done well. Most common and more accepted examples of it are the milonga and even vals tandas with songs from many orchestras, often partly due to a lot more limited amount of recordings in both styles. I am not quite sure if the term "Ronda de ases" is used only for a tanda consisting of the greatest hits of tango from several orchestras put into one tanda - like a super romantic tanda from Canaro's "Poema" and Fresedo's "Buscandote" etc. - or if can be used in general for a tango tanda of mixed orchestras even if the songs are not such standard super hits? Here I experiment with the latter option.

The journey to the dark side began when I came across Rotundo's "Resignate hermano" and thought it sounded suprisingly a lot like a mix of early 50's De Angelis, Varela and D'Arienzo. So to pass time on my bus tour* I tried to find songs that'd go well with it. I was juggling many songs from all the other three orchestras and the tanda turned out like this... for now.

I personally don't look for DJ's to mix orchestras in tango tandas, although I might tolerate/approve/appreciate one mixed tanda in a set, but rather have the difference between tandas provide enough variation and inspiration for the dancers. I think mixing orchestras is more acceptable when the songs or orchestras are not super well-known. I know many DJ's do it with some early 30's music. I've done it on the blog earlier in similar style with an instrumental tanda of Orquesta Tipica Victor, Provincianos and Donato. One of the fundamental ideas for a tanda is to have a consistent style and mood throughout the tanda, a task which can be possible even with the mixing of the orchestras. Sometimes you might find a great song but the same orchestra doesn't have enough songs for a great tanda and you want to look a bit further into similar songs from other sources. However, when it comes to true classics, I really would not want anyone mixing for example Troilo/Fiorentino and Di Sarli/Rufino even if the DJ in their mind could come up with some kind of consistency and similarity.

-- EDIT: another example of a mixed tanda on TOTW is this tanda of the singer Carlos LaFuente with orchestras Tipica Victor, Marcucci, Provincianos and Carabelli. So the tanda has different although very similar orchestras and the same singer in every song. I dare to say that this tanda is a fairly perfect example of how mixing of orchestras is done well.

Of course it could be argued that the orchestras and songs of this tanda of mine are fairly well-known (or could it?) but for example I chose to go with D'Arienzo/Valdez because the song and style is not the most common to D'Arienzo... I tried some songs from the earlier 50's with Laborde and Echague but found that Jorge Valdez as a singer also matched the other singers (Larroca, Ruiz and Ledesma) better. From Varela I was thinking of going with "Moneda de cobre" but thought of "El remordimiento" as a slightly softer choise for this rather massive and strong tanda. Maybe I could've also looked into the Varela recordings with Rodolfo Lesica.

I found out that by pure luck, or guidance from the tango devils, "El remordimiento" is actually composed by Francisco Rotundo. Rotundo also recorded "Destino de flor" with Alfredo del Río. I tried hard to find a connection for Rotundo and the De Angelis song to satisfy my tango geek side as well, but failed to do so.

Now... if you find yourself behind the decks at a very traditional milonga, it's probably not a great idea to play something like this. If you feel like your crowd is ready for some experimentation then this tanda might work. If you think they'll like the opening track then they'll probably enjoy the rest of the tanda too. I sure would rather dance to this than 50's D'Arienzo/Echague, which always rubs me the wrong way.

Anyway.... the tanda is an experiment. I even thought of saving it for an April Fool's tanda and mark all the songs to have been recorded by Rotundo and see how fast my readers realize the mixing of orchestras... but the Spotify/Deezer playlists would've of course given it away too soon.

So my friends and enemies. Do you think these songs have a consistent enough style to be mixed into one tanda? Would you even notice the difference in styles? Would you recommend other songs to improve the tanda? Have you played or danced to any great tango tandas of mixed orchestras?

Enjoy!

PS. I updated the neglected complete TOTW playlist on Spotify!

De Angelis, Alfredo - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Rotundo, Francisco - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Varela, Héctor - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

----------

THE BUS TOUR*

I just finished a two week tour of 3200 km by bus... I played in Vilnius (Lithuania), Riga (Latvia), Tallinn (Estonia), Helsinki and Tampere (Finland) and Lodz and Warsaw (Poland). The hours of sitting in busses and the recovery was made a lot easier by the great tango communities, dancers, organizers and my hosts. Thank you all!




Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Tanda of the Week 09/2015 - Anibal Troilo / Alberto Marino - DJ Antti Suniala

...or Biagi: "La marca de fuego"!

After a short recovery from the endless hours of dancing at the Tango Frostbite festival, the Finnish tango scene already has it's sights on the second highlight of the year; The second edition of the Tangosauna marathon is coming up again in June 12th-14th and the registration starts tomorrow on Wednesday the 25th of February!

I will be playing at the marathon again and in the great company of DJ's Andrés Molina, Sandro Puliti, Analía LaRubia Del Giglio, Fatih KaçmazBernt Andreas Drange and Jenni Valli.

So join us for the white nights, swimming and some very hot tangos and saunas...!

------------------


1. Aníbal Troilo / Alberto Marino - "Uno" 1943
2. Aníbal Troilo / Alberto Marino - "Cotorrita de la suerte" 1945
3. Aníbal Troilo / Alberto Marino - "Fuimos" 1946
4. Aníbal Troilo / Alberto Marino - "Sombras nada más" 1944


http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1160883241http://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/27e8641VxoTDdwuTBeugQpHere's another tanda I played last Thursday at the Tango Frostbite festival in Finland. I was happy to hear that the maestros in attendance greatly appreciated my selection of Buenos Aires style music and afterwards I received detailed compliments and feedback from both Javier Rodriguez and Horacio Godoy, who especially liked this tanda.

I'll say one thing about the tanda or Troilo/Marino tandas in general. Here is where we cross from the well-known earlier Troilo recordings, both instrumental and songs with Francisco Fiorentino, into the slighly less-known and more challenging tangos from 1943 and beyond. These songs are more appreciated in Buenos Aires but the scenes in Europe (at least) seem to be catching up. However, what I hear from many DJ's is that, out of the 40 something Troilo/Marino tangos, they're playing a lot of the lesser-known songs and arrangements that are more difficult to dance to. I'd say it's good to remember that just like with Pugliese, that if you choose the most well-known and danceable songs you can find - it is still Pugliese. Meaning that the music still has all the qualities that make Pugliese so amazing but is less challenging. And the same goes for Troilo with Marino. You don't always need to select the most special songs in trying to get maximum results. Of course everything depends on everything else you play in your set, but I assure that you will get great and often even better results with such a tanda like this which has three compositions Uno, Fuimos and Sombras... straight from the top100 of the tango history.

Enjoy!

----

Here's more information of Alberto Marino from TodoTango:

Alberto Marino (26.4.1923 – 21.6.1989).

"The bandoneonist Aníbal Troilo heard him sing and suggested the latter to join the former's outfit. Marino had already made an agreement to join the orchestra of Rodolfo Biagi, but accepted Troilo's suggestion, and worked with him from 1943 until 1947.

For many people it was the singer's best time, his renditions of the tangos "Tres amigos", "Fuimos" and "Tal vez será su voz" are authentic jewels, among many others, of his contribution to the history of tango. 

After that successful stage he decided to start his career as soloist. His first orchestra was conducted by the violinist Emilio Balcarce,the same one with whom he had begun in 1939. Later the bandoneonist Enrique Alessio took over the leadership of his orchestra and some time later he is replaced by the Uruguayan musician, Héctor María Artola.

He admired Gardel and Charlo, but when he was asked about who influenced on his expression and phrasing, he invariably answered: Antonio Rodríguez Lesende. A singer hardly known, whose recordings are very hard to find and that are around sixteen renditions. [edit: listen to Di Sarli/Lesende "Milonga de Centenario" and you can hear the similarities in their singing styles]"

- by Ricardo García Blaya, Todo Tango


Troilo, Anibal - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Marino, Alberto - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store 


http://marathon.tango.fi/registration