Encyclopedia of Tango and the 1950's Instrumental Tango - DJ Antti Suniala

The recently released "Encyclopedia of Tango" by Gabriel Valiente is a huge book. Not only in size but in importance to many tango DJ's and collectors. The 800 page book compiles discographies of 148 orchestras with the essential information about singers and recording dates but also, which I find very interesting, who were the members of the orchestra for each time period and which companies the orchestra recorded for. The discographies have been compiled from various sources - rare unreleased or limited release discographies, different collections and publications as well as numerous online resources.

Needless to say it is a very practical tool for every DJ and here is an example of how I put it to use. I looked for orchestras who recorded in the 1950's and had recorded instrumental tangos. The 1950's was ruled by D'Arienzo, Di Sarli, Troilo and Pugliese (in amount and quality of recordings), but I found many orchestras I had never heard of and I was fortunately able to find at least one song from most of them on Spotify. This playlist shows a few things. First, the great amount of orchestras (with great musicians) recording in the 50's. Second, how far sometimes many of the orchestras were from capturing the essence of tango for dancing (not claiming that all of them tried to) especially when comparing to best of D'Arienzo, Di Sarli and songs like Biagi's "El recodo".

Still there are many highlights to this compilation and a lot of songs great to dance to or just listen to and appreciate the musicianship. To name a few of my favorites to listen to of these songs - Lorenzo Barbero, Raúl Kaplun, Juan Polito, Mario Demarco and Di Sarli's less known second version of "Bahia blanca".

As I said, not all the orchestras were available on Spotify. One of them was Orquesta Tipica Dante Puricelli of which you can listen to "El pollo Ricardo" on YouTube.

All comments on and the sharing of this playlist are appreciated.

DJ Antti Suniala - 1950's Intrumental Tango 
listen on Spotify / Deezer

1. Alfredo Attadía - "El negro Pintos" 1952-08-14
2. Armando Baliotti - "La guitarrita" 1952-07-10
3. Lorenzo Barbero - "Ataniche" 1951-10-15
4. José Basso - "Entrada prohibida" 1950-01-20
5. Rodolfo Biagi - "El recodo" 1952-11-05
6. Jorge Caldara - "Cascabelito" 1959-02-25
7. Miguel Caló - "Una fija" 1951-07-31
8. Roberto Caló - "En fa menor" 1953
9. Juan Cambareri - "El llorón" 1950-11-22
10. Francisco Canaro - "Lorenzo" 1950-05-05

11. Ángel D'Agostino - "La sonámbula" 1954-01-26
12. Victor D'Amario - "La torcacita" 1951-10-15
13. Juan D'Arienzo - "Canaro en París" 1950-05-05
14. Alfredo De Angelis - "Nueve de julio" 1950-07-20
15. Julio De Caro - "El arranque" 1951-11-16
16. Eduardo Del Piano - "Chiqué" 1951-09-17
17. Mario Demarco - "Mal de amores" 1952-08-08
18. Lucio Demare - "Milonguero viejo" 1954
19. Carlos Demaria - "El Marne" 1951-11-19
20. Carlos Di Sarli - "Bahía Blanca (2nd version)" 1958-11-14

21. Edgardo Donato - "El huracán" 1952-11-04
22. Domingo Federico - "Leyenda gaucha" 1952-11-24
23. Enrique Francini, Armando Pontier - "Derecho viejo" 1953-10-23
24. Osvaldo Fresedo - "Prepárense" 1950-05-31
25. Alfredo J. Gobbi - "El andariego" 1951-06-27
26. Raúl Kaplún - "Estaño" 1950 
27. Francisco Lauro - "El estribo" 1953-09-09
28. Pedro Laurenz - "Amurado" 1952-09-25
29. Los Astros del Tango - "Sans souci" 1959-09-12
30. Osmar Maderna - "Inspiración" 1950-02-02

31. Alberto Mancione - "Ventarrón" 1950-07-28
32. Enrique Mora - "La payanca" 1951-10-01
33. Ricardo Pedevilla - "El amanecer" 1950-11-28
34. Adolfo Pérez - "Yapeyú" 1951-06-12
35. Astor Piazzolla - "Triste" 1950-12-29
36. Juan Polito - "El internado" 1952-10-10
37. Armando Pontier - "La cachila" 1956-08-15
38. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Seguime si podés" 1953-10-06
39. Francisco Rotundo - "Mariposita" 1950-08-18
40. José Sala - "Recuerdo" 1953-12-29

41. Fulvio Salamanca - "Chiqué" 1957-05-31
42. Horacio Salgán - "Mi refugio" 1950-06-21
43. Juan Sánchez Gorio - "El caburé" 1956-01-20
44. Florindo Sassone - "La trilla" 1951-06-22
45. Atilio Stampone - "La rayuela" 1958-06-12
46. Ricardo Tanturi - "El pollito" 1959-12-09
47. Aníbal Troilo - "Quejas de bandoneón" 1958-12-16
48. Héctor Varela - "Mi dolor" 1953-06-16

Lucio Demare y Su Orquesta

Here's a great compilation of Lucio Demare's recordings in excellent quality. Remember that some record noise is often a sign of lesser filtering and better audio quality.

These 22 songs go for only 8 euros on the iTunes Store.

Alberto Castillo y Emilio Balcarce - discography

I've compiled a discography of Alberto Castillo with the orchestra of Emilio Balcarce on Spotify. These songs were recorded in 1943-1946 after Castillo split with Tanturi. Unfortunately not all of the songs were available on Spotify but you can have a look at the complete Castillo/Balcarce discography on www.tango.info.

To learn more about Emilio Balcarce I recommend reading the article about him on Todotango. Balcarce composed the amazing "La Bordona" and played with Pugliese as well as in Sexteto Tango. In 2000 he was appointed the head of Orquesta Escuela de Tango, which was featured on the amazing documentary "Si sos brujo".

The Troilo Discography and TangoTunes.com

It's a good time to be a DJ or a fan of tango music! The TangoTunes.com are adding the Anibal Troilo discography to their online store digitalized in high quality from original shellacs. The songs are available in MP4 and FLAC formats. Right now the collection consists of 48 Troilo shellacs that are available individually or in the three special offer collections "Cordon de oro", "Un placer" and "Buenos Aires". And more releases are coming!

You can listen to the currently available recordings available on TangoTunes.com in this Spotify playlist or below. There are a few songs missing but as soon as they are added to the TangoTunes shop I will be updating the playlist. You can check the full Troilo discography at tango.info. Be sure to check out the special 10% discount promotion on all the purchases of digitalized Troilo shellacs on Tanda of the Week!

I would like to remind you that buy purchasing music from TangoTunes you are also supporting the important work of the Tango Digital Archive.

The D'Arienzo discography and TangoTunes.com

  

It's a good day for us tango enthusiasts! TangoTunes.com has released a lot of tracks from Juan D'Arienzo in amazing quality. The songs are digitalized from shellacs in collaboration with the Tango Digital Archive and the sound quality is just beautiful.

You can also go to Tanda of the Week to read about and enjoy a special discount promotion for these songs! And ofcourse check out all the D'Arienzo tandas on TOTW.

So far your best options for getting some of these songs in good quality have been the very rare Club Tango Argentino releases or albums like De Pura Cepa (Spotify link) or El Esquinazo (Spotify link). In some cases the differences in quality are minor and it's up to you which versions you prefer, although many of the CTA versions have a lot more record noise than the TangoTunes versions. Although the TangoTunes versions have gone through more remastering don't be afraid since the songs are not over filtered and the orchestras sound better than ever.

Nevertheless, I would like to especially highlight one song in particular: "Trago amargo" from 1939 with Alberto Echague. Unfortunately the short sample available on TangoTunes is not in full quality (low bitrate) and it fails to give a true example of the quality of the digitalization (which is available both in MPEG-4 and FLAC), but you can hear the clearness of the sound and that there is no record noise besides slight hiss, making this probably the best version available and at least the best one I've heard. I had to dig into my recycle bin to recover my older versions of the song to compare the quality further. I had the versions by Keith Elshaw (totango.net), Club Tango Argentino (CTA306), "Tango Bravo" (album), and also the collection "Su obra completa-Vol 06 de 48(1939-1940)". The last three suffer greatly from loud record noise, which just gets worse in the end of the song especially on the CTA version, and the last two also have very poor quality in general. The Keith Elshaw version has less record noise but unfortunately the way it is remastered hurts my soul. The "Trago Amargo" available on Spotify (and iTunes) from the The History of Tango / El Rey del Compas / Recordings 1954 - 1955, Vol. 7 album (which oddly enough includes actually the 1939 version of the song) also has similar record noise to the CTA version.


I've made a printable PDF file of the complete D'Arienzo discography between 1935-1939 with links to the songs available on TangoTunes.com as well as links to www.tango.info where you can find more information about the songs. Below are the songs from 1935-1939 available on TangoTunes so far. Also more shellac digitalizations are available and you can check them here.

Penas de amor	vals	-	1935-08-12	info	TangoTunes
Tinta verde	tango	-	1935-08-12	info	TangoTunes
Francia	vals	-	1935-10-03	info	TangoTunes
Re Fa Si	tango	-	1935-10-03	info	TangoTunes
Sábado inglés	tango	-	1935-11-18	info	TangoTunes
Joaquina	tango	-	1935-12-12	info	TangoTunes
Pabellón de las rosas	vals	-	1935-12-12	info	TangoTunes
Nueve de julio	tango	-	1935-12-31	info	TangoTunes
Orillas del plata	vals	-	1935-12-31	info	TangoTunes
La guitarrita	tango	-	1936-01-14	info	TangoTunes
Silueta porteña	milonga	Walter Cabral	1936-01-14	info	TangoTunes
El flete	tango	-	1936-04-03	info	TangoTunes
Un placer	vals	Walter Cabral	1936-04-03	info	TangoTunes
Lorenzo	tango	-	1936-05-08	info	TangoTunes
Tu olvido	vals	Walter Cabral	1936-05-08	info	TangoTunes
Inolvidable	vals	-	1936-08-05	info	TangoTunes
Don Juan	tango	-	1936-09-29	info	TangoTunes
Lágrimas y sonrisas	vals	-	1936-09-29	info	TangoTunes
Comme il faut	tango	-	1936-10-27	info	TangoTunes
Una lágrima	vals	-	1936-10-27	info	TangoTunes
Ataniche	tango	-	1936-11-27	info	TangoTunes
Corazón de artista	vals	-	1936-11-27	info	TangoTunes
La viruta	tango	-	1936-12-30	info	TangoTunes
Visión celeste	vals	-	1936-12-30	info	TangoTunes
Alma dolorida	vals	-	1937-03-05	info	TangoTunes
Mentías	vals	-	1937-04-01	info	TangoTunes
Homero	tango	-	1937-04-27	info	TangoTunes
La puñalada	milonga	-	1937-04-27	info	TangoTunes
Valsecito de antes	vals	-	1937-08-31	info	TangoTunes
El caburé	tango	-	1937-09-22	info	TangoTunes
Milonga, vieja milonga	milonga	-	1937-09-22	info	TangoTunes
El cencerro	tango	-	1937-12-09	info	TangoTunes
Gallo ciego	tango	-	1937-12-09	info	TangoTunes
El africano	tango	-	1937-12-14	info	TangoTunes
La cumparsita	tango	-	1937-12-14	info	TangoTunes
La morocha	tango	-	1937-12-21	info	TangoTunes
El esquinazo	milonga	-	1938-01-04	info	TangoTunes
Indiferencia	tango	Alberto Echagüe	1938-01-04	info	TangoTunes
Unión Cívica	tango	-	1938-01-07	info	TangoTunes
La mariposa	tango	-	1938-03-23	info	TangoTunes
El aeroplano	vals	-	1938-04-12	info	TangoTunes
El horizonte	tango	-	1938-04-12	info	TangoTunes
Trago amargo	tango	Alberto Echagüe	1939-12-22	info	TangoTunes

TangoTunes - Digital Tango Music Store

I'm happy to announce a collaboration with the TangoTunes - Digital Tango Music Store. My other blog Tanda of the Week will feature tandas of recordings available at the TangoTunes online store and the readers of TOTW will receive special promotional codes for discounts on purchases on TangoTunes.com. Below is the first of the special promotions:

With the promotional code "TOTW12-BIAGI" you are entitled to a 10% discount on all of the Biagi recordings digitalized from shellac records. This offer is available from 1st to 7th of July. Here are the steps you need to take:

1. Go to TangoTunes.com and find the Biagi shellacs you'd like to purchase and add them to your shopping cart.
2. Go to your shopping cart/basket and type the promotional coupon code TOTW12-BIAGI in the Discount Codes box and click apply coupon. You will see the discount applied in the total sum.
3. Checkout, complete your purchase, download your new music and enjoy!

Most of the music of Rodolfo Biagi featured on Tanda of the Week is already available on TangoTunes.com. Click here for the complete list of Biagi tandas on Tanda of the Week.

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Here's more information about TangoTunes from their website:

"TangoTunes is an Austrian-Argentine project with the aim to preserve the music of Tango Argentino. This way, we also preserve and support a piece of Argentine culture, which was declared World Heritage several years ago.

In cooperation with TangoVia Buenos Aires we promote the project "Tango Digital Archive" with the goal to archive the recordings and documents of Tango Argentino in their entirety.

TangoTunes purchases selected collections of vinyl and shellac records from collectors in Argentina and digitizes them in a highly difficult process. Since the beginning of 2013, approximately 1.000 vinyl records and 5.000 shellac records are successively being digitized with precision and care. We offer these Tango recordings – our „tunes“ – to Tango lovers in our online store. Our product catalog is constantly expanding – it pays off to have a look more frequently!

Founded in 2013, TangoTunes is a young company located in Vienna, Austria and a branch in Buenos Aires, Argentina. We spend much time and care to restore the music of Tango Argentino as close to the original as possible. This not only requires much know-how and experience, but also great appreciation for the original and tenacious work for an ideal final result."

Alberto Podestá / Miguel Caló - discography

Alberto Podestá & DJ Antti Suniala (Salon Canning, BsAs. 2012)

  

Here is the discography of Alberto Podestá with Miguel Caló on Spotify. Unfortunately they didn't cut many recordings together, but songs like "Percal", "Pedacito en cielo" and "Bajo un cielo de estrellas" are true classics played in almost every milonga. The polca "Me casé con un sargento" can be found on Youtube as well as the vals "Sueña", that were not available on Spotify. You can find the complete discography of Alberto Podestá at www.tango.info.

• "Bajo un cielo de estrellas" 12.03.1941 - iTunes Store
• "Yo soy el tango" 12.03.1941 - iTunes
• "Dos fracasos" 31.07.1941 - iTunes
• "Me casé con un sargento" (corrido polca) 31.07.1941 
• "Pedacito de cielo" 02.09.1942 - iTunes
• "Percal" 25.02.1043 - iTunes
• "Si tú quisieras" 18.03.1943 - iTunes
• "Oración rante" 05.03.1954 - iTunes
• "El bazar de los juguetes" 05.05.1954 - iTunes
• "Un infierno" 05.05.1954 - iTunes
• "Cómo le digo a la vieja" 15.06.1954 - iTunes
• "La cantina" 15.06.1954 - iTunes
• "Noche de locura" 23.06.1954 - iTunes
• "Sueña" 12.10.1954
• "Qué falta que me hacés!" 19.04.1963 - iTunes