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Juan D'Arienzo canta Alberto Echagüe - La Morocha

Magenta 9101

Juan D'Arienzo's muscular style usually left little space for the singer, who had to fit in as best he could! Whilst Héctor Mauré was the greatest singer to grace the orchestra, the one who most fitted the D'Arienzo style was Alberto Echagüe. The words you might use to describe his style: rough and ready, and canyengue (street-wise) can all be applied to the D'Arienzo orchestra itself, making him the perfect match.

D'Arienzo had three stints with D'Arienzo, of which the best was undoubtedly the first (1938-1939). Amazingly, and perhaps betraying a certain prejudice, this period is not represented on the Reliquias catalogue or any of the main Argentine labels. So it's left to the small Argentine label Pénsalo bien and some fantastic milongas.

Supply is sporadic, so if you want one of these, get one now whilst they're still available.

Track list

1. La morocha
2. Cabeza de novia vals
3. Ansiedad
4. No mientas
5. Que Dios te ayude
6. Retintín
7. Don Esteban
8. El baqueano
9. Pénsalo bien
10. El irresistible
11. El vino triste
12. Melodía porteña
13. Unión Cívica
14. Estampa de varon milonga
15. Milonga querida milonga
16. De antaño milonga

Canta:

Alberto Echagüe (2,3,4,5,9,11,14,15,16)

Hugo Diáz - Tangos

Hugo Díaz is the Argentine harmonic player whose work you sometimes hear played towards the end of the a milonga. His playing is passionate, expressive and committed - at times tender, at times attacking the instrument violently.

The three Hugo Diáz en Buenos Aires lps he recorded in the early 1970s remain unavailable, but Aqua have reissued his album Homenage a Gardel under the title Tangos - a reminder that he was first and foremost a folkmore musician, even though that's not he he is remembered outside Argentina today. All the tracks are Gardel numbers.

This is not Hugo Diáz en Buenos Aires, but it is still great stuff.

Track list

1. Mano a mano
2. Mi Buenos Aires querido
3. Melodía de arrabal
4. Soledad
5. Amores de esudiante
6. Cuesta abajo
7. Volver
8. Volvió una noche
9. Guitarra mía
10. Por una cabeza
11. Silencio
12. Arrabal amargo

Oscar Alemán - Sus grandes éxitos vol.2

Reliquias 543020

Oscar Alemán - who?

Suppose I told you that, back in the 1930s in Paris, the famous gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt had a contemporary? And that that contemporary was a more inventive player, who swung harder? And that he was a black Argentine?

That is Oscar Alemán's story. He stayed in Paris when the war broke out, but was racially abused by Nazi soldiers. Fleeing over the Spanish border, his steel guitars were seized by the Germans so they could be melted down into weaponry.

Returning to Argentina, Alemán achieved a more limited fame and was quietly forgotten by the rest of the world. In the milongas in Buenos Aires you still hear his music played in swing breaks.

This cd is the best of four great cds of Oscar Alemán on the Argentine Reliquias. It contains his best track, a stunning, hard-swinging arrangement of the classic bolero Besame mucho with fantastic playing from the whole ensemble. Almost as good is the opening track, Caminos cruzados a swing arrangement of Ernesto Lecuona's Malagueña - you may well have heard the original as a classical guitar piece, but this arrangment is so far from the original that it takes a while to recognise it here.

Swing lovers can also amuse themselves by recognising famous swing numbers in their Argentine versions such as El rag de la calle 12 (12th Street Rag) or Bailando en una estrella (Swinging on a star).

Essential stuff

Track list

1. Caminos cruzados
2. Comienza el beguine
3. Bailando en una estrella
4. El saltarín escoses
5. Me has enamorado
6. Nunca supé
7. Muñeca de papel
8. Bésame mucho
9. Me voy de fiesta al campo
10. Como te llamas
11. El baile de los negros
12. Swing en la
13. El rag de la calle 12
14. Rio Swanee
15. Avanzando de costado
16. Ensayo a las tres
17. Vieni sul mar
18. Marechiare
19. Minuet
20. Daphne

Tango Crash

Something of a departure for us - an album of electronic, tango influenced deconstrutive jazz that I don't much like. But we do get asked for this from time to time.

There's only one track on this cd - Remis - that you could use at a milonga, and then only at certain kinds of milongas. If you like the wierd stuff - this could be for you! Previews of all the tracks are available on the band's flashy website.

Track list

1. La yumba
2. Milonga para Alberto
3. Red loue
4. El choclo
5. Desde lejos
6. Pararrango
7. Remis
8. DJ Perón
9. La yumba (remix)