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Miguel Caló - Sus éxitos con Raúl Iriarte

DBN 495362

At the end of 1942, Miguel Caló's star singer, the silky-voiced Raúl Berón, got bored of churning out an endless stream of quality hits and joined the orchestra of Lucio Demare. Eighty years later, I am still surprised by this move.

Having already lost Alberto Podestá to Carlos Di Sarli, this must have been a terrible blow to Caló. Not only had he discovered both these great voices, but he had spent 1942 building the sound of his orchestra around Raúl Berón, creating the style we know today. Berón would be back in a year and a half, but in the meantime Caló needed a new singer. He turned first to Jorge Ortiz, a singer with a strong personality and a less romantic style - today we associate him with the orchestra of Rodolfo Biagi. A few months later he was joined by Raúl Iriarte.

In Iriarte, Caló found another romantic voice, someone who might give a similar feeling to the departed Raúl Berón. Their first recording together, Es en vano llorar displays both the strengths and the limitations of this new combination. Iriarte has a romantic sensibility, although he is a baritone rather than a tenor - Argentine commentators never fail to say that his style derives from Carlos Gardel. From our point of view as dancers, Iriarte does not have the intimate quality of Berón: his interpretations do not transmit the same intimate feeling. Nevertheless he is a good choice as a replacement for Berón. Tangos such as Mañana iré temprano and Cada día te extraño más (released on the second volume of Caló/Iriarte on Reliquias) became big hits for the team in the winter of 1943, followed later by Nada, Tabaco, Trenzas and Marión (with sparkling piano work from Osmar Maderna from the very beginning) - all of them on this CD.

In the winter of 1945, Caló's pianist Osmar Maderna left to form a new outfit, taking Iriarte with him and precipitating the break-up of Caló's orchestra of the stars. The new venture was not successful and Iriarte returned after only a few months. There are 3 tracks from this second period on this album: Amor y tango, Canción desesperada and Rebeldia. Without the musicianship of Maderna (piano), Francini (violin), Pontier (bandoneón) and Federico (bandoneón), these tracks are not as satisfying, although it's hard to put your finger on exactly what's wrong: Caló has his arrangements, and the replacements play in the same style, but some spark is missing. For the earlier work - once you can forgive Iriarte for not being Berón, these recordings have great quality and class.

Track list

1. Nada
2. La vi llegar
3. Tabaco
4. Trenzas
5. Verdemar
6. Amor y tango
7. Después
8. Cuando tallan los recuerdos
9. Igual que una sombra
10. Bohardilla
11. La noche que te fuiste
12. Garras
13. Canción desesperada
14. Es en vano llorar
15. Marión
16. Cuento azúl
17. Si yo pudiera comprender
18. Fruta amarga
19. Soledad, la de Barracas
20. Rebeldia

Enrique Rodriguez - El "Chato" Flores En El Recuerdo

EMI 541705

Before Armando Moreno, Roberto "Chato" Flores was Enrique Rodríguez's first singer n the years 1937-1939. In those years tango was more up-beat and the Rodríguez style was even perkier than it was in the 1940s. The 32 numbers they recorded together included only ten tangos, but there were the same number of valses (!) and seven foxtrots.

This album is not really targetted at tango aficionados, as it gives a representative selection of all their output, not just the tangos and valses. I am glad they did because the foxtrots are tremendous fun: La colegiala I have tagged as mad in the comment field (that's a compliment, by the way!) The tangos are very good too: Son cosas del bandoneón, which we perhaps associate more with Biagi is actually Rodríguez's own composition. Vendrás alguna vez and Dejame ser así shine the brightest, but it's the slightly calmer Mi verdad and Un copetín which point the way for the direction the orchestra would take in the future. You'll also notice a charming rendition of the vals Salud, dinero y amor. Great stuff.

Track list

1. Son cosas del bandoneón
2. Salud, dinero y amor vals
3. Para mí eres divina [Bei mir bist du schön] fox-trot
4. A la huacachina pasodoble
5. Un copetín
6. Tengo mil novias vals
7. Encantador de serpientes [The snake charmer] fox-trot
8. Jalisco nunca pierde pasodoble
9. Mi verdad
10. Fru fru vals
11. La calesita se destrozó [The merry-go-round broke down] fox-trot
12. Bombolo pasodoble
13. Dejame ser así
14. Las espigadoras vals
15. La colegiala fox-trot
16. Oh! ma-ma! pasodoble
17. Vendrás alguna vez
18. Los piconeros vals
19. Me encanta silbar [I love to whistle] fox-trot
20. Jarangón marcha

Carlos Di Sarli: Cantan Oscar Serpa y Mario Pomar

DyD 15230

Di Sarli's recordings from the early 1950s have long been prized by dancers because they maintain more drive than the late 50s recordings on RCA, making them very satisfying for dancing.

The classic releases on the defunct Music Hall label are long gone, but over the past few years the small Argentine label DyD have been releasing a few CDs of his work. It's great stuff, full of drive that makes it great for dancing. Vocalists Oscar Serpa and Mario Pomar are in good form, but it's the instrumentals which are the real cream of the crop. Don't expect the crystal clarity of the late 50s recordings, which are reproduced from original masters, but this is still more than good enough for the milonga - many of these tracks are 5 star tracks on my playlist. La cachila and Don Juan are outstanding; Don Juan is better for dancing than the late 50s version. Great dance music.

This was offered in the club previously in August 2009, but went out of print. We are very pleased to be able to offer it again.

Track list

1. La cachila
2. Verdemar
3. Don Juan
4. Patotero sentmental
5. Comme il faut
6. El pollito
7. Organito de la tarde
8. Sueño de juventud vals
9. Quejas de bandoneón
10. Duelo criollo
11. El cachafaz
12. Tinta verde

Cantan:

• Oscar Serpa (2,8)
• Mario Pomar (4,10)

electrocutango - Adrenalina

I enjoyed this album when it came out and said so on my blog but the taste of the dancing public has become much more traditional in recent years, and the cd was a surprise flop.

Nevertheless, there are some things here that deserve to be heard. Agua mansa is outstanding and I really like the innovative reworking of Discépolo's classic Cambalache which has great vocals from Julia Zenko.

Perhaps not for dancing, Pugliando is a work of genius - a Pugliese sample given the electronic treatment. In a way it's more respectful than the bands who try (and fail) to reproduce the Pugliese sound.

This is an innovative album and it will take you at least a couple of listenings to feel your way through it. Read more on our blog.

Track list

1. Vanguardia vieja
2. Lejanía
3. Adrenalina
4. Agua mansa
5. Cambalache
6. Tangle
7. Cybertango
8. Venceremos
9. El tango del gringo
10. Milonga carioca milonga
11. Corralera milonga
12. Recostado en la vidriera
13. Pugliando
14. Yo soy María