78rpm enthusiast Ethan Crenson presents Tangos and alternate flipsides, revealing both Argentinian dance themes and
trans-national variations.
***
Los Ochos stepped across the frontier with the push/pull of the bandoneon. From Rio del Plata to the backstreets of Buenas Aires across cafes to Paris. Echoing on radios beyond the ballrooms of Europe to entwine the globe. Dancing through landmines as economies collapsed.
A selection of songs from the the "Golden Age" reflecting the hope and desperation of star-crossed lives as the world marched into the oblivion of the second World War.
Shellac discs representing the fraught state of trans-Atlantic relations amid the horror of mid 20th-century global political culture.
Bravado, but also many sudden turns and hearts bursting with blood.
***
El Gaucho Con Guittaras
Hacedlo Por La Vieja {tango}
Que Pena Me Da {tango}
[verne V-0305-A]
(El Gaucho = Eduardo Duran)
Orchestra Argentin Bachicha
Viejo Poncho {tango}
Romantica Mujer {tango}
[odeon 279-708] {1941}
Eduardo Biancho et son Fameux Orchestre Argentin
Malevaje (avec chant por Carlo Americo) {tango}
Leyenda (solo de guitare por M. Sorrosal)
[odeon 185-752]
(Violinist, composer and conducor acclaimed for synthesizing
new styles during the Parisian wave of the 1920's)
Luciano Tajoli
Lucia (orch. dir. M.O. Maraviglia) {tango}
Souvenir (vibraphone) {no tango}
[odeon H 18420]
(Self-taught Italian singer and actor.)
Kessler + Martha Mumenthaler (mit Orchesterbegleitung)
Kehr Zurück {tango}
Ein Blümlein Sah Ich Blühn {waltz}
[elite 2028]
Barnabus von Géczy mit seinem Orchestar
Bei Zärtlicher Musik {tango}
Puszta {foxtrot}
[rca-victor 25-4049]
(Hungarian violinist and Romani folkorist
who later conducted in Berlin.)
Malando and his Tango Orchestra
Porque Te Vas {tango}
Vida {tango}
[philips P17041]
Tetos Demetriades
Ela Na Niosis (let us enjoy) {tango}
Zoi Trelli (crazy life) {foxtrot}
[victor V58051]
(Greek Rebetika singer who also penned "Misirlou",
later to be adapted by surf guitarist Dick Dale)
Sestetto Cannata
Notte D'Amore {tango}
Notte Stellata {waltz}
[columbia 14824 F]
Ramón Armengod con Nano Rodrigo y su Orquestra
Amapola {tango/foxtrot}
Adiós Mariquita Linda {foxtrot}
[decca 18160] {1941}
(Mexican singer/actor backed by popular orchestra of the period)
Watanabe Hamako
Hill of Pure Heart {tango}
China Night {no tango}
[columbia A-93] {1938}
(This tango is controversial in political nature. An earlier translation
renders it as "Dream of China." The song was hit among Japanese
troops that advanced across Manchuria during WWII.
After its early success the song "China Night" was the springboard
for a love story/propaganda film that played in Asia during the war.
The singer Waranabe Hamako was later captured in Machuria
and served a year in a P.O.W. camp before returning to music.
After the war the song had yet another wave of popularity
among American G.I.s stationed in Japan)
TANGO
De las piernas
Intangible
Rio de la Plata
Uraguay y el Argentino
Habanera
Milonga
Candomble
Los Ochos
CARA
abrazo
CARA
Paris y al resto
En syncopación
Bailando,
Girando como un globo.
*
"...the tendency to end on an unresolved note..." ~E. C.
