Orquesta Típica: It’s origins.

The first stablished musical formation for the interpretation of tango music was the trio, integrated by harp or guitar, flute or clarinete, and violin.
These trios did not produce any recordings, but we can be sure enough, according to testimonials, that they played a faster and more “staccato” rhythm, which was slowed down and shaped into a more “legato” sound with the arrival of the bandoneon.
At the beginning of the 1900, the word “tango” was still considered inappropriate.
As an example, when José Luis Roncallo performed for the first time “El choclo” at the restaurant El Americano, in 1903, he presented it as “danza criolla”.

In 1910, Casa Tagini, dealership of Columbia Records, produced the first recordings of a formation dedicated exclusively to playing tangos. In need of an appropriated label for this formation, the term “Orquesta Típica Criolla” was born.
Vicente Greco (1888-1924), conductor and bandoneon player of this formation, is recognized, together with Francisco Canaro (1888-1964), who played violin in it, as the creators of this term, which will from this moment, characterize the orchestras conformed for the interpretation of tango music.

They both were neighbors of adjacent “conventillos” of the “candombero” barrio de Concepción, on Calle Sarandí 1356 and 1358 respectively.

Their families were very poor and they had to work since their childhood selling newspapers in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Vicente’s parents, Genaro and Victoria were from Italy, and his father played the mandolin. His siblings also played music and were passionated students of every subject.

His nickname “Garrote” (club) needs an explanation. During one of those card games in which Don Genaro use to find entertainment, the eldest of Vicente’s siblings, Fernando, knockout of a slap one of the players, possibly because he perceived a cheat, or this man said something not nice to his father. From that moment Fernando got that nickname, and Vicente was first known as “Garrote’s brother”. As his fame grew up, people started calling him simply “Garrote”.

Vicente started playing the flute, then guitar and singing. He had a talent for music, he worked hard and study passionately, self-taught and made each instrument sound in a personal way: concertina, bandoneon and also harmonium, in which he made many of his great compositions.

He also aspired to have access to a comprehensive culture and deeply loved literature and theater. He self-taught himself to read and write by asking people in the street, while he worked selling newspapers, what the words in the signs said: “panadería” (bakery), “librería” (bookshop), “se alquila” (renting)…

Julio De Caro told that “One day, by chance, discover a box over his parents’ closet. At opening it, he is amazed by the unknown instrument. He interrogates her mother, who replied: “It is a concertina that we were given by a family friend.” Vicente begins to practice with the instrument, and in one month he was able to play a Waldteufeld’s waltz, a polka and… Juan Tango! Studying day and night without taking a break.”

Other version of how Vicente gets this concertina tells that a group of young boys were playing a serenade for a beautiful girl in a nearby conventillo. When, instead of the girl a policeman showed up at the opening of the conventillo’s door, the group of boys runaway, leaving a concertina behind. Since nobody came back to reclame it, it was given to Vicente, known for his talent.

Another version of the story connect both renditions saying that this left behind concertina was keep by Vicente’s parents over the closet, were he will eventually find it.

He was introduced to the secrets of the bandoneon by a colorful character of the Buenos Aires of those times, Sebastián Ramos Mejía “El Pardo”, who worked as trams guard.

We refer again to Julio De Caro: “After listening to Greco playing the concertina, Ramos Mejía, amazed, advised his parents to buy him a real bandoneon. Family and friends chip in and after a long search, being then very few of these instruments in Buenos Aires, they find the long-awaited bandoneon and give it to the 14 years old prodigy. Vicente soon dominates his new instrument. “

Almost simultaneously, he learned musical theory with Carmelo Rizzuti, but the intuitive musician will always prevail. Bandoneon player and composer of original realization ideas, he was always caught by a spontaneous musical inventiveness, without traces of academicism.

Vicente Greco was the first professional bandoneon player. Other bandoneonists played before him, but at homes, in family parties. He assumed the task to take the bandoneon to the streets.
At evenings, Vicente would practice his instrument at the entrance hall of the “conventillo” where he resided, opening the door for fresh air. The people passing by would by attracted to the hunting sounds of this mysterious instrument and would stop to listen. Night after night the crowd grew bigger.

His professional premier happened in 1906 at “Salón Sur” (Pozos and Cochabamba), with a trio integrated by, in addition to his bandoneon, violin and guitar.
With them he started a year long tour throughout the sprofitable brothels of the Buenos Aires province’s cities and Rosario, a great opportunity for all tango musicians of the time to make money, gain experience and achieve prestige. During this tour, Vicente suffered a serious accident, which will be, eventually, the cause of his early death, when the stage setup for his performance fell apart (some claim that following a violent fight), damaging his kidneys. But he also linked up with the most famous tango musicians of the time, who would influence him improving his technique and the way he conduct his formations.

After recovering from the accident, he returned to his performances at the “cafés de camareras” (bars attended by waitresses) of La Boca neighborhood, with his brother Ángel Greco in guitar, and Ricardo Gaudenzio -author of  “El chupete” (listen to Anibal Troilo’s rendition of 1940, click here) playing the violin.
He continue playing for three years at the most popular venues of the area known as Suárez y Necochea, with great success, and premiering some of his compositions, yet without title.

Then he was hired by “El Pardo Santillán”, a renowned milonguero, to play in downtown, at the “Salón San Martín”, known by the dancers as “Rodriguez Peña” due to the street in which it was located, where he played with a quartet integrated by his bandoneon, piano and two violins.
It was so successful, that soon the salon resulted too small for such crowds. This hall was attended by the best dancers of the time, like the aforementioned “Pardo” and “El Vasquito” Casimiro Aín, “La Parda” Loreto, “La Chata” or María Angélica, to whom Vicente dedicated his tango of the same name (listen to Adolfo Pérez “Pocholo” rendition of 1934, click here).
Greco performances at this venue contributed greatly to the acceptance of tango at Buenos Aires downtown. Vicente expressed his gratitude to his huge following with his composition “Rodriguez Peña” (listen to 1945’s Carlos Di Sarli rendition, click here).

Soon, he is hired to play at “El Estribo” (Entre Rios 763/67), where his musicians will be his disciple Juan Lorenzo Labissier as second bandoneon, “El Chino” Agustín Bardi at the piano, “Palito” Abate and “Pirincho” Canaro in violins, and ”El Tano” Vicente Pecci playing the flute. It was the year 1910. The police had to close Entre Rios street due to the amount of people that crowded in front of the café to listen to Greco even they could not enter to his sold out performances. Applauses and shoutings exploded at the end of each song. The public was most heterogeneous, and “compadritos” (marginals) co-existed peacefully with “niños bien” (rich family boys), at least for a while. Regulars were also famous “payadores” of the time, as José Betinoti and the duet formed by Carlos Gardel and José Razzano.
Vicente composed the tango “El Estribo” (listen to Rodolfo Biagi’s rendition, 1940, click here) dedicated to Mario Scolpini, owner of this place.

He played also during this time at “Lo de Laura”, and “Lo de María La Vasca”.

This is the time in which the nascent phonographic industry of Argentina, headed by the owners of Casa Tagini, decide to hire Greco to make the first ever recordings of tangos by a musical formation exclusively dedicated to this gender. The sponsors of these recording were not convinced of the piano as a instrument that belonged to tango music yet, and that is why Ángel Greco came to play the guitar instead of Agustín Bardi the piano. There are also some doubts about who played the violin, regarding Canaro and Abate.
At the print label of the discs was written: “Vicente Greco y su orquesta típica criolla con bandoneón”. The firs recording was “Rosendo” (listen, click here).

In 1912 Greco’s orchestra played at the opening of Armenonville, in Palermo, the first cabaret in Buenos Aires. It had beautiful gardens with tables and chairs, a sumptuous villa with ample dance floor and windows. The ground floor, generously lit by a stunning chandelier, contrasted with the semidarkness of the box seats.

Vicente Greco did not created the “orquesta típica”, but devised its name, and contributed with the doubling of bandoneons and violins, which together with the substitution of flute by bass, done by Francisco Canaro, and the finalized acceptance of the piano instead of guitar, done by Roberto Firpo, will lead to the formation of the “Sexteto Típico”, core of the Orquesta Típica.

From 1913 Greco recorded for other companies. In 1914 for Atlanta records, with the name of “Quinteto Criollo Garrote”, and at the end of this year, he takes a break and travels to Montevideo de Canaro to expend the money made with these recordings.
Then he continue with his performances at “Petit Salon”, “Cabaret Montmartre” (Corrientes 1431), at the summer house of the roundabout of Las Heras 2500, the “Rowing Club”, “Cabaret Maxim’s), the hotels Plaza, Americano, Tigre… Also, the families of the ‘Porteña aristocracy” opened their doors to him and with him to Tango itself -another of Vicente Greco’s great contributions to Tango-, and he played at the residencies of Dr. Lucio V. López (Callao and Quintana), at the Lagos García, at the Lamarque, Green and many others.

In 1916 he and Canaro put together one of the first known big orchestras, to play at the carnival dances at the “Teatro Politeama” in Rosario. The size of the hall and the amount of people assisting to these events, demanded the enlargement of the musical formations to increase the sound volume.
This orchestra was conformed by Vicente Greco, Juan Lorenzo Labissier, Pedro Polito and Osvaldo Fresedo in bandoneons; Francisco Canaro, Rafael Rinaldi and Francisco Confetta in violins; Samuel Castriota in piano; José Martínez in armonio; Vicente Pecci in flute; Ruperto Leopoldo Thompson in bass; Pablo Laise in sandpaper; and Juan Carlos Bazán in clarinet.
These idea would later be followed by Firpo and Canaro in 1917 and 1918.

Then his health declined rapidly. His plays less and less often. His last performances were at the city of Córdoba in 1921. His demise happened at his home of Humberto Primo 1823, on October 5, 1924.

Of his personality, what is more notorious is his extreme modesty. he loved literature and theatre, cultivated the friendship of Evaristo Carriego, with whom he coauthored a tango that remains unpublished, and Florencio Sánchez, great screenwriter. He frequented the literary cafés, like the one called “Los Inmortales”, of Corrientes 1369, and left at the time of his death an unfinished screenplay.

As a composer, he knew to intertwine in his creations the rhythms and melodies of the “criolla” music, of the traditions of a country populated by gauchos descendants of the Spanish colony, and the new sounds and idiosyncrasies arriving to Buenos Aires with the massive immigration of the end of 1800s.
Some examples of his talented compositions are:

“El pibe” (to listen to Vicente Greco rendition of 1910, click here)
“El morochito” (to listen to Enrique Rodriguez of 1941, click here)
“Rodriguez Peña” (to listen to Carlos Di Sarli rendition of 1945 , click here)
“El flete” (to listen Juan D’Arienzo rendition of 1936 , click here)
“El estribo” (to listen Rodolfo Biagi rendition of 1940 , click here)
“Ojos negros” (to listen Anibal Troilo rendition of 1948, click here)
“Pofpof” (to listen to Juan D’Arienzo rendition of 1948, click here)
“La viruta” (to listen Carlos Di Sarli rendition of 1943, click here)
“Racing Club” (to listen to Alfredo Gobbi rendition of 1948, click here)

Read also:

• History of Tango – Part 1
• History of Tango – Part 2
• History of Tango – Part 3
• History of Tango – Part 4
• History of Tango – Part 5

Bibliography:

• • “Crónica general del tango”, José Gobello, Editorial Fraterna, 1980.
  • “El tango”, Horacio Salas, Editorial Aguilar, 1996.
  • “Historia del tango – La Época Dorada”, chapter 2, “Vicente Greco”, Luis Adolfo Sierra, Editorial Corregidor 1977.
  • “El tango, el gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro, Editorial Argenta, 2009.
  • “El tango, el bandoneón y sus intérpretes”, Oscar Zucchi, Ediciones Corregidor, 1998.
  • “Encyclopedia of Tango”, Gabriel Valiente, 2014.
  • https://www.todotango.com/english/

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In the case of the dancers, in addition to the ones already mentioned, who were also musicians and we remember mainly because of their musical legacy, like Casimiro Alcorta (and his partner La Paulina), Lola Candales, Enrique Saborido, Ángel Villoldo, Alfredo Eusebio and Flora Gobbi, Ernesto Ponzio, or like Laurentina Monserrat (Laura), María Rangolla (La Vasca) or Concepción Amaya (Mamita), who are known after the places they managed, a special mention is deserved by:

Enrique Saborido, with the beautiful Lola Candales, Uruguayan as he and his muse, come tango dancers. In 1908, with the growing popularity of tango, he opens academia in Cerrito 1070, which they managed until 1912. In that year he decided to go to Paris with other tango personalities. There, he taught to dance tango to the European aristocracy and show off as a professional dancer at the Savoy and the Royal Theatre in London. He referred to other good dancers: Jorge Newbery (one of the first Latin American aircraft pilots. He was also an engineer, and is considered to be the architect and founder of the Argentine Air Force), his close friend Alberto J. Mascías, Alberto Lange, and Martin Edmund Hileret Anchorena.

Concepción Maya, known as “Mamita”. At her home, located in Lavalle 2177, Ernesto Ponzio composed his famous tango “Don Juan”. Domingo Greco, in his unpublished memoirs, quoted by Dr. Benarós, among other things, says: “In this house, the clientele was selected. Men from the upper class only. I met there the first professionals of tango:  Angel Villoldo and Sergio Mendizabal, Rosendo’s brother. He played the tango ‘más compadrón’, and was strongest in the accompaniment, more ‘tempista’. He was one of the best tangueros of his time. Played, preferably, in Concepcion Amaya’s house. When this woman emigrated from Buenos Aires, she settled with a brothel in the village of 9 de Julio and brought “El Negro” Sergio with her. I was then told that he died sitting in a bar, with the guitar on his lap. He played guitar and sang so well, improvising. Instead, Rosendo produced better tangos … ”
Mamita, as Luis Teisseire told, “was tall, skinny, authoritarian. Of dark complexion, rather ‘achinada’, brave, black eyes. Always she wore a long, dark silk suit. She looked all covered with a high collar. At her house, among her women, she had la Ñata Rosaura, Herminia and Joaquina. After a glass door, it was a long courtyard with the rooms on the side and the classic dining room. ” There, played the piano Sergio Mendizabal, El Gordo Mauricio and Teisseire, our informant.

Other dancers from before 1910 whose names reached us are:

El Mulato Sinforoso, who played clarinet next to Casimiro Alcorta and a guitar player, forming a trio that according to Lino Galeano, in an article written in the newspaper “Crítica” in 1913, signing as “Viejo tanguero”, was the first tango band.

Carlos Kern ‘El Inglés’ was a man of “Maria La Vasca”. He mastered the ‘vals cruzado’. He was a strong man of clear eyes, always quiet, but effective in placing orders. He was recognized as a tough man, was heavy-handed and he alone was able to contain the aggressive ‘compadraje’. For a time he organized dances at Patria e Lavoro, in Chile 1567, a narrow hall, which was a difficult place to stop the excesses of pickpockets and rioters. According to César Viale, he finished serving as an ordinance in the law firm of Dr. Carlos Delcasse.

Carmen Gomez has been born around 1830 and began dancing at the Academia de Pardos y Morenos, located on Calle del Parque (current Lavalle). Around the 1854s she opened what became known as the “Academia de la Parda Gomez”, in the vicinity of the Plaza Lorea (part of the current Plaza del Congreso). After selling it, in 1864, she opened another in Corrientes 437.
By the help of an Afro-Argentine sorcerer, surrounded the house of her adversary, la Morena Agustina, in an effort to provoke misfortune.
“The Afro-Argentines of the second half of the nineteenth century were the owners of the ‘academias’, as the ‘peringundines’ where the ‘compadraje orillero’ used to attend, were called… The police report of the time recounts numerous incidents occurred there, where soldiers, Afro-Argentines from different neighborhoods and cart drivers were regulars” (R. Rodriguez Molas: Free Black River Plate Magazine Humanities, Ministry of Education of the Province of Buenos Aires, l year, September 1961, p. 114.).

About la Morena Agustina, we know that also had academia near Plaza Lorea.

The dancer Clotilde Lemos began in the Academia de Pardos y Morenos, in the second half of the 1850s.

Alejandro Vilela, was employed at the Academia de la Parda Gomez, where he played the piano.

Luciana Acosta,”La Moreyra”, was a popular dancer of the neighborhood of San Cristobal. She was a source of inspiration in the literary field: Jose Sebastian Tallón portrayed her in his book “Tango in the stages of forbidden music” (Buenos Aires, 1959); and Juan Carlos Ghiano makes her protagonist of his play “La Moreyra,” released by the company Tita Merello in 1962. There is a film version starring the same actress.
She was the daughter of Andalusian gypsies, and lived with her man, “El Cívico”, Bautista Salvini, at the room number 15 of the “conventillo” El Sarandi, located at 1356 of the street of the same name, and where some rooms were occupied by the Greco family.
Dancer of great fame in the early tango scene, she danced at the café La Pichona, at Pavón, between Rincón and Pasco (then district of brothels), where, as described by Jose Sebastian Tallón, “she was the business partner of her husband, a pimp, and skilled dancer. She was at night a woman of tango. In her veins bubbled the gypsy bravery, and being so feminine in appearance, and so beautiful, she was of great courage as dagger shooter, hence her nickname … Her figure: not very tall, perfectly shaped, sensual voice, like her face, as her walk; olive skin tone, black eyes and hair, smallmouth, optimum bust. She wore a blue or red silk robe with white poke dots. Sometimes with colorful squares, or flowery dress with long sleeves and lace cuff. She closed her robe from the neck to the start of her breast, with a silken cord zigzagging the embroidered eyelets, finishing in a bun with tassels. Her waist was belted up to hurting by a corset. The skirt was pleated, gray or light green. Perfumed with Rosa de Francia, Agua Florida or Jour de Gloire. Hairstyle bun at the nape, with hairpins and combs of tortoiseshell, big gold hoop earrings, and a locket. Portrayed inside the locket was El Cívico.”

El Cívico, Bautista Salvini, descended from Southern Italians. was a pimp, a good dancer and a respected compadrito.

Joaquina Marán, “La China Joaquina”, a wonderful tango dancer, was the favorite at “lo de Mamita”, and later herself the manager of dance houses in the first decade of the 19th century. Tall, not pretty but very interesting and seductive brunette, of very pleasant conversation, Juan Bergamino dedicated to her his tango “Joaquina” (listen) (originally “La China Joaquina” (listen). She was involved in the death of a young dancer called “Ramayón” by Ñato Posse, as both loved Joaquina Maran, who besides being a lover of the two, had been of Mariano “Maco” Milani, another renowned dancer, and of Pablo Podesta, actor, circus performer, and singer.
Fernando Ramayón was a young man of the Buenos Aires’ upper class, a Law student and a good tango dancer, who was killed at age 22, on January 31, 1898, by Juan B. Passo, el Ñato Pose, in the famous “Cuartos de Adela”, coffee, inn and dance place, in Alvear y Acevedo, Palermo. Homero Manzi wrote a tango inspired in this story, with music by Cristobal Herreros:

“Resuenan en baldosas los golpes de tu taco.
Desfilan tus corridas por patios de arrabal.
Se envuelve tu figura con humo de tabaco
y baila en el recuerdo tu bota militar.
Refleja nuevamente tu pelo renegrido
en salas alumbradas con lámparas de gas.
Se pliegan tus quebradas y vuelven del olvido
las notas ligeritas de Arolas y Bazán.
Ramayón, ya no estás con tu noche
tras el blanco calor del pernó.
Ya no pasa trotando tu coche,
ya no brilla tu bota charol.
Y no está con su traje de raso
la que entonces por buena y por leal,
afirmada en tu inmóvil abrazo
fue también tu pareja final.
Aplauden tu elegancia las palmas de otro tiempo.
Las cuerdas empolvadas resuenan otra vez.
Y en el fugaz milagro de un breve encantamiento
reviven las cenizas de todo lo que fue.
Un plomo de venganza te busca de repente.
Se aflojan los resortes violentos del compás.
Se pinta en tu pañuelo la rosa de la muerte
y el tango del destino te marca su final.”

“Ramayón”, Homero Manzi, Cristobal Herreros, by Nelly Omar and guitars (listen).

Juan Bautista Passo, el Ñato Posse, had been imprisoned for his criminal adventures, but thanks to his contacts with a leader of the Conservative Party, who paid for his services, fast out of jail.

The movie “Historia de 900” (1949 -watch), written, directed, and performed by Hugo Del Carril, portrays the relationship between the upper class and the marginal “orilleros” of Buenos Aires in the framework of tango: they accepted the same ideals of virile manhood, courage, true to their words, and a vision that sees life and love as a game to be played with your whole self.

Mariano “Maco” Milani was another handsome and very elegant young man of the Argentine high society, of straight hair and very white skin. When he began drinking too much, lost his shape and got a red nose. Tall, impeccable, he lived a truly pompous life.

Margarita Verdier, or Verdiet, whom some called “La Oriental “and “La Rubia Mireya”, resident of the neighborhood of Almagro, Castro Barros 433. Daughter of French parents born in Uruguay, had a reputation for “night owl”, given to the “dance of the compadritos”, as tango was stigmatized by then. She was immortalized by Manuel Romero and Francisco Canaro in the tango “Tiempos viejos” (listen). There a few movies in which she is portrayed:
“Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina” (Manuel Romero 1937 – watch), “La Rubia Mireya” (Manuel Romero 1948 – watch), and “Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina” (Enrique Carreras 1969 – watch).

Elías Alippi, tango dancer, actor, and theater and film director, playwright of comedies and sainetes (1883-1942). He debuted on the scene in 1904 dancing a tango with Anita Posed in “Justicia criolla”, zarzuela by Ezequiel Soria, music of Antonio Reynoso, who that season replied the company of Jerónimo Podestá. He was also one of the best dancers of the local “María la Vasca” and other nightspots of that time, as well as on stage. He danced for the last time in the film ”Así es la vida” (1939 – watch), with the actress and singer Sabina Olmos. As a playwright, he included tangos in many of his works. The troupe Muiño-Alippi played a decisive role in the advent of the tango-canción: on April 26, 1918, in the sainete of José González Castillo and Alberto T. Weisbach, “Los dientes del perro”, which premiered in Theatre Buenos Aires, appeared, in a cabaret scene, Manolita Poli accompanied by the orchestra of Roberto Firpo, singing the tango by Samuel Castriota and Pascual Contursi, “Mi noche triste” (listen).

La Parda Deolinda shined in the Academias de Montevideo, milonguera and owner of a dancing place. Pintín Castellanos tells us that she was “gifted with a gorgeous body and a hell of a character, and an extraordinary ability to dance with ‘cortes y quebradas’ (…) the men, despite their proven courage, did not risk much with her. “Between 1880 and 1886, Police Chief Apolinario Gayoso deported her because of the many squabbles in which was protagonist, to Buenos Aires. Here, he continued with her dancing and bravery … She died in a duelo criollo!”.

La Parda Loreto, also known for her willingness to get into fights, was born in 1860 and danced in the 80s, in the “peringundines” of Suipacha and El Temple (Viamonte), in the “Milonga de la Calle Chile” (actually called Patria e Lavoro, located in Chile 1567), in the Teatro Politeama (Corrientes 1490, demolished in 1950, today parking), and already older, in the Salón San Martin, popularly known as “Rodríguez Peña”. When her charms were dissipated, worked -always faithful to her environment- as manager of a brothel.

La Parda Refucilo danced in the early 80s in the academia located in Independencia and Combate de los Pozos, famous for “la gente de bronce” that frequented it and the prestige of the dancers, and was a partner in the milongas and in life, of a famous milonguero of that time nicknamed el Biundín.

Francisco Ducasse, one of his dancing partners was named Mimí Pinsonette. He was married to the actress Angelina Pagano. He used to frequent «lo de Hansen». Francisco García Jiménez says that the very charming princess de Murat was intertwined with the tango skill of the fine handsome young man of Buenos Aires, on tour in Paris, in a tango competition organized by the journal Excelsior at the Fémina theater on the avenue of the Champs-Elysées. Obviously, they were awarded the first prize. He was born and died in Buenos Aires.

María La Tero: In the article about tango published in Crítica newspaper on September 22, 1913, “Viejo Tanguero” included her in a list of prestigious female dancers that went to the well-known dancehall on Independencia and Pozos. Julián Centeya, in his book “El misterio del tango”, describes her as tall and skinny.

La Parda Flora was very well known by 1880, so much that she is mentioned in “Milonga de Tancredi” (“The other night at Tancredi / I danced with Boladora / was the Brown and Flora; / what he saw me, he estriló”). She showed up her art in La Pandora of La Boca, in peringundines of Corrientes, and had its own academia in 25 de Mayo and Viamonte, to spend her final years in Flores. It is also remembered in the milonga “En lo de Laura” (listen), of Enrique Cadícamo and Antonio Polito:

“Milonga de aquel entonces
que trae un pasado envuelto…
De aquel 911
ya no te queda ni un vuelto…
Milonga que en lo de Laura
bailé con la parda Flora…
Milonga provocadora
que me dio cartel de taura…
Ah… milonga ‘e lo de Laura…
Milonga de mil recuerdos
milonga del tiempo viejo.
Qué triste cuando me acuerdo
si todo ha quedado lejos…
Milonga vieja y sentida
¿quién sabe qué se ha hecho de todo?
En la pista de la vida
ya estamos doblando el codo.
Ah… milonga ‘e lo de Laura…
Amigos de antes, cuando chiquilín,
fui bailarín compadrito…
Saco negro, trensillao, y bien afrancesao
el pantalón a cuadritos…
¡Que baile solo el Morocho! -me solía gritar
la barra ‘e los Balmaceda…
Viejos tangos que empezó a cantar
la Pepita Avellaneda…
¡Eso ya no vuelve más!”

“En lo de Laura”, Enrique Cadícamo and Antonio Polito, by Ángel D’Agostino and Ángel Vargas (listen).

There is a movie, made in 1952, “La Parda Flora” (see here).

Sisters Balbina (Rosa and Maria) acted in the Stella di Roma, in Corrientes and Uruguay, known as El baile de Pepin. It was the first dance house which was established in the center and the most famous due to the attraction exerted by the Balbina sisters. This house was one of those that adopted the system of covering the organito with a mattress so that the sound couldn’t be heard in the street and reach the ears of the police authority.

La Gaucha Manuela, referred by Roberto Firpo in an interview with Dr. Benarós: “I started playing the piano at the Velodrome, in 1907, with Bevilacqua. Then I was twenty years old and came from the Corrales, of Rioja and Caseros. The owner of The Velodrome was Pesce, I believe the father of who was later the owner of Luna Park. The place occupied an area of about four blocks. In the center was a mound of dirt. Inside, a track, used by cyclists. To get there you needed to go through a dirt road, which sometimes became mud. It was two blocks from Hansen. Drinks were served on tables placed under the trees. It had rooms, also. From The Velodrome, you could see when music was playing in lo de Hansen. The Gaucha Manuela was a regular there and was the kept woman of a rich young man called Del Carril, which I believe expended on her four or five million. She was brunette, very pretty, and very ‘criolla’ when speaking. She was a wonderful dancer, capable of grabbing a knife and start with the blows. I dedicated a tango “La Gaucha Manuela”(listen) to her. We were asked for these dedications, and sometimes the person asking for it paid us a hundred pesos. I dedicated the tango “To the distinguished Miss Manuela Lopez.” I earned one peso a day and some tips. There were no women. Each man had to bring his own.”

Juana Rebenque, referred by Juan Santa Cruz -brother of the author of “Unión Cívica” (listen) – (quote from Dr. Benarós): “She lived in small tin roof house, like all the houses at ‘El Pueblo de las Ranas’. You get inside you had to bend down. She did not even have a rate. She charged whatever you gave her. She never came downtown. She was tall, thin, with a big nose, and beautiful. She lived with a man called Fernandez. She was mentioned in some famous verses of the time: ‘Hará cosa ‘e una semana / que un canfinflero mistongo / me convidó pa’ un bailongo / en el Pueblo de las Ranas. / Las principales bacanas / de la ranil población / cayeron a la función / lindamente enfaroladas, / porque habían sido invitadas / con tarjetas de cartón.’”

El Flaco Saúl: A landowner who stands out among the first tango dancers. According to “Viejo Tanguero”: “he was able to interpret tango in two styles: the original, vivid, complex, full of figures and ‘quebradas’, of great agility, with strength and character, and the smooth tango, which developed at the time called the ‘Guardia Vieja’, as a necessity to adapt to female dancers who would not follow the primitive style, which later was defined as the characteristic style to dance the tango of the so-called ‘Guardia Nueva’, or ‘cabaret tango.'”

Filiberto, Juan “Mascarilla”, father musician and composer Juan de Dios Filiberto. Eminent tango dancer of the first period; natural and spontaneous creator. Owner or administrator “Bailetín El Palomar”, then the “Tancredi” (c. 1882), nearby recreational Suarez and Necochea, in the heart of La Boca. We quote from an interview by ‘La Canción Porteña’ (Buenos Aires, 1963) in which his son tells us: “‘My father was cheerful, a bit careless of all things, but simple and good, had an easy laugh and good sense of humor in his eyes and always good jokes escaping from his mouth. He sang in a nice tenor voice, which I liked to listen to. Dancer by nature, of the best tango dancers of La Boca; his reputation was well recognized. According to his character, he worked on the most different and contradictory jobs, from the owner of dance halls to sailor, wrestler, or construction worker. He was a friend and often also the bodyguard of Pepe Fernandez, strongman, and leader of La Boca, which was the first supporter of Mitre and then of General Roca. He possessed extraordinary power, often acting in the circus Rafetto wrestling and weight lifter.”

Mariano, mentioned by “Viejo Tanguero” (1913) as a regular of “Scudo de Italia”. He was one of those which popularity was earned thanks to the correctness of his dance. The tango lovers stopped dancing and made a circle to watch hind dancing, to admire and applaud the difficult execution of figures invented by him and that no one else could imitate. He owned a large commercial establishment that was located on the street Sarmiento and Carlos Pellegrini.

Arturo De Nava, composer, singer pre-gradeliano. Was born apparently in Paysandú in 1876 and died in Buenos Aires, where he had settled since his youth, on October 22, 1932 …. Initially, a natural dancer with great style, he was the first one to earn fame on the stage, prior to Ain and Alippi, dancing tangos in plays since 1903 in the Podestá troupe. He was very handsome. Because of his appearance, unmistakable, his photographs appear illustrating several editions of the popular magazine Caras y Caretas of Buenos Aires, in 1903. ”

Pancho Panelo belongs to the category of rich dancers. Domingo Greco told that this man had so much serenity to dance, and did it with a glass of champagne in his head without spilling a single drop of liquid.

Pedrín “La Vieja”. Domingo Greco says in his memoirs: “Then came a certain Pedrín, that was my classmate: we nicknamed him ‘La Vieja (The Old Lady)”. He used to live at Chile street, between Tacuarí and Piedras. He brought tango to its maximum refinement. Even before 1900, he was the best dancer known. He had a lot of initiative. He was elegant, very musical, and with an amazing speed in his legs. In a word, he was the best of all time. Benito Bianquet “El Cachafaz” emerged as his only imitator.”

I have been asking myself why dancers often have a reputation for being sexual, feisty, rebellious, irreverent, marginal, indifferent to what people say about them, but also elegant, tough, self-reliant, respectable, admired…?
On one hand, I believe that a real dancer is a person for whom life is a dance (“La vida es una milonga”). This approach is not as easy to take as we may suppose. It requires strength and discipline beyond the majority of people’s possibilities and/or willingness. If not, why would a skill not make you rich, an approach to life that is not of great value from a utilitarian perspective on life, would be embraced with the passion, perseverance, and stamina that to be a GOOD DANCER requires?
On the other hand, all negative qualifications attached to dancers come not from other GOOD DANCERS, but from those who are not. It is perhaps a form of revenge from the ones whose value resides in being useful to society -a laudable situation- against those whose major contribution is an uninterested and useless beauty that can’t be sold in the markets.
In my own experience, all the GREAT MILONGUEROS that I have met in my life, many of whom I had the fortune and the honor to have as my teachers, are (or were -in the case of those that have passed away-) GREAT PEOPLE, incredibly wise and have great sensitivity and common sense, reliable people, generous, respectable, and among many other wonderful qualities, the best at their day jobs and professions.
And the bottom line is that for me, everything that I have achieved in my dance has made me a better person.
And I still have room to improve.

Read also:

• History of Tango – Part 1
• History of Tango – Part 2
• History of Tango – Part 3
• History of Tango – Part 5
• History of Tango – Part 6
• History of Tango – Part 7

Bibliography:

• • • “Crónica general del tango”, José Gobello, Editorial Fraterna, 1980.
    • “El tango”, Horacio Salas, Editorial Aguilar, 1996.
    • “Historia del tango – La Guardia Vieja”, Rubén Pesce, Oscar del Priore, Silvestre Byron, Editorial Corregidor 1977.
    • “El tango, el gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro, Editorial Argenta, 2009.
    • Sex & Danger in Buenos Aires: Prostitution, Family, and Nation in Argentina. By Donna J. Guy
    • José María Otero https://tangosalbardo.blogspot.com/2014/10/ramayon.html
    • Guillermo Brizuela https://miescueladetango.blogspot.com/2009/10/los-malevos-parte-i.html
    • Reseña de mujeres bailarinas. Por Luis Alposta and Oscar Himschoot: https://www.todotango.com/historias/cronica/326/Resena-de-mujeres-bailarinas-Segunda-parte/
    • Images https://www.tangology101.com/main.cfm/title/Tango-History-in-Pictures/id/1165
    • https://www.todotango.com/english/

Part 1

Between 1860 and 1915, Buenos Aires experienced exponential growth.

The “Gran Aldea” (Great Village) became a cosmopolitan city, which, despite its isolated geographic location, was one of the greatest cities in the world.

During this period of multiethnic and multicultural interaction, Tango developed its unique characteristics and became a cultural identity, philosophy of life, and lifestyle. Its name was not mentioned in well-mannered conversations. It was practiced, protected, and cared for by powerful people, the only ones who would not care about its bad reputation and defy the rejection by the comfortable, afraid, and obedient society. It needed to develop in places prohibited by a society that denied that an entirely new creature was coming to life. A creature not a child of a well-established family, in the portrait of religions and hypocritical political speeches. A being that was happily excited to deal with the chaos of unpredictability, with all that can’t be rationalized, accounted for, and fit in the big plan laid out by the ruling classes for the population of that corner of the world.

Even when Tango began to enter family homes and broadly accepted social events, the name Tango would not be used as the label to refer to it, nor would the musicians use this term to describe the orchestras.

The dance technique that today we associate with Tango and milonga, the “cortes and quebradas”, was in its origins a dance technique created by the “chinas” and “compadritos” and applied to all kinds of danceable music played in Rio de La Plata: “mazurka”, “polka”, “habanera”, “cuadrilla”, “lanceros”, waltz (called “vals cruzado” when danced in this way), “pasodoble”, “Spanish tango”, Tango and milonga.

Later this dancing technique remained in Argentine Tango (referred to as “tango criollo”), milonga, and vals criollo because these music styles were better suited to it.

On September 9, 1862, four men and two women were put in jail for dancing “tirando cortes y quebradas” at a conventillo of Paraguay 58 (today, in Puerto Madero).

The police report does not mention Tango or milonga.

It was on September 28, 1897, that for the first time we find that the “cortes and quebradas” are elements associated to the choreography of a particular music called Tango. It is at the play written by Ezequiel Soria “Justicia Criolla”:

“Era un domingo de carnaval
Y al “Pasatiempo” fuime a bailar.
Hablé a la Juana para un chats
Y a enamorarla me decidí.
En sus oídos me lamenté
Me puse tierno y tanto hablé,
Que la muchacha se conmovió
Con mil promesas de eterno amor.
Hablé a la mina de mi valor
Y que soy hombre de largo spor,
Cuando el estrilo quiera agarrar
Vos, mi Juanita, me has de calmar.
Y ella callaba y entonces yo
Hice prodigios de ilustración,
Luego, en un tango, che, me pasé
Y a puro corte la conquisté.”

And also:

“Qué cosa más rica…! Cuando bailando un tango con ella, me la afirmo en la cadera y me dejo ir al compás de la música y yo me hundo en sus ojos negros y ella dobla en mi pecho su cabeza y al dar vuelta, viene la quebradita… Ay! hermano se me vá, se me vá… el mal humor.”

The following year, in 1898, “El entrerriano”, the first Argentine Tango registered by a known author, was published. This was the time before recordings when the music was commercialized by publishing it in music sheets. The author, Rosendo Mendizábal, was an Afro-Argentinean born in 1868 (and died in 1913). Coming from a wealthy family, he was able to study piano. Unfortunately, his lifestyle made him squander his fortune, and so he began to teach piano lessons and to play in all kinds of brothels and dancing houses, from the ones of the poorest clientele to those visited by the wealthiest people, like “Lo de Laura (Monserrat)” in Paraguay street 2512, where he premiered “El entrerriano”, and dedicated it to Ricardo Segovia, a landowner born in the Argentine province of Entre Rios, who gave Rosendo a $100 bill. This was a common practice among composers before the benefits of authors’ rights.

Before the publication of tangos, they became known only from the authors playing them over and over again in many places. When a tango was fortunate enough to be accepted by the audience, it was frequently requested, contributing to the recognition of the piece and its creator. Sometimes another musician would like a song and learn it by listening to it and incorporating it into his repertoire. But since the time that it began to be written, it was easier to propagate it. Eventually, musicians could play more and more varied songs, and city-sponsored orchestras, military and police bands, and club orchestras would be able to play them, contributing to a more excellent and more efficient divulgation of Tango. It was also how it could surreptitiously enter the family homes, hidden between piano methods and Chopin’s waltzes. And, it made possible the printed rolls for “organitos”, which played a significant role in the initial spread of Tango. Finally, it prepared the ears of those who initially liked Tango to accept a new instrument that became central to Tango and transformed it: the bandoneon.

Enrique Santos Discépolo’s father, José Luis Roncallo (who was presumably the one that first suggested tango music for them), and Ángel Villoldo (who probably wrote “El Choclo” to be played through this media) were involved in the construction of the first locally made cylinders for organitos.

Related to this need for mobility that the primitive Tango required to spread itself and survive was the portability of the instruments of its origins. The guitar was the “criollo” (autochthonous) instrument par excellence, which the payadores chose to accompany their singing. It is, indeed, a privileged instrument to accompany the human voice. Still, the payadores that were already laureates and socially accepted, wouldn’t, in general, risk losing their contracts playing such dubious music. The violin was also a prevalent instrument. Wind instruments rose in popularity to the extent that they showed up increasingly in bands and theatre orchestras of the time. The harmonica also played a decisive role, especially in the hands of Ángel Villoldo.

These instruments that first played Tango made their music energetic, lively, and shaky because they were high-pitch and light instruments that could easily be played fast. Later, with the introduction of the “bordoneos” (melodies and bridges played in the lowest pitch range of the guitar strings), the incorporation of the concertina and the Italian accordion, it will start a process of slowing down that will reach its depth with the bandoneon and the lower pitch string instruments. During this period, the bandoneon became the most characteristic instrument of Tango.

In 1899, “El Pibe” Ernesto Ponzio (1885-1934) published “Don Juan”. “El Pibe” Ponzio played the violin “sacando chispas” (extracting sparks from it), according to the testimony left to us by Gabino Ezeiza. When his father (also a musician) died, he needed to help his family and went to play in canteens, at dance parties, and on the streetcars. Soon he was asked to play at the most famous places of the time, like “Lo de Hansen”, “Lo de Laura”, “Lo de María La Vasca” and “Lo de Mamita” Lavalle 2177, among many others. At this last one, it is said, he premiered “Don Juan”, dedicating it to Juan Cabello, a well-known “compadre del arrabal” porteño.  This tango was the first one recorded with bandoneon by Vicente Greco and his orchestra in 1910.

In 1924, when playing in Rosario, he shot and killed a man and was condemned to 20 years in prison. He had other previous violent incidents on his record, but he was pardoned in 1928 and returned to playing. According to his wife, he was not a violent person. He was handsome, kind, and always smiling, even when playing. Still, his talent, overwhelming energy, and charm as a musician, dancer, artist, and person provoked the envy and jealousy of those for whom beauty did not regard respect and tried to impose their mediocrity with sheer force. “El Pibe” Ernesto considered a lack of honesty with himself, with those he loved, and with his art, to retreat when insulted by disrespectful attitudes to people and what is beautiful in life. Nevertheless, he stood up for his thoughts and ideals in every moment, even difficult ones, and dealt with the consequences.

The only recording by “El Pibe” Ernesto Ponzio is in this scene from the first sound film made in Argentina, “Tango!” of 1933, playing his most celebrated composition:

In 1899 they closed the last “Academias” that remained in Montevideo, while the tango came to wider audiences entering the theater, tents, circuses, dance halls, and cabarets. Following this development, the original “tango canyengue” was transformed and made more “decent”, smoothing or eliminating the “cortes y quebradas” and the most straightforward sexual elements of its practice, giving birth to the tango “salon”, also known as tango “de pista” or ‘liso”.

Most of the precursors of tango music were also well recognized as great dancers.

Ángel Villoldo (1861-1919) is considered by many “El padre del Tango” (The father of Tango) and unanimously considered the most representative artist of the Guardia Vieja. Little is known about his childhood, and the information about his youth is often contradictory. From an interview made with him by the newspaper “La Razón” in 1917, we know that he was “cuarteador” ^[1] of “La Calle Larga” (The Long Street, today’s Montes de Oca) at the time that his interest in music appears, and that he sung and played guitar and harmonica.

Between 1879 and 1886, he was a typographer at the newspaper “La Nación” and Jacobo Peuser’s print, conductor of the carnival choir “Los Nenes de Mamá Viuda”, librettist for choir societies, a herdsman in two slaughterhouses of Buenos Aires, a clown at “Raffeto” circus.

Around 1900 he began to be known as a payador, composer, and singer in “Corrales Viejos” (Parque Patricios), Barracas, La Boca, Constitución, San Telmo, Palermo, and in Recoleta for the celebrations of the Virgen María in September. At these celebrations, big tents were erected for several days. They started to be frequented by “compadres” and “cuchilleros” ^[2], so their original character was replaced by another, less family-oriented, alcohol, dancing, and knife fighting. At these gatherings, in which the life of a man was of little value, everyone respected Ángel Villoldo, who performed there his first tangos.

The tango was still developing and had not yet achieved a defining shape. Therefore, the first works of Villoldo were milongas of the payador style that described characters and current events of the places he frequented. These first songs are precious testimonies of these times and their people. Like this milonga that refers to the known rivalry between cart drivers (carreros) and streetcars drivers (cocheros):

“El Carrero y el Cochero”, listen…

Villoldo’s lyrics are “cheerful, wittily talkative, sometimes in jest, but never bawdy. The compadres of his stories are reliable criollos, as its creator, who recently left the horse on the outskirts of the city, men in whom the knife is not yet ostentatious bravado, but the defense of honor and cause” ^[3].

His rise to fame came in 1903 when the singer Dorita Miramar sang “El Porteñito” in the varieté Parisiana of Esmeralda Street, obtaining great success. Pepita Avellaneda had already sung several of his compositions a year earlier on Avenida de Mayo. Soon other female singers included his songs in their repertoire. In the same year, 1903, José Luis Roncallo premiered “El Choclo” at the restaurant “El Americano”, labeling it as “danza criolla” since the category of the place did not admit including tangos in the playlist. After the truth was known, the audience demanded it is played every night. However, it was not published until 1905.

On Christmas day in 1905, Villoldo wakes up at 7 am by Enrique Saborido, who was up all night writing a song and needed a lyric. He knew that Villoldo was fast, that he could improvise verses as a payador. The night before, on Christmas Eve, Saborido was mocked by his friends for paying too much attention to the Uruguayan singer Lola Candles. So they challenged him to write a song for her. He took the challenge and promised to have the song ready to be sung by Lola the next day. At 10 am, they presented to Lola “La Morocha”, which she premiered that night. This tango was of great success, not only in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Argentina, and Uruguay, but copies of the music sheet were taken to many port cities worldwide by the school ship Fragata Sarmiento.

Villoldo finds humor in daily life events. In 1906 the Police Chief of Buenos Aires ordered a fine of 50 pesos to those who say “piropos” (compliments) to a woman in the street, and Villoldo composes, “Cuidao con los 50!”. He tries to get extra advertisement for his song, so he goes to the street and starts to “piropear” to every woman he sees, expecting to be denounced and fined, making his song a way of protest, but all he got was a sweet “viejo enamorado” reply from one lady.

Around those years, “El esquinazo”, another of his compositions, was prohibited from being played at “Lo de Hansen” because the crowd beat their glasses on their tables accompanying the song, breaking them, and making it too expensive for the business.

In 1907 he was sent by the department store Gath y Chaves, the most successful in Buenos Aires then, to make some of the first tangos and Argentine music recordings to Paris with Alfredo Eusebio and Flora Gobbi (the parents of the great orchestra conductor Alfredo Gobbi). The recordings of Villoldo songs, already thriving, potentialize their success.

Edison invented the phonograph in 1877. Unfortunately, the sound quality on the phonograph was terrible, and each recording lasted for only one play. Alexander Graham Bell’s graphophone followed Edison’s phonograph. It could be played many times. However, each cylinder had to be recorded separately, making the same music’s mass reproduction impossible with the graphophone.

On November 8, 1887, Emile Berliner, a German immigrant working in Washington, D.C., patented a successful sound recording system. Berliner was the first inventor to stop recording on cylinders and start recording on flat disks. The first records were made of glass, zinc, and plastic. A spiral groove with the sound information was etched into the flat record. Next, the record was rotated on the gramophone. The “arm” of the gramophone held a needle that read the grooves in the record by vibration and transmitting the information to the gramophone speaker. Berliner’s disks (records) were the first sound recordings that could be mass-produced by creating master recordings from which molds were made.

These inventions were taking place when tango was becoming more and more popular and are vital to the history of Tango.

Being in Paris, Villoldo subscribed to the Authors and Composers Association of France, following which then created in Buenos Aires in 1908 “La Sociedad del Pequeño Derecho”, precursor of “SADAIC”, created by, among others, Francisco Canaro, Osvaldo Fresedo, Augusto Berto, Agustín Bardi, Enrique Santos Discépolo and Francisco García Jiménez. This institution and its precedent, “Círculo Argentino de Autores Compositores de Música” and “Asociación de Autores y Compositores de Música”, played an essential role in the history of tango and its existence since, thank them, the authors, composers, and musicians of tango were able to make a living.

Back in Buenos Aires, in 1908, we could find Villoldo playing in La Boca at the “Café Concert” of Suarez and Necochea streets, the center of tango of the moment, where, in different places, Canaro, Greco, Firpo, and others were playing. Villoldo performed a solo act, playing guitar, and harmonica (attached to his body in the manner of Bob Dylan), singing, storytelling, and standup comedy and dancing.

From that year is his milonga “Matufias, o el Arte de Vivir”, which is seen as a precursor of Discépolo’s “Cambalache”.

Villoldo was also a journalist and wrote plays.

In 1913 he wrote the lyrics for “El 13”. This will be his last significant hit. After that, Tango changes, and “La Guardia Vieja” gives place to “La Guardia Nueva” and the tangos that Carlos Gardel recorded with Contursi’s lyrics. In 1917 the duet Gardel-Razzano made their first recording with Villoldo’s song; “Cantar eterno”. It was the magic of Tango linking the two eras.

^[1] Was a person driving a team of horses and pulled a vehicle stuck in the mud or needing help in a hill climbing.

^[2] Quarrelers who use knives to fight.

^[3] José Gobello “Historia del Tango”, “La Guardia Vieja”, Editorial Corregidor 1977, page 364.

Read also:

• History of Tango – Part 1
• History of Tango – Part 2
• History of Tango – Part 4

Bibliography:

• “Crónica general del tango”, José Gobello, Editorial Fraterna, 1980.
• “El tango”, Horacio Salas, Editorial Aguilar, 1996.
• “Historia del tango – La Guardia Vieja”, Rubén Pesce, Oscar del Priore, Silvestre Byron, Editorial Corregidor 1977.
• “El tango, el gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro, Editorial Argenta, 2009.
• https://www.todotango.com/english/