Alfredo De Angelis

After the mid-thirties, international music prevailed upon Tango to such an extent that our more traditional tango orchestras included foxtrots, polkas, corridos, pasodoble, congas, and rhumbas in its repertoire.
From Francisco Canaro, Francisco Lomuto, and the Típica Victor until Julio De Caro and Osvaldo Fresedo alternated tangos with the most extravagant music.
But the appearance of the audacious and fast beat of Juan D’Arienzo again placed tango into the preference of the young, who not only recovered the liking for its dance but also eagerly started to recreate it.
Hundreds of orchestras and vocalists sprang up, creating the revival of the two-four, and so came the wonderful forties.
Alfredo De Angelis belongs to the group of orchestras that focused their interest on dancing. However, this does not mean they lacked artistic value; on the contrary, they were precise in execution, with good arrangements, and lined up with great musicians and vocalists.
Our intellectual élite always looked down on popular things, on what was easily accepted by people’s choice, because they disregarded and disregard the sociocultural phenomenon represented by dancing.
I always heard people say that De Angelis was a merry-go-round orchestra, that it was only used for dancing rooms, and lacked creativity. I guess the expression alluded to the funny habit of the dancers of their displacement on the place, turning round following the outline of the dancing floor. From another point of view, the criticism may aim at the easy, elementary, and routine music of the merry-go-rounds (carrousels).
I find these definitions somewhat mistaken.
De Angelis had the beauty of a harmonious and synchronized work, from which a neat simple tango was evidenced, achieved through efficient handling of rhythm, a careful respect for melody, and the showcasing of the singer. Continue reading at www.todotango.com….

Juan Carlos Godoy

(21 August 1922 – 12 February 2016)
In the city of Campana, where «the soft water was fresher than the river», my friend interviewed today was born.

There’s a gate through which memories go back home and through that open door represented by Juan Carlos’s heart I step into his life, asking him to tell me things. Those things that are said when you are drinking mate in the shade of an old plantation and which we guess may appeal to the public who are the indisputable addressees of our songs.

«Tango began to be something that interested me by 1933 when Agustín Magaldi came to Campana. He had to appear one Sunday at the theater of the Sociedad Italiana, but he had temporarily lost his voice and was unable to sing. He then only talked to the audience and his five guitarists played instead. I was a kid but I recall that Magaldi was a good-looking man and the fact that he was there was enough to please the audience.

«By that time Carlos Gardel appeared at the Teatro Moderno. Continue reading at www.todotango.com...

Miguel Bucino

Bandoneonist, dancer, lyricist, and composer
(14 August 1905 – 15 December 1973)

He played the bandoneón and had not yet turned 18 when he joined, in 1923, Francisco Canaro’s orchestra, who, after four or five performances, dismissed it as bad, inducing him to dance because he had the natural vocation to it.

You must reach the goal of what is proposed by every being who wants to achieve it. Continue reading at www.todotango.com…