Tango of the Day..

I have some friends currently in Buenos Aires and they like to learn about tango music. So in honour of their pilgrimage, I decided to send them one tango per day for the duration of their trip. I figured others might also be interested... So here we go with the first one: No Mientas, performed  by the orchestra of Juan D’Arienzo. The singer is Alberto Echague and this tango was recorded in 1938. You are likely to hear this tango at one point or another at the milongas. It is very rhythmical. Portenos love this stuff. In traditional milongas in Bs As, you can even expect to hear D'Arienzo's orchestra once per hour!

You can find a recording of this tango on the IStore. Just do a search for "No Mientas" and it's the first one at the top of the search results.

Click on this link (below) to view a video of D’Arienzo and Echague performing another classic (Paciencia) on TV… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXVgQA5_ByE in (1972 or 1973).

As a bonus, here is a very rare video recording of a female singer performing a tango before 1975. The singer is Mercedes Serrano and again, the orchestra is D’Arienzo’s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94kED5QrJ5A

By the way, D’Arienzo was 72 in these videos (1972-1973).

As you will see on the videos, D’Arienzo is definitely an entertainer… He recorded over 1000 singles over a 45+ year recording career. He was extremely popular, and remains popular to this day in Tango circles. He recorded the first Argentinian single to sell over 1 million copies (La Punalada).

D’Arienzo never toured outside South America (he was scared of flying on airplanes), but in the early 1970s, he was invited to perform in Japan (by the Showa Emperor himself). D’Arienzo sent his soloists to tour Japan without him. Many recordings of this tour still exist today.

Notice that his orchestra has 5 bandoneons, 5 violins, 1 piano, and 1 bass. The piano and the bass give the beat, so there is only one of each. The violins and bandoneons give “depth” to the music, so there are more of them.

Tomorrow, we move on to the second of the "big 4" orchestras: Carlos Di Sarli...