Musicians and singers

You can not talk about music without mentioning those who were more significant characters of the tango-song. Musicians, singers, orchestras, people who have made the tango a philosophy of life, and have made history.

The myth of the platese tango: Carlos Gardel
He began his real career in 1917 when he recorded for the first time a tango, Mi noche triste.
One of the fortunes of this artist is linked to his voice, enhanced by the techniques of reproduction of time; innate sympathy and a body built to be loved, women love him, venerate him, as men envy him and admire him.
In 1925 he began composing. In 1930 he is already a star of the song and also of the cinema for which he shoots ten short films and nine films in his Paramount studios with his songs. Important for his artistic ascent Alfredo Le Pera, his close collaborator, he will help him to create more international songs by abandoning the use of lunfardo (jargon full of Italian words that is spoken in the cities of Rio de la Plata).
Le Pera will be lyricist and screenwriter of many of his films and will die with him in a plane crash in 1935.
His voice so beautiful and special will remain etched in the hearts of his admirers, along with his figure so tragically disappeared. As evidence of the fact that Gardella was and always will be a myth for the Argentine people, in the cemetery where he is buried the monument that represents it made of bronze, life size, every day has a fresh red carnation in one hand is a lit cigarette in the other; no one knows who performs this certain ritual is that el zorzal criollo died almost seventy years ago and there are not many admirers of his time.

Alberto Castillo (1914 -2002)
Nicknamed El cantor de los 100 barrios portenos, he graduated in gynecology just to make his father happy, once he graduated he began to sing. Sympathetic, though perhaps a little tied to politics, Castillo had the merit of brushing off the candombe in the 50s, a rhythm linked to the origins of tango, and that of living the tango as a genuine national product worthy of being exported.

Among the instrumentalists, particular consideration deserve:

Osvaldo Pugliese (1905 -1995)
He was a piano virtuoso, he began to perform very early and tried to form his ideal orchestra. His skill and uniqueness lies in seeking new expressive possibilities, without neglecting the original tango. In his seventy years of career he manages to bring a breath of fresh air to tango music.

Aníbal Troilo (1914-1975)
He started very young to play the bandóneon and to perform.
In his long career he managed to surround himself with exceptional musicians but also excellent singers. He succeeded in marrying the tango-cançion with the dance, something that until then was infrequent, he made a musical revolution.
Troilo was a great bandoneonist, among his nicknames there is “El Rey del bandóneon”, he was a discoverer of talents and the one who knew how to combine the tango sung with the dance.

Astor Piazzolla (1921-1994).
Also well known by those who do not know much about Tango, the eclectic Astor Piazzolla had a very special character, was controversial and provocative a bit ‘as all genes and contrary to one of his predecessors, Troilo, tried in all ways to dissolve the addiction of tango music from the dance.
His music is revolutionary, it is detached a bit ‘from the changes made up to then to return to the classical tradition and groped a very successful combination with jazz.
For these reasons he is criticized, opposed, but at the same time and for the same reasons he is acclaimed by others. Piazzolla contributes to the rediscovery, in the world, of the tango also that danced, which he did not really love.
Soundtracks of film and advertising accompany two dancers on the notes of his immortal Libertango, ballets and plays exploit the sweet sadness of the voice of his bandoneon.

Women in tango Women of the tango deserve a special place.

Eloisa d’Herbil
She was a precursor, born in 1842, died 101 years. Cultured and aristocratic, Eloisa in 1872 performed at the Teatro Colon with a habanera Vente in Buenos Ayres and composed several tangos criollos (Che, no calotiés, Y a mi qué, Que si que No). In 1889 write La Multa that years later will be taken by Villoldo.

Among the first tango singers we remember:

Pepita Avellaneda (vero nome Josepha Calatti).
In 1900 he made his appearance in the theaters in the cabaret with the guitar the men’s clothes. After becoming a star, it disappears inexplicably from the scenes; he dies in poverty at the age of 67.

Flora Rodríguez de Gobbi (1885-1952)
Very important for the spread of tango in Europe, wife of Alfredo Gobbi with whom he left in 1903 together with Villongo for a tour in Europe, where he sang and recorded the first tangos in Paris.

Francisca Bernardo (1900-1925)
Few were the instrumentalists of the tango, but certainly should be mentioned, La Paquita Francisca Bernardo the greatest female bandoneonist of all time. Proverbial the trio that forms with a very young Pugliese at the piano and Vardaro as a violinist.

Famous Voices:

Tita Merello (1904-2004)
Primatrix, protagonist in Filomena ripen of De Filippo, then singer of tangos of which some written for her.

Mercedes Simone (1904-1990)
The best singer of the early era, who for voice, the ease of the event, will become a true pillar of Argentine cinema of the thirties.

Libertad Lamarque (1908-2000)
Daughter of an anarchist, protagonist of about sixty films and unmistakable voice.

Lyricists and poets
From 1917 to today the words of the tango have developed multiple themes and have made space in literature and anthologies

Of particular importance the father of tango:

Angel Gregorio Villoldo (1868-1919)
He wrote picturesque and satirical songs that offer authentic testimony of the era and were first to be known in Europe, including La Morocha and El Choclo.
Another popular lyricist:

Enrique Santos Discépolo (1901-1951)
The famous phrase is his: The tango is a sad thought that is danced.
No one has succeeded better than he to express the malaise of the so-called infamous decade (1930-1940). His texts are polemical, full of pessimism, but they are also known by heart by every Argentinean of the time; his compositions include: Cambalanche, Uno, Yira yira and the aforementioned Cafetìn de Buenos Aires.
Unforgettable the artistic combination of Carlos Gardel and Alfredo De Le Pera, which lasted only three years but fruitful (about 28 are written). It is impossible to know whether it was Gardel’s music that stimulated Le Pera’s or Viceversa’s imagination; the themes are linked to the inevitable passing time and in general to the condition of man destined to roam the world. One can not fail to mention Mi Buenos Aires querido, Por una cabeza and Volver.

Catullo Castillo (1904-1976)
poet lyricist and musician; his Maria, Tinta roja and A Homero.

Homero Manzi (1907-1951)
composer of works of rare beauty: Malena, Sur and Barrio de Tango.
Finally the most recent Horacio Ferrer (1933)
founder of the National Academy of Tango, who formed a fruitful binomial in the sixties: Balada para un loco and Balada para muerte remained for months at the top of the sales charts.