3154  Feminine singers --not for milongas

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 12:33:42 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: Feminine singers --not for milongas

Dear friends from the tango list

Janis Kenyon made a comment about milongas without feminine singers being played by DJ s , and this make me think she was right, I could not remember a milonga with a tanda of feminine singers . Of course there are exceptions like Nelly Omar singing live at Salon Augusteo last year 2004 , or Lidia Borda with el Arranque at La Viruta on 2003. But these are a kind of "wildcards" invitations, and not a rule .

I wonder why feminine singers are not played , and started looking into some material about tango . The first comment I found about women singing , was the register of voice , that was usually a soprano , or a mezzo that with the years came a bit torned.

Part of the revival of feminine singers, started at the end of the 90`s , when actual feminine singers, started looking for old records to be singed again, belonging to Mercedes Simone , Susy Leiva, Nelly Omar , Azucena Maizani , Libertad Lamarque , Tita Merello , and so on, from the 20`s to the 30`s .

There were local music hall works such as "Recuerdos son recuerdos" and "Glorias porteqas ", with Cristina Banegas, Rita Cortese, Soledad Villamil , Lidia Borda, that brought to the future those old tangos sung so many years before.

Now , again , the big question : why there are no tandas with feminine singers at the milongas ??

One of the possible answers is commented in an article from Julio Nudler, a researcher on several tango subjects. He says , talking about the 30`s and 40`s "

Never the femenine singers were , except a few, orchestra voices ; that happened only with the masculine singers, that learn to sing with the orchestras where a Fresedo or a Troilo, impose a discipline, and take out all the defects from their singing, giving them a certain rhytm, a metric tone.
There at the orchestras, the singers were polished and were converted into an instrument of the orchestra, as Gobi made with his own singers, and taht was an essential school.

Actually, since there are no orchestras, women do not have this possibility, then they are like the actors of a one man show, that start to develop certain defects that remain uncorrected, there is nobody to frame or lead them back to .
If you follow the evolution of Fiorentino or Angel Vargas, you perceive that this guys sung quite bad on their beginning and later improve to a marvelous singing , but this is not casual because it is within the orchestra where they are learning ; you see there is a continuity between the way they improve their singing and the way the orchestra where they sing , improve their playing, how the bandoneons play , they are making one each other better , and learning also one from each other.


Now comes the second big issue : there are actually some orchestras in Buenos Aires, not too much from the old times, maybe the one of Leopoldo Federico is the last, and he has to sweat blood to have all of them together to play ( in fact the musicians of the orchestra says they play just for the pleasure to be with Leopoldo,not for the money they receive )

Sans Souci is a gathering of musicians from Calr and similar styules, Gente de Tango were musicians from Di Sarli, los Reyes del Comp`s from D Arienzo, Color Tango from Pugliese .

But the trend as it is nowadays, is to make small groups ,El Arranque has 7 persons , not a tipica ( that usually takes 11 musicians ) , or less , like Nicolas Ledesma quartet, New Real quintet , Sexteto mayor ( a rare avis , playing non stop since 1973 until the death of Libertella last year make them now to see what to do) , Julio Pane trio , Los cosos de al lao , La Chicana, De coth , Las del abasto .

Maybe Orquesta Escuela de Tango could be an exception, because they are a lot of people in their last promotion , a lot of women musicians , and a lot of foreign that came to learn tango styles . But this is an educational project, not a permanent orchestra , because it has a school term, and then the musicians get out to their homes or own groups.

So, it seems , there are no "new" orchestras, and this is what I consider a big issue : Does the new musicians like to play and compose , for people to dance, or they prefer to play for listening only. I have not a clear answer for this issue. Taking El Arranque, which is the orchestra I have been following this last years .... they started as first promotion of Orquesta Escuela de Tango, and they play the tango styles excellent, their version of Milonguero viejo from Di Sarli desserves a standing ovation , like the other styles they play at the CD "De contrapunto" with the records of this promotion of the school.

Later they made an album "El arranque" ,quite good also to dance. Later "Cabulero" that other milongueros told me sounded a bit like Pugliese of the 50`s . Then "clasicos", with the outcome of a tour in Japan and some works abroad, that receive a praise from Wynton Marsalis.
Then "Clasicos" their last CD, with old tangos that are ....listenable I think, not danceable .

So the question remains, wether the orchestras will play for people to dance or not , it will be interesting to know other comments at the list

warm regards
alberto gesualdi
buenos aires


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Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 08:21:14 -0800
From: Kos.Zahariev@EC.GC.CA
Subject: Re: Feminine singers --not for milongas

Alberto Gesualdi wrote:

>If you follow the evolution of Fiorentino or Angel Vargas, you perceive
>that this guys sung quite bad on their beginning and later improve to a
>marvelous singing , but this is not casual because it is within the orchestra
>where they are learning ;

Hi Alberto,

I am curious for some examples, if you could give a couple of examples of
songs that were interpreted that way, for both Vargas and
Fiorentino. Hopefully I would have them to listen to and make the comparison
for myself and see if I hear any difference...and learn something :-)


>
>So the question remains, wether the orchestras will play for people to dance
>or not , it will be interesting to know other comments at the list


What happened to "Los Reyes Del Tango" (they seem to be nine people - 4
bandoneons, 3 violins, piano and contrabajo)? Do they have new CDs, and do
they still play for people to dance (if it is D'Arienzo style)?

Best regards,
Konstantin

Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2005 13:14:58 -0500
From: Victor Crichton <victor_vsc@HOTMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Feminine singers --not for milongas

Alberto,

I notice you didn't include "Fernadez Fiero" or "Orchesta Imperial", have
they been discontinued? On my last trip to BsAs, I heard both of these
orchestra's playing live on the streets of San Telmo. Both had CDs for sale
(Fernandez Fiero had 2).

Each is a fairly large formation with Fernandez Fiero being an orchesta
tipica with 4 bandoneons. They also have a male vocalist on some songs.
They don't specifically play Pugliese's music but their style would be
closer to his than any other will known orchestra. They play great and
sound very strong but whether or not you would like to dance to them is an
individual preference.

I didn't get to hear as much of Orchesta Imperial but they also play very
well and were unique in that they have a few women playing, including on
bandoneon.

Also, a couple of years ago I bought a CD or Orchesta Contratiempo but
have not heard anything about them since. Do you know if they are still in
existence? Their CD has a great version of Comme Il Faut.

Victor
Tampa Bay, Florida

>
>Now comes the second big issue : there are actually some orchestras in
>Buenos Aires, not too much from the old times, maybe the one of Leopoldo
>Federico is the last, and he has to sweat blood to have all of them
>together to play ( in fact the musicians of the orchestra says they play
>just for the pleasure to be with Leopoldo,not for the money they receive )
>
>Sans Souci is a gathering of musicians from Calr and similar styules, Gente
>de Tango were musicians from Di Sarli, los Reyes del Comp`s from D Arienzo,
>Color Tango from Pugliese .
>
>But the trend as it is nowadays, is to make small groups ,El Arranque has 7
>persons , not a tipica ( that usually takes 11 musicians ) , or less , like
>Nicolas Ledesma quartet, New Real quintet , Sexteto mayor ( a rare avis ,
>playing non stop since 1973 until the death of Libertella last year make
>them now to see what to do) , Julio Pane trio , Los cosos de al lao , La
>Chicana, De coth , Las del abasto .
>
>Maybe Orquesta Escuela de Tango could be an exception, because they are a
>lot of people in their last promotion , a lot of women musicians , and a
>lot of foreign that came to learn tango styles . But this is an educational
>project, not a permanent orchestra , because it has a school term, and then
>the musicians get out to their homes or own groups.
>
>So, it seems , there are no "new" orchestras, and this is what I consider a
> big issue : Does the new musicians like to play and compose , for people
>to dance, or they prefer to play for listening only. I have not a clear
>answer for this issue. Taking El Arranque, which is the orchestra I have
>been following this last years .... they started as first promotion of
>Orquesta Escuela de Tango, and they play the tango styles excellent, their
>version of Milonguero viejo from Di Sarli desserves a standing ovation ,
>like the other styles they play at the CD "De contrapunto" with the records
>of this promotion of the school.
>
>Later they made an album "El arranque" ,quite good also to dance. Later
>"Cabulero" that other milongueros told me sounded a bit like Pugliese of
>the 50`s . Then "clasicos", with the outcome of a tour in Japan and some
>works abroad, that receive a praise from Wynton Marsalis.
>Then "Clasicos" their last CD, with old tangos that are ....listenable I
>think, not danceable .
>
>So the question remains, wether the orchestras will play for people to
>dance or not , it will be interesting to know other comments at the list
>
>warm regards
>alberto gesualdi
>buenos aires
>
>
> 250MB gratis, Antivirus y Antispam
> Abrm tu cuenta aqum