Tag: Orchestra

In this article about the third and fourth album of the miniseries “Con Saludos desde Europa” you get a little insight into the current events of the first decades of the past century, which strongly influenced the lives and formations of the tango musicians on these albums. Family connections within the tango scene and musical developments of individual musicians are mentioned, as well as the author‘s personal assessments of individual titles. The photo shows Rafael Canaro.

The third album presents recordings with Quentin Verdu, the unforgettable Alina De Silva and Auguste Jean Pesenti.

With his interpretation and the fresh arrangements of the Tango classics „Torrente“, „Malena“, „Sur“ (for me the best interpretation ever) and „Cancion desesperada“ Quintin Verdu is a pleasure to listen to and presents the skills of the French singers in an impressive way.

Unfortunately, tango lost its popularity quickly in Europe after the war and with the beginning of the 50s the musicians had to earn their living with other musical styles.

Regarding Alina De Silva: I think all of Argentina would have been willing to adopt her as an Argentinean. But this wonderful Tango singer is Peruvian and eventually died in her home country Lima. In 1925 she came to France together with her husband Alfonse de Silva and his orchestra. They lived there for about 15 years before they returned to their native country.

What did it sound like when a tango was recorded in the 30s or 40s of the last century? For several years Matthias Kroll has been dedicating a lot of time to  get closer and closer to the original recording in his sound restorations.Recently he has founded his own label. “Matthias Kroll Records” (MKR), which is distributed exclusively by Danza y Movimiento. In the following text Matthias Kroll himself tells how he became a tango restorer:
The Argentine Tango has a distinctive charm and once you have succumbed to it, you can usually never get away from it again. Like many, I first came into contact with it in the 90s when the Gotan Project started in Paris and hybrids like Tanghetto were played in the clubs. The free way of dancing to this music fascinated my wife and me and we had to learn it. After a longer break we got back into the milonga scene and I became more and more involved with the tango music of the past. I started to search for old recordings and to translate the lyrics. Once you are immersed in the world of the 20s/30s and 40s, there are so many forgotten tangos/texts and people to discover. Our dance style changed quite fast and we actually only dance in close embrace, where both partners feel and dance the music together as an inseparable unity.

The CD Tango 9 is the n.9 in the Tango production of the Hyperion ensemble. The project of this new release is strictly following the two previous CDs, Epoca de oro (2011) and Remembranzas (2014) wishing to bring to a new life the music of the historical orchestras of the 40s and 50s; it contains a lot of great hits in the classical Tango repertoire, as Los Mareados, Cachirulo, Esta noche de luna, famous milongas as La Punalada and Mano brava, refined valses as Temo, etc.

The recording has been done 50% live and 50% in studio, with the two bandoneonists Josè Luis Betancor and Antonio Ippolito. Actually this CD is an adequate photo of the Hyperion ensemble in this moment of its life and activity, developing itself mainly in Festivals or in Shows with dancers, moving hundreds of people with the rhythm of the music by D’Arienzo, Pugliese, Biagi etc. reinterpretated with a modern concept of sound and orchestration. The CD contains also a new interpretation of the milonga Morena by Esteban Morgado and of the foxtrot Por las calles de Estambul, and a special arrangement of the Modugno’s song Le donne belle, featuring a Trio of female voices: Creartis Trio.

With recordings from the Orquesta Donato-Zerillo, Edgardo Donato, the Orquesta Bianco-Bachicha, the Orquesta Típica Juan Sanchez Gorio, Roberto Grela and his conjunto de guitarras, Edmundo Rivero, Alberto Gomez, Cayetano Puglisi, Carlos Gardel and Alberto Castillo we give new impetus to our series “Tango Classics”, which already consists of 233 albums.

The Hyperion Ensemble is based in the Italian La Spezia and it presents its 8th tango production with “Remembranzas”. The ensemble from wild Liguria has gained a leading position within the European tango scene and it ranks among the most important current tango orchestras worldwide.
The project of this new release is strictly following the previous one, “Epoca de oro” (2011), wishing to bring to new life the music of the historical orchestras of the 40s and 50s; this is the meaning of the title “Remembranzas”, which is also one of the best songs of the CD. (The Spanish term “Remembranza” is linked closely to the Argentinian tango and it signifies something like a “memory of something that is past”. Don’t be surprised – some Spanish dictionaries don’t even list this word…)