Tango

Another Sampler with Songs from Gardel... do we really need that? Aren't there enough of these compilatioms already?

Well... this one is different!!!

And this is not only due to its incredible size! 100 (!) Songs from Carlos Gardel, probably the most important and best-known figure of Tango Argentino, and 6 interviews with with companions and connoissuers of Gardel (as Hugo del Carril, Eduardo Bonessi and Rafael Rossi) - on all in all 7 CDs!

It is above all due to the selection and compilation of these songs (which were remastered for this purpose): The CDs are not just randomly filled with Hits but each CD is dedicated to a certain topic. Off we go on the first CD with the "Classics", from 'El día que me quieras' over 'La última copa', and 'Volver' to 'Yira yira' and 'La Cumparsita'. The second CD is dedicated to "Lunfardo" the slang from the streets of Buenos Aires, which Gardel knew to set to music like no other. CD 3 shows the dramatic side of Gardel (or his music), on the fourth he is presented as a real "Arrabalero", whereas CD 5 resembles the most romantic moments of his musical oeuvre. And the sixth CD, finally, is dedicated to the "Criollos".
(On the seventh CD you'll find the mentioned interviews)

Besides well-known Hits of Gardel's, you can also find some previously lost recordings. So even for real connoisseurs of Gardel this box is worth a closer look..

But the box is not only a pleasure for your ears...

The eyes get their equal share, too, indulging in the stylish design! The cover has the look of a very classical leather binding while the inner part of the box is presented in sepia and comes up with pictures of contemporary history and handwritten verses in the background. In front of that you see beautifully framed photographs of Gardel.
Oh, and the booklet! It's got biographical notes and annotations to every of the 100 songs (in Spanish and English).


The complete track list as well as audio samples of every track you can find right here in our shop.



And one more tip: If you are interested in mp3s of Gardel for download, here you can find a selection of the Maestro's songs from our "Tango Classics" Series

This fall is Gotan season, it seems.

'Cause besides the "Best Of", we've just presented to you, there is even more from Gotan to enjoy: the Tango 3.0 Live-DVD/BluRay!

With this package the absolutely impressive "Tango 3.0" Show at the Casino de Paris comes directly to your living rooms... whenever and as often as you like!
And let's be honest: you have to have seen Gotan Project live!
For as beautiful and mesmerizing as their music already is on CD - in their live shows it becomes part of an affecting, deeply touching overall performance together with the stunning and very aesthetic video show from Prisca Lobjoy. Sensual and surreal her visuals enhance the passion and the compelling effect of Gotan's music and make sure that the melodies and rhythms stuck in our heads are joined by the appropriate images.
A fantastic audiovisual experience!!!

By the way, Gotan Projects "Tango 3.0 Live" comes as DVD and BluRay in one Box.


And here comes a little appetizer:

Oh, I still remember how much I enjoyed Tango 3.0.
Especially awesome was "La gloria"! Somewhere between electro, breaks and tango... and I have hardly ever heard such a fat bass in e-tango. And if you've ever been to Argentina and listened to a football game on the radio you'll have to smile big time about the wonderful idea of integrating this experience into a song!
"La panamericana" fascinated me, too. It's got something very hypnotic and you instantly feel beamed into a truck which rushes in a split second through villages like mancora, on his endlessly long way down south...

It seems I wasn't alone with this 'cause only a year later these two songs are honored with an appearance on Gotan Projects first "Best Of" toghether with loads of other hits which keep being stuck in the heads of so many tangueras and tangueros.
And this is really saying something, considering the amount of brilliant songs of this french trio, which set off the electro tango wave ten years ago and since then never ceased to add new facets to this music.

Besides absolute classics like "Santa María" or "Una música brutal" you'll even find two new, previously unreleased tracks on the CD!
One of them - "Strength to love" - proves that tango even harmonizes perfectly with melodic-thoughtful rap! Brilliant!!!


Gotan Projects "Best Of" will be released on 11/18/2011 and can already be pre-ordered by DyM-Club members!

Just a few days ago I've written about an exciting Cooperation of Leopoldo Federico (with Roberto Grela) in this place...
and I already got my hands on the next one, this time with Susana Rinaldi, one of THE Grandes Dames of tango.

A bandoneón and a voice, both matured through experience, who meet and have a lot to tell each other. And who are incredibly good in listening to each other, as it is the case between good friends.

In their conjunto it seems as if they followed their very own rhythm, a beat that only belongs to them and to no one else. I can see them see them in my mind's eye, sitting together, reminiscing in and through melodies full of melancholy...
The recordings captured on this CD carry a very private atmosphere. Sometimes you hear them talk to each other... But it's not only a "bueno vamo'" that makes you feel like having been invited, sitting in an armchair right in front of these exceptional musicians, listening devoutly, while their mind and soul dwells in music and yesterdays: "éramos... éramos jóvenes"
It is more the solemn, deeply immersed play of Federico and Rinaldi's shift between narration and chant... a chant that has to narrate a story, whose source are decades of life and music.

In this way Rinaldi and Federico loose themselves in tango, from "El día que me quieras" and "Malena" to "Naranjo en Flor" and "Che, Bandoneón". The epilogue is composed by themselves, a retrospection, looking back to the times they just commemorated musically: "Éramos tan Jóvenes".



Rinaldi y Federico: "Vos y Yo"

Recorded in the 40's, released in 2011.
What is that supposed to mean?

Well, in this case we have to go back to 1995 to answer that question. For in that year the Buenos Aires Tango Club was founded.
In the beginning 20 tango-experts and -lovers set off with the aim to preserve the heritage of this music, or more precisely: this culture; to prevent it from oblivion or even being lost forever.
Because of the not really robust shellac records, THE music medium of the most important tango years, only few survived. And due to commercial reasons not that many records were rereleased on vinyl later.
So that is why several thousand associates of the Buenos Aires Tango club have been busy for quite a while now with searching Archives of past as well as still existing labels for recoverable master tapes or other usable sound carriers and remastering them with the modern means of audio technology.
To make these recording accessible to a broader public, the label Euro Records s.a. was founded in 2001. They release thoroughly selected compilations of these recordings as the fruits of all this labor, so to say.


Of these fruits we just received three absolutely new ones:


Enrique Rodriguez: "Esto es puro compás"

Enrique Rodriguez, from whose pen we got such wonderful tangos as "Llorar por una mujer", was well known for new and unconventional orchestrations and a broad and varied repertoire of happy and romantic tangos. His prime overlaps pretty much with the Golden Age of tango, the 40's.
On this CD (the first which Euro Records releases form Rodriguez') however one finds altogether very nice recordings from the beginning of his career (1937-1941) - many of them composed by Rodriguez himself!
And the title already already tells it: Esto es puro compás! Music made to dance to!


Cuarteto Federico - Grela: "Volumen I. Tangos" und "Volumen II. Valses Milongas y Selecciones"

Leopoldo Federico and Roberto Grela played together between 1965 and 1970, so, following the tango calendar, they joined fordes relatively late. While Grela had worked together with Troilo for quite a long time, complementing Troilo's bandoneón perfectly with his guitar, Federico had obtained some fame together with the singer Julio Sosa after already having played in the orchestras of Gobbi, DiSarli, Demare and Slagán.
On both CDs the most important moments of their collaboration are captured; one filled with tangos, oscillating between contemplative and lively, the other inhabited by valses and milongas. Especially interesting are the "Selecciones" (in chart jargon you'd probably say mega-mix). These selections consist of several valses, milongas, or tangos perfectly merged by the musicians within 3 to five minutes! There are also artist selections of de Caro, Mores, Piazzolla and even a hommage to Carlos Gardel!
And in all these compositions this very exceptional atmosphere unfolds which only emerges when bandoneón and guitar meet for a tete-à-tete.

Here you can find even more CDs released by Euro Records in our Shop.

And in case you are interested in more old and partly extremely rare recordings (even for download!), you should have a look at our "Tango Classics" series.

Finally in our store!

The new CD from Sexteto Milonguero: "7".

And: "Dios mio!" what a staggering album - no: artwork!
More than one hour of vitality, "joie de vivre", goosebumps, (sounds somehow as if I'd write about salsa ) and danceable melancholy!

The Sexteto Milonguero originally joined forces to keep the Tango very close to the dancers, inside the milongas, and in the "barrio". And for this reason they accumulated a repertoire of tangos from the Golden Age, the 40's, which they don't just want to cover but reinterpret in their very personal sound. And, what shall I say, they master this undertaking to perfection!!!

It is just incredible what these guys make of the tangos from the 40's!!!
already the first song, "Embrujamiento", is far far away form a random copy of Malerba or D'Arienzo. It starts with an intro which is as long as it is ingenious and _ if anything - reminds me more of Piazzolla: highly dramatic and powerful. Then, at the beginning of the theme, the arc of suspense falls down shortly, the first tones are placid, then slowly the dynamic of the intro returns. And then, creating the climax, Javier Di Ciriaco's soulfully and intensively sung vocals come in and ultimately carry you off!
Or "Llorar por una mujer" (Track 4). It has nothing of the solemn sounds of a Enrique Rodíguez. To the contrary! It is downright vibrant with energy! So the sound box of the contrabass several times becomes a percussion instrument and a throaty "ha!" escapes the musicians' vocal cords, quite similar to a chacarera (which, by the way is also represented on this album). It wouldn't surprise me, if this song had already educed some unintentional stomps from one or two dancers in the milonga.
Such a dynamic and vigorous style literally begs for "valses" of course. And hence we can find a whole tanda of valses on the new album, consisting of "Flor de Lino", "Paisage", "Bajo un cielo de estrellas" and "Al pasar", which, framed by soli from bandoneón and bass, carry the dancers away on their rhythmic waves!
another extremely brilliant song is, in my opinion, "Junto a tu corazón" (Track 14)!

Alltoghether this CD has a power which is absolutely unique in tango!
I can perfectly understand why this album and the Sexteto came off so well in our newsletter poll!!!

Listen to it, turn up the sound, and enjoy!

And in case you just can't get enough, there furtunately is still the first album, "Pa' que bailen", from this incredible Sexteto Milonguero at your service!