Saturday, February 25, 2017

2017/08 - De Angelis & Attadia mixed instrumentals

www.frostbite.tango.fi


1. Alfredo De Angelis - "Mi dolor" 1957
2. Alfredo Attadía - "El negro Pintos" 1952
3. Alfredo Attadía - "El pensamiento" 1951
4. Alfredo De Angelis - "Cuando llora la milonga" 1952


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/7wvaqg4fqGysliKGR7SSHWHey all! Sorry for my absence and not updating the blog in a looong time. I have been very busy with starting my studies of cultural management and organizing the Tango Frostbite festival in Helsinki. Now the festival is done and I thought I'd celebrate it also with a new blog post!

This is a tanda I've been playing on a few occasions since a long time. You could say it's one of those "secret tandas" that the DJ is not too eager to share with others, but I think it's time to give Alfredo Attadia recognition for these two great recordings featured in the tanda.

The more common options to play with "Mi Dolor" from De Angelis are "Pavadita", "Caminito", "El choclo", "El Once (A divertirse)" and possibly "El amanecer", all of which I added in the Spotify playlist for you to listen to.

I am not a great fan of De Angelis and these 50s instrumentals get a bit heavy and tiresome for me personally, and often find myself losing inspiration halfway a tanda of such songs. I found that I can mix in these two songs from Attadia, which are not as over the top, but still have similar qualities to De Angelis. The songs have a clear strong beat and you could say Attadia sounds like a more minimalistic version of De Angelis... These are also some of the only good quality instrumentals available from Alfredo Attadia to us mere mortals. I have seen some Japanese CDs of more recordings from the orchestra, but have failed to get one myself so far.

All the best,

Antti Suniala

De Angelis, Alfredo - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store








Sunday, January 1, 2017

Welcome to "TOTW"

Welcome to "Tanda of the Week"!  A tanda of tango music will be uploaded on the blog once a week for your listening and dancing pleasure. This blog was created to educate dancers about tango and the orchestras of the golden era and beyond, as well as to share tandas and create discussion between dancers and dj's about good tango to dance to. This is a non-profit tango blog but if you wish you can support the blog by donations on Paypal.

Most of the tandas on the blog are by Dj Antti Suniala but tandas from guest dj's are welcome too! Below you will find a list of the most important orchestras featured on TOTW and a link to the tandas to listen to from each orchestra. For more information about the orchestras you can study the articles on the Todo Tango website. On www.tango.info you can find very useful listings of recordings from all the orchestras. Welcome and I hope you enjoy the blog!

For DJ gigs and workshops please contact me at dj@anttisuniala.com
Also have a look at my promotional DJ profile and my tour dates!

- DJ Antti Suniala


Biagi, Rodolfo - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Calo, Miguel - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - iTunes Store
Canaro, Francisco - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
D'Agostino, Ángel - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
De Angelis, Alfredo - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - iTunes Store
Demare, Lucio - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Di Sarli, Carlos - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Donato, Edgardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Fresedo
, Osvaldo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Laurenz, Pedro - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Lomuto, Francisco - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Orquesta Tipica Victor - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Pugliese, Osvaldo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Rodriguez, Enrique - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Tanturi, Ricardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Troilo, Anibal - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store
Varela, Héctor - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store 

Tandas by category:

Favorite tandas by Dj Antti Suniala - All the favorites on Spotify
Tandas by guest DJ's

Tango - Vals - Milonga tandas

1920's - 1930's - 1940's - 1950's tango music

Tandas with vocals
Instrumental tandas
Tandas with both instrumentals and vocal songs


Individual tandas available on Spotify are marked with the Spotify logo. Click here for the full playlist of all tandas on Spotify.

Tanda of the Week is now also available in Deezer.com. The individual tandas available on Deezer are marked with the Deezer logo. Click here for the Tanda of the Week on Deezer profile.

Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Tanda of the Week 25/2016 - Juan D'Arienzo instrumental milongas!!!


1. Juan D'Arienzo - "El potro" 1949
2. Juan D'Arienzo - "La espuela" 1946
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "Milonga de mis amores" 1970

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/7iFNwsQlCSFu56XCxus8fXhttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1951313742I had the pleasure of DJ'ing at the 3rd edition of the Tangosauna tangomarathon for the third time (!!!) and here's one of the milongatandas I played. I was scrolling through the D'Arienzo discography and was flirting with the idea of playing something like "Milonga que peina canas" (Spotify) but ended up going all instrumental. Unfortunately there are not many great instrumental milonga recordings from D'Arienzo but I felt like this tanda went down great and was nicely refreshing.

Enjoy!

D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store


Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Tanda of the Week 12/2016 - Ricardo Tanturi - Instrumentals - TangoTunes!


1. Ricardo Tanturi - "Recuerdo" 1942
2. Ricardo Tanturi - "Entre sueños" 1943
3. Ricardo Tanturi - "La huella" 1941
4. Ricardo Tanturi - "Mariposita" 1947

"The other Tanturi instrumentals" ----


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/6hlCuPN3IDpfkGUAOVZWfH
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1684364901One of the great fairly recent releases from TangoTunes is the compilation of all the instrumental songs recorded by Ricardo Tanturi in 1937-1947. The release has 16 songs and a few that many of us have surely been looking for in good quality for a while now. Please remember that while listening to the tanda you only have the best quality versions I was able to find on Spotify or Deezer. Be sure to listen to the samples provided on TangoTunes for all the songs.

We're more accustomed to hearing the Tanturi's uptempo instrumentals like the songs in this Tanturi instrumental tanda but his mix of melody and rhythm works well in the down/midtempo range as well. Tanturi recorded the Pugliese classic "Recuerdo" a few years before Osvaldo himself, and while it's not quite the match for Puglieses recording, there's nothing wrong in Tanturi's arrangement of this fine song. "Entre sueños" is a bit of a strange one and you can see how you like it in comparison to the vocal version of Miguel Caló and Raúl Berón. "La huella" is more rhythmical but has enough of melody to make it fit the tanda and my favorite "Mariposita" finishes the rather smooth tanda.

No fireworks but everything works. Probably best played early on in the milonga.

Between these and the "Comparsa Criolla"'s there's a mix of more rhythmical midtempo tracks like "Adios pueblo" and "Lagrimas" which are definitely worth checking out too.

Enjoy!

Tanturi, Ricardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

Saturday, March 19, 2016

Tanda of the Week 11/2016 - Juan D'Arienzo - DJ Francesco Cieschi



1. Juan D'Arienzo - "Este es El Rey" 1971
2. Juan D'Arienzo / Osvaldo Ramos - "Sentimiento gaucho" 1965
3. Juan D'Arienzo - "Inspiración" 1967
4. Juan D'Arienzo / Osvaldo Ramos - "Mi dolor" 1972


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/2Jjv9fVAgcMphB3ARVORIqThis is a guest DJ tanda from Francesco Cieschi from Berlin. He's a part of the amazing team organizing the monthly Loca milonga in Berlin. Here's what he had to say about the tanda:

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1649956961"Very well, here we have a very powerful tanda. Would I use these songs at any time? Of course not. But at the right moment, with the right people on the dance floor, this is a blast! 

 It starts with a shock. “Este es el rey” is a very peculiar and a very powerful song. Therefore I would suggest to "announce it" with a fitting high energy cortina, maybe not Norah Jones or Jeff Buckley. “Sentimiento Gaucho” is a very wellknown song, played also by many other orquestas, such as Canaro, Lomuto, Biagi, Racciatti, Varela and so on. Still powerful. The bandoneons rock, but there are also nice violins, voice and some piano 'easter eggs' to dance on. “Inspiracion”. Same thing, but instrumental. Very well known song played by many orchestras. Powerful, but still danceable. And also here, I love the piano 'easter eggs'. A light variation close to the end, getting ready for the last piece. 

Did I say it starts with a shock? It ends with a boom! “Mi dolor”, particularly this version, is one of the best tango songs ever! It's a matter of taste, but I'm really sure I'm not alone here, am I? Here I really don't need to say anything else. Power, beautiful voice and a crazy variation. It's fun, really. The overall mood and atmosphere of the tanda stays the same. I don't use it as a rule, in fact I don't have many rules, but changing abruptly the mood of a tanda doesn't make much sense for me. The third song leaves some space for a breath, here and there. And, at least regarding the songs with singer, we have the same theme. You know, a man was in love with a woman, this woman betrayed him, now he is suffering, he wants to forget her but he can't, and he would like to have her back. Well, it's not very original, but still."

Thank you Francesco!

Unfortunately the correct version of "Mi dolor" wasn't available on Spotify or Deezer (at least in Finland) so I had to replace the song with another version, which also has Osvaldo Ramos singing, but the version packs way less punch than the 1972 version with D'Arienzo.

Be sure to check out other tandas from Juan D'Arienzo!!

D'Arienzo, Juan - TOTW - Todo Tango tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Tanda of the Week 07/2016 - Osvaldo Pugliese y Roberto Chanel - TangoTunes new releases!

The DJ's of Singapore Tango Marathon!


Greetings! It's been a long time since my last post and a lot has happened for me during that time. I had the great pleasure of playing twice at the Tango Remolino festival in Ukraine, we just finished the Helsinki Milonga Weekend in Finland and I'm looking forward to my up and coming gigs. I'm especially looking forward to returning to Singapore again in the end of April for the first edition of the Singapore Tango Marathon! Also the hottest marathon of all - Tangosauna - is happening in June again and I have the honor of playing there for the third time! Here are some of my tour dates:


Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Tanda of the Week 47/2015 - Osvaldo Pugliese Instrumentals - DJ Antti Suniala

1. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Verano porteño" 1966
2. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Pata ancha" 1957
3. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Emancipación" 1955
4. Osvaldo Pugliese - "Patético" 1948


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/0Md2EsqX1YvtBBUwU55vSvSorry for the lack of updates recently. I was overwhelmed with my gigs and life in general in October.

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1459412345This is a tanda that I played in two events in Germany the last month. First one was the "Tangotanzen Macht Schön" milonga in Berlin and the second was a Night of the Arts special milonga in the beautiful city museum of Schwerin. In "TTMS" I was asked to play a couple of alternative tandas but I somewhat dodged the task by playing a variation of this tanda from Ariel Ardit as well as this Pugliese tanda. I figured that playing the great Pugliese version of the Astor Piazzolla classic "Verano porteño" (Spotify/Deezer) would work well for the crowd. Although it's not one of Pugliese's best known or most popular recordings, the orchestra does a great job in, somewhat ironically, toning down the original composition into an arrangement that ends up being very danceable.

The rest of the tanda is put together from some of the biggest songs from the Pugliese instrumental discography. What I find interesting is that this tanda goes the unusual way in starting from the later recordings and going back in time towards the end. I didn't want to remain in the 60's recordings for the whole tanda and I also wanted to finish with a relatively clear structured song. Usually there's a huge change in the dynamics and quality of the songs when playing music from almost a 20 year time frame, but the 1948 "Patético" holds it's own remarkably well, due to strenght of the song itself (seriously.... this is one of absolute favorites) but also somehow being of great quality in comparison to some other songs from that time period. When I played the tanda I also made sure to have a long enough gap in between the songs and turn up the volume and bass a bit for the first moments of "Patético" to hide any differences in the sound qualities.

The tanda worked wonderfully well both in Berlin and in Schwerin, where this tanda was applauded.

If you (or even if you don't) like the earlier 40's Pugliese better then I recommend checking out the tanda with Roberto Chanel as the singer. I have put quite many Pugliese tandas on the blog but clearly there's still plenty of room for a lot more. I think I'll focus more on the earlier 40's instrumentals (which I play in every milonga) the next time.

Enjoy!

Pugliese, Osvaldo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store


Friday, October 16, 2015

Tanda of the Week 42/2015 - Donato Milongas! - DJ Antti Suniala


It's a busy month for me since I'm playing in

16.10. NOU - BERLIN
17.-18.10. LA ENDORFINA MARATHON - POZNAN
23.10. TTMS - BERLIN
24.10. SCHWERIN - GERMANY
30.10. TANGO OTOÑO - SWEDEN

and I might as well add one more to the list:

01.11. BRIGHTANGOTHON - UK 

Hope to see you in one of these lovely events!

----------------

1. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "La milonga que faltaba" 1938
2. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "Cara negra" 1942
3. Edgardo Donato / Horacio Lagos - "Campo afuera" 1940

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1JazCJG24nDh7lkRok3Xhehttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1416038105

Here's a nice energetic milonga tanda for your friday nights! Enjoy!

Donato, Edgardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - iTunes Store
Lagos, Horacio - TOTW - tango.info



Sunday, October 11, 2015

Tanda of the Week 41/2015 - Héctor Varela y Rodolfo Lesica - DJ Antti Suniala


1. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Historia de un amor" 1956
2. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Y todavía te quiero" 1956
3. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" 1951
4. Héctor Varela / Rodolfo Lesica - "Paciencia" 1951


https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/6AnMBSPZPO8gTQrhTSpENP
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1409831835I hadn't realized before that Varela and Lesica had recorded such an excellent version of the D'Arienzo classic "Paciencia", so I decided to try to make a tanda around the song. Varela's "Paciencia" was published interestingly a month and a half later than D'Arienzo himself had released the song with Alberto Echague. In many cases it seems like every orchestra in the 1950's had to have their own version of a big hit such as this one.

Varela, who himself played in D'Arienzos orchestra previously, continued the strong rhythmical style of his mentor but also made it his own. I've never been a fan of the 1950's recordings from D'Arienzo with Echague even though I absolutely love most of the D'Arienzo instrumental recordings from that time period. The singing of Rodolfo Lesica is a lot more pleasing to my ear in this version and the orchestra plays nicely restrained in comparison to some of the other Varela recordings.

"Paciencia" was of course recorded by D'Arienzo with Enrique Carbel already in 1937, and this version is my favorite. Some might also like the version of Francisco Canaro with Roberto Maida.

-----

Now about the tanda. For a few reasons, it was very difficult to put this tanda together. Mainly because of the rather limited number of recordings from Varela with Lesica and also because a lot of them really are not on the level of "Paciencia". So I wanted to start the tanda with one of the most known songs from Varela "Historia de un amor", which is pretty much a pop hit of it's time as it was recorded by many non-tango orchestras as well  all the way from Argentina to Finland. Also because Varela is disliked by some dancers, I want to have a very recognizable song first so it's an easy to choice for the dancers to go dance or go for some fresh air.

I wanted to continue with another hit song in "Y todavia te quiero" (also recorded by Di Sarli, Pugliese and D'Arienzo). These two songs probably are the best known songs from Varela/Lesica. The third one is in my opinion another excellent version of a big song - "El bulín de la calle Ayacucho" was recorded by Troilo/Fiorentino in 1941 and is one of the most popular songs in the Troilo discography. I think Varela's version is very nice although I feel that the songs comes to a very sudden end and I like the arrangement of Troilo better.

So the tanda has the two big hits from Varela followed by two Varela's versions of  big tango classics. Notice the recording dates and slight difference in sound/recording quality going from the second to the third song. DJ's might want to boost the volume at least temporarily a bit for "El bulín..." to make up for the difference.

I could've looked for a more consistent style and energy by using more songs from the 1951-1953 recordings of Varela, but like I said it was impossible to find songs that would've been of the same quality of (meaning as good as) "Paciencia". So even though there's some fairly clear difference in the styles of the first two and the last two songs in this tanda, I believe that having four strong songs with less consistency is better than a tanda of weaker songs with more consistency.

Enjoy!

Varela, Héctor - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store  


Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Tanda of the Week 39/2015 - La Juan D'Arienzo



1. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Este es el Rey"
2. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Felicia"
3. La Juan D'Arienzo - "Gallo ciego"
4. La Juan D'Arienzo - "La cumparsita"

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/74Y4F4JmZKiWlOHVwZomii
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1386296785I finally had the chance to hear La Juan D'Arienzo live at the World of Tango Festival in Finland and I'm not sure if I can find enough superlatives to describe this experience. My jaw literally dropped to the floor at the soundcheck from the very first notes of "Este es el Rey" and the hottest orchestra of today proved to be worthy of all the hype behind them and exceeded all my expectations. You could see such joy and euphoria on the faces of the dancers as they joined in the hurricane of rhythm as if the king of the compas - Juan D'Arienzo - himself had been there in flesh.

And this was really as good, and as close to the real thing, as it gets. The La Juan D'Arienzo is obviously a tribute orchestra that executes flawlessly the style of Juan D'Arienzo's 1950's to 1970's rhythmical "overdrive tango". I can appreciate Sans Souci's repertoire of Miguel Caló and I have heard Color Tango live with their repertoire of Pugliese and others, as well as Misteriosa Buenos Aires and their powerful and beautiful Di Sarliesque set, but I dare to say that no other orchestra has accomplished capturing the style of their idols so perfectly as La Juan D'Arienzo. Well let's not forget Los Reys del Tango, which I have also heard live but with a smaller line up. And of course there's no denying that Solo Tango is amazing and they perform a lot of D'Arienzo - but there's only so much you can accomplish with a cuartet. It is a unique occasion to hear a full "orquesta típica" of such musicians in Europe and the difference in sound and quality is huge.

If there's one thing more I could've asked for, then yes, I would've loved to hear something from the earlier D'Arienzo repertoire, with the perhaps more subtle and sophisticated overdrive of the earlier years... but the orchestra had us mesmerized completely with their two sets, that came up to a massive total of 24 songs, and there was no fatique in neither the orchestra or the dancers. The orchestra members also proved to be not only great musicians, but also great entertainers, as they kept a very high energy stage-presence throughout the concert.

Unfortunately there is no way that their recordings could come even close to the energy of their live sets, but still you can hear the talent and passion that has been put into their music. The orchestra is currently on their first European tour and I sincerely hope all the success in the world for them and that I will have plenty of chances to hear them live again. Check their tour photo below and if you have a chance to go see them live then that should be your top priority in life from now on.

For the most update information on the orchestra and their tour I recommend checking out the Facebook page of La Juan D'Arienzo. Their album "Cortando clavos" is available on Spotify, Deezer and is sold at least in the iTunes Store.

Enjoy!

- DJ Antti Suniala, www.tandaoftheweek.net



Sunday, September 13, 2015

Tanda of the Week 37/2015 - Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - Valses - DJ Antti Suniala

World of Tango festival 2015, Tampere Finland.





I have the pleasure of DJ'ing at the grand milonga/concert of the World of Tango Festival the coming Saturday! The festival has an amazing line up of great tango orchestras and DJ's as well! It will be an honor to "share the stage" with the orchestra La Juan D'Arienzo, one of the hottest tango orchestras of today following the style of Juan D'Arienzo (1900-1976).

----------


1. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Un placer" 1936 - TangoTunes
2. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Irene" 1936 - TangoTunes
3. Juan D'Arienzo / Walter Cabral - "Tu olvido" 1936 - TangoTunes 

 https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/1ogcr4jVoPHLCoUAGzH3uphttp://www.deezer.com/playlist/1374195805I can't believe I haven't posted these lovely valses by D'Arienzo with Walter Cabral before! Then again, after five years of tandas I can't be very sure anymore. Which reminds me of the task of updating the tags for artists and styles. I'll start using tags like "D'Arienzo - Vals" and "D'Arienzo - Instrumental tango" from now on. I hope it helps with navigation of the site and finding what you might be looking for.

Enjoy!

------------

Check out the video below of "La Juan D'Arienzo".


Friday, September 4, 2015

Tanda of the Week 36/2015 - D'Agostino / Garcia - DJ Xenia




I will be playing my UK premiere at the Brightangothon in Brighton in the end of October!

-------------

1. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "Era en otro Buenos Aires" 1947
2. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "El trece" 1951
3. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "Alma de bohemio" 1947
4. Ángel D'Agostino / Tino García - "La cumparsita" 1952

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/37JlbiH8XRFc9oodbtz4uiThis weeks guest DJ tanda is from DJ Xenia from Israel. The tanda showcases later recordings from D'Agostino with the singer Tino García. Here's how Xenia introduces herself:

http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1363697095"I am an Israeli DJ traveling abroad and playing music in Europe. I see myself as a very diverse DJ, being able to play light and dynamic music, keeping high and flowing energy, or creating more sophisticated and calm atmosphere depending on the dancers need.

My first education (MA) was in the field of history of XX century culture, so I could continue my research when arrived to tango, and it allows me to bring you a lot of lesser known danceable music.

A part of my style is introducing a new danceable music from the end of twenties to the middle of fifties. Please, pay attention: the keyword is 'danceable', not 'new'".

You can check out Xenia's DJ page at https://www.facebook.com/Tango.DJ.Xenia
And her interview with DJ Super Sabino at http://supersabinotango.blogspot.it/2014/10/xenia-mikhailov-part-of-my-style-is.html

Thank you Xenia!

Have a nice weekend all!

D'Agostino, Ángel - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes - iTunes Store

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Tanda of the Week 35/2015 - 1950's instrumentals - Federico, Biagi, Varela & Polito! - DJ Antti Suniala



I will be playing at the La Endorfina tango marathon in Poland in October!

-----------


1. Domingo Federico - "Leyenda gaucha" 1952
2. Rodolfo Biagi - "El recodo" 1952
3. Héctor Varela - "Mi dolor" 1953
4. Juan Polito - "El internado" 1952

https://open.spotify.com/user/anttiveikko/playlist/61wwEewQeQnbRJKCSOJWQU
http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1351759575I believe I've been hyping the early 1950's instrumental tangos a fair amount and that's exactly what I'll do again in this post. I played this tanda last Sunday and I thought it came out really good. It's a mix of songs that are difficult to fit into tandas of equally great songs from the same orchestra; the only exception possibly being Biagi's "El recodo", but even then you would fall short in my opinion. I wouldn't say the other three songs in this tanda are such classics as "El recodo" but they are definitely some of the best the individual orchestras have in their discography and top notch songs that all have very high energy without being overly uptempo and also great bandoneon variaciones to finish the songs off. Also Polito's "El internado" is one of the few songs available to mere mortals in high quality.

Juan Polito (read the biography at Todotango.com) played in D'Arienzo's orchestra on two time periods and "El internado" is indeed very D'Arienzoesque. Still the arrangement is slightly different and the great pianist gets to showcase his skills in wonderful fashion.

Enjoy!

------

PS. The cortina is from the band of my talented girlfriend and I had the opportunity to be part of filming and directing their first video. Check it out!

Friday, August 14, 2015

Tanda of the Week 33/2015 - Tanturi/Campos - TangoTunes - 5 Year Anniversary of TOTW!



Five years ago I started my blog Tanda of the Week with the simple idea of sharing my love for tango music with the world, and while at it, sharing some thoughts about what makes tango music so great and how to construct good tandas. I was still a beginner DJ (when it came to tango music) and I had no idea that the blog would become this popular or that I'd be still doing this after five years!

The last years have been quite a ride for me as a DJ and I've had the pleasure and privilige to DJ in some of the most prestige milongas and festivals around the world and will keep doing so hopefully for many years to come! I'd like to thank all of the DJ's who have helped me with the blog by sharing their guest DJ tandas and of course all of my readers for your comments, likes, shares and recommendations. You have all been irreplaceable.

I had to take a break for some summer holidays and my gigs/trips to the wonderful Tango d'Amore festival in Odessa, Ukraine and the High Noon marathon in Berlin, Germany, but now the blog and weekly tandas are back stronger than ever. There's still so much of beautiful music to share with all of you.

Un abrazo,

DJ Antti Suniala


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1. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Sollozo de bandoneón" 1943 - lyrics
2. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Calla bandoneón" 1944 - lyrics
3. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "La abandoné y no sabía" 1944 - lyrics
4. Ricardo Tanturi / Enrique Campos - "Igual que una sombra" 1945 - lyrics

spotify:user:anttiveikko:playlist:1WS1swI9IkZmB5DbC4TwhR
 http://www.deezer.com/playlist/1338795295I received quite an amazing present for the anniversary and for this weeks tanda from TangoTunes.com. The fine folk at TangoTunes have released two compilations of freshly digitized shellacs from none other than Ricardo Tanturi with the singer Enrique Campos. The first compilation, contains 32 songs from 1943-1944, and the second compilation has 21 songs from 1945 to 1946, and this makes for the entire catalog of 53 recordings of Ricardo Tanturi together with the singer Enrique Campos, valses, milongas and duets with Roberto Videla included.

Some of Tanturi's songs have been very difficult to get in good quality, and for some reason many of the songs have been cursed with a lot of reverb, which had been artificially added at some point by the record companies. So it's amazing to have these songs in their original form, straight from the shellacs, in the way they were supposed to sound like. So please have a listen to the samples provided at the TangoTunes store. The Spotify and Deezer playlists I am able to provide for you to listen to these songs do not contain the releases of TangoTunes.

The tanda itself contains one of the most popular songs from Tanturi/Campos: "Calla bandoneón" from 1944. I see a story develop throughout the tanda as the singer goes through different phases of misery and loss as the bandoneon gently weeps. "Iqual que un bandoneón" would've been a great song for the tanda as well, but I was unable to find it on Spotify.

Enjoy!


Tanturi, Ricardo - TOTW - Todo Tangotango.info - TangoTunes
Campos, Enrique - TOTW - Todo Tango - tango.info

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Tanda of the Week 22/2015 - Tango Pohjan Tähden - Alternative tango!

Tango Pohjan Tähden, Minneapolis, USA


The following is based on a true story and no names have been changed... I did the unthinkable and played at an alternative milonga!

Another announcement is that I have recently moved from Berlin back to Finland and it is Helsinki where this story takes place.

Our tango association "Amigos del Tango" has two weekly milongas at our dance studio "El Atico" in Helsinki, and a while back the second milonga was changed to an alternative one. The "El Huracan" milonga is 70% traditional and 30% alternative and I took on the challenge to play there last Sunday. For some obvious reasons of being a full time artist (yes, a beautiful mix of a dancer's servant and an artist with a personality... among the other artforms and things I'm involved in) and not having the luxury to afford to always choose where I play, meaning - I need the money. As well as having the luxury of being a strange mix of a hard core traditionalist and an occasionally open minded human being and therefore deciding that with great pleasure I will play for this milonga and the dancers there. Let me explain....

I have been a DJ for 20 years now and

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Tanda of the Week 21/2015 - Rafael Canaro - DJ Daniele Argelli


This weeks tanda comes from guest DJ Daniele Argelli. Here's what he wrote:

"Hi Antti. My name is Daniele Argelli, from Italy and I find your website very inspiring for the career as a tango dj I’m working on building. I might be wrong but I haven’t found any Rafael Canaro tanda on TOTW, which I think is a pity since I think he recorded some very danceable music – although nowhere near as good and as plentiful as his more famous brother [Francisco Canaro]. A Rafael Canaro tanda I’ve played that people seemed to like is this:

1. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Qué le importa al mundo"
2. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Envidia"
3. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Resentimiento"
4. Rafael Canaro / Luis Scalón - "Cuando el corazón"