Well, a friend of a friend who’s passionate about Tango just sent me this incredible email with loads of info, so I figured I might as well share it here!! :
The big names that most people have a lot of:
Carlos Di Sarli, Anibal Troilo, Miguel Calo, Alfredo De Angelis, Pedro Laurenz, Francisco Canaro, Juan D’Arienzo, Osvaldo Fresedo, Osvaldo Pugliese, Rodolfo Biagi
Also your friend might enjoy some Argentine folk music:
If you can find a disk called “Milongas Sureras” it is very good. Amazon doesn’t carry it.
Atahualpa Yupanqui is an incredible folk guitarist and singer. Amazon has a ton of his samples in their MP3 download section and some of his CDs for sale.
Also this is a very nice Portuguese fado album
http://www.amazon.com/Fado-Coimbra-1926–1930-Various-Artists/dp/B0000039XK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542949&sr=1–2
I think either iTunes or Amazon sell a digital version of it. Nothing to do with tango, but sweet old stuff.
I tried to make the list below thinking of what most of tango dancers don’t collect music would enjoy.
When I play these artists and records people always ask me what it is.
Here are a few things that your friend probably doesn’t have unless he really collects stuff.
This first link is one of my all time favorite records. It’s a trio – bandoneon and two guitars, recorded in the 30s.
The second link is a different lineup with the same band leader. It has a few sextets and a lot of trio stuff.
The bandoneon player in these records invented a lot of what is now considered classical tango phrasing.
http://www.amazon.com/Conversando-Con-Fueye-Ciriaco-Ortiz/dp/B000027WSV/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229540951&sr=8–3
http://www.amazon.com/Coleccion-R-P-M-Trio-Ciriaco-Ortiz/dp/B000A1IK2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229540951&sr=8–1
This next link is trio – two guitars and a singer. I think it’s mostly 30s.
http://www.amazon.com/Canta-Blomberg-Maciel-Ignacio-Corsini/dp/B000A61R7Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229541158&sr=1–1
This CD is a singer from 40s and 50s. On most tracks he’s accompanied by a guitar group and there are a few orchestral tracks. This singer recorded a lot of well known stuff with Anibal Troilo, this is a nice lesser known stuff by him.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleccion-RPM-1950–1953-Edmundo-Rivero/dp/B0002YK6IK/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229541217&sr=1–5
This CD doesn’t have any tangos. There are 3 rhythms mainly played by tango orchestras and danced by tango dancers: (1) tango – has a 2/4 or 4/4 or 4/8 even beat, (2) vals – 3/4 time, (3) milonga – usually faster than tangos, has a 2/4 beat and is very lively and rhythmic. Candombe is a south american – west african drumming style that milonga developed from. Some milongas still have the candombe beat. This album of candombes and milongas is really awesome and not very well known by tango dancers
http://www.amazon.com/Candombes-y-Milongas-Alberto-Castillo/dp/B00008NJ6J/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229543150&sr=1–2
Edgardo Donato recorded very simple tangos, but his orchestra has a really great combination of a lively beat and really soulful melodies. If your friend has a lot of music, he almost definitely has this one.
http://www.amazon.com/Coleccion-RPM-1933–1941-Edgardo-Donato/dp/B0002YK6GM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229541354&sr=1–1
If you can find anything by Adolfo Carabelli, it’s really awesome 30s stuff, but Amazon doesn’t have any.
Roberto Firpo started playing in 1900s and invented a lot of what was to become traditional golden age style. Dancers don’t know him as well.
http://www.amazon.com/Guardia-Vieja-Roberto-Firpo/dp/B00005QAJS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229541462&sr=1–2
This is an interesting CD that has 3 formerly rare tracks of bandoneon duets by Pedro Laurenz and Pedro Maffia.
http://www.amazon.com/Mala-Junta-1926–1944-Pedro-Laurenz/dp/B0000250KP/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542030&sr=1–4
This is a really nice album of Tangos and Valses by singer Ada Falcon.
http://www.amazon.com/Tus-Beson-Fueron-Mios-1929/dp/B00004UFAQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542141&sr=1–4
These last couple of links are some of the oldest tango records reissued on CDs. They’re of very poor quality and usually not fun to listen to, but they are interesting to see how tango developed early on:
http://www.amazon.com/Homenaje-Guardia-Vieja-Eduardo-Arolas/dp/B00005N54Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542232&sr=1–1
http://www.amazon.com/Homenaje-Guardia-Vieja-Roberto-Firpo/dp/B00006GECE/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542321&sr=1–2
http://www.amazon.com/Homenaje-Guardia-Vieja-Vicente-Greco/dp/B00005N54N/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1229542339&sr=1–1
the last of the three might have slightly better sound quality. I don’t own this one, but I have some other tracks by Greco and they don’t sound too bad.
Composing members:
0
Composing members:
0
