Argentine Tango Stories from the Past
Since the beginning of time, around a fire we gathered, and told stories.
Tango has many stories.
But every day that passes, more of those stories are forgotten.
I decided to create this webpage to preserve them.
I share it for free with you, the curious tango dancer who wants to explore the humans behind tango.
My goal is to make this the biggest free collection of tango stories so that we can all learn and enjoy.
If you can help by sharing more stories to add here, please let me know (simply respond to one of my emails).
And always remember to hug and let go, hug and let go.
The first will bring you happiness, the second peace.
Dimitris Bronowski – The Curious Tanguero
Important:
Many of these stories are anecdotes, oral traditions, and should be taken with a grain of salt.
Posture and the milongueros’ suits
Nowadays we teach posture based on biomechanics.
But back in the day, some of the milongueros were teaching it differently:
In a milonga, when dressed elegantly as a leader, you would wear a suit with a tie.
The reason your head would stay up, was because the tie would force you to do so. Otherwise, you would feel as if it was choking you.
Some teachers, like Ivan Terrazas, have still in their wardrobes suits from the old days. Their weight? About two kilos (4 pounds). If you try to lift your shoulders, you really need to put effort and you will get tired soon. The weight would force your shoulders to stay down.
In a sense, the suit was already dictating the dancer’s posture.
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Gardel shaping the world beyond tango
A girl approached Gardel and told him that her boyfriend had too many problems with the law, getting in and out of jail all the time.
Gardel, who also had a rough early years, said he’ll talk to that child.
He told the child that he was like him once, but then he decided to start singing, and he became famous. He suggested the child enter a singing competition.
The child listened and he won the competition. Then, the child became kind of a big thing.
The child’s name? Frank Sinatra.
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Canaro – Canaro in Paris
Once upon a time in Paris, there was a group of musicians called Canaro et sa Symphonie.
While Canaro was becoming popular in France, the newspapers in Buenos Aires were filled with news about his success. A guitarist named Juan Caldarella read about it in one of the newspapers. Caldarella had been working on a tango song with his friend Alejandro Scarpino, and they needed a title.
One day, one of the newspapers had the following headline: “Canaro makes comments about tango in Paris.” Juan though could only see a small corner of the newspaper, so he missed a few words. He only read: “Canaro… in Paris.”
He used the title and wrote the lyrics, lyrics that had nothing to do with Canaro. Years later, Scarpino changed the lyrics of the tango but it didn’t mention Canaro again.
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Tango and (NOT) the Pope
There is a story about tango involving Pope Pius X. According to the legend, a dancer named Casimiro Aín went to Rome to meet the Pope and prove that tango dancing wasn’t sinful. It is said that Aín danced with a female Vatican employee named Scotto. They danced a piece by Francisco Canaro.
Years ago, a musicologist named Enrique Cámara de Landa tried to verify this story by searching through the Vatican’s newspaper library. He carefully checked the Vatican journal, which documents even the smallest details of what happens there. However, he couldn’t find any mention of the event.
In the end, the musicologist discovered that the whole story was actually created by a journalist named Jean Carriére, who was the Roman correspondent for the Le Temps journal in Paris. It seems that the story was a product of Carriére’s imagination, and there is no concrete evidence to support its validity.
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D’Αrienzo – The King of the Beat
D’Arienzo was a violinist and pianist. This is why in his orchestra those two instruments have such a prominent role.
He started playing music as a jazz musician, and when he was young he was playing music in the cinemas for silent movies.
Later, he started playing cabarets too. He was always playing upbeat, rhythmic music. One night, one of the presenters of the cabaret nicknamed The Cuban Prince (El Principe Cubano) introduced him as the ‘King of the beat – El Rey del Compas’.
D’Arienzo liked it, and the rest is history.
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D’Arienzo – Saving Tango
On December 24, 1906, Canadian-born physicist Reginald Fessenden sent the first long-distance transmission of human voice and music from his station at Brant Rock, Massachusetts. His signal was received as far away as Norfolk, Virginia. The stage for commercial voice and music broadcasts was set. A bit later, around 1917, this significant event created a trend. As radio became more and more popular, tango artists focused on creating tangos that were not meant to be danceable. They were meant to be broadcasted.
The result? Many people lost interest in dancing tango.
This got even worse, when around 1924 a lot of classically trained musicians started joining orchestras. They focused on creating more intricate melodies, and moved away from the beat. And dancers lost even more of their interest.
In 1935 D’Arienzo brought the beat back, and became an almost instant success.
That’s why some people say that D’Arienzo saved tango.
In fact, he became so successful that everyone wanted to buy his albums.
Many record shops then decided to only sell his albums to people that bought at least one album from another orchestra.
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Astor Piazzolla – Adiós Nonino
In the year 1959, Astor Piazzolla was travelling through Central America on a tour. It was during this time that he received devastating news: his beloved father, don Vicente Piazzolla, who was lovingly called Nonino, had passed away unexpectedly.
Filled with sadness and facing financial difficulties after a failed trip to North America, Astor returned to New York. But his heart was heavy
And something extraordinary happened. Astor, compelled by his emotions and the weight of his experiences, composed a piece of music that would become one of his most revered works: “Adiós Nonino.” The composition flowed as if the immortal notes were a natural expression of his grief.
Drawing upon an earlier tango piece he had composed in Paris back in 1954, known as “Nonino,” Astor reimagined and rearranged the music. He preserved the rhythmic essence of the original but added a new and profound melodic fragment. This haunting melody was adorned with long and touching notes.
The composition became a powerful expression of loss, a musical embodiment of grief, and a testament to the profound emotions that can be conveyed through the language of music.
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Desde el Alma
Gather around, my friends, and let me share with you the enchanting tale of a young girl and her unforgettable melody. It all began in Buenos Aires, on an ordinary day in 1911. Just fourteen years old, the girl sat at the piano, her delicate fingers touching the black and white keys. Little did she know that the music she would create would resonate with the hearts of people not just in Buenos Aires, but all around the world.
With each stroke of the keys, the young girl poured her soul into the melody. The notes danced, forming a beautiful and romantic tune, while the left hand played a gentle waltz rhythm. She named this heartfelt creation “Desde el alma,” meaning “From the Soul.”
As time went on, the girl, known by her pen name Rosita Melo, held in her hands the first recording of her waltz, performed by Roberto Firpo’s orchestra.
Over the years, Rosita Melo composed many other wonderful pieces. However, none of her compositions achieved the same level of acclaim and popularity as “Desde el alma.”
In 1922, Rosita married Víctor Piuma Vélez, a pianist who soon added lyrics to the already beloved waltz composed by his wife.
However, it was in 1948 that the waltz found its definitive version. Renowned poet Homero Manzi penned the iconic lyrics for the movie “Pobre mi madre querida,” with Hugo del Carril lending his voice to the song.
D’Arienzo – Biagi
D’Arienzo was quite a proud man. He wanted the spotlight.
Biagi used to play the piano in D’Arienzo’s orchestra.
One day, the audience decided to give a standing ovation to Biagi for his performance while playing Lagrimas y sonrisas.
El Rey del Compas didn’t like it, and kicked Biagi out.
Biagi didn’t lose time.
A few months later he had already set up his orchestra and recorded his own version of Lagrimas y sonrisas with a very specific twist:
While in most variaciones (the fast part near the end of a song) the main instrument is the bandoneon (sometimes with the help of violins too), Biagi decided to do it using the piano, where he can stand out for his virtuosity.
Go ahead, go on youtube and listen to the two versions:
Listen to D’Arienzo’s version first.
Then listen to Biagi’s version and notice the piano at 2:10.
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Cicatrices
Once upon a time, there was a talented composer named Adolfo Avilés who loved creating beautiful tango music. One day, while having lunch at a restaurant, he met a lyricist named Maroni. Maroni handed Avilés a set of lyrics he had written the night before. Avilés read the heartfelt words and immediately felt a connection to them. He told Maroni, “I really like this. Give it to me, and I will compose the music for it. We will name this tango piece ‘Cicatrices.'”
During his vacation in Morón, a quiet town, Avilés found himself inspired.
Late at night, in the stillness of his little leisure house, the bars of the tango began to flow from his fingers. One evening, as Avilés played the tango for the first time, his friends, most of them composers, recognized its brilliance and predicted it would become a huge hit.
But there was one more thing that had to happen. Avilés was also a member of the staff of gym teachers at the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA). One morning, he brought a copy of the sheet music to a session where he knew Carlos Gardel would be present. Avilés found him in the dressing rooms and said, “Carlos, would you like to record this tango? I have just published it.” Gardel, in the midst of getting dressed, took a look at the copy and asked him to sing it. Avilés did his best and Gardel instantly felt the dramatic power of the tango. Gardel promised to record it that week. And the rest… is history.
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D’Arienzo – The look
When you messed up, D’Arienzo would look at you.
And that was not a good sign.
You can actually see D’Arienzo getting angry at one of the members of his orchestra here at 0:51.
Funny: some people say that he forgot that the performance was being recorded, so then he realises when he looks at the camera, and calms down.
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Di Sarli – The Glasses
Di Sarli had also a… not-so-easy-to-deal-with personality. He was quite a perfectionist.
And he was always wearing glasses. Many people misinterpreted this as ‘stupid stardom’.
But he had a reason for wearing those glasses. When he was a teenager, a shop assistant who was cleaning a gun in a gun shop accidentally shot him. So Di Sarli started using dark glasses to hide his bad eye.
And this is why one of his nicknames was ‘El tuerto – the one eyed’.
One time, when he was playing with his orchestra, one of the owners of the place told him to stop being stupid and take off his glasses. Di Sarli didn’t like it, and left. The whole orchestra followed him.
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La Morocha
Once upon a time, in the vibrant city of Buenos Aires, there was a talented musician named Saborido. It was a time when the famous Bar Reconquista, run by Ronchetti, attracted a lively crowd. Saborido would often visit the bar, and there he encountered Lola Candales, a beautiful Uruguayan who captivated his attention.
One unforgettable night, as the patrons noticed Saborido’s admiration for Lola, they playfully challenged him. They dared him to compose a tango that Lola could sing and bring to life successfully. The challenge continued into the early hours of the morning, and as the dawn approached, Saborido found himself unable to resist.
At five o’clock, inspired by the allure of Lola, Saborido sat down at the piano and began to compose. By half past six, he had crafted a mesmerizing melody. Without hesitation, he hurried to his friend Ángel Villoldo, a talented lyricist, to complete the piece. Within a few hours, lyrics and music came together seamlessly.
By noon, Saborido and Villoldo visited Lola, eager to unveil their creation to her. Lola learned the tango by heart, rehearsed it, and that very evening, in front of an unforgettable audience, she sang it for the first time. She had to sing it 8 times as people kept applauding.
One month later, the tango, known as “La Morocha,” spread throughout Buenos Aires like wildfire.
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Di Sarli – A different director
Most orchestra directors stand in front of the orchestra for everyone to see them.
Di Sarli didn’t.
He was an amazing pianist, with a very fast right hand (that’s why there are so many high pitched piano notes in his songs).
So, he was directing the orchestra while playing the piano.
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Di Sarli – the ‘Del Centro’ style
The milongas in downtown Buenos Aires used to be packed. You had no space.
The only thing you could practically do was to walk a step or two. And then stop.
Then a step more, and stop.
There was simply no space for anything more, you couldn’t even turn.
Di Sarli used to play a lot in the centre of the city. This is why some people in Buenos Aires insist that when you dance to Di Sarli, you should not turn.
You should be elegant, with a straight posture, and just walk.
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The creation of the Giro
Back in 1939, one man who was working in construction together with a friend of his were exploring different possibilities of movement.
It was considered a great achievement to create your own movement and have it called after you.
At one point he found a rope hanging.
It was one of those ropes that they used in construction to lift the buckets up.
He started walking around it.
And the giro was born.
Note:
There is an alternative story:
Sailors wrapped wooden masts with rope to protect them. A sailor holding a rope fastened to the mast would walk around the mast in a molinete fashion so as to always be facing and watching the wrapping, to ensure that it was snug about the mast. And thus, the giro came to life.
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The story of the cross
Tango was created at the ports, where immigrants from Europe were working.
Since there were very few women, the men started visiting houses of prostitutes. But because there were too many men, they started having fights while waiting.
So the owners of the brothels started hiring orchestras to entertain the men. Music was very rare so the men appreciated it and started dancing a bit. But because they weren’t professional dancers, they were just sharing a bit of what they knew from the dances in their countries. But because they couldn’t explain much, they could only show what they could lead. In those times they were using open embrace, holding each other’s arms.
A bit later, the wifes also came to Argentina as well as more prostitutes.
But now the prostitutes started having the problem that the men were dancing in front of the establishments instead of being with them. So the owners of the establishments pushed the prostitutes to go out and invite the men. The prostitutes started dancing with them, getting closer and closer, creating the close embrace.
Because now the roles were reversed, and there were too many prostitutes, the prostitutes were in line waiting for the guys, but then the guys might eventually choose another woman so they had to be careful.
So, if the man was dancing with a prostitute and started going toward another woman, the prostitutes started crossing in front of him to prevent him from going to that woman. And that’s how – according to some people – the ochos were created.
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Osvaldo Fresedo – El espiante
When Osvaldo was 17 years old his father had rented a lovely country house. The young musician was deeply passionate about music, and he would study diligently until midnight, captivated by his love for melodies and rhythms.
Once the clock struck midnight, the house would become quiet, and the young musician found himself alone with his bandoneon, a cherished musical instrument. As he played, he would hear the distant sound of police whistles, blown by officers on their rounds. Osvaldo would hear the distinct pattern of the patrol whistle.
Captivated by this unique sound that echoed through the silent streets, the young musician decided to immortalize it in El espiante. It carried the spirit of the enchanting nights he spent immersed in music and the distant echoes of the patrol whistle.
Pugliese – Politics influencing music
Most orchestras have a preference for certain instruments, and leave other instruments in the background. Pugliese’s orchestra was different. He was giving power to all the instruments, letting each one shine.
Why?
Some people believe it was because of his political orientation. Pugliese was a communist. Therefore he wanted to give importance to every instrument, focusing on the complete sound, and not individual instruments.
This is also one of the reasons he was able to get different sounds than usual from his musicians. In other orchestras they were left on the side, while in Pugliese’s orchestra they got the chance to express themselves.
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Troilo – His unpaid bandoneon
Troilo loved listening to the bandoneons in his neighbourhood as a child. When he was around 10 years old, his mother decided to buy him one.
But they were a poor family, so they had to pay it in instalments. Rumour has it that they had to pay 10 instalments.
Thankfully ( 😁 ) the store owner died after the fourth instalment. Nobody asked for the rest of the money, and Troilo continued playing with the same bandoneon that his mother gave him till the end of his life.
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Gardel – The bullet
When Gardel was about 25 years old he got into a fight.
He received a bullet in his chest, which forced him to stop singing for a couple of years.
The bullet was never removed from his body.