The400club Issue 12 - Volver

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JOURNAL OF SALON TANGO IN LONDON T h e 4 0 0 C l u b Issue 12: January 2014

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The400club Journal of Salon Tango in London Issue 12 - Volver

Transcript of The400club Issue 12 - Volver

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JOURNAL OF SALON TANGO IN LONDONT h e 4 0 0 C l u b

Issue 12: January 2014

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“If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change” wrote Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa in his classic novel of 1956, the Leopard.

The novel is set in Sicily during the ‘Risorgimento’ - in a yet to be unified Italy of the 1860s. The words are spoken by our hero, Don Fabrizio Corbera, Prince of Salina. As the novel progresses, the Prince is forced to choose between upholding the continuity of upper class values, and breaking tradition to secure continuity of his (nephew’s) family’s influence. The book is imbued throughout with a sense of nostalgia and frames a discussion between a love of the past and an acknowledgement of the need for progress, a tussle, between mortality and decay (death, fading of beauty, fading of memories, change of political system, false relics etc.), without really coming to any conclusion, other than that time passes (Lampedusa died just a year after completing the book - and before it was published).

The words spoken by Don Fabrizio are indeed wise, exuding equal amounts of cynicism, fatalism and optimism. They were, of course, written in hindsight, with the knowledge of what was to pass in Italy and around the world. And they have been seen to resonate with political systems in both northern and southern hemi-spheres over the years. Some might even feel that the novel is not really about the ‘Risorgimento’ at all, but more to do with a period of transition in mid 20th century Italy (Fellini’s ”La Dolce Vita” was also released just three years later).

But the words still ring loud in the400club’s ears. We view tango from a similar distance. We appear to want things to be as they were (we’re often accused of nostalgia). We chase a dream of an unrealisable historical authenticity from a land afar. And yet things in tango have always changed, and continue to do so. Milongas come and go (two of Buenos Aires’ long standing milonga’s featured in Suburban Special issue 11 of the400club have since changed hands as have a number of London Milongas); couples, teachers and styles of dance wax and wane in popularity, yet the core underlying culture of the dance continues unabated.

And so it is with our cover star of this, our return, issue - La Cumparsita. The song is indomitable. Love it or loathe it, it continues in versions old and new. Times change, places change, but this song continues unabashed. And although we’re certainly not a big fan of the song, we are often glad to hear it at the end of a milonga - a comforting symbol of the indomitable and ever continuing spirit of tango culture.

Sometimes, if things have had to change, things must also stay the same.

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Tango Stories: Musical Secrets

Musical Secrets, that’s an unusual title, why did you call the book this?The phrase “Musical Secrets” comes from Ruth Zimmermann who organises the ‘Tango Mango’ events in Devon, UK. Whenever I was DJ-ing there, I would always start talking to her about the track that was playing and telling her stories about the musicians we could hear on the recordings. She said, you should tell these stories to everyone, and created a lecture slot called “Musical Secrets”. These talks were the genesis of the book.

Can you reveal some of the secrets!The story which seems to move people the most is the love story that took place between Francisco Canaro and his charismatic singer Ada Falcón. The amazing thing about this affair is that we can follow it through the songs that she sings with his orchestra. For instance, early on they record a vals which Canaro has written

especially for her, “Yo no se que me han hecho tus ojos” – I don’t know what your eyes have done to me. Can you imagine the emotion in the studio? At the end of their affair, when everything is over and she is leaving Buenos Aires to live near a convent, she sings “Corazón encadenado” – Heart in chains – and “Viviré con tu recuerdo” – I will live with your memory. It’s heartbreaking.

Who is the book for?The book is aimed squarely at the tanguero, the tango dancer. It’s about the musicians that created this music and how it might make us feel as dancers. I give historical and musical context, but only when I feel it’s useful for the tango dancer – the book is not a history, nor a book of musical analysis. The book helps the dancer to listen to the music, to actually hear what’s going on beneath the surface of the music. For instance, all tangos have beat, rhythm and melody. Just being aware of these elements changes the way you dance, and the different orchestras treat them in different ways. It is a very rich heritage that we are heirs to.

How did you come to write the book?When I gave the talks, people were always been telling me that I should write it all down as a book, but I didn’t feel ready. Last New Year’s Eve (2011?) the thought suddenly arose, “it’s time to write the book”, and I started writing immediately. It wasn’t an analytical process. The thought just came from inside, as if the book had been ripening and now wanted to be set down.

It sounds like the process was very organic, is that the way you dance/teach as well? There is a real tension in life between form and freedom and we are all working that one out. A dance figure is someone else’s answer to the question, what kind of movements suit tango? This is a very useful shortcut for learning, but we can gain

Michael Lavocah talks to the400club about his book on tango music, the first of its kind in Englisha deeper understanding if we can work out for ourselves what kind of relationship is taking place inside the couple, the organising idea behind tango, if you like. As a teacher this is a more interesting place to explore and brings you into the body. I’m not sure if this answers your question!

Are you a musician?I spent ten years learning steel-string guitar to semi-professional level, playing by ear, but I have no training as a classical musician. I think this helped me because it prevented me from trying to explain things in musical terms. This is a real temptation to tango teachers with a musical background. Dancers don’t need to understand music in the way a musician would, and sometimes these kinds of explanations just get in the way, creating the impression that we can’t enter the music unless we have the knowledge of a professional musician. I think this simply isn’t true.

You also teach tango and DJ at events. How does this influence the book?As dancers we are concerned with how the music makes you want to move your body. It’s as if the music moves your body directly: Tete used to say, “la música me lleva”, the music leads me. So I think it would be difficult to write about this topic without being a dancer yourself. As a DJ I see how this process affects a whole room-full of bodies, not just my own. It also helps me reflect on the different qualities of the different orchestras and gives a finer appreciation of the mood created by different pieces. It’s a question of feeling, and refining one’s capacity to feel the music.

What were your sources?A large part of the book is not information, but my attempt to describe how music moves us. For this there is no source but one’s own inner feeling. For the rest, collecting this information is much like collecting tango music: a lot of it is available, but it is scattered in many different locations and often poorly presented. There are some books in Spanish which are interesting, but the information in them formed only a small part of what is in the book. That would have been different if I had been writing a history – but I wasn’t.

What led you to use Spotify for the musical examples, rather than to include a CD?The record industry in Argentina has been dominated by two large companies since the 1930s (BMG, owners of RCA-Victor, and EMI-Odeón) and they seem reluctant to license their music. There are some obvious examples in tango music where this would make the available CDs more complete, e.g. with the works of Troilo, who recorded for RCA-Victor but has two early tracks on Odeón. BMG has never included those tracks on their CDs. Using Spotify solved all these problems and also enabled me to include many more tracks than could be included on a

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single CD. What’s more, the playlists are all accessed through the book’s website so we have the potential to update these examples if better transfers become available.

Turning to the book now, can you tell us more about what’s in it?The book takes the position of the tango dancer. Most of us haven’t grown up listening to dance music, so we don’t really know how to listen to music. For instance, most tangos are about three minutes long. Is there a structure to a tango – well yes there is, and this really helps us as dancers, because it means we have a map to guide us through the music, even if we’ve never heard it before.The book goes through the orchestras one at a time, beginning with the big four: D’Arienzo, Di Sarli, D’Arienzo and Pugliese, and shows – with musical examples – what’s special about each orchestra, what their characteristics are. For instance, are they emphasising beat, or rhythm, or melody, or lyrics? How do they use the different instruments to achieve that? Very often it turns out that there are some key musicians in the orchestra, and the bandleader builds their sound around them. For instance, when we listen to Troilo’s early sides, the contribution of his pianist Orlando Goñi is fundamental. He was so good that they never wrote arrangements for him, and when he left the drop in quality was not only dramatic, but permanent – no arranger or pianist was ever able to reproduce what he did. This is quite easy to hear on the recordings, once you know what you are listening for. We go through twenty orchestras in this fashion. Maybe in the second edition of the book we will cover a few more orchestras. I like to concentrate on the contributions of the individual musicians because their stories help us to connect to them and really bring the music alive. That’s my goal.

You mention the “Big Four” orchestras – is that a generally recognised term?No it’s my own term. These are the orchestras who defined tango history. D’Arienzo gave us back compás, the beat, and got us all dancing - we have to begin with him. Troilo was the best orchestra for the singer, for the delivery of the lyric. Di Sarli was the master of melody, and Pugliese’s music is the most passionate. The so-called golden decade of the 40s is just inconceivable without these four.

Why isn’t Canaro in your Big Four?That’s a good question. If you are a tango dancer then 90% of the music you dance to at the milonga comes from the years 1935-1945, and in fact most of it from, say, 1936-1942. This is the period which saw the shift from the estribillista, the refrain singer (who sang just a single chorus), to the cantor de orquesta, the orchestra singer (who sang the whole lyric), and it’s a change that Canaro doesn’t really manage very well.

Canaro was an incredible innovator but when you look at his achievements they are from the 10s, 20s and 30s – his last big innovation was in 1933, with the introduction of the milonga to the repertoire of dance orchestras. In the years 1935-1938 Canaro had been making very beautiful music with the singer Roberto Maida – the immortal tango “Poema” is one of theirs. Maida’s voice is soft and it smooths over the rough edges of the Canaro orchestra’s strong beat. Canaro is clearly pursuing his own musical ideas here, because the overall impression is very different from that of D’Arienzo, who was forcing all the orchestras to make their music more up-tempo.

When the shift to the cantor de orquesta takes place at the end of 1938 Canaro seems to have lost his nerve. He hired Ernesto Famá and returned to a much stronger beat that many describe as martial. He remained a big and successful orchestra, but from this moment he is no longer leading tango music – he is following others. In other words, Canaro’s importance as a leader in the evolution of tango music lies before the 1940s, before 1938 in fact. That’s why he’s not in my Big Four.

Any plans for a second book?Yes. I want to write a book about tango lyrics. A lot of modern tango dancers have difficulty connecting to these lyrics, but it’s simply that the Italian influence in tango has meant that, as in opera, things are written a bit larger than life. I want to write a book that helps people connect to these lyrics, which deal with universal experiences. We all enjoy the lyrics of good pop music without thinking about them very much. Tango was simply the popular music of its day.

You run milonga.co.uk which is also an on-line tango CD shop. What was your idea for the site?Initially milonga.co.uk wasn’t a shop at all! It was just a guide to tango CDs. When I started dancing I would go to Tower Records in London and later to Zivals in Buenos Aires to buy tango music, but I had no idea what to buy. On the back of a CD you often see something like this: ©1991 P 1932. Naturally one thinks, this is a CD of music from 1932 – but usually only one track is from 1932, and the rest could be 40s, 50s, 60s, anything really. It’s a minefield. So I started the website to advise people which CDs to buy. When it became clear that there wasn’t really anywhere else the UK for the tanguero to buy tango music, it became a shop as well.

Some on-line stores have shut down. How do you see things developing?The market is polarising into the specialists, like myself, and those who treat tango music as a commodity and just compete on price grounds. I don’t try to be the cheapest place to buy CDs, but to offer a service. It even happens sometimes that people send me a list of what CDs they have, and I advise them what to buy next. That’s a unique service as far as I know. I keep thinking that Amazon will wipe out my business, but it doesn’t happen. The people who like the service I offer come to me, although many others read my site to find out what to buy and then buy it somewhere else. Overall I think that the specialists will have to offer something more than just selling tango CDs. Before you had to go a specialist to buy tango music. That’s only partly true now. As the market for tango music grows there will be more and more options and the specialists will find it more difficult.

One big change is the shift to digital downloads. The tango DJ and the collector will always buy CDs – often the music needs cleaning, and you need the CD for that, but there are many tangueros who are happy with digital music. On the other hand, if you give people a reason to buy a CD, many of them will. With a CD you can have sleeve notes, recording dates, and photographs. If the artwork is well designed it then becomes very nice to own the CD. This was the best aspect of the El Bandoneón label: they have really nicely designed covers, and bilingual sleeve notes, but they seem not to be reprinting any of their CDs when the stock runs out.In general, I feel that the Argentine companies (BMG Ariola and EMI Odeón) need to improve their offering. The last releases of Troilo and D’Arienzo are good, but their main labels (Reliquias and Tango Argentino) have nothing to recommend them beyond the music. The graphic design is really quite poor and there is no extra information. These companies don’t seem to have grasped the importance of the export market. For instance, if they made a release of D’Arienzo’s complete recordings from 1935 until 1944 (10 CDs) they would sell in their thousands, but they just don’t do it. It’s very strange.

You also run a monthly music club, how did that begin?This was actually the idea of a tango friend, Jerry Turner. In the Sunday newspapers in the UK we always see advertisements for classical music clubs, and he thought it would be a good idea to have the same thing for tango music. We started in December 2007, more than four years ago. The idea is to help you build a library of tango music, and to take some of the effort out of choosing tango CDs. The subscribers are not the absolute beginners, and mostly not the really serious collector either, but the person who has decided that tango is for them and is just getting to know the music. Most of them stay for a long time, until their collection of music gets to the point where they have all the main CDs. One of the main pieces of feedback we get from the club is that people really like the notes I write about each CD. As I said earlier, often there are no sleeve notes at all. The descriptions on the website act as sleeve notes and make the music more accessible.

Any final words?The more I listen to this music, the more I find in it. It is still fresh and exciting to me. When I was writing the book, I found myself slipping in to the present tense. I realised this was because the music acts on us now, in the present. It is alive.

A big thanks to Michael for this interview. His brilliant book “Tango Stories, Musical Secrets” is available in 240pp hardback (ISBN: 978-0-9573276-0-3) and can be ordered on www.tangomusicsecrets.com priced £15 (including postage within the UK). The400club cannot reccommend it highly enough. If you’re a tango dancer and haven’t already bought it, buy it now! Since undertaking the the interview the book is also now available in a German language version, under the title of: Tango-Geschichten: Was die Musik erzählt.

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Falcon (... forever?)

The Ford Falcon is a car with a past.

In an Argentina of thirty years ago the sight of a dark green Ford Falcon driving slowly past was a spine-chilling intimidation - death squads notoriously drove Falcons during the 1976-1983 military regime, forcing people into the cars and hauling them off for questioning, or worse.

These days the Falcon’s sinister reputation is being overhauled by fans who see the best selling car in Argentina’s history in a different light: a glorious local tradition to be restored - and thousands of sturdy Falcons, a roomy four-door sedan sold in Argentina from 1962 to 1991, still rumble through the streets of Argentina, where close to half a million were made.

The Falcon was a truly Argentinian car - of the 3,542 parts used in manufacturing the car, only 26 were imported. And although The Falcon got square headlights in 1970 and a number of other refinements over the years, under the skin it remained

pretty much the same 1960 compact car that Robert McNamara (yes, that Robert McNamara, former US Secretary of Defence for JFK ) developed for Ford and hammered through the heart of the earlier Edsel line.

Not only the secret police and dictators used the reliable cars. Falcons were popular with taxi drivers, and many Argentines remember their grandfather’s or their father’s Falcon as the archetypal family car, “In Argentina we have classics like the tango, mate (tea), soccer and the Falcon. It’s a national lifestyle. It’s as Argentine as the gaucho,”

To members of the Falcon Owners Club, the cars are to be treasured, polished and honed. But not all Falcons are babied - and out on the streets of Buenos Aires every day are working Falcons, splotched with primer and topped with dented roof racks.

A car with a past, present and, it seems, future. Rusty or shiny, there is no escaping the mixed feelings the Falcon still gives rise to in the hearts of many Argentines.

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during which 3 workers and 3 policemen are killed. l President Justo’s government pass the Law of Social Prophylaxis, prohibiting the running of brothels (which had been legal in the city since 1875), and mandating prenuptial medical examinations for men.l Foreign Minister Carlos Saavedra Lamas wins the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work in ending the 1932–1935 Chaco War between neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay.l US President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses delegates at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in BA (1st – 23rd December).Saavedra Lamas opposes US efforts to form a block of nations opposed to European Fascism.l Several leftist groups combine to form a Popular Front, whilst rightist groups form a National Front in support of the government. l The government bans the Communist party.l Pro-fascist Manuel Fresco becomes governor of Buenos Aires province after a notably fraudulent election.l The Eden-Malbrán Treaty is signed with Britain, allowing Britain to impose taxes on Argentine beef imports and granting favourable terms for British-owned railways in Argentina. l Juan Perón is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as an attaché to Chile.l Eva Duarte (later Perón) tours nationally with a theatre company, works as a model, and is cast in a few B-movies.l The National Theatre Museum, the National Comedy, and the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art are all established. l La Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música (Argentine Society of Authors and Composers) is founded. Orchestra leader Francisco Lomuto is appointed its first President.l Family magazine ‘El Hogar’ (The Home) is launched. Poet and author Jorge Luis Borges is one of its contributors.l Borges is also co-founder, with Adolfo Bioy Casares, of ‘Destiempo’ (Out of Time), a short-lived magazine of avant-garde criticism. l On 10th November the first Patoruzú comic magazine is

THE GOLDEN AGE OF TANGO is generally considered to be the years between 1935 and 1955, during which the music and dance reached new heights of artistry, excellence and popu-

larity. These twenty years also saw huge political, social, cultural

and technological changes around the world. This ongoing series charts year-by-year events and developments in tango, putting them in context with what was happening at the time in Argentina and Uruguay, alongside events in the UK and the wider world.

THE YEAR IN TANGO l After a journey of over seven months, Carlos Gardel’s body arrives in BA in February. Around 30,000 people meet the coffin at North Dock, with thousands more filing past his coffin when Gardel lies in wake for a day at Luna Park sports arena on Avenida Corrientes, before making his final journey to Chacarita cemetery where he is laid to rest on the 6th. The events over the two days are documented on film by Francisco Canaro’s production company.l On 25th May RCA-Victor hold a concert at the Cine Ambassador theatre to showcase their artists, featuring Juan D’Arienzo with Walter Cabral on vocals, Osvaldo Fresedo with Roberto Ray, Francisco Lomuto with Jorge Omar, and Edgardo Donato with Juan Alessio.l Julio de Caro’s orchestra present a series of concerts at the newly- opened Teatro Ópera on Av. Corrientes entitled ‘Evolution of the Tango’, tracing the history of the music from the late 19th-century. l Juan D’Arienzo’s orchestra enjoys enormous success, his pianist Rodolfo Biagi setting new standards for the instrument. l Pianist Roberto Firpo leads a newly formed Guardia Vieja-style quartet alongside his orchestra. l Pianist Osvaldo Pugliese forms a sextet which debuts at the Germinal Café on Corrientes, playing there for the next two years, though without making much impression.l Pianist Lucio Demare returns to BA after long and successful tours of Central and South America and Europe. Helped by Francisco Canaro, he begins to compose music for films.l Bandoneónist Federico Scorticati takes over from Adolfo Carabelli as director of Orquesta Típica Victor.l Bandoneónist Enrique Rodriguez puts together his ‘Orquesta de todos los ritmos’ to play tangos, waltzes, polkas, foxtrots, pasodobles and rancheras.l Readers of ‘Sintonía’ magazine are invited to vote for their favourite musicians, resulting in the creation of a quintet named Los Virtuosos comprising Elvino Vardaro and Julio De Caro on violins, Julio’s brother Francisco on piano, and Pedro Maffia and Ciriaco Ortiz on bandoneóns. Maffia withdraws and the third in the poll, Carlos Marcucci, takes his place. The quintet make their debut on Radio El Mundo in November.

Francisco Canaro. Documentary about the wake and the funeral retinue that accompanied Gardel to Chacarita cemetery, it includes scenes with Canaro’s orchestra)‘Mi Buenos Aires querido’ (dir. Julio Irigoyen, starring Ada Cornaro, it features the tango ‘Mi Buenos Aires querido’ with music by Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera) ‘Puerto nuevo’ (dir. Luis César Amadori and Mario Soffici, featuring music by Francisco Canaro)‘Radio Bar’ (dir. Manuel Romero, starring Gloria Guzmán, Olinda Bozán and Carmen Lamas, featuring the orchestra of violinist Elvino Vardaro, which includes bandoneónist Aníbal Troilo)

EVENTS IN BUENOS AIRES & ARGENTINAl After two year’s construction Edificio Kavanagh – BA’s first skyscraper – is inaugurated on 2nd January. At the time it is the tallest reinforced concrete structure in the world. l El Obelisco is erected to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires.l Avenida Corrientes is widened.l The 2,500-seat Teatro Ópera opens on Av. Corrientes, designed by Belgian architect Alberto Bourdon and described as the finest cinema in Argentina.l In January construction workers stage a 48-hour general strike,

‘LA HISTORIA DEL TANGO’

ALLEGEDLY THE FIRST COMPLETE history of tango, volume one of ‘La historia del tango’ was

published in 1936 (volume two was never published). Written by cousins Héctor and Luis J. Bates, the book originated in a series of popular radio programmes, and after a historical intro-duction presents a series of transcripts of interviews with musicians and compos-ers of the time. Some earlier writers had argued for an essentially African origin of the tango, a theory which remained a matter of debate, but by the 1930s the idea that Argentines and Uruguayans of African descent had helped to create tango was no longer seen as controversial. ‘La historia del tango’ rightly argued for a hybrid European and African origin. That tango was acknowledged as having roots in more than one continent was apt since, as the book claimed, “no region on this planet has failed to feel its triumphant presence”.

RADIO IN THE GOLDEN AGE

BY THE MID-THIRTIES 25 DIFFERENT radio stations – known by the English word ‘broadcastings’

– were on air in Buenos Aires, playing tango, classical music, jazz, radio dramas and other speech programming. The decade was dominated by Bulgarian-born impresario Jaime Yankelevich, whose station Radio Belgrano enjoyed the highest ratings and was a favourite with performers. After the coup of 1943 all broadcasting had to be scripted in advance and passed by a government censor, although the junta also promoted Argentine culture by requiring all stations to carry a minimum percentage of Argentine music. During Perón’s presidency (1946-1955) the three radio networks that controlled most of Argentina’s sta-tions, Belgrano, El Mundo, and Splendid, were national-ized, with the government dictating content and vetting staff and performers. Tango could still be heard on the radio, notably the popular ‘El Glostora Tango Club’ pro-gramme on El Mundo (1946–1968), but radio became dominated by folk music (favoured by Perón’s supporters) and government propaganda. With the advent of TV broadcasting in 1951 radio’s audience began to decline.

EVENTS AROUND THE WORLDl In Spain right-wing generals stage a coup against the democratically elected Republican government, leading to civil war between the Nationalists (supported by Germany, Italy and Portugal) and Republicans (supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico). Volunteers from around the world arrive to fight on both sides. l German troops occupy the Rhineland.l Italy conquers Ethiopia. Mussolini declares the creation of the Italian Empire.l Joseph Stalin’s first Show Trial to purge opponents within the Communist Party.l Military coup in Greece.l Widespread political disorder and violence in French-ruled Syria.l Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected US President in a landslide victory.l More than 5,000 people die in a heatwave in North America.l Rainey Bethea is hanged for rape and murder in the last US public execution.l The last Tasmanian tiger dies in Hobart Zoo, Australia (officially declared extinct in 1986).

ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENTl The lindy hop dance craze sweeps the US.l ‘Billboard’ magazine publishes its first music hit parade.

EVENTS IN LONDON & THE UKl The Year of Three Kings: on 20th January King George V dies; his eldest son succeeds as Edward VIII. Following Edward’s decision to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and the ensuing constitutional crisis he abdicates on 10th December. Edward’s younger brother Albert acceeds the throne as George VI.l 4th October: the Battle of Cable Street between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and anti-fascists.l 5th – 31st October: the Jarrow March. 207 miners walk from Jarrow on the Tyne to Westminster in a protest against unemployment and poverty caused by the Depression. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin refuses to meet any of their representatives.l 30th November: the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire.l Unemployment stands at almost 14% (down from a high of over 20% in 1933)l Almost 3 million homes are built during the 1930s, peaking this year with construction of 370,000 houses.l The BBC inaugurates the world’s first regular high-definition television service from Alexandra Palace. l The GPO introduces the speaking clock.l The prototype Supermarine Spitfire makes its maiden flight (enters service in 1938).

Painting, sculpture and photography ‘T and Swallow’, Alexander Calder; ‘Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)’, Salvador Dalí; ‘Migrant Mother’, Dorothy Lange.

TANGO’S GOLDEN YEARS: 1936

NEXT TIME: 1937

Thomas Keenes would like to thank the many writers of books and websites without whom this article would not have been possible. Special mention goes to eng.tango.info, todotango.com and Wikipedia. Special thanks to Bernhard Gehberger (tango-dj.at) and Michael Lavocah (milonga.co.uk) whose websites are goldmines of information. Thanks also to those who selected their favourite recordings of 1936: Heather Bank, Peter Benton, Jaz Bushell, Mariana Chaves, Damien Cronier, Christopher Cunia, Barry James Leadbetter, Shri Sukumar, and Andreas Wichter. If you have any suggestions for recordings or events of 1937, please email [email protected]

THE BERLIN OLYMPICS

THE SO-CALLED ‘NAZI GAMES’ are famous for African-American

Jesse Owens winning four gold medals, but the games were also notable

for other reasons: it was the first to feature the torch

relay from Athens (a publicity stunt devised by the Nazi party); the world’s first live televi-sion coverage of a sports

event; and the last games at which polo was contested

(Argentina won gold, Great Britain silver). Forty-nine nations competed in the games, more than ever before, with Germany winning the most medals (89). Meanwhile anti-Jewish signs had been temporarily taken down and 800 gypsies residing in Berlin were incarcerated.

‘THIS SEASON’S TANGO’

DURING THE 1930s European dance schools and magazines regu-

larly presented variations on the tango, such as tango-polka, tango-step and tango-trot. In Britain, ‘The Dancing Times’ of November 1936 featured an article by Margaret Cadman on the tri-ango, a hybrid between tango and waltz.

Miguel Caló con Alberto Morel ‘Las campanas’, ‘Bailar y soñar’ (v)Francisco Canaro ‘Buen amigo’, ‘El caburé’, ‘Canillita’, ‘Todo corazón’, ‘Dolores’ (v), ‘Etincelles’ (v) Francisco Canaro con Ada Falcón ‘Cómo te quiero’, ‘Envidia’ (both also recorded this year with Roberto Maida)Francisco Canaro con Roberto Maida ‘Amor’, ‘Cariño’, ‘Mi noche

triste’, ‘Será una noche’, ‘Yo también soñé’, ‘Milonga criolla’ (m), ‘Silueta porteña’ (m) Julio de Caro ‘Derecho viejo’, ‘De contrapunto’ (m)Julio de Caro con Pedro Lauga ‘Aquel amor’, ‘Mala pata’, ‘Dulce esperanza’ (v)Edgardo Donato ‘Belén’, ‘Chiqué’, ‘La tablada’Edgardo Donato con Juan Alessio ‘El día que me quieras’Edgardo Donato con Félix Guitiérrez ‘Mañana’, ‘La Tapera’ (v)Edgardo Donato con Horacio Lagos ‘Me voy a Baraja’, ‘Se va la vida’Roberto Firpo, orquesta ‘Homero’, ‘La despedida’, ‘Loco lindo’, ‘Vea vea’, ‘Atardecer campero’ (v)Roberto Firpo, quarteto ‘La trilla’, ‘El llorón’ (tango-milonga), ‘El aeroplano’ (v)Osvaldo Fresedo con Roberto Ray ‘Adiós para siempre’, ‘No aflojes,

corazón…’, ‘Déjame amarte aunque sea un día’ (v)Francisco Lomuto con Jorge Omar ‘A la gran muñeca’, ‘Mano a mano’, ‘Nostalgias’Orquesta Típica Victor con Héctor Palacios ‘Cansancio’Quinteto Los Virtuosos ‘Tierra querida’, ‘Un lamento’

TANGO FILMS‘Ayúdame a vivir’ (dir. José A. Ferreyra, starring Libertad Lamarque and Santiago Gómez Cou)Carlos Gardel’s funeral rites (dir. Eduardo Morera, produced by

published and completely sells out the same day (Created by Dante Quinterno, Patoruzú is a hugely popular comic character who first appeared in the newspaper ‘Crítica’ in 1928. He is a wealthy Native American from Patagonia, possessing superhuman physical strength and unswerving morality).l Originally published in 1927, US professor Julius Goebel’s anti-British ‘The Struggle for the Falkland Islands: A Study in Legal and Diplomatic History’ is printed in Spanish and reaches all Argentine schools next year.l Photographer and filmmaker Horacio Coppola is commissioned to photograph BA for its 400th anniversary (Above, the inauguration ceremony of el Obelisco).l The first Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (Grape Harvest Festival) takes place in Mendoza Province and is an instant success, attracting national attention via live broadcast on Radio Belgrano. Featuring parades, performances of regional music and dances, and the selection of the ‘Vintage Queen’, it soon becomes a template for similar festivals throughout the country.l British Lions rugby team tour Argentina.l A record high temperature of 47.3°C (117.1°F) is recorded at Campo Gallo, Santiago del Estero Province on 16th October.

URUGUAYl Severs relations with Republican Spain.l US president Franklin D. Roosevelt visits the countryv, where the foreign policy of the regime results in a substantial improvement of relations with the US.

SELECTED RECORDINGSJuan D’Arienzo ‘Ataniche’, ‘Don Esteban’, ‘El flete’, ‘La payanca’, ‘La viruta’, ‘Lorenzo’, ‘Rawson’, ‘Amor y celos’ (vals), ‘Corazón de artista’ (v), ‘Lágrimas y sonrisas’ (v)Juan D’Arienzo con Walter Cabral ‘Silueta porteña’ (milonga), ‘Tu olvido’ (v), ‘Un placer’ (v)Miguel Caló con Carlos Dante ‘Caballo de calesita’, ‘Soy milonguero’

l Construction of HMS Belfast begins (commissioned 1939).l Maiden voyage of RMS Queen Mary from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg.l Inauguration of the train ferry service between London Victoria and Paris Gare du Nord.l A new rail station opens at Gatwick airport.l Pioneering English aviator Amy Johnson makes her last record-breaking solo flight, from Gravesend to Cape Town and back to Croydon.l Work is completed on Stephen and Virginia Courtauld’s restoration and Art Deco extension of Eltham Palace in South East London.l Victoria Park Lido opens (demolished 1990).l Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp in Skegness.l Pinewood Studios open at Iver in Buckinghamshire. l The Wellcome Trust is set up to fund research in improving human and animal health.l The London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries draws an audience of over 30,000 people. l H. G. Wells gives a talk at the Royal Institution in which he calls for the compilation of a constantly

growing and authoritative ‘World Encyclopaedia’, freely accessible to everyone.l Chocolate manufacturer John Mackintosh & Sons launch Quality Street.l Games manufacturer Waddingtons launch Monopoly, set in London (Monopoly had been invented in the US by Charles Darrow in 1934).l Phyllis Pearsall researches and produces the first ‘A to Z Atlas and Guide to London and Suburbs’.l Emperor Haile Selassie arrives in Britain, forced into exile after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. He lives near Bath until his return to Africa in 1941.l Despite the British government’s official policy of non-intervention, British men and women – an estimated total of between 2,500 and 4,000 between 1936–1939 – travel to Spain to join the International Brigades, fighting in support of the left-wing Republican government. Some volunteer

for the right-wing Nationalists.Popular songs ‘The Window Cleaner’, George Formby; ‘Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire’, Vera Lynn (her first solo record).Films ‘Things to Come’ (dir. Alexander Korda); ‘Talk of the Devil (dir. Carol Reed, the first film to be fully made at Pinewood Studios); ‘Night Mail’ (dir. Harry Watt and Basil Wright, featuring poetry by W. H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten).Writing ‘Collected Poems 1909–1935’, T. S. Eliot; ‘Eyeless in Gaza’, Aldous Huxley; ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’, John Maynard Keynes; ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’, George Orwell; ‘Twenty Five Poems’, Dylan Thomas; ‘On Computable Numbers’, Alan Turing.Painting, sculpture and photography ‘The English at Home’, Bill Brandt; ‘Monumental Stela’, Barbara Hepworth; ‘Self Portrait with Patricia Preece’, Stanley Spencer.Sport In rugby England defeat New Zealand’s All Blacks for the first time; at Wimbledon Fred Perry beats German Gottfried von Cramm for the second year running to become the last British player to date to win the men’s single title; Great Britain and Northern Ireland win 4 gold, 7 silver and 23 bronze medals at the Berlin Olympics.And now the weather In the Rickmansworth ‘frost-hollow’, within 9 hours on the 29th August the temperature rises from an overnight low of 1.1ºC (34.0F) to an afternoon high of 29.4ºC (84.9ºF), a range of 28.3ºC (50.9ºF).

l First edition of ‘Life’ magazine.l Iconic exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: Cubism and Abstract Art; and Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism.l Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo introduces the wedge heel.l Gibson launch the ES-150, the world’s first commercially-successful electric guitar. Popular songs ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, Fred Astaire; ‘Pennies From Heaven’, Bing Crosby; ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’, Benny Goodman; ‘Summertime’, Billie Holliday; ‘It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie’, Fats Waller.Classical music ‘Carmina Burana’, Carl Orff; Violin Concerto, Arnold Schoenberg; ‘Peter and the Wolf’, Sergei Prokofiev. Dance ‘Chronicle’, Martha Graham.Films ‘Gold Diggers of 1937’ (dir. Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley); ‘Modern Times’ (dir. Charlie Chaplin); ‘Reefer Madness’ (dir. Louis Gasnier); ‘The Great Ziegfeld’ (dir. Robert Z. Leonard).Writing ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, Walter Benjamin; ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, Dale Carnegie; ‘New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis’, Sigmund Freud; ‘Zen in the Art of Archery’, Eugen Herrigel; ‘Gone With The Wind’, Margaret Mitchell.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INDUSTRYl First helicopter flight-tested (Germany).l First commercially viable production of acrylic safety glass (plexiglass/perspex) (Germany)l First glass-plastic contact lenses (USA)l Construction starts on the Palomar Observatory in California.l The 199 Stanley knife (USA). The prototype for all subsequent craft knives, its ubiquity establishes Stanley as the generic name by which craft knives are known around the world.l Soft drink Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda (USA, launched 1929) is renamed 7-Up. Until 1950 it contains lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug.

EL OBELISCO

SITED AT THE JUNCTION OF Avenida Corrientes and Avenida 9 de Julio, el Obelisco

is 67m tall, with 206 steps inside leading to four small windows at the top. Designed by Argentine architect Alberto Prebisch, the monument was constructed by a German firm employing 157 workers in just 31 days, and inaugurated on 23rd May to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of Buenos Aires. Initially there were objections to the monument’s stark appear-ance: in June 1939 the city council voted 23 to 1 to demolish el Obelisco, citing economic, aes-thetic and public safety concerns, but the order

was vetoed by the municipal executive. In November 2005 el Obelisco was comprehensively restored and the following month covered with a giant pink condom to commemorate World AIDS Day. In 2006 it was trans-formed into a pencil to pay tribute to the students who were kidnapped and murdered by the junta in 1976.

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the400club Issue 12: Volver January 2014

Page 7: The400club Issue 12 - Volver

during which 3 workers and 3 policemen are killed. l President Justo’s government pass the Law of Social Prophylaxis, prohibiting the running of brothels (which had been legal in the city since 1875), and mandating prenuptial medical examinations for men.l Foreign Minister Carlos Saavedra Lamas wins the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work in ending the 1932–1935 Chaco War between neighbouring Bolivia and Paraguay.l US President Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses delegates at the Inter-American Conference for the Maintenance of Peace in BA (1st – 23rd December).Saavedra Lamas opposes US efforts to form a block of nations opposed to European Fascism.l Several leftist groups combine to form a Popular Front, whilst rightist groups form a National Front in support of the government. l The government bans the Communist party.l Pro-fascist Manuel Fresco becomes governor of Buenos Aires province after a notably fraudulent election.l The Eden-Malbrán Treaty is signed with Britain, allowing Britain to impose taxes on Argentine beef imports and granting favourable terms for British-owned railways in Argentina. l Juan Perón is promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and appointed as an attaché to Chile.l Eva Duarte (later Perón) tours nationally with a theatre company, works as a model, and is cast in a few B-movies.l The National Theatre Museum, the National Comedy, and the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art are all established. l La Sociedad Argentina de Autores y Compositores de Música (Argentine Society of Authors and Composers) is founded. Orchestra leader Francisco Lomuto is appointed its first President.l Family magazine ‘El Hogar’ (The Home) is launched. Poet and author Jorge Luis Borges is one of its contributors.l Borges is also co-founder, with Adolfo Bioy Casares, of ‘Destiempo’ (Out of Time), a short-lived magazine of avant-garde criticism. l On 10th November the first Patoruzú comic magazine is

THE GOLDEN AGE OF TANGO is generally considered to be the years between 1935 and 1955, during which the music and dance reached new heights of artistry, excellence and popu-

larity. These twenty years also saw huge political, social, cultural

and technological changes around the world. This ongoing series charts year-by-year events and developments in tango, putting them in context with what was happening at the time in Argentina and Uruguay, alongside events in the UK and the wider world.

THE YEAR IN TANGO l After a journey of over seven months, Carlos Gardel’s body arrives in BA in February. Around 30,000 people meet the coffin at North Dock, with thousands more filing past his coffin when Gardel lies in wake for a day at Luna Park sports arena on Avenida Corrientes, before making his final journey to Chacarita cemetery where he is laid to rest on the 6th. The events over the two days are documented on film by Francisco Canaro’s production company.l On 25th May RCA-Victor hold a concert at the Cine Ambassador theatre to showcase their artists, featuring Juan D’Arienzo with Walter Cabral on vocals, Osvaldo Fresedo with Roberto Ray, Francisco Lomuto with Jorge Omar, and Edgardo Donato with Juan Alessio.l Julio de Caro’s orchestra present a series of concerts at the newly- opened Teatro Ópera on Av. Corrientes entitled ‘Evolution of the Tango’, tracing the history of the music from the late 19th-century. l Juan D’Arienzo’s orchestra enjoys enormous success, his pianist Rodolfo Biagi setting new standards for the instrument. l Pianist Roberto Firpo leads a newly formed Guardia Vieja-style quartet alongside his orchestra. l Pianist Osvaldo Pugliese forms a sextet which debuts at the Germinal Café on Corrientes, playing there for the next two years, though without making much impression.l Pianist Lucio Demare returns to BA after long and successful tours of Central and South America and Europe. Helped by Francisco Canaro, he begins to compose music for films.l Bandoneónist Federico Scorticati takes over from Adolfo Carabelli as director of Orquesta Típica Victor.l Bandoneónist Enrique Rodriguez puts together his ‘Orquesta de todos los ritmos’ to play tangos, waltzes, polkas, foxtrots, pasodobles and rancheras.l Readers of ‘Sintonía’ magazine are invited to vote for their favourite musicians, resulting in the creation of a quintet named Los Virtuosos comprising Elvino Vardaro and Julio De Caro on violins, Julio’s brother Francisco on piano, and Pedro Maffia and Ciriaco Ortiz on bandoneóns. Maffia withdraws and the third in the poll, Carlos Marcucci, takes his place. The quintet make their debut on Radio El Mundo in November.

Francisco Canaro. Documentary about the wake and the funeral retinue that accompanied Gardel to Chacarita cemetery, it includes scenes with Canaro’s orchestra)‘Mi Buenos Aires querido’ (dir. Julio Irigoyen, starring Ada Cornaro, it features the tango ‘Mi Buenos Aires querido’ with music by Carlos Gardel and lyrics by Alfredo Le Pera) ‘Puerto nuevo’ (dir. Luis César Amadori and Mario Soffici, featuring music by Francisco Canaro)‘Radio Bar’ (dir. Manuel Romero, starring Gloria Guzmán, Olinda Bozán and Carmen Lamas, featuring the orchestra of violinist Elvino Vardaro, which includes bandoneónist Aníbal Troilo)

EVENTS IN BUENOS AIRES & ARGENTINAl After two year’s construction Edificio Kavanagh – BA’s first skyscraper – is inaugurated on 2nd January. At the time it is the tallest reinforced concrete structure in the world. l El Obelisco is erected to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Buenos Aires.l Avenida Corrientes is widened.l The 2,500-seat Teatro Ópera opens on Av. Corrientes, designed by Belgian architect Alberto Bourdon and described as the finest cinema in Argentina.l In January construction workers stage a 48-hour general strike,

‘LA HISTORIA DEL TANGO’

ALLEGEDLY THE FIRST COMPLETE history of tango, volume one of ‘La historia del tango’ was

published in 1936 (volume two was never published). Written by cousins Héctor and Luis J. Bates, the book originated in a series of popular radio programmes, and after a historical intro-duction presents a series of transcripts of interviews with musicians and compos-ers of the time. Some earlier writers had argued for an essentially African origin of the tango, a theory which remained a matter of debate, but by the 1930s the idea that Argentines and Uruguayans of African descent had helped to create tango was no longer seen as controversial. ‘La historia del tango’ rightly argued for a hybrid European and African origin. That tango was acknowledged as having roots in more than one continent was apt since, as the book claimed, “no region on this planet has failed to feel its triumphant presence”.

RADIO IN THE GOLDEN AGE

BY THE MID-THIRTIES 25 DIFFERENT radio stations – known by the English word ‘broadcastings’

– were on air in Buenos Aires, playing tango, classical music, jazz, radio dramas and other speech programming. The decade was dominated by Bulgarian-born impresario Jaime Yankelevich, whose station Radio Belgrano enjoyed the highest ratings and was a favourite with performers. After the coup of 1943 all broadcasting had to be scripted in advance and passed by a government censor, although the junta also promoted Argentine culture by requiring all stations to carry a minimum percentage of Argentine music. During Perón’s presidency (1946-1955) the three radio networks that controlled most of Argentina’s sta-tions, Belgrano, El Mundo, and Splendid, were national-ized, with the government dictating content and vetting staff and performers. Tango could still be heard on the radio, notably the popular ‘El Glostora Tango Club’ pro-gramme on El Mundo (1946–1968), but radio became dominated by folk music (favoured by Perón’s supporters) and government propaganda. With the advent of TV broadcasting in 1951 radio’s audience began to decline.

EVENTS AROUND THE WORLDl In Spain right-wing generals stage a coup against the democratically elected Republican government, leading to civil war between the Nationalists (supported by Germany, Italy and Portugal) and Republicans (supported by the Soviet Union and Mexico). Volunteers from around the world arrive to fight on both sides. l German troops occupy the Rhineland.l Italy conquers Ethiopia. Mussolini declares the creation of the Italian Empire.l Joseph Stalin’s first Show Trial to purge opponents within the Communist Party.l Military coup in Greece.l Widespread political disorder and violence in French-ruled Syria.l Franklin D. Roosevelt is re-elected US President in a landslide victory.l More than 5,000 people die in a heatwave in North America.l Rainey Bethea is hanged for rape and murder in the last US public execution.l The last Tasmanian tiger dies in Hobart Zoo, Australia (officially declared extinct in 1986).

ARTS, CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENTl The lindy hop dance craze sweeps the US.l ‘Billboard’ magazine publishes its first music hit parade.

EVENTS IN LONDON & THE UKl The Year of Three Kings: on 20th January King George V dies; his eldest son succeeds as Edward VIII. Following Edward’s decision to marry American divorcee Wallis Simpson and the ensuing constitutional crisis he abdicates on 10th December. Edward’s younger brother Albert acceeds the throne as George VI.l 4th October: the Battle of Cable Street between Oswald Mosley’s British Union of Fascists and anti-fascists.l 5th – 31st October: the Jarrow March. 207 miners walk from Jarrow on the Tyne to Westminster in a protest against unemployment and poverty caused by the Depression. Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin refuses to meet any of their representatives.l 30th November: the Crystal Palace is destroyed in a fire.l Unemployment stands at almost 14% (down from a high of over 20% in 1933)l Almost 3 million homes are built during the 1930s, peaking this year with construction of 370,000 houses.l The BBC inaugurates the world’s first regular high-definition television service from Alexandra Palace. l The GPO introduces the speaking clock.l The prototype Supermarine Spitfire makes its maiden flight (enters service in 1938).

Painting, sculpture and photography ‘T and Swallow’, Alexander Calder; ‘Soft Construction with Boiled Beans (Premonition of Civil War)’, Salvador Dalí; ‘Migrant Mother’, Dorothy Lange.

TANGO’S GOLDEN YEARS: 1936

NEXT TIME: 1937

Thomas Keenes would like to thank the many writers of books and websites without whom this article would not have been possible. Special mention goes to eng.tango.info, todotango.com and Wikipedia. Special thanks to Bernhard Gehberger (tango-dj.at) and Michael Lavocah (milonga.co.uk) whose websites are goldmines of information. Thanks also to those who selected their favourite recordings of 1936: Heather Bank, Peter Benton, Jaz Bushell, Mariana Chaves, Damien Cronier, Christopher Cunia, Barry James Leadbetter, Shri Sukumar, and Andreas Wichter. If you have any suggestions for recordings or events of 1937, please email [email protected]

THE BERLIN OLYMPICS

THE SO-CALLED ‘NAZI GAMES’ are famous for African-American

Jesse Owens winning four gold medals, but the games were also notable

for other reasons: it was the first to feature the torch

relay from Athens (a publicity stunt devised by the Nazi party); the world’s first live televi-sion coverage of a sports

event; and the last games at which polo was contested

(Argentina won gold, Great Britain silver). Forty-nine nations competed in the games, more than ever before, with Germany winning the most medals (89). Meanwhile anti-Jewish signs had been temporarily taken down and 800 gypsies residing in Berlin were incarcerated.

‘THIS SEASON’S TANGO’

DURING THE 1930s European dance schools and magazines regu-

larly presented variations on the tango, such as tango-polka, tango-step and tango-trot. In Britain, ‘The Dancing Times’ of November 1936 featured an article by Margaret Cadman on the tri-ango, a hybrid between tango and waltz.

Miguel Caló con Alberto Morel ‘Las campanas’, ‘Bailar y soñar’ (v)Francisco Canaro ‘Buen amigo’, ‘El caburé’, ‘Canillita’, ‘Todo corazón’, ‘Dolores’ (v), ‘Etincelles’ (v) Francisco Canaro con Ada Falcón ‘Cómo te quiero’, ‘Envidia’ (both also recorded this year with Roberto Maida)Francisco Canaro con Roberto Maida ‘Amor’, ‘Cariño’, ‘Mi noche

triste’, ‘Será una noche’, ‘Yo también soñé’, ‘Milonga criolla’ (m), ‘Silueta porteña’ (m) Julio de Caro ‘Derecho viejo’, ‘De contrapunto’ (m)Julio de Caro con Pedro Lauga ‘Aquel amor’, ‘Mala pata’, ‘Dulce esperanza’ (v)Edgardo Donato ‘Belén’, ‘Chiqué’, ‘La tablada’Edgardo Donato con Juan Alessio ‘El día que me quieras’Edgardo Donato con Félix Guitiérrez ‘Mañana’, ‘La Tapera’ (v)Edgardo Donato con Horacio Lagos ‘Me voy a Baraja’, ‘Se va la vida’Roberto Firpo, orquesta ‘Homero’, ‘La despedida’, ‘Loco lindo’, ‘Vea vea’, ‘Atardecer campero’ (v)Roberto Firpo, quarteto ‘La trilla’, ‘El llorón’ (tango-milonga), ‘El aeroplano’ (v)Osvaldo Fresedo con Roberto Ray ‘Adiós para siempre’, ‘No aflojes,

corazón…’, ‘Déjame amarte aunque sea un día’ (v)Francisco Lomuto con Jorge Omar ‘A la gran muñeca’, ‘Mano a mano’, ‘Nostalgias’Orquesta Típica Victor con Héctor Palacios ‘Cansancio’Quinteto Los Virtuosos ‘Tierra querida’, ‘Un lamento’

TANGO FILMS‘Ayúdame a vivir’ (dir. José A. Ferreyra, starring Libertad Lamarque and Santiago Gómez Cou)Carlos Gardel’s funeral rites (dir. Eduardo Morera, produced by

published and completely sells out the same day (Created by Dante Quinterno, Patoruzú is a hugely popular comic character who first appeared in the newspaper ‘Crítica’ in 1928. He is a wealthy Native American from Patagonia, possessing superhuman physical strength and unswerving morality).l Originally published in 1927, US professor Julius Goebel’s anti-British ‘The Struggle for the Falkland Islands: A Study in Legal and Diplomatic History’ is printed in Spanish and reaches all Argentine schools next year.l Photographer and filmmaker Horacio Coppola is commissioned to photograph BA for its 400th anniversary (Above, the inauguration ceremony of el Obelisco).l The first Fiesta Nacional de la Vendimia (Grape Harvest Festival) takes place in Mendoza Province and is an instant success, attracting national attention via live broadcast on Radio Belgrano. Featuring parades, performances of regional music and dances, and the selection of the ‘Vintage Queen’, it soon becomes a template for similar festivals throughout the country.l British Lions rugby team tour Argentina.l A record high temperature of 47.3°C (117.1°F) is recorded at Campo Gallo, Santiago del Estero Province on 16th October.

URUGUAYl Severs relations with Republican Spain.l US president Franklin D. Roosevelt visits the countryv, where the foreign policy of the regime results in a substantial improvement of relations with the US.

SELECTED RECORDINGSJuan D’Arienzo ‘Ataniche’, ‘Don Esteban’, ‘El flete’, ‘La payanca’, ‘La viruta’, ‘Lorenzo’, ‘Rawson’, ‘Amor y celos’ (vals), ‘Corazón de artista’ (v), ‘Lágrimas y sonrisas’ (v)Juan D’Arienzo con Walter Cabral ‘Silueta porteña’ (milonga), ‘Tu olvido’ (v), ‘Un placer’ (v)Miguel Caló con Carlos Dante ‘Caballo de calesita’, ‘Soy milonguero’

l Construction of HMS Belfast begins (commissioned 1939).l Maiden voyage of RMS Queen Mary from Southampton to New York via Cherbourg.l Inauguration of the train ferry service between London Victoria and Paris Gare du Nord.l A new rail station opens at Gatwick airport.l Pioneering English aviator Amy Johnson makes her last record-breaking solo flight, from Gravesend to Cape Town and back to Croydon.l Work is completed on Stephen and Virginia Courtauld’s restoration and Art Deco extension of Eltham Palace in South East London.l Victoria Park Lido opens (demolished 1990).l Billy Butlin opens his first holiday camp in Skegness.l Pinewood Studios open at Iver in Buckinghamshire. l The Wellcome Trust is set up to fund research in improving human and animal health.l The London International Surrealist Exhibition at the New Burlington Galleries draws an audience of over 30,000 people. l H. G. Wells gives a talk at the Royal Institution in which he calls for the compilation of a constantly

growing and authoritative ‘World Encyclopaedia’, freely accessible to everyone.l Chocolate manufacturer John Mackintosh & Sons launch Quality Street.l Games manufacturer Waddingtons launch Monopoly, set in London (Monopoly had been invented in the US by Charles Darrow in 1934).l Phyllis Pearsall researches and produces the first ‘A to Z Atlas and Guide to London and Suburbs’.l Emperor Haile Selassie arrives in Britain, forced into exile after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. He lives near Bath until his return to Africa in 1941.l Despite the British government’s official policy of non-intervention, British men and women – an estimated total of between 2,500 and 4,000 between 1936–1939 – travel to Spain to join the International Brigades, fighting in support of the left-wing Republican government. Some volunteer

for the right-wing Nationalists.Popular songs ‘The Window Cleaner’, George Formby; ‘Up the Wooden Hill to Bedfordshire’, Vera Lynn (her first solo record).Films ‘Things to Come’ (dir. Alexander Korda); ‘Talk of the Devil (dir. Carol Reed, the first film to be fully made at Pinewood Studios); ‘Night Mail’ (dir. Harry Watt and Basil Wright, featuring poetry by W. H. Auden and music by Benjamin Britten).Writing ‘Collected Poems 1909–1935’, T. S. Eliot; ‘Eyeless in Gaza’, Aldous Huxley; ‘The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money’, John Maynard Keynes; ‘Keep the Aspidistra Flying’, George Orwell; ‘Twenty Five Poems’, Dylan Thomas; ‘On Computable Numbers’, Alan Turing.Painting, sculpture and photography ‘The English at Home’, Bill Brandt; ‘Monumental Stela’, Barbara Hepworth; ‘Self Portrait with Patricia Preece’, Stanley Spencer.Sport In rugby England defeat New Zealand’s All Blacks for the first time; at Wimbledon Fred Perry beats German Gottfried von Cramm for the second year running to become the last British player to date to win the men’s single title; Great Britain and Northern Ireland win 4 gold, 7 silver and 23 bronze medals at the Berlin Olympics.And now the weather In the Rickmansworth ‘frost-hollow’, within 9 hours on the 29th August the temperature rises from an overnight low of 1.1ºC (34.0F) to an afternoon high of 29.4ºC (84.9ºF), a range of 28.3ºC (50.9ºF).

l First edition of ‘Life’ magazine.l Iconic exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York: Cubism and Abstract Art; and Fantastic Art, Dada and Surrealism.l Italian shoe designer Salvatore Ferragamo introduces the wedge heel.l Gibson launch the ES-150, the world’s first commercially-successful electric guitar. Popular songs ‘The Way You Look Tonight’, Fred Astaire; ‘Pennies From Heaven’, Bing Crosby; ‘Stompin’ at the Savoy’, Benny Goodman; ‘Summertime’, Billie Holliday; ‘It’s a Sin to Tell a Lie’, Fats Waller.Classical music ‘Carmina Burana’, Carl Orff; Violin Concerto, Arnold Schoenberg; ‘Peter and the Wolf’, Sergei Prokofiev. Dance ‘Chronicle’, Martha Graham.Films ‘Gold Diggers of 1937’ (dir. Lloyd Bacon and Busby Berkeley); ‘Modern Times’ (dir. Charlie Chaplin); ‘Reefer Madness’ (dir. Louis Gasnier); ‘The Great Ziegfeld’ (dir. Robert Z. Leonard).Writing ‘The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction’, Walter Benjamin; ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’, Dale Carnegie; ‘New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis’, Sigmund Freud; ‘Zen in the Art of Archery’, Eugen Herrigel; ‘Gone With The Wind’, Margaret Mitchell.

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY & INDUSTRYl First helicopter flight-tested (Germany).l First commercially viable production of acrylic safety glass (plexiglass/perspex) (Germany)l First glass-plastic contact lenses (USA)l Construction starts on the Palomar Observatory in California.l The 199 Stanley knife (USA). The prototype for all subsequent craft knives, its ubiquity establishes Stanley as the generic name by which craft knives are known around the world.l Soft drink Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda (USA, launched 1929) is renamed 7-Up. Until 1950 it contains lithium citrate, a mood-stabilizing drug.

EL OBELISCO

SITED AT THE JUNCTION OF Avenida Corrientes and Avenida 9 de Julio, el Obelisco

is 67m tall, with 206 steps inside leading to four small windows at the top. Designed by Argentine architect Alberto Prebisch, the monument was constructed by a German firm employing 157 workers in just 31 days, and inaugurated on 23rd May to commemorate the fourth centenary of the first foundation of Buenos Aires. Initially there were objections to the monument’s stark appear-ance: in June 1939 the city council voted 23 to 1 to demolish el Obelisco, citing economic, aes-thetic and public safety concerns, but the order

was vetoed by the municipal executive. In November 2005 el Obelisco was comprehensively restored and the following month covered with a giant pink condom to commemorate World AIDS Day. In 2006 it was trans-formed into a pencil to pay tribute to the students who were kidnapped and murdered by the junta in 1976.

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Golden Year 1936.indd 10-11 26/10/2012 12:48

the400club Issue 12: Volver January 2014

Tango’s Golden Years is researched, compiled and assembled by Thomas Keenes

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location: Club Social y Deportivo Villa Malcolm, Cordoba 5064, BAbarrio: Palermoorganisers: Fruto Dulce (Nany Peralta y Rebecca O’Laoire)when: Wednesdays and Saturdaysdetails: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fruto-Dulce-Tangos /252228564809131 or

http://frutodulcetangos.blogspot.co.uk/established: The club was built sometime in the1930s; Fruto y Dulce has been operating since September 2011dance floor: approx 6.5m x 10mdate recorded: April 2012drawing: Alan Mitchell

Field Report No.2 - Villa Malcolm

the400club Issue 12: Volver January 2014

PLAN

SECTION

lobby dancefloor stagebarstreet tablestables dancefloortables tables

SECTIONapprox

6.5m

approx 10m

approx 16.5m

approx

10m

approx

6.5m

tables

lobby dancefloor stagebarstreet tables tables

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Field Report No.2 - Villa Malcolm

the400club Issue 12:Volver January 2014

1938 Francisco Grillo 1938 Pedro Quartucci 1938 Petruchi 1939 Juan Bava 19/11/1939 Carmelo Aiello 25/12/1939 Aiello 1940 Enrique Rodriguez 1940 Ventrici 10/03/1940 Tipica Los Halcones 07/04/1940 Eduardo Ferri 05/05/1940 Aiello 25/05/1940 Alfredo De Franco 22/09/1940 Alfredo De Franco 27/10/1940 Nolo Fernandez 05/04/1941 Osvaldo Pugliese 29/04/1941 Eduard Ferri 20/07/1941 Ventrici 04/04/1942 Carlos Di Sarli 15/07/1942 Chola Luna 15/08/1942 Carlos Di Sarli 17/01/1943 Anibal Troilo 14/02/1943 Ricardo Tanturi 09/05/1943 Ricardo Tanturi 27/06/1943 Angelo D’Agostino 04/12/1943 Angelo D’Agostino 02/01/1944 Ricardo Tanturi 02/04/1944 Pedro Laurenz 07/05/1944 Miguel Calo 14/05/1944 Rodolfo Biagi 11/06/1944 Lucio Demare 27/08/1944 Ricardo Tanturi 24/09/1944 Ricardo Malerba 15/10/1944 Angelo D’Agostino 08/04/1945 Pedro Laurenz 01/05/1945 Antonio Rodio 01/05/1945 Miguel Calo 15/07/1945 Lucio Demare 12/08/1945 Alfredo De Angelis 07/10/1945 Miguel Calo 16/12/1945 Carlos Di Sarli 31/05/1946 Miguel Calo 16/06/1946 Juan D’Arienzo 14/07/1946 Francini-Pontier 01/09/1946 Alfredo De Franco 29/09/1946 Francini-Pontier 20/10/1946 Pedro Laurenz

17/11/1946 Carlos Di Sarli 15/12/1946 Francisco Canaro 23/03/1947 Carlos Di Sarli 13/04/1947 Osmar Maderna 01/06/1947 Ricardo Tanturi 06/07/1947 Juan D’Arienzo 10/08/1947 Florido Sassone 14/09/1947 Osvaldo Pugliese 23/11/1947 Horacio Salgan 14/12/1947 Carlos Di Sarli 21/03/1948 Ricardo Tanturi 25/04/1948 Alberto Marino 09/05/1948 Francini-Pontier 06/06/1948 Carlos Di Sarli 11/07/1948 Osmar Maderna 05/09/1948 Domingo Federico 10/10/1948 Alfredo Gobbi 14/11/1948 Francisco-Pontier 22/05/1949 Jose Basso 10/07/1949 Miguel Calo 15/08/1949 Ricardo Tanturi 26/03/1950 Alberto Marino 07/05/1950 Alberto Castillo 04/06/1950 Miguel Calo 23/07/1950 Osvaldo Pugliese 05/11/1950 Francini-Pontier 10/12/1950 Miguel Calo 18/03/1951 Carlos Di Sarli 15/07//951 Hector Varela 26/08/1951 Anibal Troilo 02/09/1951 Ricardo Tanturi 16/09/1951 Alfreddo Gobbi 23/12/1951 Julio De Caro 09/03/1952 Horacio Salgan 06/04/1952 Alfredo Gobbi 11/05/1952 Anibal Troilo 07/09/1952 Anibal Troilo 21/09/1952 Alfredo Gobbi 05/10/1952 Carlos Di Sarli 06/11/1952 Jose Basso 06/09/1953 Carlos Di Sarli 04/04/1954 Miguel Calo 26/05/1957 Echague-Laborde 09/06/1957 Hector Varela 02/07/1957 Alberto Moran 01/09/1959 Argentino Ledesma

ORQUESTAS DE TANGO QUE TOCARON EN EL CLUB SOCIAL Y DEPORTIVO VILLA MALCOLM (1938-1959)

This list tells you all you really need to know about the CLUB SOCIAL Y DEPORTIVO VILLA MALCOLM. It is a venue that hosted virtually all the important tango orchestras of the golden age. The club epitomises the club ‘de barrio’ were tango has been danced since it’s inception. Dance here and you are participating in the history of tango. It currently hosts a number of separately organised milonga’s and tango practicas along with all the other local community sports and social events you would expect to find. The400club visited on the night of ‘Fruto Dulce’, the traditional, but relaxed, tango salon milonga organised by Nany Peralta and his partner Rebecca O’Laoire, who we would like to thank for letting us measure the space. We would also very much like to thank Eduardo Gálvez for the above the list. You can read his full research paper titled ‘El tango en su época de gloria: ni prostibulario, ni orillero. Los bailes en los clubes sociales y deportivos de Buenos Aires 1938-1959’ here at: http://nuevomundo.revues.org/55183?lang=en#authors.

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Tango in TuscanyAntonio Martinez, co-founder of FrAnTango and organiser of the Montecatini Terme Tango Festivalito, talks to the400club about

early days dancing tango in BsAs and more recent adventures in the picturesque Italian hillslike the “Torquato Tasso”. In those days the entrance for the milonga at Tasso was one peso! I was always going dancing in a group, with my friends. As a group we started going to the milonga “del Indio” in Plaza Dorrego, that was not the tourist place it is today. That was around 1997-98. We got together there every Sunday, with our “mate”, cakes, cookies, both in summer and in winter. And after the milonga we all went for pizza together and then we ended the night at the milonga at Tasso. Such nice memories!

So what was your main motivation to dance in those days, was it the social aspect of it? Yes, but also it was my love for tango music that kept me interested in dancing. I love music in general: my background is more in rock music, it was what I listened to as a young man. But I also listened to lots of folklore from the north of Argentina (Tucuman, Salta, Santiago del Estero) that played a big role in my musical education. After about ten years I moved to La Plata, a town about

60KM from BsAs. There I was exposed to many other inspiring tango teachers who played a big role in my development as a tango dancer: amongst others Daniel Avila and Sandra Durquet, who were teaching regular workshops. They opened my horizons especially when it comes to the role of the woman in the dance, teaching us how both dancers share the dance and it’s not just leading and following. This influenced very much my teachings and to these days I love to teach workshops on the “active role of the woman in tango”. I also started Dj’ing at some of the local milongas, the best known of them was “La Clave”.

When did you get in contact with the more traditional milonguero scene in Buenos Aires?From La Plata we regularly traveled to Buenos Aires to attend milongas and we started going to “Cachirulo”, at the time it was held at Maipu’ 444, which now does not exist anymore. That was my real education of what was a “real” milonga, with its codes of conduct, with specific rules on how to dress and to behave: no sneakers, no t-shirts, no jeans, no going up to a woman at her table to invite her…I actually had a very embarrassing “accident” when, obviously not very familiar with how to navigate this new environment, I went up to a woman at her table while she was changing her shoes and asked her to dance. She looked up and gave me a glance of utter disdain, and of course said “NO!” This was a very good lesson! So I learned and I am happy to say that some time later I had the opportunity to proper invite this same woman again, this time I used my “cabeceo” and this time she accepted! I started going only to the

Antonio Martinez & Francesca Bertelli founded FrAnTango Buenos Aires in 2010 after moving to Italy. They are now based in beautiful Tuscany. Antonio is originally from Tucuman, Argentina, but lived most of his life in Buenos Aires where he started dancing tango almost 20 years. When living in Buenos Aires, Antonio was one of a group of young milongueros, attending all the most popular traditional milongas, like “Cachirulo” and the milongas of “El Beso”, amongst others.

Antonio, when and why did you start dancing tango?Well, my first contact with tango was in 1994 in Monte Grande, a town in the outskirts of Buenos Aires where I was living at the time. The reason why I started taking tango classes came from the love I developed over the years for the tango music that was played in the house by my mother and by my older brothers. Three of my brothers were actually very good “folklore” dancers. I was listening to Piazzolla, Troilo, Goyeneche etc. perhaps music to listen to

rather than dance to, but that eventually that inspired me to take the leap and try the tango “danza”. The tango school in the “Centro Cultural de Monte Grande” had a three-year program where I enrolled. At the end of the third year they gave us a diploma attesting the level achieved. My very first maestros were Cristina Pugni, one of the original dancers in the show Forever Tango, and Daniel Bo, dancer in the “Senor Tango” in BsAs. Daniel was a great guide for me and taught me how to dance in close embrace and in a social dance floor.

After the second year, they took us as a group to our first traditional milonga: at that moment the best milonga was the “La milonga de Almagro” where all the greatest miongueros gathered, so that we could get acquainted to what it meant to dance in the “ronda”, respecting the codigos and how to dance to the music of the great tango orchestras of the ‘40’s and the ‘50’s. This was a beautiful experience and a very emotional and exciting one and opened the door for me to a new world, inspiring me into getting even more into tango.

So this is how you got into dancing following the “milonguero” tradition?Actually that happened much later. As I ended my third year of classes, I started going to milongas that were not traditional, more informal milongas, sometimes organized by friends, like the milonga in “Plaza Dorrego” in San Telmo, “Flor de lino” organized by a friend and some better known milongas,

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the400club Issue 12: Volver January 2014

traditional milongas, thus completing my education by watching and talking to the old milongueros, and listening to the music selections of the most re-known “musicalizadores”, like Carlos Rey, Mario Orlando etc. At that time I was taking classes, amongst others, with Gabriela Elias and Eduardo Perez, Oscar Casas, Fernando Lores and I actually started helping in some of those classes. My dance started changing then in ways that I had not anticipated.

Is there any particular episode that would like to share?Carlos Gavito was the inspiration to my change, in a way he closed the circle, completed the cycle of my tango education. Before my encounter with Gavito I worked for a tango producer, Unitango, in 2004/2005. There I started teaching group classes to beginners and I met many foreigners who traveled to BsAs to dance and learn. Besides teaching, I had many duties in UniTango, for example I was the DJ of the milongas that we organized at the famous “Confiteria Ideal” twice a week. I only knew Gavito from a TV program, called “Solo tango”, that was broadcast every Monday at 7PM. One of the women I met at UniTango asked me to partner with her in a class given by Gavito. He was giving regular classes in the tango school “Dandy”, located at Chacabuco 500: these were his last months of teaching as he was already ill with cancer. In the class Gavito spoke a lot about what was the meaning of tango, for him, but also for the participants in the class.

I can clearly say now that starting from that moment, my dance started changing. I did not realize it at the time, but I can see it now. I understood what it means to dance musically, how to have a good embrace, how to give time to the woman and how to move at unison with my partner on the dance floor. More than anything else Gavito really transmitted and taught me what is passion for tango! In my classes I brought and bring all these experiences, most and foremost the encounter with Carlos Gavito.

And in 2010 you moved to Italy. How was that you left Buenos Aires? That is an interesting story! In July 2009 I met Francesca: I went dancing to El Beso like I did every Thursday, little did I know that it was the beginning of a new beginning! Francesca, who is Italian from Montecatini Terme, was living in New York City and was traveling to Buenos Aires quite regularly. She was a well-known organizer of tango workshops and professional dancers, all along the lines in the milonguero/close embrace tradition. One of them, Monica Paz, was also her teacher, her host for that visit and also one of the dancers I always shared some lovely “tandas” with. Because of Monica’s introduction I invited Francesca to dance and she found out that I greatly admired a couple who happened to be great friends of her: Melina Sedo’ and Detlef Engel. I guess she was impressed that I, a very respected milonguero of Buenos Aires, could in fact get inspired by non-Argentinian dancers. But that was the truth and between a “tanda”, some chit- chat, one coffee or a pizza the romance was born…

Was it hard for you to leave Buenos Aires?For me the hardest part was to leave my then twenty-year-old daughter, Brizna, whom I am very close. She is studying at the IUNA (The acting arts University) to become a stage actress, and I hope she can join me in Italy at some point.

I was lucky enough to have possibly the best send off from Buenos Aires I could imagine as in May 2010 Argentina celebrated its 200th anniversary. Great celebrations were scheduled all over Buenos Aires and I was invited by Luz Sassoli, actress and one of the organizers of the events, to perform on stage with her. Actually this is a cute anecdote: I went to Avenida “9 de Julio” looking for Brizna, who was taking part in a “Murga” with her theatre group, but I could not find her and while walking still looking for her I heard tango music. So I got closer and Luz recognized me and called me up to the stage to dance one tango with her as her partner had suffered an accident to his foot and she needed a replacement. She hired me on the spot to dance with her until the end of the celebrations. That was a marvelous experience, dancing to live orchestras and for more than a million people! I have some really nice photos

from the event and I keep the memories in my heart.

How has been your experience in Europe so far?Francesca and I established our school in Florence in September 2010 and we have been teaching regular group classes there since then. We also have the opportunity to travel and teach not only in Italy, but in other parts of Europe as well. We go to Germany quite regularly where our style is very much appreciated. Last summer we had the pleasure to teach and perform at a very popular festival in Wiesbaden, “Tango Sommer”, and twice a year we teach in Saarbruecken, a program we named “Tango Mania” as our classes are held in a acting school, ‘acting & arts’ of Petra Lamy, and it’s like every once in a while the school is caught by tango fever.

Something else that has been happening more and more is that I get invited to DJ at milongas and festivals around Italy and Europe, something that I love to do and that I hope will grow. I have actually DJ the milonga at Carablanca twice already and I hope to be back there soon.

What I really like about living in Italy have been also the many opportunities we have had to take part in events that are not just about tango. For example, just recently at the beginning of October we taught for a week at the Golden Age Fitness Festival, an international event with over 2,000 participants from all over Europe who attend different types of workshops every day. We were the teachers chosen for the tango workshops and we worked with large groups of people every day who had never taken a tango class in their lives. It was wonderful to see how much they got caught in the magic!

How would you describe your style and what you teach? In our classes both in Florence and wherever we teach we focus what we like to call “social” tango: although respectful of the milonguero tradition incorporates innovative concepts giving both leader and follower a central role in the dance. Posture, walking, connection in the embrace and musicality are the pillars of our teachings.

The goal is to teach our students how to achieve a tango that is totally creative and respectful of the dance-floor. In our classes we also focus at clearly explaining the lead (“la marca”) never with the hands or the arms, always with the embrace and the torso: a dancer who can properly lead will free himself and his partner from set figures and steps achieving a truly creative and blissful dance. I always tell our students: Tango is danced from the waist up, with your heart, with the embrace and with the music. Recently I have started writing a blog, called Basicamente Tango, where I talk about my experiences in the tango world.

Your school, FrAnTango Buenos Aires, also organizes an “encuentro milonguero”, doesn’t it?Yes, the Montecatini Terme Tango Festivalito. In 2013 we will hold our third edition already on the weekend (check dates )of 5th, 6th and 7th of April. The event is held in some beautiful salons, some of them inside the art deco building of “Terme Tettuccio”. To better get a feeling for the atmosphere we suggest you look at some of the videos that are posted on our Youtube channel franber1 or directly on our website www.tangotuscany.com. Because we limit the number of participants, by the time this interview gets printed the event might be sold out already, but we still invite you to contact us if you are interested in participating in a future edition.

A very big thanks tmust go to Tina Baxter for organising this interview. Antonio and Francesca can be contacted about the Montecatini festival and other events direct at : http://www.tangotuscany.com/www.tangotuscany.com/Antonio_Martinez_FranTango_ENG.html.

For information about performances, teaching or DJing commitments in the UK, you can also contact them through Bridgitte at Paris-tango: http://www.paris-tango.co.uk/home.html

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the400club Issue 12: Volver January 2014

[email protected]

El CentroKey Milongas: Thu Tango Thursdays, The Seven Dials Club WC2 Fri Carablanca, Conway Hall WC1 Fri Negracha, Wild Court WC2 Sat Tango Garden, Russel Square WC1 Sun Tango on the Thames, HMS President EC4

El Norte y El EsteKey Milongas: Tue Tango at the Light Bar, Shoreditch E1 Wed Zero Hour, The Dome N19 Sat Las Rubias, St Pauls Church NW1 Sat Corrientes, Havestock School NW1 (twice a month) Sat Tango at the Light Temple, Shoreditch E27 Sun Milonga at the Vibe Bar, E1 Sun Tango Etnia, Cecil Sharp House NW1 Sun Tango London at The Factory N19

El OesteKey Milongas: Mon Tango Bar, Chateau 6 SW6 Tue Pavadita, Hammersmith Club W6 Thu Milonga Poema, Latvian House W2 Thu Mini Milonga, The Bedford, SW12 Sun Tango Oblivion, Chelsea Theatre SW10 Sun Pavadita, Hammersmith Club W6 Sun El Portenito, The Bedford SW12

El SudKey Milongas: Wed Tango Instinct, Titos Peruvian Restaurant, SE1 Sat Milonga La Tanguera @ Clapham Common SW4 Sun Tango South London, The Constitutional Club SE22 (once a month) Sun La Mariposa, Wessex House SW11 Sun Tango Lounge / Tango Tea, The Tango Club SE1 (once a month)

El Suburbios and beyond...Key Milongas: Sun-Sat Milonga Connexion, Guildford; Tango de Salon, Aldenham; Tango Victoria,Tring; Eton Milonga, Suenos de Tango, Madame Ivonne and more... Please note that the milongas listed above do not necessarily run each and every week. Please check the dates, times and locations with the organisers via website, facebook, email, mobile phone or plain face-to face chat, BEFORE you set out on your journey.

and Finally...Although it is difficult for us to provide one-off hardcopy prints of earlier issues, we can send you a pdf version by email for your own printing / reading pleasure, please contact us at the email address below. You can also view all our past published issues online at:

http://issuu.com/the400club

We would also like to thank all those involved in the creation of this issue, particularly Thomas Keenes, Michael Lavocah and Tina Baxter. The400club is an irregularly produced, amateur newsletter for the London Tango scene. We do not intend to cause offence to any parties and take no responsibility for the accuracy of information, views or otherwise expressed in this newsletter. The next issue will arrive when and if we have sufficient time and inclination to get round to doing one. If you would like to contribute an item contact:

Los Barrios Del Tango En Londres

Si supieras que aun dentro de mi alma,conservo aquel cariñoque tuve para ti...Quien sabe si supierasque nunca te he olvidado,volviendo a tu pasadote acordaras de mi...

Mis amigos ya no vienenni siquiera a visitarme,nadie viene consolarmeen mi afliccion...Desde el dia que te fuistesiento angustias en mi pecho,deci, percanta, que has hechode mi pobre corazon?

Sin embargo, yo siempre te recuerdocon el cariño santoque tuve para ti.Y estas en todas partes,pedazo de mi vida,y aquellos ojos que fueron mi alegrialos busco por todas partesy no los puedo hallar.

Al cotorro abandonadoya ni el sol de la mañanaasoma por la ventanacomo cuando estabas vos,y aquel perrito compañeroque por tu ausencia no comia,al verme solo, el otro dia,tambien me dejo.

If you knew, that still deep in my soulI keep that affectionthat I had for you...Who knows if you could knowthat I have never forgotten you,going back into your past,you will remember me...

My friends no longer comenot even to visit me,nobody wants to console mein my afliccion...Since the day that you left,I feel anguish in my chest,say, woman, what have you donewith my poor heart?

However, I always remember youwith the saintly affectionthat I had for you.And you are everywhere,piece of my life,and those eyes that were my joyI look for them everywhereand I can’t find them.

To the abandoned padnot even the morning sunpeeks through the windowlike when you were here,and that friendly puppy who because of your absence did not eat,when it saw me all alone, the other dayit also left me.

La CumparsitaLa Cumparsita / The little marching band (1917) Music by: G. H. Matos RodriguezLyrics by: Enrique P. Maroni - Pascual ContursiTranslated by: Alberto Paz