Tanda Canaro - Maida. Tango lyrics translated. Plus a short tutorial!

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Tanda of the Week: Canaro-Maida, with a six minutes tutorial, beautiful pictures and lyrics translated in English.

++Timeslot++
00:00 Start
00:26 Tutorial
06:17 Poema
09:20 Aunque no lo crean
12:05 Ojos negros que fascinan
14:20 Alma de bandoneón

Francisco Canaro was born in 1888 in San José de Mayo, in Uruguay. He was from a very poor background, selling newspapers in the streets of Buenos Aires when he was only 9 years old. He worked up his way in music. He played the violin, composed his first tango, ‘Pinta brava’ in 1912, and he directed his first orchestra already in 1915. In the 1920’s and the first half of the 1930’s, Francisco Canaro had the most successful tango orchestra, touring not only Argentina, but in Europe as well (He had his second home base in Paris).

Canaro recorded more than 3500 tracks and he has almost 300 compositions in his name. His career as a composer and orchestra leader made him a fortune.

By the late 30s, Canaro’s tangos became somewhat less relevant, with the rise of new stars like D’Arienzo, but he kept recording and selling records throughout the 1950's.

He worked with famous singers of the Tango Canción like Carlos Gardel and Charlo. And also Ada Falcón, with whom he had an affair for 10 years. His most important singers for dancing in the milongas - from the 1930s - were Ernesto Famá and Roberto Maida, who is included in this tanda.

Roberto Maida was born in the region of Calabria in Italy in 1908. His family moved to Buenos Aires in 1909. Maida had his debut as singer with the orchestra of Michel Caló in 1925 and from 1928 to 1933 he toured in Europe with various tango orchestras.

Back in Buenos Aires he joined Francisco Canaro in 1934 – they had already recorded 1 tango and 1 waltz (“A lo lejos”) together in July 1930; and their biggest succes together started in 1935. Maida would stay with Canaro until the end of ‘38, following the return of Ernesto Famá to the orchestra.

The first tango in this tanda is ‘Poema’, nowadays Canaro’s best known and most popular tango – especially in Europe, it’s much less popular in Buenos Aires. 'Poema' was written (in Europe) by Eduardo Bianco and Mario Melfi – and it has a beautiful melody, that provides ample opportunities for decorations on the 7th and 8th beat, but it’s also notorious for being hard to fit in a tanda.

'Poema' is gently melancholic, and although it’s bittersweet, it has an airy melodic feel compared to the much heavier rhythms of most Canaro tangos. One way to approach this as a DJ is to combine it in a mixed tanda with other romantic tangos, like Fresedo’s 'Buscándote', and Malerba’s 'Remembranza'.

Or to fit it in a Canaro-Maida ‘greatest hits’ tanda, together with ‘Invierno’ from 1937 for instance.

But it is possible to make a Canaro-Maida 1935 tanda with 'Poema' that feels consistent, and that’s what we’re going to do now.

In 1935, Francisco Canaro and Roberto Maida recorded 25 tangos together. And I think the tango that matches best with 'Poema', melodically, is ‘Alma de Bandoneón’, from their first recording session in March ’35. Alma de Bandoneón was written by Enrique Santos Discépolo, with lyrics by Discépolo and Luis César Amadori.

Only one thing: 'Alma de Bandoneón' is much faster than 'Poema', and in fact faster than most tangos they recorded that year. So instead of putting them back-to-back, and having a dip in tempo after the second tango, the tanda will start with 'Poema' and finish with 'Alma de Bandoneón'.
And now, all we need is a smooth transition…

Avoiding the heavier, rhythmical tangos like ‘Cambalache’, or ‘Ciego’ and such, the second tango in this tanda is ‘Aunque no lo crean’ (believe it or not), one of Canaro’s own compositions.

Followed by one of my favourites: ‘Ojos negros que fascinan’, a somewhat dark tango, music written by Manuel Salina and lyrics by Florián Rey.
It’s another tango with European roots… it is actually a translation of a Russian ballad ‘Ochi Chornye’.

The original Russian lyrics are from a poem by Ukrainian writer Evgeny Grebenka (first published 1843). The poem was supposedly set to a waltz in 1884 by Florian Hermann and later to a bolero by Sindo Garay in Cuba. And then it became the tango we know now.

So this is our Francisco Canaro / Roberto Maida tanda of the week, with 4 tangos from 1935:
1. Poema
2. Aunque no lo crean
3. Ojos negros que fascinan
4. Alma de bandoneón

Enjoy!

With thanks to Dmitry Pruss: tango links & lists!
Thanks to www.tangoarchive.com , www.todotango.com , www.tangosalbardo.blogspot.com
FB Tango Time Machine: https://www.facebook.com/groups/872692392814674/

* Please note: We do not own the music in this video. Songs are included for educational purposes only. All songs have been edited/cut to prevent downloading of the complete songs. You can buy them from various providers (like iTunes) or stream them on Spotify.