Tango-DJ.at
Newsletter
May 2012
by Bernhard Gehberger
2 May 2012
Dear Tango enthusiast,
this is Bernhard from Vienna with a new edition of the monthly newsletter Tango-DJ.at about DJ-ing, special Tango CDs, Tango dancing and much more. If the newsletter is not displayed correctly you might consider reading the online version. Enjoy!
Introduction
DJ-ing & dancing Tango
CD-reviews & news
- CTA news
- AMP news
- FINALLY: 129 CDs / 2300 tracks of Francisco Canaro
- 31 CDs of Roberto Firpo
- Colección 78 RPM review
The CD series Colección 78 RPM published by Buenos Aires Tango Club under the name of Euro Records are well known for out-standing quality - until now? - The drama of "Cuando estaba enamorado" or
Mysterious version of "Cuando estaba enamorado" by Francisco Canaro solved
participants: Claus, Bernhard, Keith, Christoph, ToTango, Francisco, Mariano Mores or Luis Riccardi - New CDs in stock & cover scan updates of various catalogs
Introduction
This month's newsletter became quite extensive. There is lots of news about CTA-CDs, new releases, special newsletter offers, and new cover and tracklistings of rare out-of print CDs.
It also includes a "sneak preview" of the long-awaited Francisco Canaro collection of 129 CDs. It will take some time until I listened to and corrected all of it, but you will get an idea of what's there. Small compared to the Canaro collection is the Firpo collection with 31 CDs.
As far as CD-reviews are concerned we will take a closer look at the latest releases of the Colección 78 / 8 RPM series and present the unexpected solution of a question about a curious version of a Francisco Canaro recording that has puzzled some of us for the last two years.
Previous newsletters can be found in the newsletter archive.
Thank you very much for your attention, I hope you enjoy this month's newsletter. I'd very much appreciate your feedback and comments on the presented content. In case you know somebody who might be interested in this newsletter please recommend it or place a link to Tango-DJ.at.
Best wishes from Vienna,
yours,
Bernhard
PS If anybody wonders why my English improved from last newsletter to this one - it did not, but a good friend of mine took a look at it and corrected my limited English as far as possible. (Thank's Heather for doing this so fast on such short notice! :)
DJ-ing & dancing Tango
DJ-ing schedule & Tango-DJ Tuesday's Class & Práctica
| Tango-DJ.at Tuesday's Class & Práctica: | ||
| Every Tuesday March 13th to May 29th |
Geibelgasse 14-16 Vienna / Austria |
Teaching: 19:30-20:45: Class & Workshop by Bernhard & Birgit |
| Every Tuesday March 13th to May 29th |
Geibelgasse 14-16 Vienna / Austria |
Teaching: 21:00-23:00: Práctica guided by Bernhard, Birgit & Michael |
| Details on: www.Tango-DJ.at/workshops | ||
| 10-13 May | Vienna / Austria | Attending: Tangoamadeus Festival |
| 17 - 28 May | London / UK | Travelling: London |
| Fri., 18 May | London / UK | DJ-ing: Milonga Carablance |
| Wed., 23 May | London / UK | DJ-ing: Zero Hour Milonga The Dome |
| 26-28 May | London / UK | DJ-ing: Tango Marathon Spring |
Recommended upcoming international Tango events
Some recommended international tango events I am DJ-ing or travelling to (most) for the first half of 2012:
- 10 - 13 May, Tangoamadeus, Vienna / Austria
a Tango festival in Vienna, the city of music and balls - something you have to see! :) - 25 - 27 May, London Tango Marathon ***Spring***, London / UK
- 1 - 3 June, La Experiencia Milonguera, Pradamano-Udine / Italy
another favorite event of mine. It's unique, it simply is. - 29 June - 1 July, Tango marathon "La cita de los amigos", Brussels / Belgium
- 29 June - 1 July, Raduno
- 5 - 8 July, Tango marathon Tango Colón - Cologne / Germany
Lovely, mixed, welcoming tango marathon and one of my favorite events. It's rather a combination of 4 super long Milongas in sequence, lasting for 4 days.
April Fool's Day - Article
Because of the discussion I had with some people I do see the necessity to point out that my article "Groundbreaking new offer for renting your personal Tango-DJ" of my last newsletter in April was meant to be an April Fool's Day joke!
Funny (or sad) enough, even when trying to exaggerate each given "service-idea" ridiculously I have to admit that I did experience all of it in real life already. To this effect, some people took it seriously and asked about details of the planned DJ-database.. So, I am sorry, but I do not plan to build up a database for your personal Tango-DJ doing anything for near to nothing! I rather play with the idea to build up an organization to support Tango-DJs working with legal music to establish a minimum recommended pay for their services!
CD-reviews & news
Club Tango Argentino (CTA) News and special offer
There is lots of news regarding CTA! I received another large delivery and due to a better purchase price I am able to offer special prices here for you in this newsletter and reduce some of the list prices on my website. You can get some of those original CTA-CDs imported from Japan for as low as 39,- EUR! And almost 200 original CTA-CDs are kept in stock for you to choose from!
And more striking news: Three very exciting albums are announced as new releases for June 2012:
Orquesta Típica Victor / Vol. 18 (1936-1937) - (CTA-118)
Julio De Caro / Vol. 6 (1924-1926) - (CTA-126)
Francisco Canaro / Vol. 17 (1928) - (CTA-777)
I am very excited especially about the OTV Vol. 18 and the Canaro Vol. 17! Of course I will try to get as many as possible of those for you! From my experience with previous new releases those CDs will most likely become available in August..
New CTA-CD packs available: (Special newsletter offer!)
With this large delivery from Japan I was able to compile those new CTA-CD packages. Some of those CDs are out of print already. Get them before more CDs go out-of-print which will be reflected in a price change.
| 4 CD Set | De Caro | CTA-122, 123, 124, 125 | 196 € | |
| 4 CD Set | Francisco Lomuto Set 1 | CTA-221, 222, 223, 224 | 162 € | |
| 2 CD Set | Roberto Caló | CTA-411, 412 | 98 € | |
| 3 CD Set | Francisco Lomuto Set 2 | CTA-732, 733, 734 | 117 € | |
| 4 CD Set | Angel D'Agostino | CTA-351, 352, 353, 354 | 156 € | |
| 3 CD Set | Osvaldo Pugliese | CTA-521, 522, 523 | 157 € | |
| 5 CD Set | Tango en París | CTA-951, 952, 953, 954, 955 | 195 € | |
| 3 CD Set | Las Joyas del tango | CTA-1010, 1011, 1012 | 147 € |
New CTA-CDs available:
Please check out my updated page of CTA-CDs in stock. There are plenty (almost all available) CTA-CDs in stock! Below is a list of the most interesting ones I was able to get ahold of. (some of them having been out of print, some of them being out of print..)
Orquesta Típica Victor Vol. 10 (1929-1930) - (CTA-110) (last copy, CD out of print!)
59,- EUR
Orquesta Típica Victor Vol. 15 (1932) - (CTA-115)
49,- EUR
Osvaldo Fresedo Vol. 2 (1922-1925) - (CTA-282)
42,- EUR
Juan D'Arienzo Vol. 4 (1937-1938) - (CTA-304) (last copy - CD out of print!)
59,- EUR
Alfredo Attadía Vol. 1 (1948-1952) - (CTA-431)
49,- EUR
Francisco Canaro (1931-1932) - (CTA-704) - (last copies, CD out-of-print!)
54,- EUR
Francisco Canaro (1939) - (CTA-772) - (last copies, CD out-of-print!)
54,- EUR
Juan Maglio (Pacho) IV (1927-1931) - (CTA-724) - (last copies, CD out-of-print!)
54,- EUR
Juan Maglio (Pacho) VIII (1926-1932) - (CTA-728) - (last copy, CD out-of-print!)
59,- EUR
Roberto Firpo (1931-1941) - (CTA-742)
42,- EUR
Roberto Firpo (1927-1930) - (CTA-743)
42,- EUR
Roberto Firpo (1935-1942) - (CTA-744)
42,- EUR
Roberto Firpo (VI) (1927) - (CTA-746)
42,- EUR
New CTA-CD covers and tracklistings available:
Together with this large delivery I was able to get hold of some rare out-of-print CTA-CDs. You can find their cover and tracklisting information on the CTA-catalog page.
Orquesta Típica Victor Vol. 17 (1933-36) - (CTA-117)
Alfredo Attadía Vol. 1 (1948-1952) - (CTA-431)
Osvaldo Fresedo (VIII) (1927-1928) - (CTA-718)
Manuel Buzón (1942-1943) - (CTA-765)
Ada Falcón Vol. 1 (1929-1938) - (CTA-821)
Tania Vol. 2 (1937-1948) - (CTA-852)
Azucena Maizani Vol. 2 (1924-1926) - (CTA-847)
AMP catalog update & available CDs
AMP CDs are already more difficult to get than CTA-CDs, and it is getting worse. The son of Oiwa-san seems not to be interested in continuing to produce and/or offer AMP CDs any more. So for now it seems that the last stocks of AMP CDs are being sold and it is already very difficult and uncertain to get some of those remaining copies. At the moment I keep a few copies of the most interesting albums in stock and I try to restock as many as possible with my upcoming order. If you are interested in any of those I would suggest to get them as soon as possible because they will be gone soon! You can take a look at the tracklisting and listen to some sound samples on my webpage of AMP catalog and AMP CDs in stock.
Francisco Canaro en la decada del '30 Vol. 10 - Alma De Bandoneón - AMP (CD-1257)
53,- EUR
Memorial Del Tango 24 - Orquesta Típica Victor III - AMP (CD-1264M)
53,- EUR
Julio De Caro Vol. 10 - Boedo - AMP (CD-1269)
53,- EUR
Tahiti - A.J. Pesenti et son orchestre de tango - AMP (CD-1281)
53,- EUR
129 CDs and 2300 tracks of Francisco Canaro
Back in 2010 I heard of compilations made by an Argentine collector. Back then some DJs here in Europe "discovered" the meanwhile well-known and beloved recording "Invierno". Trying hard to find a source for this recordings (other than some download blogs offering bad mp3s) I came across those compilations. I found "Invierno" on a CD called "Francisco Canaro Vol. 89 - Sello Odeón". To be more precise - it is not a CD, but a compilation burnt on CD-R.
Since the title indicates Vol. 89 I got curious about possible other volumes. I tried to get the rest of this collection starting in February 2011. With lots of help of good friends and pushing my order every two weeks all 129 CDs featuring 2300 recordings by Francisco Canaro were completed exactly a year later.
At the moment I am working hard to correct and listen to all tracks. (I am done with tracks starting with A-D..) Reference for correcting missing or possible wrong information given on the CD covers is Christoph Lanner's Francisco Canaro Discography. If you can't wait to see what can be found on those CDs you can take a look at a preview list of those CD listings on my webpage Various Collections - Francisco Canaro which still is work-in-progress at the moment. What I can tell by now: Also this collection is not complete. There are still recordings missing and I have found already some recordings on CTA and AMP CDs which are missing on that collection. Anyway plenty of unknown and otherwise not published recordings can be found on those compilations! Lots of people will be in for a surprise at upcoming Milongas I am going to DJ when they hear great Canaro recordings for the first time!
31 Cds of Roberto Firpo
Together with the huge pile of Francisco Canaro compilations I got 31 CDs of Roberto Firpo. I had no time to take a closer look at those, but given the rare content on the Francisco Canaro CDs I expect to find some hardly known Firpo recordings on those as well. However, you can find a uncorrected preview listing on my webpage of Various collections.
Review of the new Colección 78 RPM CDs
The CD series Colección 78 RPM published by the Buenos Aires Tango Club under the name of Euro Records are well known for out-standing quality - untill now?
Most of you know the green and red covers of the Colección 78 RPM CDs published until 2004 and 2009:
Those were professionally produced CDs, most of them being must-haves for every tango DJs and most of the tracks on those CDs belong to the best transfers you can find.
However there were 4 new Colección 78 RPM CDs published, one in 2010:
and three more in 2011:
By taking a closer look to the covers alone you may find some differences. The quality and finish of the printing is not comparable. It is like off-set print compared to homemade color print and the cover folded (by hand?) in a way that the color runs off the edges. In addition not too much attention was given to details (eg.: EU-17051, track #8, #9: genres wrong..) and who finds the more than obvious mistake in that one: (hint: maybe it is not a Colección 78 RPM release.. ;)
I did not pay too much attention to those details in the beginning. I was way too excited to receive those new releases of this great CD series. But then I started to listen to the transfers on those CDs and very fast I found something to be very disturbing. It was like something was hurting my ears all the time. This was when I started to compare recordings from these CDs with other releases as well as comparing the sound characteristics of those latest releases with previous Colección 78 RPM CDs. This is when I found out that something must have changed dramatically to the worse.
The sound characteristic changed to be louder, harder and too bassy, like you would expect music to be in a cheap discotheque. Taking a closer look at the sound files shows massive clipping (hence the loud and harsh sound) which should be well suitable to produce massive distortions on PA-systems with little headroom:
This Audacity project shows "Chola" taken from Pura milonga - Francisco Canaro 1932/1934 - Colección 78 RPM (EU-17049) being analysed for clipping (red indicators and clipping samples in numbers) in comparison to "Chola" taken from the BATC-CD Francisco Canaro 1932 "Fenomeno" - BATC (orq 308)!
This was when I really was shocked. The difference in quality of this track Chola between the "old" BATC ORQ-308 and the brand new release on EU-17049 is massive! For me there is nothing I'd use on those new releases.
According to the information given on the back cover Sony music was involved until EU-17047. On later releases Sony music is not mentioned any more and soon after quality got worse like described. So a possible explanation could be that previous releases were produced in cooperation with Sony music whereas latest releases were done by BATC itself.
As far as I am concerned I won't get any more of those new releases of Colección 78 RPM unless somebody can report changes to the better. So my recommendation is to get Colección 78 RPM until EU-17048/EU-17048, the old ORQ-series or even better original CTA or AMP CDs.
Mysterious version of "Cuando estaba enamorado" solved
Back in 2010 Claus Rueffer asked me about a curious version of "Cuando estaba enamorado" by Francisco Canaro he had found. Comparing this strange version with the regular ones one can find a piano part within the first seconds which can not be heard in any other version. But it was definitely the same recoding and orchestra performing. Christoph Lanner's Canaro discography listed only one recording and no additional takes. So on the one hand there was this track having a piano part in the beginning while other recordings had no piano and on the other hand there is no evidence of at least two takes of this recording.
- "Cuando estaba enamorado" from ToTango Restaurations
- "Cuando estaba enamorado" from Club Tango Argentino, Akihito Baba, CD CTA-1053
(these sound samples can only be heard on the website - not in e-mail..)
None of us could find an explanation for this problem. Was there an unknown take missing in the discography? And if so - where is the origin of this version - where does it come from?
While listening and rechecking my new Canaro recordings I came across this curious version of "Cuando estaba enamorado" again. Since I now try to sort out as many uncertainties as possible I rechecked this version. The tag said that this version comes from one of Keith Elshaws ToTango restorations. So as a last attempt to sort this problem I thought let's ask Keith, maybe he has some information about the source of this strange version.
I got reply the next day and guess what?
Keith appreciated to be reminded of that version. He explained that the version he used for restoration missed the first seconds. In order to be able to use it he had to fill up the beginning with a similar sounding part from the middle. He did well indeed - the beginning of the "restored" version sounds more or less exactly the same as the complete version having only one (small) difference - the piano part.. (This "manipulated version" is used in ToTango collection 1 to 5 and according to Keith's information will be replaced by a correct version in his future collections) If any of you use this ToTango version I'd recommend to replace it with one of the versions of following CDs:
- Corazón de oro" - BATC (orq 310) (good and easy obtainable)
- Serie para baile Vol.2 - Todo vals - (CTA-1052) (the best version like so often)
- Francisco Canaro Vol. 097 (1940) - Sello Odeón - CdT ( 5 seconds too fast)
- Tango de mi vida Vol. 2 (only mp3)
Sometimes a solution to a seemingly huge problem is so easy..
New CDs in stock & various catalog cover updates
News CDs are in stock and on offer for Reliquias and Juan D'Arienzo - Homenaje Sony BMG a El Rey del Compás 70 años on my CD in stock page.
In addition to that there is a massive update of high res cover scans for various catalogs. You now can click on any front, back or inlay cover and see a readable high res version of it. Updates were done for: Reliquias, Juan D'Arienzo - Homenaje Sony BMG a El Rey del Compás 70 años, BMG/Tango Argentino, Colección 78 RPM, Archivo RCA, Archivo Odeón, Archivo "TK".
Reliquias:
Colección Juan D'Arienzo:
BMG/Tango Argentino:
Colección 78 RPM:
Archivo RCA:
Archivo Odeón:
Archivo "TK":
