Archive for the 'history' Category

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Tango Toppers: Astor Piazzolla

Published on October 25, 2008 in history and music. 0 Comments

Number two in out Tango Toppers list, and quite a famous one: Astor Piazzolla.

Ástor Piazzolla (March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer and bandoneón player. His oeuvre revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed nuevo tango, incorporating elements from jazz and classical music. An excellent bandoneonist, he regularly performed his own compositions with different ensembles. He is known in his native land as “El Gran Ástor” (“The Great Ástor”).
Astor Piazzolla

This is him performing “Libertango”.

So what are the 10 most popular songs people listen to of his (according to last.fm data)?

#1 Libertango 21396
#2 Adios Nonino 12109
#3 Milonga Del Angel 9389
#4 Oblivion 5012
#5 Verano Porteño 4334
#6 Fear 4107
#7 Mumuki 3755
#8 Por Una Cabeza 3719
#9 Chau Paris 3665
#10 Tanguedia Iii 3626

Tango Toppers: Osvaldo Pugliese

Published on October 16, 2008 in history and music. 0 Comments

Getting to know tango music is quite a task. While you may hear it being played everytime you dance, you don’t always know the names of the composers and performers. Who’s song is ‘Poema’? (Francisco Canaro) Who wrote ‘Llorar por una mujer (“quererla y no tenerla“)? (Enrique Rodriguez) Who plays ‘La Cumparsita’? (just about everyone) So here’s an idea: I’m going to publish a top 10 of popular songs per composer/orchestra. The data I use comes from last.fm.

The first one: Osvaldo Pugliese, best known for his ‘La Yumba’. How does that sound again? Well, see if you recognize this song:

The Pugliese top 10 of songs on Last.fm goes like this:

#1 La Yumba 1617
#2 Recuerdo 1016
#3 Desde El Alma 878
#4 Gallo Ciego 612
#5 Mala Junta 459
#6 La Mariposa 417
#7 Chique 349
#8 Despues 295
#9 Malandraca 289
#10 Chacabuqueando 267

And here you can listen to some of those:

Tango anecdote: Alberto Castillo

Published on September 16, 2008 in history. 1 Comment

Inspired by a story Lucio told me last weekend: the story of Alberto Castillo, famous tango singer, actor but also a practicing gynaecologist, until eventually he had to stop:

Alberto Castillo

(…) So in the afternoons, doctor Alberto Salvador De Lucca left his “consulting room for ladies” and ran to the radio to turn into the singer Alberto Castillo. There were complications when in the waiting room of his consulting room there was no more space for so many women, mostly, young. There was an explanation: the singer had an incredible appeal on the weaker sex and as news had spread that he was a gynecologist, those who found out where his consulting room was, run to be treated by him. Castillo remembered the story which revealed the never ending flow of ladies into his consulting room: «Are you ready, madam?», he asked to a patient that was undressing behind a folding screen, and she answered not at all embarrassed: «I am, doctor. And you?»
«Those insinuations did not please much», he confessed, and finally he gave up the medical profession to fully devote himself to singing.
(via todotango.com)