¿
DISCOS PERDIDOS o FANTASMAS ?
A repertorium of tango recordings
that may not exist... Or do they ?
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¿
DISCOS PERDIDOS o FANTASMAS ? A repertorium of tango recordings that may not exist... Or do they ? |
| For a long time, I have been
collecting photos
of tango music score covers wherever I could find them on the
internet. Just because they were charming (especially the older
ones)
or because they could supply additional information about some
compositions. But can they also be a source of misinformation?
I had
noticed that some covers announced recordings which could not be found
in discographies of the orchestras involved. And we are not talking
about some obscure orquesta olvidada,
no, these are really the big ones: Carlos
Di Sarli, Osvaldo Pugliese,
Juan D'Arienzo, Miguel Caló and others.
Initially, I thought this could be worth a small note with some of
these weirdo
cases, but after looking for them systematically, I ended up with no
less than 70
cases, and there is no reason to think that the list is complete.
This is a small and a large number at the same time. When compared to
the thousands and thousands of recordings that do exist it is certainly
small. But when considering the quality of the orchestras involved it
seems large to me: with - give or take - 50 to 60 bailables this is half a salón of "previously
unreleased material". It makes every tango DJ dream, doesn't it ? |
| Only explicit references to
recordings have been considered. Frases like "Del repertorio de...", "Estupenda interpretación de...",
"Creación de..."
are not considered as pointing to recordings. Especially on the older
scores (thirties and earlier) references to live performances (cine,
theatre, radio, cafés...) are abundant. When absent from known
discographical sources (Lefcovich, R.G. Miglio, Buenos Aires Tango
Club, Todotango, lists circulating among coleccionistas...) they were
considered to be undocumented,
a more neutral term than a severe "it does not exist" (your
friend-philosopher will tell you that is very difficult to demonstrate
the non-existence of something - unless physically impossible,
something which does not apply to recordings) |
| Some stats Most of the time, the exact date of the edition is not known, but reasonable guesses can be made using the titles and artists that are mentioned, the style of the cover (e.g. editor Julio Korn had typical designs in the fourties and fifties) or other elements (e.g. the word nacional, as in Nacional Odeon, Discos Nacional...., a term that, by law, became reserved for matters of state in the early thirties). Of the ones listed here, it is my estimate that about 30% belong to the thirties or earlier, over 65% to the forties, and the remainder (just 3 cases) to the fifties or later. In the category of the forties (the most fascinating part to me) over 80% of the covers announce both Victor and Odeon recordings (was this a required balance of powers ?) and also among the undocumented recordings, Victor and Odeon are nearly equally represented, so it doesn't seem to be a company issue. The most encountered orchestras are those of Miguel Caló and Alfredo De Angelis, both 8 cases (an index by performer is included at the end) |
 Why ? oh why ?Given the abundance and quality of the discographical data that have emerged during the last years, it is my opinion that many of the undocumented recordings effectively do NOT exist (alas...) but the explanation that follows is pure speculation and may not apply to all listed cases. The cover of the Mañana zarpa un barco music sheet carries the inscription  which I interpret as an edition date. It also mentions the recordings made by Lucio Demare and Carlos Di Sarli. According to available discographical data, these recordings were made on 20-07-1942 (Demare) and 12-08-1942 (Di Sarli). If we continue speculating, the music sheet was edited BEFORE Di Sarli made his recording, and possibly - in those long-before-Photoshop times - even designed BEFORE Demare made his. Note that this cover points to the very first recordings of the title and this is a feature of most of the covers shown below. Can it be that these first edition covers were designed based on plans and promises of orchestras and that in some cases these plans never got realized? Or, more fascinating, that the recording took place but - for some reason - was never edited ? In at least 3 cases (Adiós Marinero, Puente Alsina, Toda Mi Vida) alternate editions were found on which the undocumented recording is omitted and/or replaced by another. As the relative edition dates are often unknown, it is again a matter of speculation to consider them as corrected editions. It almost goes without saying, but if you know about one of the recordings listed here, I would appreciate it to hear from you... Johan, 23-07-2010  Home |
23-07-2010 -
Listed: 70
- Found: 0
By title:
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
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A Engrupir A Los Giles
(tango) Composer: Edgardo Donato Lyrics: Dante A. Linyera  Grabado en discos doble NACIONAL por la orquesta de Francisco Canaro The Canaro recording remains undocumented. |
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A
Las 7 En El Café (tango) Composer: Armando Baliotti Lyrics: Santiago Adamini  En magnificas grabaciones por las orquestas de Miguel Calo en disco "Odeon" y en disco "Victor" por Carlos Di Sarli Well-known first recording by Miguel Caló (1943) but the Di Sarli recording remains undocumented. |
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Adiós Milonguera (tango) Composer: Carlos A. Sanchez Lyrics: Cadícamo  Pídalo en discos Nacional cantado por Carlos Gardel y ejecutado por la orquesta Firpo The Firpo recording exists (1928) but the Gardel recording remains undocumented (read more - in Spanish). |
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Así Se Canta (tango) Composer: Elias Randal Lyrics: Marvil  Grabado en Discos "Victor" por la Orquesta de RICARDO TANTURI con su cantor E. CAMPOS y en Discos "Odeon" por la Orquesta de MIGUEL CALO con su cantor RAUL IRIARTE. The recording by Tanturi (1943) is well known but the Caló recording remains undocumented. |
Bailongo de los Domingos - Bajo el Cono Azul - Bajo La Lluvia - Baldosas Flojas - Borrá... y Apunta de Nuevo - Bruja - Buena Yunta
Cerremos los ojos - Color Cielo - Con Tu Voz, Querida - Copa de Fuego - Corazón Que Me Maltratas - Cuatro Recuerdos
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Cerremos los Ojos
(tango) Composer: Elias Randal Lyrics: Julian Centeya  Grabado en Discos "ODEON" por la orquesta de MIGUEL CALO y su cantor RAUL IRIARTE The Caló recording remains undocumented. |
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Color Cielo (tango) Composer: Antonio Bonavena Lyrics: Montenieve  Realizadas en notables grabaciones por las populares Orquestas: ENRIQUE RODRIGUEZ cantando ARMANDO MORENO (discos Odeon) JUAN D'ARIENZO cantando HECTOR MAURE (discos Victor). While the (first) recording was made by D'Arienzo with Walter Laborde in 1944 (the year indicates an error in the interpreter rather than a pointer to a completely different recording), the recording by Enrique Rodriguez remains undocumented. |
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Con Tu Voz, Querida (tango) Composer: Francisco de Caro Lyrics: José M. Suñé  Grabado en disco Victor por JULIO DE CARO y su Orquesta Típica Undocumented. The record numbering system of Víctor does not allow the same conclusion as for another missing De Caro recording. |
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Copa de Fuego (tango) Composer: Antonio Polito Lyrics: Yaraví  Grabado en disco Víctor por Domingo Federico. Undocumented. |
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Corazón Que Me Maltratas
(tango) Composer: Alberto Nery Lyrics: Carlos Bahr   Grabado en disco VICTOR por la orquesta típica de JUAN D'ARIENZO Grabado en disco ODEON por la orquesta típica de PEDRO LAURENZ The Laurenz recording is well known, 1944 - with Carlos Bermudez, but the D'Arienzo version remains undocumented. |
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Cuatro Recuerdos (tango) Composer J. Raúl Iglesias Lyrics: Juan B.A. Gatti  Grabado en disco Víctor por la gran orquesta de Ricardo Tanturi y en disco Odeon por la gran orquesta de Osvaldo Pugliese. The Tanturi recording is well known, 1945 - with Enrique Campos, but the Pugliese version remains undocumented. |
De Vuelta - Dos
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