Skip to main content

Al compas del mundo, programa #93 - Tango and danzón


The tango and danzón are two of the best-known dance styles to ever come out of Latin America. They evolved in the 19th century as a lower-class form of entertainment, with influence from the Black ex-enslaved people (i.e. African) population and European immigrants. Both were considered scandalous at first by “polite society” as the accompanying dance styles were viewed as salacious, but proved to be too much fun to be ignored. As their popularity spread, the danzón became the official musical genre and dance of Cuba, where it originated, while the tango represented Argentina wherever it was heard. Today, the danzón in its original form is probably more popular and danced more widely in Mexico than Cuba. The tango, on the other hand, has spread around the world though remains firmly rooted as an essential cornerstone of Argentinian cultural pride.

The music in today’s program presents a sample of the most notable proponents of each genre. Old school legends like Carlos Gardel and Mariano Merceron match up with contemporary takes on classical themes from the likes of Astor Piazzola and the Orquesta la Moderna Tradicion. Dancing shoes are not required for listening, but millions of Latinos (and others) will experience restless leg syndrome for the next 60 minutes. JH


Tango and danzón run list - First broadcast 9=14=2023

 

01 Carlos Gardel - La Cumparsita (Argentina)

02 Orquesta Mexicana de Tango - Volver (México)

03 Hugo del Carril - A los oligarcas (Argentina)

04 Juan D'Arienzo con Osvaldo Ramos - Sentimiento gaucho (Argentina)

05 Tangueses - Camerata de tango (Uruguay)

06 Orquesta Mario Demarco con Edmundo Rivera - Mano a mano (Argentina)

07 Astor Piazzola - Fuga y misterio (Argentina)

08 Carlos Gardel - Adiós muchachos (Argentina)

09 Acerina y su Danzonera - Las alturas del Simpson (Cuba)

10 Chamaco Aguilar con La Danzonera Joven de México - Una rosa de Francia (México)

11 Carlos Campos y su Danzonera - Mujer (México)

12 Los Xochimilcas - Teléfono a larga distancia (México)

13 Danzonera Dimas - Lágrimas negras (México)

14 Mariano Merceron - Mi amigo Pancho (Cuba)

15 Felipe Pérez - El Acahual (Cuba)

16 Orquesta la Moderna Tradición - Clavelitos (Cuba-USA)

 


 

~`~!~!~!~!~!~`~

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Guitarras del mundo

  Choosing music and writing about “the guitar” opens many doors. I could have gone off in any number of directions and with a singular narrow focus - but I didn’t. Instead, I threw a whole bunch of varied tunes against a wall to see which ones stuck. Sometimes there’s a continuity and other times none: just two aesthetically pleasing pieces that worked well in tandem and, hopefully, were preceded and followed with similar morsels. Usually, that is how these programs come together. I receive a divinely inspired revelation for a certain theme, region, or style of music and build it from there. Baden Powell, Brazilian beatnik poet and guitar master, seemed to me an obvious choice to begin the program. From there (as you can well see) we stick around Latin America a bit; segue into Spain, notorious as a guitar hotbed; head South to North Africa for the venerable Bombino (yes, again!) and more of that desert blues ilk; logically morph into a short blues set and settle at the bottom sid...
Post a Comment
Read more

Electric Chicago blues

  Al compás del mundo Run List   #172, 3-20-25 - electric Chicago blues   01 James Cotton - Love Me or Leave Me 02 Sonny Boy Williamson - Wake Up Baby 03 Hound Dog Taylor and the Houserockers - Wild About You, Baby 04 Howlin Wolf - You'll Be Mine 05 John Lee Hooker – Louise 06 Junior Wells - Snatch It Back and Hold It 07 Koko Taylor - Wang Dang Doodle 08 Little Walter - I Don't Play 09 Jimmy Rogers - Walking by Myself 10 J.B. Lenoir - Don't Dog Your Woman 11 Otis Rush - Keep on Loving Me Baby 12 Muddy Waters - I Can't Be Satisfied 13 Sunnyland Slim - Shake It 14 Walter Horton - It's Alright 15 Buddy Guy - When My Left Eye Jumps 16 Magic Sam - She Belongs to Me 17 Johnny Young - Cross-Cut Saw 18 Eddie Boyd - Third Degree 19 Willie Dixon and Friends - I Cry for You   Got to feature the blues from time to time on Al compás del mundo as there seems to be a shortage of such on Mexican radio. Although RadioactivaTX.org, the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

India y Nepal y Tibet

W here a human voice is heard in today’s program it’s often starkly different from what most Westerners might find pleasing and melodic.  But I must remind my listeners that the West probably did not invent the concept of vocalizing as accompaniment to plucked/blown/percussed musical instruments. Why do we sing in the style that we do? I imagine there are knowledgeable tomes wrestling with that idea. I ’ve read that vocals were meant to imitate the sounds made by instruments...or vice versa? The chicken or the egg? I’m not here to answer that question, in spite of the college course I had taken of “Music Cultures of the World” decades ago. What I offer is the opportunity to pay attention to and digest musical expressions performed by people steeped in the traditional ways of their culture.  T here is a geographic component to lumping together India, Nepal and Tibet as the Himalayas served to isolate and circumscribe the peoples of those northern regions. But here’s where I fud...
Post a Comment
Read more