Tango Mahi Practica “Tanda of the Week” – Vals tanda by Alfredo de Angelis Orquesta Tipica featuring Carlos Dante and Julio Martel
Alfredo de Angelis was born in 1910, played piano with a variety of musicians during the 1930s and formed his orquesta in 1941 (at age 31).
His was one of many hundreds of Buenos Aires orquestas catering for the younger dancers drawn to tango by the upbeat rhythms of D’Arienzo and Biagi from the late 1930s. These orquestas, focused entirely on tango music for dancing, unlike the traditional orquestas of Canaro, Lomuto, Fresedo and others that played a mixture of foxtrots, polkas, rhumbas, etc as well as tangos. His orquesta also differed from the progressive purely tango orquestas of D’Arienzo, Di Sarli, Troilo, Pugliese and others that were active in taking tango music in new directions with greater originality or sophistication.
A key to the huge popularity of the de Angelis orquesta was a 1946 contract to play a 15-minute daily live tanda every evening except weekends on Radio El Mundo’s “El Glostora Tango Club” radio program. These spots were scheduled immediately ahead of a high rating radio soap program so the orquesta and Dante and Martel as vocalists became very well known to the wider public as well as to tango dancers. The daily gig continued for 11 years till 1957. From 1943 to 1977 the orquesta recorded hundreds of tracks, with arguable the best being those featuring Dante and Martel, singing as a duo.
Carlos Dante was four years older than de Angelis and had been singing, recording and touring for more than a decade with such musicians as Maffia, D’Arienzo, Pugliese, Calo and the Canaro brothers before joining de Angelis.
When de Angelis wanted a second vocalist he held auditions, which resulted in Julio Martel joining the orquesta as a 20-year-old and becoming instantly popular with the orquesta’s young followers. He was 13 years younger than de Angelis and 17 years younger than Dante. In 1948 his fame was boosted further when he won the lead role in a movie in which he sang several songs backed by the de Angeles orquesta. In 1952 he left to sing as a soloist and to tour with a variety of orquestas.
The three valses I have chosen for the Tanda of the Week are:
Flores Del Alma – 1947 – (Flowers of the soul)
Soñar y nada mas – 1944 – (Dreaming and nothing else)
Pobre Flor – 1946 – (Poor flower)
All these songs are played regularly at Tango Mahi practicas, and at milongas in Buenos Aires and around the world, and nearly always result in crowded dance floors.
Check out this 2014 YouTube clip of Sebastian Jimenez and Maria Ines dancing to “Pobre Flor” for a demo dance in San Francisco:
