Tango Masters: Carlos Di Sarli

268 Pages·04.1 MB·English

by  Michael Lavocah

Tango Masters:
Carlos Di Sarli
Michael Lavocah
*
milonga press
Michael Lavocah has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1998 to be identified as the author of this work
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade
or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the
publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All rights reserved
First edition 2018
1 2 34 5 67 8 90
milonga press
England
www.milongapress.com
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-9997551-1-9
Cover design: Nigel Orme
Cover photo: Sivul Wilenski
Tango Masters:
Carlos Di Sarli
Michael Lavocah has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act 1998 to be identified as the author of this work
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade
or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the
publisher s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published and without a similar condition including this
condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
All rights reserved
First edition 2018
1 2 34 5 6 78 90
milonga press
England
www.milongapress.com
Paperback: ISBN 978-1-9997551-1-9
Cover design: Nigel Orme
Cover photo: Sivul Wilenski
That orchestra had something that made it
different from the others. It had something
that it is now hard to find which I call
“sacredfire”.
Felix Verdi
-
(bandoneon with the orchestra)

Zurda Milonguera
A generation of tango dancers took their first steps to the music of
Carlos Di Sarli, liking the simplicity of its clear walking beat. As time
went by, liking deepened into loving. We became captivated by the
music’s elegance, the richness of its sound. Mysteriously, it’s a music
which satisfies both beginners and masters alike. With this music, one
gets the feeling that tango can be something other than a love story
in three minutes: it transmits a sense of the eternal.
A sentimental man, Carlos Di Sarli gave the melody to the violins,
but without sacrificing the rhythm. The miracle of the orchestra is
the piano of Don Carlos himself. Instantly recognisable by the
campanitas or “little bells” - the delicate high notes played by Di
Sarli’s right hand - at first the piano appears to be just decorative. As
it turns out, we are listening to the wrong thing: Di Sarli was famous
for the power of his left hand, the one that plays the bass notes. Listen
for it, and it starts to emerge from beneath the smooth surface created
by the violins. It’s everywhere in the music. Jazzy touches add colour
and interest, at the same time as it helps to power the orchestra’s
walking beat. Di Sarli never lost sight of the dancers, for which
musicians as diverse as Troilo and Piazzolla called his orchestra the
most milonguero of all.
Di Sarli was once called la poeta de la zurda, the poet of the left, a
clever lunfardo wordplay: zurda is the left-hand, but also a reference
to the heart. Listen deeply to his music, and what impresses more and
more - the secret hidden in the heart of this elegant music - is this
zurda milonguera.
Contents
Prologue: A difficult fate
1. A difficult fate
2. Bahia Blanca
Part 1: The Sextet (1928 -1935)
3. Buenos Aires
4. Ernesto Fama (1930)
5. Crisis (1931)
6. In the wilderness
Part 2: The Orchestra (1938 - 1959)
7. Roberto Rufino
8. Corazon (1939)
9. The orchestra of the year (1944)
10. Charlemos (1941)
11. Alberto Podesta (1942)
12. Polyrhythm (1943)
13. Earthquake (1944)
14. Jorge Duran (1945)
15. End of an era (1947-9)
16. Que mufa ehe - what bad luck
17. The Children’s Angel (1949)
18. Early retirement? (1949)
19. The comeback kid (1951)
20. El Senor del Tango (1953)
21. The submerged cathedral (1954)
22. Los Senores del Tango (The Lords of Tango) (1956)
23. Last recordings (1958)
24. He took his secret to the grave (1960)
25. Di Sarli in ten tangos
Part 3: The man & the myth
26. Early years
27. Di Sarli on tango
Appendices
A. Di Sarli on disc
B. Discography
C. Orchestra formations
D. Carnival appearances
Bibliography
Glossary
Terminology & Structure
Index of titles
Acknowledgements