"El Boliche" - A little milonga at the pub on Mondays

30/07/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming this Monday! We had quite a few people who we hadn’t seen for a while returning to El Boliche, as well as a couple of new-ish people (the second time at El Boliche!). All in all, it was a good turnout and lively night.

Now, the music this week. I featured Juan Carlos Lamas, who sang with D’Arienzo’s orchesta in the 1940s. His tenure with D’Arienzo was short, so he did not make many recordings. He didn’t have achieve the iconic status like Alberto Echagüe or Héctor Mauré did, but he left some nice recordings. So, I thougt that it might be good to feature him consciously.

I played two tandas by D’Arienzo / Juan Carlos Lamas. The first one was the tango tanda just after the first milonga tanda. It’s punchy, but not too fast: nice ones. The other one was the second milonga tanda of the night. It was a tanda that I haven’t played before. It is a bit more complex (there are breaks in the consistent milonga rhythm) but quite a fun one. The first song had Alberto Echagüe as the singer, but the second and third pieces were by Juan Carlos Lamas.

I also had one experimental tanda this week. It was just before this D’Arienzo milonga. The one with a bit of drama and lots of rhythmic contrasts. Probably it was reasonably difficult to dance to. The first piece was probably unfamiliar, but you might have recognised the rest of tanda — familiar pieces, done very differently from the versions that you are accustomed to. They were recordings from Astor Piazzolla’s own tango orchesta. Piazzolla played with Troilo’s orquesta from 1939-1944 or thereabouts, then he became the conductor and arranger for Francisco Fiorentino’s orquesta (who was one of Troilo’s singers). Piazzolla then moved onto forming his own orquesta típica. I was sick and not terribly useful for anything last week, so I bought an album of his orchesta from 1946-1948. I was quite excited by his sound, although I totally recognise that it might have been too much for some.

If you are interested in comparing Piazzolla’s renditions to other more familiar orquestas:
The 2nd piece “Tierra querieda” — I normally play the version by Pugliese (or very occasionally the version by Caló or De Caro).
The 3rd piece “El recodo” — Di Sarli or Biagi,
The 4th piece “Inspiración” — Caló and Troilo are the classic, but I also love Carabelli’s version. There is a Canaro version too, which is quite nice.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the night. See you all next week!

Cheers,

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21/07/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for braving a cold Canberra night! It was a bit on the small side, but still a good night. We had a fab weekend of dancing, starting with the TengoTango term party, followed by gorgeously sparkly club milonga. I sooo enjoyed DJing at the stunningly classy club milonga (big thanks to Sandra & Robert for hosting, and Roxanne and Tim for cordinating), so I arrived at the Polo very uplifted. Also it was so lovely that Robert extended his stay in Canberra to join us at El Boliche.

Now, music. This week I featured Ernesto Famá. He is a singer with a beautiful delicate voice, probably best known for his recordings with Canaro. Before he recorded with Canaro he sang with Fresedo, Di Sarli, and Orquesta Típica Víctor too. But, he didn’t sing for long — he retired from show business at the age 35, apparently. The recordings I have ranged from 1926-1941, i.e. more from the pre-Golden Age period. How to weave them into the flow was the challenge of the night for me.

I started the night with Fresedo with Ernesto Famá. The whole tanda was from 1928. It’s slow and sparse compared to the Golden Age recordings, but these have quite a bit of emotional oomph. The particular sound of the early tangos may take a bit of getting used to, but there are lots of gems there.

The vals tanda that followed this was by Orquesta Típica Víctor from 1931. The singer for the last piece, “Anguista”, is Famá. I love this vals. It has a beautiful lyrical melody.

I followed this with a Canaro tango tanda from 1940-1941, with Famá singing. This tanda has the typical sound of Canaro of this time. More dry than the 30s recording, and the walking beat is very front and centre. Famá’s voice adds melodic emotionality to those otherwise (I dare say) somewhat dorky sounds, and create lovely contrasts.

The first milonga tanda of the night was also by Canaro and Famá. They are classic milongas. Good tempo, fun rhythm, absolutely solid.

From there, I did a bit of an experiment. I played some consecutive reasonably rhythmic and driving sort of tandas, and then brought it right back to an Orquesta Típica Víctor tango tanda from 1930, again with Famá. I am a massive fan of OTV from the late 1920s to 30s. Early OTV has quite a different feel to other orquestas from that time. Well-balanced and sophisticated, but it has some freeer airy feel than the bigger orquestras from the Golden age. Dancing to it feels like floating in the music. I wasn’t sure if playing early recordings like these in the middle of the night work, but well, to my surprise, every single person was dancing by the end of the tanda. OTV from 1930 getting everyone up wasn’t on my bingo card, I must say, but I was very pleased.

Finally, at the end of the night, I played Di Sarli with Famá from 1930-31. Another gorgeous, but not often played bunch of recordings.

I hope you had a good night. See you all next week.

Cheers,

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14/07/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming last night. The cold weather seems to have gotten to some people— it’s July in Canberra after all — so it was on the quiet side last night. But! we had one of our beloved regulars returning to El Boliche after a long absence, and we had two interstate visitors. Then, extra bonus! Chirstian and Serkan came too (yay for the school holiday). All of this made me very happy. Even though we had a smaller number of people than usual, those who came kept going and it ended up being a lovely night.

And, the music. I featured Manuel Buzón. I played his tango tanda around the middle of the night. I also included one of his recordings in the second milonga tanda. The milonga tanda was a mixed one: Firpo, Ángel Sica, and Buzón. This is a bit of an obscure combo, but I thought it was a fun one. I am interested in hearing what you made of it.

His orquesta is quite good to dance to. It has good punchy rhythm, as well as emotional feel and dramatic flair. Still, it doesn’t make the top 15 orquestas for me, so it tends to be overlooked, especially since we have a very short milonga. When I went back and spent some time listening to them, I found I quite liked them. The recordings I have sound a bit thin — I am not sure if it’s his sound or the quality of the copies I have. I should look for more of his recordings, and maybe I should play him more often!

Anyway, see you all at the club milonga this Saturday. I will be on the deck for your dancing pleasure.

Cheers,

P.S. I didn’t get to send out the playlist last week, so I will attach two here.

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/s2zee80l1y0jozhea0baz/20260713.pdf?rlkey=wxb3w0bk3x0z14kru3atccsqb&dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/ekkwhsy72ucdfusoinsg7/20260706.pdf?rlkey=lq1ps2cqr9buu3mw0h20mlixr&dl=0

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02/07/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming this Monday. It was a bit smaller than last week, but we had a returning new tango dancer, a returning ex-Canberran from Hobart, and a returning TSCC (possibly foundation?) member from many moons ago. So that made me very happy. People can come back to our community after 10 or more years of absence, and they are warmly welcomed back and have an enjoyable night. This is something special we got in our lives, don’t you think?

Anyway, the music. I featured Ricardo Malerba. I don’t get to play his orquesta much, as our milonga is short and he isn’t making my top 10 orquestas, but his recordings are perfectly good and danceable. I played a tango tanda with the singer Orland Medina. They are good pieces. Good pace, clear rhythm, and good voice. People seemed to be enjoying them. Maybe I should make more of a conscious effort to play this orquesta.

I also played his milonga tandas for the second milonga tanda of the night. They are a bit quirky—some might have found them a bit tricky— but quite fun ones, I thought.

A side note: I played “Fuimos” by Pugliese with Roberto Chanel this week. I’m not sure how many people remember this, but I played the Troilo with Alberto Mario version of this particular piece last week — if you noticed such detail, you are joining my music nerd club.

I hope you enjoyed the night. See you all next week!

Cheers,

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23/06/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming last night! It was such a fantastic night — we welcomed a big group new tango dancers who have just graduated from Sophie Clayton and Nivan Lau intro course to El Boliche (hence the “Celebration” cortina to mark the occasion). Three cheers to Sophie and Nivan, working so hard to attract more people to the Canberra tango community! It was quite impressive and exciting to see all of them up on the floor dancing away with us. Can you believe that they only had four lessons? I certainly wasn’t ready for a milonga after four lessons all those moons ago.

Now, the music. I planned to feature Alberto Marino last night. He shines best in his emotionally powerful repertoire. You cannot plonk these sort of recordings in anywhere randomly—got to build the mood up to it. But, at the same time, I wanted to make sure the music was reasonably approacheable for our new tango friends. In addition, I would like them to find tango music they like, so I wanted to present them with a good range of styles, not just “easy beginner friendly” ones. So, I was balancing a few constraints last night.

I played the feature tanda, Anibal Troilo with the singer Alberto Marino, a bit past the midway point just before the second milonga tanda. They are emotional, powerful and yet subtle —absolutely exquisite pieces. The final piece of that tanda was “Fuimos”. You might have recognised it, as I play the version by Pugliese with the singer Roberto Chanel every now and then (it’s probably one of my favourite Pugliese pieces). The Troilo version is a bit more complex, I suppose, but oh so gorgeous. If you are interested in the stylistic difference, I suggest comparing the two and see which one you prefer.

I played Troilo again for the third vals tanda. The second piece, “Urguaya”, had the duet between Alberto Marino and Francisco Fiorentino. Fabulous vals.

Finally, thank you all the lovely El Boliche regulars, who warmly welcomed the new dancers. Quite a few were inviting these budding tango dancers to dance. That warmed my heart to no end. Love you, guys!

I hope you enjoyed the night and return next week (hey, new tango friends, I’m looking at you)!

Cheers,

https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/0yvk525lxg4xw2m1hbakk/20260622.pdf?rlkey=32mceyyysu5vfpn91la3gw39d&dl=0

17/06/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming this Monday. It made me very happy to see you all back at our beloved Polo. 2 weeks break is a long time.

This week I featured one of the founders of tango music as we known it: Roberto Firpo. He was a pianist and an orquesta leader, and had quite a lengthy recording career: he kept going well past the Golden Age. Still, you don’t hear his recordings all that much at milongas. The reason is, well, his style is very particular. They are crusty, simpler, and rhythmic, and some recordings have a sonic quality that is a bit harsh to my ears. I sort of like the general vibe of "not taking things too seriously”, but more than one tanda of that style is tiring. There are some sweet loveley recordings too though. So I wanted to play them.

Also, he composed some pieces that are still very well loved by many (the versions recorded by other orquestas though!). So, I wanted to feature them too.

The first Firpo moment was a tango tanda recorded by his own tango orquesta in the mid 1930s. These are the ones I really like.They are surprisingly delicate and sweet, which aren’t the adjectives I’d use to describe his usual musical style.

After the first milonga tanda, I played a Biagi tango tanda. The third piece, “Didi”, was Firpo’s composition. This was followed by a D’Arienzo tango tanda with the singer, Mauré. The first piece “Vea vea…” too is Firpo’s composition.

After the Caló vals tanda, I played a Di Sarli 50s instrumental tango tanda. This was to feature another composition by Firpo, “El Amanecer”. There are many recordings of this piece, but the pinnacle of them is the Di Sarli 50s one (there’s also 1940s version by Di Sarli), if you ask me. The birds’ dawn chorus and all, it’s perfect.

I played a Laurenz tango tanda after this. This was to feature another killer composition of Firpo's, "Alma de Bohemio”. Again, there are many versions of this piece, as you’d expect with great compositions, but it is hard to beat Alberto Podestá's singing with Laurez. So, rather than trying to be a clever pants and do something different, I went for the best, as that’d be the most respectful way to feature Firpo’s contributions to the tango music that we love so much.

After this, I threw in a Firpo milonga tanda, as I thought I should feature some of his signature style. It’s very playful — almost like a comic relief. The sonic quality is a bit harsh, I feel, but it’s fun every now and then. I hope you had fun with it.

I understand Sophie Clayton and Nivan Lau will bring new tango friends to El Boliche as their graduation celebration next Monday. We met many of those people at the beginner’s milonga at La Mirada last Saturday, and it’s so exciting to be able welcome them to the Polo. I am grateful for these efforts to grow the tango community.

See you all next week!

Cheers,

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26/05/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming last night. It was a lovely night and it was also the national day of Argentina. Although the gender balance was sub-optimal, we still had a nice time chatting with people and listening to the music, as well as of course dancing.

This Monday I featured one of my favourites, Ángel D’Agostino. The recordings from his orquesta are gentle and subtle, especially with the singer Ángel Vargas (the duo is known as “the two angels”!). I featured his recordings in three different tandas.

The first one was a milonga tanda. They are delightfully playful, and I guess a bit more complex than most milongas, as the basic milonga rhythm isn’t as persistent as most milongas. I love the melodic quality of them.

I then played a tango tanda by D’Agostino and Vargas. I have so many pieces I adore, so I had to think hard which ones to play. I played one of the iconic pieces, “Café Dominguez” by D’Agostino last week, so I decided to stick to his 40s recordings. I opened the tanda with “Agua Florida” — straight into Vargas’s voice. Glorious. The last piece of this tanda was another iconic piece: “Tres Esquina”. I think it would be the best known song by D’Agostino and Vargas, and for good reason. That’s a perfect piece, if you ask me! Then, I finished the night with a vals tanda with D’Agostiono and Vargas. Gorgeous valses.

For whatever reason, the combo of D’Agostino and Vargas always takes me back to Buenos Aires in the way that no other orquesta does. It just reminds me of wandering around the quiet streets on a winter day. Many moons ago, I was there one winter and Jamie was living in Buenos Aires. One afternoon we decided to visit “Tres Esquina”, the location this song is about. Well, the place was far from being the barrio that I romanticised in my head, but it was one of the most memorable adventures for me, because the “Tres Esquina” did and does still exist. It was a bit special to imagine what it might have been like, and feel a connetion to the world that piece sings about so affectionately.

Ah, an additional music note: I threw in a tango tanda by Canaro with Roberto Maida in the middle of the evening —an unusual spot for me to play this combo. It wasn’t the most fabulous tanda, a bit of downer to be honest, but I decided to go for it just to play “25 de Mayo” — to mark the national day of Argentina. It was the day, so why not?

Anyway, we will have two weeks break as we have two consecutive public holidays. I hope everyone enjoys their long weekends. See you when we get back!

Cheers,

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20/05/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming this Monday! It was yet another lovely night. We had a few newer tango friends as well as an interstate visitor, so that was nice.

I featured Máximo Mori. A bandoneonista and an arranger. He played with a few orquestas — for one year with Miguel Caló in 1936, then in 1938 he joined the orquesta led by Lucio Demare. In 1945, Demare disbanded his orquesta. Then Mori joined D’Agostino’s orquesta. I played three tango tandas, one from each of these three periods. Plus one Demare vals tanda.

The first Mori moment was a D’Agostino tango tanda from the 1950s. I love D’Agostino from the 40s with the singer Ángel Vargas, so I rarely play D’Agostino from this era. I thought it would be a good opportunity to try something different. And… well, I’m the first one to admit that this was a bit of a B-list tanda. The second piece in particular was suboptimal. The last piece was absolute gold though — "Café Dominguez”. This is such a singular recording. It’s fabulous, but I find it difficult to create a satisfying tanda. Still, I really wanted to play this one this week, since Mori's bandoneón solo at the end is definitely worthy of featuring.

This tanda was followed by some classic Demare, including everyone’s favourite “Malena”.

At the end of the night, I played a gorgeously melancholic Demare vals tanda, followed by a Caló tango tanda from 1936. I love those Caló pieces so much. They are quite early recordings, but have such a different feel from other recordings from that time, say, by Canaro, Lomuto, or Donato. Caló's recordings are sweet, sophisticated, and lyrical. Added bonus — Osvaldo Pugliese was on the piano in this orquesta then. How good is that? The third piece was recorded in 1935, so it predates Mori, but Mori would have been on bandoneón for the other three pieces.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed the night!

Also, did you notice that your table cloth was very fresh and lovely? Big shout out to Sacha, who offered to take them home, wash and iron for us (well, for everyone really). You know, my Japanese biological makeup should have driven me to merrily do this, but I miserably fail Japaneseness test at almost every turn, and this time was no exception (Another reason to leave the country!). So, THANK YOU, Sacha!! Lots of regulars help us in all sorts of ways. We cannot keep doing this without your generosity. I am so grateful.

We will have two consecutive public holidays in June, so don’t miss next Monday. Otherwise you will have to wait for a very long time to get your Polo goodness.

Cheers,

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13/05/2026

Hi everyone,

Thank you for coming this Monday! It was a very nice lively night. Maybe we are all on a high from the great lessons with Cecilia and Luciano, and then the live music by Revenge Tango. Whatever it is, it's great!

This Monday I featured the singer Alberto Rivera. He was a singer for Lomuto’s orquesta in the 1940s. I don’t have that many of his recordings, so I played only one tango tanda of his singing. I like Lomuto. Lomuto is always very danceable with a clear rhythm. His early recorgdings are often playful and fun. The ones from the 40s have more emotional oomph to it, but not excessively so. His recordings never lose dancers. I might even say it’s the kind of music that make more people dance well. This is a very important thing for the DJ: when people dance comfortably and well, the floor flows more nicely. And then the night feels more enjoyable for everyone.

The tanda I played included one of my favourites, “Solamente Ella”. I also play Demare version of this piece, which is another gorgeous one. There is a lovely Di Sarli version too, so if you are interested, Spotify them and have a listen.

I hope you enjoyed the night! This weekend we will have a special Practica hosted by Kathi, and then the Club milonga. So see you all on the weekend, and then next Monday.

Cheers,

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