Top 10 Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires’ Top 10
28
Left Gotan Project Right Astor Piazzolla
Tango Artists
! Carlos Gardel (1890–1935)
“Carlitos” will always be
tango’s ambassador. This fedorawearing
porteño authored
hundreds of tales of love lost,
punches thrown, and women
wooed. The 70th anniversary of
his death was commemorated by
four countries – Argentina,
Colombia, France, and Uruguay.
Astor Piazzolla (1921–92)
@ Master composer Piazzolla
brought tango – some would say
kicking and screaming – into the
jazz age, pioneering the tangojazz
quintet ensemble and
turning American bebop masters
on to the artform. The mournful
Adios Nonino is Piazzolla’s most
famous composition.
£ Juan Carlos Copes
(b.1931)
An influential choreographer,
Copes is responsible for bringing
the now-integral theatricality into
tango shows: knife duels,
dockside scenes, and
bordello trysts.
$ Aníbal Troilo
(1914–75)
“Pichuco,” as his fans
and fellow musicians
called him, was the
colossus of the
bandoneón, the
concertina-like
squeezebox on which
modern tango’s
intricate steps
are patterned.
% Osvaldo Pugliese
(1905–95)
The pianist and composer
Pugliese and his orchestras were
broadcast over Radio Mundo, a
state-run frequency, which
brought his music and his communist
sentiments to nationwide
attention under Perón (see p33).
Horacio Ferrer (b. 1933)
^ Ferrer has done much
through his books to document
tango’s history and forms, but
his legendary lyrics – surreal and
florid, like the Piazzolla
compositions they were paired
with – are his real legacy.
Azucena Maizani & (1902–70)
Occasionally assuming the
macho dress of her male peers,
Maizani was a fearless vocalist in
the tango canción of the 1920s
and ‘30s, featuring in films with
Gardel and performing on tours
that reached as far as New York.
A Juan Carlos Copes show at the Sorbonne