SYOTangoOz directed by Maggie Ferguson -- http://www.maggiefergusontango.com with dancers Amy Teuchert and Jairo Sanchez Rivera http://www.tangueros.com.au/about-us
29 November 2013 - Verbrugghen Hall, Conservatorium of Music, Sydney
Alejandro Scarpino was, as a performer, a bandoneon player with a very good technique and a great command of his instrument. Although he had a tendency to use some gimmicks to impress his audience and used to play many embellishment notes --known in the milieu as "verduras" (vegetables)- his musicianship is not under suspicion. One way in which he displayed his skills was playing two bandoneons, one with each hand, which were vertically placed on the floor.
The following year he appeared at a café of La Boca, "Noce", the place where Scarpino might have composed his famous tango "Canaro en París". The composer himself, in a radio interview, said that it was a number with no title. But one day when he was on a streetcar in the "Última hora" newspaper he read a headline: «Canaro arrives in Paris». Those lines inspired him and soon later, before the creation of SADAIC, on May 6, 1927 he filed a record --as it was costumary then- at the Biblioteca Nacional as "Gran tango de salón para piano" with lyrics by his brother José. Later Juan Caldarella was mentioned as co-writer of the music. This was regarded as a gift from the composer to his friend.
One of the features of the tango that is welcome by the audiences is the section with the final variations to showcase the bandoneon players. There are several hypotheses about its creation but our friend Gabriel Clausi who was present at the back of a café, a small backyard in the open air, commented: «The mad Caldarella caught a comb, wrapped it up with a cellophane paper and began to play the tango with the variation he devised on the spur of the moment». Excerpt from www.todotango.com/english/creadores/ascarpino.asp
Video and sound recording produced by Jason Julian http://www.jasonjulian.com
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