Tango Top 5: Modern Milongas for dancing. Tango lyrics translated.

Tango top 5 of Modern Milongas for dancing tango, with 'Amores Tangos', 'Trio Garufa', 'Caceres' and 'Las Bordonas'.


So, you probably know milongas. Most of them happy songs, with their typical habanera rhythm: the pa-dam-pam-pam. Milongas go way back. The milonga campera originated in the region of northern Argentina, Uruguay, and the southern part of Brazil – so the Rioplatense region and Rio Grande do Sul – somewhere around the 1850s.

It’s a fusion of music from all over the world really: like african rhythms from Angola, which is clearly present in the milonga’s cousin, the candombe. But also music like the zarabanda and the tirana from Spain, Cuban habanera and guajira, and various local influences.

Until about 1916, the typical habanera rhythm we associate with the milonga was also part of the way that tangos were being played.
After 1916 these accents disappeared from tango and tango developed towards a 4x4 rhythm.
In 1931 a new type of milonga emerged, the milonga ciudadana, (the urban milonga) when Sebastián Piana wrote “Milonga sentimental”.
And there is the milonga-candombe, a hybrid form of milonga and candombe, that became popular in the early ‘40s.

Most golden age tango orchestras recorded several milongas, especially the rhythmical orchestras like Francisco Canaro, Edgardo Donato, and Juan d’Arienzo, but also Carlos Di Sarli, Pedro Laurenz and even Pugliese.

Now this Top 5 features ‘modern milongas’, so not the traditional milongas by the golden age orchestras. There are so many, it would simply be too hard to choose, we could easily make a top 5 with Canaro alone… We decided to start in the 1980s, which is of course arbitrary, but let’s say that’s when the modern tango revival started, so that’s why.

So the first track, at number 5, is by Amores Tangos, an Argentinean band playing a festive mixture of rhythms: tango, milonga, candombe, cumbia and jazz. From their album ‘Altamar’ from 2013, this is ‘Sanata’.

At number 4, we have Renato Borghetti, from Rio Grande do Sul, the southern state of Brazil. It’s a track from 1984, written by Gilberto Monteiro, that has become increasingly popular again over the last 2 or 3 years... From album Gaita ponto. A gaita ponto is a button accordion, and that’s the instrument you can hear in this milonga: ‘Milonga para as missões’.

At number 3: Juan Carlos Caceres. Born in 1936 in Buenos Aires, he started his musical career as a jazz trombonist. Caceres moved to Paris in the 1960s and he became a vocalist, pianist and songwriter, as well as an expert on the african origins of tango. This milonga-candombe is the title track of his album ‘Tango negro’, from 1998.

Time to cool down… we take it just a bit slower with Trio Garufa at number 2. Trio Garufa is a trio of musicians from Argentina, the US and Switzerland, based in California. This specific milonga, ‘Ella es así’ was composed by Luis Martino, and it was first recorded by Edgardo Donato with Horacio Lagos in 1938. So it’s a traditional milonga, but a fresh and very crisp new version, from the album ‘El rumor de tus tangos’, from 2012.

So, we’re almost at number one of our Top 5… So far we’ve had Amores Tangos, Renato Borghetti, Juan Carlos Caceres, and Trio Garufa.

Maybe one of them is your favourite as well... Or perhaps your favourite modern milonga is something entirely different, like Hugo Díaz, Esteban Morgado, or Sexteto Crystal, for instance.

Please let us know in the comments what you like best.

At number 1: a modern track with a lot of history. Music written by Julio Eduardo Del Puerto, lyrics by Carlos Pesce. A recording from the 2012 album ‘Alta gama’ by Las Bordonas. An Argentinean quartet with 3 guitars and a percussionist. Plus the legendary 87 year-old Alberto Podestá, singing ‘La Mulateada’ – which is extra nice, since Carlos Di Sarli recorded it with Roberto Rufino…

Enjoy!

Please note: We do not own the music in this video. Songs are included for educational purposes only. All songs have been edited/cut to prevent downloading of the complete songs. You can buy these from various providers or stream them on Spotify.

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