Tanda of the Week: Canaro (Milonga) Tutorial with lyrics translated!

Timeslots of Tanda of the Week #7 Francisco Canaro - Milonga

00:00 Start
00:30 Tutorial about Canaro
03:24 No Hay Tierra Como La Mía
05:23 Reliquias Porteñas
07:30 La Milonga de Buenos Aires

This week’s Tanda of the Week is a milonga tanda. It’s the first tanda we do with milongas – and where else to begin than with Francisco Canaro?

The milongas of Canaro – especially the late 1930s recordings – have a very clear habanera rhythm, and a fine tempo for dancing. And in the salons, his milongas are played probably more than any other orchestra’s.

Francisco Canaro was born in Uruguay, from a very poor background. He worked up his way in music, directing his first orchestra already in 1915. In the 1920’s and until the mid 30’s, Francisco Canaro had the most successful tango orchestra, touring not only Argentina, but in Europe as well. He recorded more than 3500 tracks and he has almost 300 compositions in his name. His career as a composer and orchestra leader made him a fortune.

From the second half of the 1930s, Canaro became somewhat less relevant in tango, with the rise of new stars like D’Arienzo, but he kept recording, throughout the 1950s. Nowadays Canaro’s tangos are often considered a bit straightforward and simple, but his milongas remain very popular.

He worked with famous singers like Charlo and Carlos Gardel, and Ada Falcón (with whom he had an affair for 10 years). His most important singers for dancing in the milongas from the 1930s, were Roberto Maida, and Ernesto Famá who is featured in this tanda.

This is a classic Milonga tanda, starting with
1. No Hay Tierra Como La Mía - Sung by Ernesto Famá, 1939. It’s a cheerful milonga with a good tempo, that invites the dancers to do some playful variations.
2. Reliquias Porteñas - An Instrumental from 1938. A strong milonga that feels really natural back-to-back with No Hay Tierra…
3. La Milonga de Buenos Aires - from 1939. An upbeat milonga and the fastest track in this tanda, with some really fast singing by Famá.

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 them from various providers (like iTunes) or stream them on Spotify.