I am bringing back the "Tanda of the week" series to help speed up the return of milongas, even as it is just my wishful thinking.
But, we can at least tune in mentally. We can imagine things. And who else could guide us through this dream than the legedary dream-weaver Osvaldo Pugliese with his trusted singer, Alberto Morán.
Structure
- Cualquier cosa (1952, D-minor)
- Ahora no me conocés (1952, B-minor)
- Porque no te tengo más (1954, G-minor)
- Pasional (1952, C-minor)
This is a heavy affair, full of suspense and drama. As you relax in your chair and close your eyes, your headphones hugging your ears, you are transported to another dimension that no state-of-the-art VR system could emulate.
Alberto Morán is my second favorite Pugliese singer after Jorge Maciel. They were both equally skilled in theatrics and technically more than equipped to the task. The transfers I have come mostly from TangoTunes, especially this one that comes from vinyl. You'll appreciate the technical quality that comes out of it. The YouTube sources above are of unknown but resonably acceptable origin.
I like the harmonic progression here. It's rare that I get to choose and often must accept less than satisfactory key changes just because the orchestra, for example, tends to prefer a particular key (say, A-minor or major) over others.
Here we start with D-minor, go to B-minor (one third down), then to G-minor (another third down), which would be the dominant over C-minor where we finish. Please forgive my OCD here.
Usage
I danced to this within a private session, and man, was it demanding!
Pugliese can squeeze out the last drop of emotion in you, and requires that you go all in with your attention as a leader, and I suppose also as a follower.
Pasional goes way beyond what a normal ronda would be able to absorb before very late in the evening. I haven't heard it played for dancing, and I suspect one could argue that it too wavy and the accents so thundersome that the effort it takes to dance to it isn't define commensurate to the payoff. To each his own. I love it.