20 Orquestas Olvidadas

Various Artists

Tracklisting:

1. Araña De Oro
2. Pampa
3. La Cachila
4. Ahí Va El Dulce
5. Derecho Viejo
6. Rawson
7. Mi Dolor
8. Gran Señor
9. Batacazo
10. El Pillete
11. Araca
12. Un Reproche
13. Bettinotti
14. Re Fa Si
15. El Cencerro
16. El Africano
17. Felicia
18. Pobre
19. Pedacito De Cielo
20. Fueye

Review:
"A superb compilation of twenty little heard orchestras, mostly from the 1930s. With superb sound fidelity, plenty of variety and a lot of real quality there is a great deal to interest. El Bandoneón have not selected the groups represented here at random: the majority count amongst their members names who were later to be famous in their own right.

For instance, if the Cuarteto del 900 seem to dazzle in their rendition of El Pillete your enjoyment will be explained if I tell you that two of its members were Aníbal Troilo and Elvino Vardaro. The marvellous flute playing is provided by José Bour. Before you ask, the pianist is Feliciano Brunelli.

Similarly, the wonderful bandoneón playing on La Cachila, recorded here by the little known Orquesta Típica Los Provincianos, is the work of none other than Ciríaco Ortíz.

You may recognise some of the names here as belonging to Argentines who made in big in Paris: names such as Manuel Pizarro and Eduardo Bianco (half of the famous coupling Bianco - Bachicha). Carlos Marcucci is indeed the father of the bandoneonist now settled in Continental Europe.

Also included are some extremely rare recordings from figures better known as composers: one of Enrique Santos Discépolo's own sextet with his long-term partner, Tania, taking the vocals, and a candombe from the Orquesta Típica Candombe of Sebastian Piana, who revived and re-invented the milonga pretty much single handed in 1933.

With only one track from each group there's never an opportunity to get bored with this disc. Unusually for El Bandoneón the sleeve notes are minimal with no background on the orchestras but who cares when the music is this good. Marvellous."
- Mike Lavocah (www.milonga.co.uk)