Tango Masters: Osvaldo Pugliese

Volume 2 of the Tango Masters series

By Michael Lavocah

About this tango music book

Osvaldo Pugliese (1905-1995) created a tango sound that was beautiful, warm and powerful, perhaps the most passionate and intense music tango has known. He founded his orchestra in 1939 while held in one of Argentina’s most notorious political prisons, and stood firm in his communist beliefs through decades of persecution, until he led his musicians and devoted fans to a triumphant night at one of the world’s great opera houses.

Tango Masters: Osvaldo Pugliese follows his life and music, which are closely tied to the social and political history of Argentina. Listening guides to around ninety of his most important recordings help dancers appreciate, love and dance to this compelling music, from his early rhythmic style to the dramatic arrangements of La Yumba and beyond.

What you will find inside

• Introductions to the key musicians of the orchestra, so you can hear them within the music
• Listening guides to the most important dance recordings
• The story of the bandleader set against Argentina’s social and cultural history
• Discographies and notes that help DJs choose and dancers understand the music
• Research by Michael Lavocah, author of Tango Stories: Musical Secrets

Who is this book for?

Tango dancers who want to understand and feel the music they dance to, tango DJs building tandas, and anyone who loves the Golden Age orchestras. It reads well alongside your own listening, one recording at a time.

Why we recommend it

If Pugliese’s music makes your heart race but you have never quite known what is happening inside those dramatic arrangements, this is the book for you. Michael Lavocah writes with the rare combination of serious research and a dancer’s ear, so his listening guides actually change the way you move to La Yumba or Recuerdo. The political story of a musician who formed his orchestra from a prison cell adds depth to every tanda. We recommend it to dancers who love intensity on the floor, to DJs who want to place Pugliese tandas with more care, and to anyone who has cried a little during a Pugliese tanda.

Published in 2016 by milonga press. 296 pages, ISBN 978-0957327672. Volume 2 of the Tango Masters series.

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