Tango Masters: Juan D’Arienzo

Volume 4 of the Tango Masters series

By Michael Lavocah

About this tango music book

In 1937 Juan D’Arienzo brought a whole city to its feet with his irresistible beat, turning a generation of tango listeners into tango dancers and laying the foundation for the golden decade of the 1940s. The public loved his simple but modern style and bought his records by the million, while intellectuals were scandalised and dismissed his music as a step backwards.

Although he performed until shortly before his death in 1976, D’Arienzo was largely written out of tango history. Described as the first book about him in any language, Tango Masters: Juan D’Arienzo follows his music through the successive transformations of his orchestra, with listening guides to more than one hundred of his most important recordings.

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

D’Arienzo fills dance floors, yet he is often dismissed as simple. This book corrects that injustice with warmth and evidence. Lavocah shows how the King of the Beat changed over the decades, which helps dancers understand why different D’Arienzo tandas ask for such different energy. After reading it you will enjoy his milongas and his rhythmic tangos with a new respect, and you may even laugh at how much fun the music is meant to be. We recommend it to dancers who love rhythm, to anyone who wants to play with the beat, and to DJs who want to programme D’Arienzo with more variety.

Published in 2019 by milonga press. 312 pages, ISBN 978-1999755126. Volume 4 of the Tango Masters series.

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