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Pianist and leader.
(May 25, 1900 - January 16, 1991) |
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That orchestra had magic and that magic was perceived
without need of grandiloquence, nor stentorian deeds. Everything was
achieved through its simplicity and its good taste.
The bandoneonist, composer and arranger Ismael
Spitalnik made the following remark: "In January 1940 I started
with D'Agostino and when today I listen to the recordings I realize
it sounded folk-like and simple. It precisely succeeded because of its
simplicity, its clear and simple language, because of its singer Angel
Vargas's way of expression, which allowed the audience to perfectly
understand the lyrics. Furthermore he had chosen a refined repertoire,
very nostalgic and much different to others'".
Another interesting opinion is that of Luis Adolfo
Sierra: "D'Agostino was right with the purpose of creating a style of
very simple musical conceptions, but with an expressive way of playing,
carried out by a qualified nucleus of performers. But the identification
with Angel Vargas determined, over the independent work of each one,
the success of a team that managed to succeed at the time of the greatest
presence of major tango figures".
The journalist Jorge Göttling warns us: "The one
who thinks that D'Agostino played the piano, neither knows about piano
nor knew D'Agostino. Both were simultaneously playing, as if they were
a couple in the middle of romance".
Finally,the musician defines himself, telling us: "I
am milonguero(fond of dancing), I always was, in the best sense
of the word. I was a good dancer and I worked accompanying the best
ones, like El Mocho and La Portuguesa, and Casimiro Aín as well.
But El Mocho was the best, he was a cajetilla (elegant) that
had no need of a baroque choreography, he was the most authentic and
polished representation of a milonguero. So I shaped my orchestras
with two conceptions that I never gave up: respect for the melodic line
and rhythmic emphasis to make the dancing easier. When the singer breaks
into the scene and displaces the musician from the spotlight, the orchestra
was structured in such a way that music and singing did not interrupt
the possibility of dancing. For that, the singer had to turn into one
more instrument, a privileged instrument, but not apart".
In this brief summary we can conclude that the Angel
D'Agostino orchestra was known because of a delicate simplicity, a good
repertory, adequate for dancing and Angel Vargas
was, an instrument indissoluble of the rest of the formation.
When the singer left the orchestra, the latter never
was the same as before.
His full name was Angel Domingo Emilio D'Agostino.
He was born in Buenos Aires in 1626 Moreno street, on May 25, 1900.
Music was a daily and familiar event for him; his father
and his uncles were all musicians. There was a piano at his place and
it turned out to be one of his toys. At a conversation with him he remembered
that Manuel Aróztegui and Adolfo Bevilacqua were frequent visitors
and that the piano never stopped its playing. The Bevilacqua's tango
"Independencia" was played at his place earlier than its premiere,
which took place in 1910.
He studied at a conservatory and as a child he began
to play in public. It was an infantile trio in which a neighbor of his,
Juan D'Arienzo, was also included. They
appeared at a small theater placed near the Zoological Garden (neighborhood
of Palermo), and as they were not paid they started a fire that soon
was put out.
He quit high school because of music. Aristocratic
families hired him to play during their parties. At a night local, he
also began to play different rhythms and especially ragtime, a Negro
beat brought by the English pianist called Frederickson, that he replaced
when the latter could not play the piano because of his drunkenness.
He organized his first orchestra in 1920, to play tango
and jazz, and was hired by the cabaret Palais de Glace. Among his musicians
was Agesilao Ferrazzano, whom D'Agostino himself regarded as the best
violinist of tango.
Even though he was invited several times, he never
went out on tour and the reason of this behavior is one of the mysteries
of his life.
At the time of silent movies, his was one of the pioneer
orchestras that played at the cinemas. Musicians that passed through
its ranks were: Juan D'Arienzo, Anselmo
Aieta and Ciriaco Ortiz.
The first orchestra to play strictly tango was reunited
in 1934, with the bandoneons of Jorge Argentino FernAndez and Aníbal
Troilo, the violin of Hugo Baralis (Jr.) and the singer Alberto
Echagüe.
![]() Orchestra Angel D'Agostino He met Angel Vargas in 1932,
he worked as a turner and the former introduced the latter in some of
his performances. Only in 1940 the team was established when the orchestra
was hired by the Victor label and they played on Radio El Mundo.
D'Agostino was a Buenos Aires character, and tango
was not his only world. A skilled gambler and stubborn bachelor, he
played poker at the Club del Progreso (a club where high society people
used to go) and he had a close friendship with Enrique
Cadícamo. About this relationship there is a curious story
that portrays him completely. Cadícamo
and D'Agostino had promised each other to never marry; they were playboys
and bohemians and did not even think of being tied to a permanent link.
But Cadícamo, after his fifty years
of age, broke his word and married a twenty-year old girl. Since then
D'Agostino never again talked to him.
With the voice of Angel Vargas
he recorded 93 numbers, with Tino García 18, plus a duet with
Miguel Cané, with whom he recorded 9 numbers. These singers also
were in his orchestra: Raúl Lavié (2 numbers), Roberto
Alvar (3 numbers) and, with Ricardo Ruiz he recorded the tango "Cascabelito",
that in many records it mistakenly appears as sung by Vargas.
He died on January 16, 1991, alone, as he always wanted
to be, plenty of music, friends and with the memory of so many women.
One of them, surely the most famous Argentine of the twentieth century, Eva Perón, gave him a clock of unique design, of which she had ordered only three pieces. Today that clock is part of the collection of the president of the Academic Board of Coleccionistas Porteños de Tango, don Héctor Lucci.
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