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Aviation in tango
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By Néstor Pinsón and Bruno Cespi |
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  hen by the
end of the nineteen century tango begins to have its definitive shape,
it is so big the fervor it causes to people, whether in the suburbs
or in the wealthy classes that nobody with musical knowledge —simple
amateurs, professionals and even household women – refrained from
composing a tango. As for only those that have been published, there
are so many titles that when having a look at a good portion of them
we observe that nearly all the subjects were covered.
Gambling, sports, women's names, flowers, medicines, politics, characters that had had “their 15 minutes” of recognition, outstanding events of Argentina and the world, the Navy, the Army and many topics more. For that reason and for what meant its birth, its quick development and the heroic aura with which its pioneers were justly awarded, a homage to aviation and its pilots was needed. Some journalist called them “the lunatics of the air”.
Here we will mention the titles that were dedicated to them, their
authors and a brief comment on the most outstanding aviators, beginning
with two names that left their imprint in the history of tango: Fresedo
and Maderna.
Osvaldo Fresedo obtained
his pilot brevet number 231 in 1923. His instructor was Eduardo Olivero,
regarded as one of the first “crazy guys of the air” and
to whom the maestro gave some bandoneon lessons. That same year an
air race was organized in the city of La Plata in which foreign aviators
participated. Fresedo won it with a 90 HP Curtiss JN-4 and he got
a check for $2000. The brigadier Ángel María Zuloaga
in his book “La victoria de las alas” (The victory of
the wings), expressed: «Fresedo
Many pieces were dedicated to Jorge Newbery, the main character of the Argentine aviation who with the globe “El Pampero” united Palermo with Colonia del Sacramento (Uruguay), founded the Argentine Aero Club, broke the distance record with “El Huracán” and arrived in Brazil, established the mark of height over 5.000 meters, and achieved many more feats: “A la memoria de Jorge Newbery”, by Gardel-Razzano, in the first anniversary of his death 1914-1915 which was not recorded; “Paso de los Andes”, by José F. Gómez; “Prendete del aeroplano”, by José Ezcurra; “Tu sueño”, a waltz by Arolas; “De pura cepa”, a tango by Roberto Firpo; “Newbery”, by Luciano Ríos, dedicated Mr. José M. Chinni president of the recreational center J. Newbery; “Jorge Newbery”, by Achilles Domingo Barbieri; “Un recuerdo a Newbery”, by José Arturo Severino; “El aeroplano”, a waltz by Pedro Datta. A special mention is for the tangos “El pampero”, by José De Caro and Luis San Martino’s with the same title, dedicated to Dr. Pablo M. Bárbaro. They both refer to the globe that he manned with Aaron Anchorena, in which was his first ascension and in the one that, later, his brother Eduardo died. The captain Vicente Almandós Almonacid, was hero of the World War I, the first one in crossing the mountain range of the Andes in a night flight, pioneer of the commercial aviation. Two tangos with his name “Almonacid” were dedicated to him, one by Agesilao Ferrazzano and the other by Humberto Tallone. Also “A Chile de noche”, an Emilia Baddia de Burugua’s waltz and Domingo Salerno’s “Vuelo nocturno”.
Benjamín Matienzo that flew 1135 kilometers from Buenos Aires to the province where he was born, Tucumán, and who died attempting a crossing of the mountain range of the Andes, was honored with three tangos. One entitled “Matienzo” composed by Udelino Toranzo takes as subtitle “Perdido en las cumbres” (Lost in the mountaintops) and the other two were one written by Domingo Salerno and the other by Alfredo De Rosa. Pedro L. Zanni, a commodore, born in Pehuajó, who was professor and instructor and, in 1914, with a monoplane covered 640 Km. from El Palomar (province of Buenos Aires) to Villa Mercedes (San Luis), the biggest distance reached until then. He was honored with several numbers: “Zanni-Beltrame” by Elio Retti, “El gato” by Atilio Cattaneo, a nickname he had because of the presumed seven lives of cats since he came out unhurt of numerous accidents; “Zanni” by Ana Schneider de Cabrera, for the double voyage of the Andes and “The trio” by Santos Aschieri Jr., dedicated to the aces of the Argentine aviation Antonio Parodi, Marcos Zar and Pedro Zanni. To Francisco De Pineda, an Italian aviator that united in 1927 his
fatherland with Buenos Aires were dedicated: “Coronel De Pineda”
by Vendittuoli and Guillermo
Cavazza and “De Pineda” by Alberto Fresco and Martín
Vilanova.
As for Eduardo Olivero, —Fresedo’s instructor—, of his many outstanding deeds is necessary to mention his incorporation to the Italian army during World War I and when together with Bernardo Duggan and the Italian mechanic Ernesto Campanelli, he carried out the New York-Buenos Aires raid on hydroplane (14.896 Km). The waltz “Los héroes del día” written by Lydia De Natale and Eugenio Cárdenas is a testimony of that feat. As for the instructor, he is especially remembered by the tango “Olivero” composed by José Martínez. Other characters that had their tango pieces were: the first lieutenant
Antonio Parodi who united El Palomar with Concordia (Among Ríos)
and crossed to Chile from Mendoza, a round trip. The tango “De
ida y vuelta” (Round Trip) by Ana
Schneider de Cabrera with words by Ricardo Velasco is dedicated
to him; to Bartolomé Cattaneo, an Italian who belonged to the
Argentine air force, is dedicated the tango “Cattaneo”
in whose sheet was written: “To the intrepid and famous aviator.” |
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Teodoro Pablo Fels, who being soldier of the Argentine Army, when everybody was sleeping and without permission, with the help of some friends, prepared a machine and carried out the crossing of the River Plate. After a three-hour flight he landed in Carrasco breaking the world record of flight on water. Pedro Sofia’s “El cabo Fels” and Vicente Mazzoco’s “Don Teodoro” were dedicated to him.
