Milonga Sin Nombre, Especial de la Gitana Rusa, playlist

Applause to Brian!

The November Sin Nombre was Russian and Gypsy themed, and planned as a major WTC fundraiser (and ran without the help of Mark and Lorraine, which was so hard). Empanadas rusas, holiday gifts from Russia, some Gitana costumes. Music-wise, I planned to play a few Russian-influenced and Russian-language tango tracks, to use Gypsy-themed cortinas, and to include a special live performance by the Krikov band. But the band had scheduling problems. Still we got great live music when Brian and Sandy made a surprise appearance and joined forces with Dave (many kudos for your wonderful play, guys!!!) And as I was hastily rearranging tracks to make room for Brian's amazing team, I didn't even realize that I clipped off Malerba's tanda with the supposed title track of the milonga, Gitana Rusa. So - I didn't play it, and therefore I am not going to tell its story now. Next time! But in compensation, how about a few short stories about the cortinas, and oh, how about some empanada recipes too ;) ?

01. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Cara sucia" 1952-02 2:20
02. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Rodríguez Peña" 1956-02-23 3:18
03. Carlos di Sarli - Instrumental  "Organito de la tarde" 1954-08-31 2:48

Gypsy Girl aka Two Guitars used to be a verse about a dance before it became a song and then, a dance. Written by Apollon Grigoriev in 1857, the poem was originally titled "Gypsy Hungarian dance". There are countless versions of the lyrics now, in many languages, including tango versions too. But my cortina track is fairly classic and purely instrumental.
04. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
05. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Plegaria" 1940 2:24
06. Osvaldo Fresedo - Ricardo Ruiz  "Si no me engana el corazon" 1939 2:31
07. Osvaldo Fresedo - Roberto Ray  "Ojos tristes | Ojos muertos" 1938 2:37
Kalinka ("Little Highbush Cranberry") is a sort of an audio signature of Mother Russia and it's always described as a traditional folk song, but it may be not that ancient, having been performed for the first time in 1860 as composed by Ivan Larionov. History is silent about possible antecedents to Larionov's score.
08. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 1 (cortina)"  0:25
09. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Zorzal"  2:40
10. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Yo Soy De San Telmo"  2:20
11. Carlos Di Sarli Roberto Rufino "Pena Mulata"  2:27

Lidiya Ruslanova's frontline concert, 1941

Valenki (Felt Boots) was an immensely popular Gypsy folk song and dance a century ago; the lyrics of the period records, just like the original lyrics of the Gypsy Girl, were in a mixture of Russian and Romani. In the the beginning of WWII, Lidiya Ruslanova remixed the song big way, and it's become a huge hit again - so big that when she performed at the steps of still-smoldering Reichstag on May 2nd, 1945, the servicemen shouted that she should start from "Valenki". "These old felt boots have walked all the way to Berlin!" - exclaimed Lidiya. From then on, the Russians remain adepts of Ruslanova's version, and even when Ruslanova was sent to Gulag in 1949, and her repertoire officially banned, the song just went deeper underground (I used a whole bunch of its variations as cortinas at Sin Nombre)

My Gramps, Mark Gonikberg,
also on the steps of the ruined
Reichstag but on May 13, 1945
(they fought 20 miles South of
town and so they had to wait
for their photo-op)

12. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 1 (cortina)"  0:24
13. Juan d'Arienzo "Pensalo Bien" 1938 2:17
14. Juan D'Arienzo - Alberto Echagüe  "Mandria" 1939 2:26
15. Juan D'Arienzo Juan d'Arienzo "No mientas"  2:34
16. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
17. Carlos di Sarli - Mario Pomar  "Tormenta" 1954-09-08 3:38
18. Carlos Di Sarli - Oscar Serpa  "Verdemar" 3:01
19. Carlos Di Sarli Alberto Podesta "Nido Gaucho"  3:22
20. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 5 (cortina)"  0:36
21. Ricardo Tanturi - Enrique Campos "Al pasar" 1943 2:17
22. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo "La serenata (Mi amor)" 1941 2:32
23. Ricardo Tanturi - Alberto Castillo  "Mi romance" 1941-07-07 2:19
24. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 2 (cortina)"  0:25
25. Edgardo Donato - Lita Morales - Romeo Gavio  "Mi Serenata" 1940 3:02
26. Edgardo Donato "La Melodía Del Corazón" 1940 3:18
27. Edgardo  Donato "El Adios" 1938 3:09
28. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
29. Rodolfo Biagi "Humiliacion" 1941 2:42
30. Rodolfo Biagi Jorge Ortíz "Zaraza"  2:42
31. Rodolfo Biagi - Teófilo Ibáñez  "Gólgota" 1938 2:33
32. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 3 (cortina)"  0:24
This milonga tanda comes with a special 4th track, per Irina's request. "La milonga de Buenos Aires" is requested by Cristina. And the starting track has a special place in my heart - that's the song she (the Milonga) sings about herself: "I'm a fearless Milonga, who dances to candombe, who never changes her mind. I am a musical motif  moving forward in an unhinged gait. I was a song on the fresh, sweet lips of a neighborhood girl. And how did they dance me on the broken slabs of a sidewalk!"
33. Francisco Canaro Roberto Maida "Milonga brava" 1938 2:32
34. Francisco Canaro Roberto Maida "Milonga del corazon" 1938 2:48
35. Francisco Canaro - Ernesto Fama  "La milonga de Buenos Aires" 1939-10-09 2:50
36. Erskine Maytorena y su orquesta  "Milonga Triste"  4:17
37. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 1 (cortina)"  0:25
38. Anibal Troilo &Fiorentino  "Malena" 3:00
39. Aníbal Troilo - Francisco Fiorentino  "Toda mi vida" 1941 2:57
40. Anibal Troilo  "Guapeando"  2:49
41. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
42. Alfredo De Angelis, "Mi Dolor"  2:51
43. Alfredo De Angelis  "Felicia 1969" 1999 2:48
44. Alfredo De Angelis  "Pavadita 1958" 1999 2:53
45. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 1 (cortina)"  0:25
46. Enrique Rodriguez  "En El Volga Yo Te Espero - Armando Moreno" 1943, 1943 2:40
47. Enrique Rodrigues, Armando Moreno "Tengo mil novias 1939" 3:06
48. Enrique Rodriguez - Roberto Flores  "Los Piconeros"  2:47
49. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
50. Pedro Laurenz Alberto Podestá "Recien"  2:41
51. Pedro Laurenz Alberto Podestá "Todo"  2:35
52. Pedro Laurenz Alberto Podestá "Garua"  3:12
53. Lidiya Ruslanova  "Valenki 4 (cortina)"  0:24
54. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas  "Adiós arrabal" 1941-09-09 3:07
55. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas  "El Yacaré" 1941-12-12 3:06
56. Ángel D'Agostino - Ángel Vargas  "Ahora no me conocés" 1941-09-09 2:35
57. Russian Folk  "Kalinka-Malinka 1 (cortina)"  0:25
58. "Orquesta Tipica Victor - Milonga De Los Fortines - Mariano Balcarce" 1937 2:52
59. Orquesta Tipica Victor  "Cacareando"  2:45
60. "Emilio Pellejero - Mi Vieja Linda - Enalmar De Maria - 1941" 2:26
61. Russian Folk  "Gypsy Girl (cortina)"  0:22
A big cut from the original plan here, right into a truncated Pugliese set, and La Cumparsita
62. Pugliese, Osvaldo Various Artists "Rondando Tu Esquina" 1945 2:49
63. Osvaldo Pugliese - Roberto Chanel  "Corrientes y Esmeralda" 1944 2:46
64. "Juan D'Arienzo  La Cumparsita"  3:45
65. Kayah & Bregovic  "Nie Ma, Nie Ma Ciebie [And You're Not, You're Not Here]" 1999 3:50