History of Tango – Part 6:

Orquesta Típica. It’s
origins.
Orquesta Típica: It’s origins.
The first stablished musical formation for the interpretation of tango
music was the trio, integrated by harp or guitar, flute or clarinete, and
violin.

These trios did not produce any recordings, but we can be sure enough,
according to testimonials, that they played a faster and more “staccato”
rhythm, which was slowed down and shaped into a more “legato” sound
with the arrival of the bandoneon.

At the beginning of the 1900, the word “tango” was still considered
inappropriate.

As an example, when José Luis Roncallo performed for the first time “El
choclo” at the restaurant El Americano, in 1903, he presented it as
“danza criolla”.
In 1910, Casa Tagini, dealership of Columbia Records, produced the first
recordings of a formation dedicated exclusively to playing tangos. In
need of an appropriated label for this formation, the term “Orquesta
Típica Criolla” was born.

Vicente Greco (1888-1924), conductor and bandoneon player of this
formation, is recognized, together with Francisco Canaro (1888-1964),
who played violin in it, as the creators of this term, which will from this
moment, characterize the orchestras conformed for the interpretation of
tango music.

They both were neighbors of adjacent “conventillos” of the

“candombero” barrio de Concepción, on Calle Sarandí 1356 and 1358
respectively.

Their families were very poor and they had to work since their childhood
selling newspapers in the streets of Buenos Aires.

Vicente’s parents, Genaro and Victoria were from Italy, and his father
played the mandolin. His siblings also played music and were
passionated students of every subject.

His nickname “Garrote” (club) needs an explanation. During one of

those card games in which Don Genaro use to find entertainment, the
eldest of Vicente’s siblings, Fernando, knockout of a slap one of the
players, possibly because he perceived a cheat, or this man said
something not nice to his father. From that moment Fernando got that
nickname, and Vicente was first known as “Garrote’s brother”. As his
fame grew up, people started calling him simply “Garrote”.

Vicente started playing the flute, then guitar and singing. He had a talent
for music, he worked hard and study passionately, self-taught and made
each instrument sound in a personal way: concertina, bandoneon and
also harmonium, in which he made many of his great compositions.

He also aspired to have access to a comprehensive culture and deeply

loved literature and theater. He self-taught himself to read and write by
asking people in the street, while he worked selling newspapers, what the
words in the signs said: “panadería” (bakery), “librería” (bookshop), “se
alquila” (renting)…

Julio De Caro told that “One day, by chance, discover a box over his
parents’ closet. At opening it, he is amazed by the unknown instrument.
He interrogates her mother, who replied: “It is a concertina that we were
given by a family friend.” Vicente begins to practice with the instrument,
and in one month he was able to play a Waldteufeld’s waltz, a polka
and… Juan Tango! Studying day and night without taking a break.”

Other version of how Vicente gets this concertina tells that a group of
young boys were playing a serenade for a beautiful girl in a nearby
conventillo. When, instead of the girl a policeman showed up at the
opening of the conventillo’s door, the group of boys runaway, leaving a
concertina behind. Since nobody came back to reclame it, it was given to
Vicente, known for his talent.

Another version of the story connect both renditions saying that this left
behind concertina was keep by Vicente’s parents over the closet, were he
will eventually find it.

He was introduced to the secrets of the bandoneon by a colorful

character of the Buenos Aires of those times, Sebastián Ramos Mejía “El
Pardo”, who worked as trams guard.

We refer again to Julio De Caro: “After listening to Greco playing the

concertina, Ramos Mejía, amazed, advised his parents to buy him a real
bandoneon. Family and friends chip in and after a long search, being
then very few of these instruments in Buenos Aires, they find the long-
awaited bandoneon and give it to the 14 years old prodigy. Vicente soon
dominates his new instrument. “

Almost simultaneously, he learned musical theory with Carmelo Rizzuti,

but the intuitive musician will always prevail. Bandoneon player and
composer of original realization ideas, he was always caught by a
spontaneous musical inventiveness, without traces of academicism.

Vicente Greco was the first professional bandoneon player. Other

bandoneonists played before him, but at homes, in family parties. He
assumed the task to take the bandoneon to the streets.

At evenings, Vicente would practice his instrument at the entrance hall
of the “conventillo” where he resided, opening the door for fresh air. The
people passing by would by attracted to the hunting sounds of this
mysterious instrument and would stop to listen. Night after night the
crowd grew bigger.

His professional premier happened in 1906 at “Salón Sur” (Pozos and

Cochabamba), with a trio integrated by, in addition to his bandoneon,
violin and guitar.

With them he started a year long tour throughout the sprofitable
brothels of the Buenos Aires province’s cities and Rosario, a great
opportunity for all tango musicians of the time to make money, gain
experience and achieve prestige. During this tour, Vicente suffered a
serious accident, which will be, eventually, the cause of his early death,
when the stage setup for his performance fell apart (some claim that
following a violent fight), damaging his kidneys. But he also linked up
with the most famous tango musicians of the time, who would influence
him improving his technique and the way he conduct his formations.

After recovering from the accident, he returned to his performances at

the “cafés de camareras” (bars attended by waitresses) of La Boca
neighborhood, with his brother Ángel Greco in guitar, and Ricardo
Gaudenzio -author of  “El chupete” (listen to Anibal Troilo’s rendition of
1940, click here) playing the violin.

He continue playing for three years at the most popular venues of the
area known as Suárez y Necochea, with great success, and premiering
some of his compositions, yet without title.
Then he was hired by “El Pardo Santillán”, a renowned milonguero, to
play in downtown, at the “Salón San Martín”, known by the dancers
as “Rodriguez Peña”due to the street in which it was located, where he
played with a quartet integrated by his bandoneon, piano and two
violins.

It was so successful, that soon the salon resulted too small for such
crowds. This hall was attended by the best dancers of the time, like the
aforementioned “Pardo”and “El Vasquito” Casimiro Aín, “La Parda”
Loreto, “La Chata” or María Angélica, to whom Vicente dedicated his
tango of the same name (listen to Adolfo Pérez “Pocholo” rendition of
1934, click here).

Greco performances at this venue contributed greatly to the acceptance
of tango at Buenos Aires downtown. Vicente expressed his gratitude to
his huge following with his composition “Rodriguez Peña” (listen to
1945’s Carlos Di Sarli rendition, click here).

Soon, he is hired to play at “El Estribo” (Entre Rios 763/67), where his

musicians will be his disciple Juan Lorenzo Labissier as second
bandoneon, “El Chino” Agustín Bardi at the piano, “Palito”
Abate and “Pirincho” Canaro in violins, and ”El Tano” Vicente
Pecci playing the flute. It was the year 1910. The police had to close
Entre Rios street due to the amount of people that crowded in front of
the café to listen to Greco even they could not enter to his sold out
performances. Applauses and shoutings exploded at the end of each song.
The public was most heterogeneous, and “compadritos” (marginals) co-
existed peacefully with “niños bien” (rich family boys), at least for a
while. Regulars were also famous “payadores” of the time, as José
Betinoti and the duet formed by Carlos Gardel and José Razzano.

Vicente composed the tango “El Estribo” (listen to Rodolfo Biagi’s
rendition, 1940, click here) dedicated to Mario Scolpini, owner of this
place.

He played also during this time at “Lo de Laura”, and “Lo de María La

Vasca”.

This is the time in which the nascent phonographic industry of

Argentina, headed by the owners of Casa Tagini, decide to hire Greco to
make the first ever recordings of tangos by a musical formation
exclusively dedicated to this gender. The sponsors of these recording
were not convinced of the piano as a instrument that belonged to tango
music yet, and that is why Ángel Greco came to play the guitar instead of
Agustín Bardi the piano. There are also some doubts about who played
the violin, regarding Canaro and Abate.

At the print label of the discs was written: “Vicente Greco y su orquesta
típica criolla con bandoneón”. The firs recording was “Rosendo” (listen,
click here).

In 1912 Greco’s orchestra played at the opening of Armenonville, in

Palermo, the first cabaret in Buenos Aires. It had beautiful gardens with
tables and chairs, a sumptuous villa with ample dance floor and
windows. The ground floor, generously lit by a stunning chandelier,
contrasted with the semidarkness of the box seats.

Vicente Greco did not created the “orquesta típica”, but devised its
name, and contributed with the doubling of bandoneons and violins,
which together with the substitution of flute by bass, done by Francisco
Canaro, and the finalized acceptance of the piano instead of guitar, done
by Roberto Firpo, will lead to the formation of the “Sexteto Típico”, core
of the Orquesta Típica.

From 1913 Greco recorded for other companies. In 1914 for Atlanta
records, with the name of “Quinteto Criollo Garrote”, and at the end of
this year, he takes a break and travels to Montevideo de Canaro to
expend the money made with these recordings.

Then he continue with his performances at “Petit Salon”, “Cabaret
Montmartre” (Corrientes 1431), at the summer house of the roundabout
of Las Heras 2500, the “Rowing Club”, “Cabaret Maxim’s), the hotels
Plaza, Americano, Tigre… Also, the families of the ‘Porteña aristocracy”
opened their doors to him and with him to Tango itself -another of
Vicente Greco’s great contributions to Tango-, and he played at the
residencies of Dr. Lucio V. López (Callao and Quintana), at the Lagos
García, at the Lamarque, Green and many others.

In 1916 he and Canaro put together one of the first known big
orchestras, to play at the carnival dances at the “Teatro Politeama” in
Rosario. The size of the hall and the amount of people assisting to these
events, demanded the enlargement of the musical formations to increase
the sound volume.

This orchestra was conformed by Vicente Greco, Juan Lorenzo
Labissier, Pedro Polito and Osvaldo Fresedo in bandoneons; Francisco
Canaro, Rafael Rinaldi and Francisco Confetta in violins; Samuel
Castriota in piano; José Martínez in armonio; Vicente Pecci in
flute; Ruperto Leopoldo Thompson in bass; Pablo Laise in sandpaper;
and Juan Carlos Bazán in clarinet.

These idea would later be followed by Firpo and Canaro in 1917 and
1918.

Then his health declined rapidly. His plays less and less often. His last
performances were at the city of Córdoba in 1921. His demise happened
at his home of Humberto Primo 1823, on October 5, 1924.
Of his personality, what is more notorious is his extreme modesty. he
loved literature and theatre, cultivated the friendship of Evaristo
Carriego, with whom he coauthored a tango that remains unpublished,
and Florencio Sánchez, great screenwriter. He frequented the literary
cafés, like the one called “Los Inmortales”, of Corrientes 1369, and left at
the time of his death an unfinished screenplay.

As a composer, he knew to intertwine in his creations the rhythms and

melodies of the “criolla” music, of the traditions of a country populated
by gauchos descendants of the Spanish colony, and the new sounds and
idiosyncrasies arriving to Buenos Aires with the massive immigration of
the end of 1800s.

Some examples of his talented compositions are:

“El pibe” (to listen to Vicente Greco rendition of 1910, click here)


“El morochito” (to listen to Enrique Rodriguez of 1941, click here)

“Rodriguez Peña” (to listen to Carlos Di Sarli rendition of 1945 , click
here)

“El flete” (to listen Juan D’Arienzo rendition of 1936 , click here)

“El estribo” (to listen Rodolfo Biagi rendition of 1940 , click here)

“Ojos negros” (to listen Anibal Troilo rendition of 1948, click here)

“Pofpof” (to listen to Juan D’Arienzo rendition of 1948, click here)

“La viruta” (to listen Carlos Di Sarli rendition of 1943, click here)

“Racing Club” (to listen to Alfredo Gobbi rendition of 1948, click here)

Read also:

• History of Tango – Part 1

• History of Tango – Part 2
• History of Tango – Part 3
• History of Tango – Part 4
• History of Tango – Part 5
Bibliography:
◦ “Crónica general del tango”, José Gobello, Editorial
Fraterna, 1980.
◦ “El tango”, Horacio Salas, Editorial Aguilar, 1996.
◦ “Historia del tango – La Época Dorada”, chapter 2, “Vicente
Greco”, Luis Adolfo Sierra, Editorial Corregidor 1977.
◦ “El tango, el gaucho y Buenos Aires”, Carlos Troncaro,
Editorial Argenta, 2009.
◦ “El tango, el bandoneón y sus intérpretes”, Oscar Zucchi,
Ediciones Corregidor, 1998.
◦ “Encyclopedia of Tango”, Gabriel Valiente, 2014.
◦ http://www.todotango.com/english/