I drafted this back in at least January 2015 along with other pieces about music I was writing at the time but life took over. I post it here because I came across it while searching for something else and was reminded of the mention of Lomuto at the Edinburgh International Tango Festival here and here. I discovered that I have heard before the Violin Gitano mentioned in the EITF post. In January 2015 I was still going to the Counting House in Edinburgh though not for much longer and used to hear this sort of thing often there. The music and atmosphere drove me out as it has others though the music would have been sufficient reason. We rarely hear from people who leave the milongas or find out why they stopped going because often we never see them again and it is easy to forget who is not there in the crowd of those who are. But I think about them - who they were and why they left and whether we will see them again. Glasgow has the same problem with music. Pieces of this sort are...
Lomuto's Cicatrices, Te aconsejo que me olvides (both 1928) Viejo amigo, Mi pibe (No links besides Amazon links to this). Both of these including Patadura are 1929. The Patadura track is embedded in a tanda of that sort but if you can listen to all of that you have a stronger will than I. I have heard Soy un arlequín from that tanda enough times in Edinburgh to last several lifetimes. It was previously mentioned here with reference to the Canaro instrumental though I have heard the Lomuto more often. Sin clemencia was, when I used to go, another Edinburgh standard as was Como los nardos en flor (both 1930) and, (brace yourelf) Violin Gitano (1938). I could go on...but listening to some of this is quite unpleasant. No wonder Lomuto can have such a bad reputation. I think there are good Lomuto songs, but few and I heard them played only a couple of time while I was in Buenos Aires. The more traditional places play rather the instrumentals and then sparingly I would say.
There are the Lomutos which I don't mind and would dance but at the moment I think there is something a bit brash and insistent about the instrumental sections of Yo Nací Para Querer. There is an element of that I find even in good Lomuto, especially the instrumentals - it is the style of those rhythmic pieces. Yo Nací Para Querer has a very distinctive Lomuto sound and a lovely melody. I think that is one of the curious things about some good Lomuto tangos - this gorgeous melody and the very strong rhythmic instrumentals. Callecita de mi novia I rarely hear but quite like though it rather falls apart for me with Omar's entry. Monte criollo I think I heard DJ Dante play at his Oxford milonga last year. Rightly popular are the steady tangos like El cornetín del tranvía (1938) and Nostálgias (1936), but I find more pull for dancing in the tangos with both rhythm and strong melody: Gólgota , Otra vez (both 1938), La gayola and even the shrill Copa de ajenjo (both 1941). I melt at his lovely and more romantic tango Por la vuelta yet it still has strength which is a hallmark of good Lomuto for me. Bad Lomuto just plods.
I confess a closet admiration for Lomuto's milongas. Qué tiempo aquel (1938) is justifiably played. I hear, like and dance Parque Patricios (1941) and Serenata (1944). There are some jerky sections in that and I think they need to be danced smoothly and with pauses to take care of the partner. I like his No hay tierra como la mía (1945) though it isn't the Canaro (both 1939). His Azabache I find strikingly like the more rightly popular Caló version (both 1942). Though I prefer fast vals I think he is good with vals especially Idolatria 1937 or the delicate and lovely Lo que vieron mis ojos though I can understand these may not be for everyone. My heart though is with his very individual instrumentals and there is a good tanda here by DJ Jaana Hänninen featuring the great Catamarca and the even better Criolla Linda which I find wholly irresistible. I might not miss Lomuto in a very good set but I would probably object to a duplicate of some orchestras (though never good D'Arienzo) at the expense of Lomuto.
There is a more unfortunate Lomuto tanda on TOTW here from DJ Patrica Petronio who writes a blog Tango Salon Adelaide. Back here there was much discussion of one of their milongas. It might have been on this post that I became curious about the music they had played and said in the comments how nice it would be to see the music that had had such an effect. The comment was not published. Having seen that tanda I am disappointed they did not publish the music because I think the set would have revealed much though I better understand the reason for that earlier censorship. Both censorship and not publishing the music are demonstrations of fear of something, which is sadder than it is disappointing.
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