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Tango anecdotes: "Tengo calle"

How many musicians and singers have passed through Osvaldo Pugliese's orchestra... There are many years of trajectory of this wonderful orchestra where we can see an extraordinary musical evolution and we can listen to the instrumental quality of many artists.


Thanks to the incredible connections that tango gives us, one day while listening to one of these jewels recorded in 1980 by Osvaldo Pugliese's orchestra, I was able to pick up my phone and write directly to the author of this tango.


So I called Silvio Pucci, a great musician, cellist and bandoneon player, from a very tanguera family, who had the luck and the merit to play with Pugliese and to compose a wonderful tango for this orchestra. I wanted to know how the tango "Tengo Calle" was born and he told me how it got its name.


Silvio, who is now living in Murcia, Spain, told me that when he finished the piece, when he gave it to Pugliese, the maestro began to play it and "got into it right away" as we say in Argentina when we like something and we feel it.

Osvaldo then asks him: - What is the name? -

Silvio says: - Osvaldo, you choose the name, you have more experience!

Then Osvaldo said: - Listen, Tango has a street, has a corner, has a night, has a fight, has everything...! I would call it "Tengo calle"! - (I have road)

To which Silvio replies: - Without any more words maestro, it's going to be called "Tengo calle" but let it be understood that I don't have any street but Tango does!

This expression does not mean the same thing in all languages, in Argentina it describes someone who has lived a lot, who has a lot of experience and experiences that have enriched his life with a wisdom that is only possible through living it in the flesh.

So "Tengo calle" what better title for a tango!


Then Silvio, already transported by my question to his past, tells me how the masterful version of the waltz "Desde el alma" that we all know and hear countless times was born.

He tells me that it was during the tour in Japan, when Osvaldo was asked to play this waltz, to which Osvaldo refused saying: - no, not this waltz, it's too trite! How are we going to play this waltz ....!!!! - but they convince him to do it anyway. So Osvaldo and his musicians met in a hotel room to put together the idea of the musical arrangement where each of the musicians would play an instrumental solo, thus putting together a masterful arrangement, a work of art that clearly had and has an impressive success. Such is the success that when they returned from their tour in Japan and the United States they included it in the album they were finishing recording for the Odeon label and which obviously bears the name "Desde el Alma". Here I share with you the live recording at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in 1985 https://youtu.be/5kh5PBLiZ5Q?si=2NYpACpQYg567Hs2


In this same album we also find the tango "Tengo Calle", which I invite you to listen to it repeatedly, since each time you listen to it you will increase your ability to appreciate its richness.


TENGO CALLE


"Tengo calle" danced:



Dancing this type of tango, more complex from a musical point of view, as well as richer in instrumental richness, is something that requires a more extensive dance experience.

Clearly it can be danced in a simple way, with steps of tango de pista, social, milonguero, but it cannot lack an emotional intensity that accompanies each movement... otherwise it would be empty.

That is why the tangos composed or interpreted by Pugliese's orchestra are so difficult to dance.

Many people when this tanda arrives prefer to sit, listen and watch the dance floor.

On the contrary, in stage Tango, they love to do the choreographic work just with Pugliese because his orchestral richness is a source of inspiration for movements and emotional expression.


Among our 17 didactic videos we have 3 focused precisely on steps to enrich your possibilities of movements to interpret orchestras like Osvaldo Pugliese:



Video demo: https://youtu.be/0ZffyHHk6yQ?si=Hsak_ZA8oyDmtr7n



There are also 2 videos focused on adornments for women, so you can have more expressive resources:


  • Adornos 1

  • Adornos 2


This is the Album "Desde el alma". The photo was taken in Japan and right at the center of the stage you can see Silvio Pucci with his cello.

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