The most important French orchestra, between 1929
and 1932, was called Brodman-Alfaro, that played at the
Mac-Mahon Palace, Beef on the Roof and the Terrible
Children. José Lucchesi, who continued to play into the
60s and 70s, played at the popular milongas at the Mutu-
alité and the Salle Wagram. René Pesenti played at Luna
Park and his brother Auguste Jean Pesenti played at the
Coliseum, the Normandy and the Moulin Rouge. Quintin
Verdu played at Olympia Dancing and also at the Moulin
Rouge. The bandoneonist Tito Fuggi, will continue playing
thru 1948. Jean Ventura played at the Chalet du Lac in
Saint-Mandé. There were many other French musicians,
accordionists, will also gradually bring tango into popular
ballads. The tango musette is became a part tango milon-
gas, numbering at least 300 in the Paris region, at this time.
The musette continued to be danced for a long time,
along with the java and paso doble.
In the immediate post-war period, tango once again oc-
cupies the sound place in the Parisien life. Manuel Pizarro
returned after a few years of absence, and plated in dif-
ferent places, reopening Le Perroquet on rue de Clichy.
Bachicha (Juan Bautista DeAmbroggia) plays at La Cou-
pole; But, the tango gradually loses its dominant position,
competing with other genres, such as jazz. Tango is forced
back to the cellars of Saint-Germain-des-Prés, where
young people danced bebop. In a few more years, an-
other serious contender will make its appearance — rock
& roll. Thus is followed by a wave of pop music. Tango was
sidelined, from dance to music.
In 1954, an Argentinian bandoneonist arrived in Paris and
was awarded a scholarship to follow the classes of the
famous teacher Nadia Boulanger
.
His name — Astor Piazzolla.
During the course of these few months of quasi-academic
meetings, the direction of the history of the tango will be
changed. The Piazzollian Revolution begins in Paris in 1955.
In Buenos Aires, the popularity of tango had begun to
decline. Piazzolla came to Paris several times in the 70s
and 80s to record and work with some French singers in
concert or in studio. The singers included Guy Marchand,
Georges Moustaki, Marie-Paule Belle, Jean Guidoni, Julien
Clerc, and others. He will become the point of origin of
the tango entry of two of the greatest accordionists in
Francem Richard Galliano and Daniel Mille.
In the 1950s and 1960s, musicians continue to arrive from
Río de la Plata, some called by orchestras already estan-
lished in Paris, like the singer Ernesto Rondó engaged by
Bachicha, and others, like the multi-instrumentalist/painter
Juan Carlos Cáceres landing between the cobblestones
flying above the barricades of the Latin Quarter. It is espe-
cially in the middle of the 70s that a great number of musi-
cians chose Paris as place of refuge, fleeing the coup d’état
of March 1976 which, after a long period of instability, put
a military dictatorship in power in Argentina. A pioneer
in this process was the Cuarteto Cedrón that arrived in
1974. They won the heart of the left-wing public with their
tango songs. Later, on 1979, Gustavo Beytelman (piano)
and Juan José Mosalini (bandoneon). In 1989, they will
open in Gennevilliers with César Stroscio, the most im-
portant bandoneon school in the world. The singer Nés-
tor Gabetta and the flutist Enzo Gieco form the group
Tiempo Argentino. The singer Susana Rinaldi, who came
to Europe for the first time in 1976. She stopped in Paris
where she has no shortage of friends. She has returned
almost every year to record andperform at such places as
Théâtres d’Orsay, the Odeon, etc.
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