The Music of Lesson 3: Pirincho

The orchestra featured in our third lesson was that of Francisco "Pirincho" Canaro, a man who clawed his way up from poverty to become "richer than Gardel" in the true sense. Canaro did much for tango. Even though he is not generally considered one of the greatest artists, he is acknowledged as a capable composer who could sometimes produce gems of utter beauty like the fabulous "Poéma". His music moved the dancers, and this built his success. He used bigger and bigger orchestra setups, effectively establishing the "orquesta tipica", an ensemble of at least 10 musicians, as the basic setup for the dance halls. He used a variety of instruments, pushing the boundaries there, too. Being first and foremost a businessman, he nonetheless advanced tango and brought it into a new era. For today's dancers, Canaro is a rich source of reliably danceable and often highly enjoyable music with a variety of very good singers, Roberto Maida and Ernesto Famá being prominent among them.