Baltazar Benítez and Alfredo Marcucci - Tango - an Anthology (1992)

What are the roots of tango? A lot has been written about the hazy origins of the tango, about its poetic and social topics, about the situation of the newly arrived immigrants in the American continent, etc. The mystery remains. What are the roots of tango? Sadness, solitude, exile? There is only one answer: the composers and the instrumentalists gave birth to tango and its appeal made it a widespread phenomenon. With this record we want to pay homage to the many musicians and composers who furnished the precious material used by the present instrumentalists, which in turn have interpreted their music in new ways, giving tango its distinctive style. To even attempt to compile a list of composers who have been or still are creating tangos is an impossible task. On this record we find the names of major composers such as Matos Rodriguez, Julio de Caro, Pintin Castelianos, Aleta, Laurenz and Trollo, as well as the most important contemporary composer: Astor Piazzolia. We are grateful to them and to many others like Firpo, Arolas, Barth, Cobin, Delfino and Gardel for this musical inheritance. We hope this music, which is part of the cultural heritage of the Rio de la Plata, will continue to please all tango fans. Aifredo Marcucci