I recently watched Monica Paz's delightful interview with the late, great milonguero Alberto Dassieu. In it, Dassieu recounts how, at age fourteen, he met the violinist, composer, and bandleader Alfredo Gobbi at the Confitería San Souci, and how Gobbi acted as his mentor for many years afterward.
San Souci was one of those well established venues in the Centro that didn't advertise much—the swift current of the Calle Corrientes was enough to fill the place—and Gobbi held court there for years. As a result, he doesn't appear much in the ads in the El Mundo Dance Guide. But as I watched and listened to the interview, I kept thinking there must be some special Gobbi artifact in the Tango Time Machine archives. I did a little searching, and found this quite impressive ad from 1 April 1944. This would have been the debut of Gobbi's second orchestra, I believe.
Text: "Confitería San Souci invites you to dance from now on to the new Grand Orchestra presented by Alfredo Gobbi (The Romantic of Tango)."
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