These are the illustrations and captions for a chapter on Orlando Goñi. The text-only introduction to the chapter is here.
Photos and text Copyright © 2016 by Michael Krugman. All Rights Reserved.
1. GRATITUDE. (3 December 1943) Orlando Goñi's new band debuted to much fanfare at the Bar El Nacional, Corrientes 974, on 1 December 1943. A large display ad heralding the debut may be lost to history—it has been torn out of the only extant copy of El Mundo for that day—but we do have this heartfelt smaller piece from two days later, which says, "In the name of his orchestra and his singer RODRIGUEZ LESENDE, Orlando Goñi is grateful for the applause given to him in tribute on the night of his debut."
Antonio Rodriguez Lesende (1905-1979), an established singer with an impressive list of orchestra credits—Osvaldo Fresedo, Julio De Caro, Francisco Lomuto—is described as follows by Gaspar Astarita in a biography on todotango.com: "His elegant and touching way of expression, his clear diction and his sweet accent, plus his well deserved fame, made of him the singer most sought-after by the orchestras."
2. MARSHALLING THE TROOPS. (18 December 1943) "Since his debut at the Bar El Nacional, 25,000 people have applauded The Marshal of Tango with his grand tango orchestra," says this ad, which, though rarely seen, is the oft-cited evidence of Goñi's instantaneous success. (Note: Some accounts say that the El Mundo newspaper "reported" these attendance figures. In fact there was no report in the paper itself, just the ad.) But there's more to it than that. Following two extensions of his original contract, Goñi's sold-out appearance at El Nacional would last a total of ten weeks. If 25,000 people applauded him in the first two weeks, how many might have done so in ten? Plus he still had a nine-week run ahead of him at the Palermo Palace—advertised several times a week in El Mundo—and he appeared also at the Prince George Hall (capacity 4000), the ANBA, the Centro Región Leonesa, and several of the barrio sports clubs. All in all, Goñi's total audience from the date of his debut (1 December 1943) to the date of his last advertised performance (10 December 1944) might have reached 500,000, at a time when the population of Buenos Aires was only five million.
3. MY AUTOGRAPH. (25 December 1943) Orlando Goñi wrote only one song that we know of, a milonga called Mi regalo ("My Gift"). In this somewhat cryptic, Christmas-day ad, he offers the song as a gift to his fans, along with a stylized autograph. (Originals must have been in great demand at the time.) The text reads: "Today, to all the visitors to the Bar Nacional, I offer MY GIFT. (Signed) Orlando Goñi, December 1943."
4. ARRABALERO. (26 December 1943) In the midst of their record-breaking appearance at El Nacional, Goñi & Co. took the time to play a few of the barrio social clubs including this one, the Club Social y Sportivo "Buenos Aires" in the barrio of Caballito. Though Goñi was anything but old-fashioned, the artwork here—the funky, partly-stippled, fishtail lettering, the calligraphic script, and the deliberately distressed photo that almost looks like a watercolor—is strongly redolent of the old arrabal, the working class barrios at the outskirts of the city, with their compadritos (tango-dancing wiseguys), organitos (portable barrel organs), and conventillos (shabby rooming houses). The ad, which bears the unmistakable handwriting of Publicidad Santa Cruz, refers to the show as an “Exclusive Premier” though Goñi’s band had been spellbinding the crowds at the Bar El Nacional since its debut on 1 December.
5. MUSICAL CHAIRS. (9 January 1944) Goñi was held over for the month of January at El Nacional, but singer Lesende didn't last that long. He quit in early January and retired soon after; he was not to sing again for several years, according to the bio cited above. On the ninth, he was replaced by the duo of Raúl Aldao—who had been sharing the mic with Angel Vargas in D'Agostino's orchestra since August '43—and Osvaldo Cabrera, of whom little is known except that he would sing with Di Sarli in the late 50s without recording. The ad notes the change in the lineup, and assures fans that Goñi is "reissuing" his hit songs to fit the new vocal talent.
6. MOST SUCCESSFUL EVER. (15 February 1944) Goñi's debut engagement at the Bar El Nacional was originally slated to run for the month of December, but it was extended to include the following month, and then two weeks more, for a total of ten weeks. On the last day, a Tuesday, the bar's management placed this opulent, five-column ad at the bottom of a page in El Mundo. It pictured Goñi and his entire outfit, including the new singers Aldao and Cabrera. Other band-members at this time were Antonio Ríos, Roberto Di Filippo, Eduardo Rovira and Luis Bonnat on bandoneones; Rolando Curcel, José Amatriain, Antonio Blanco and Emilio González on violins; and Domingo Donnaruma, on double bass. The somewhat lapidary text, slightly abbreviated for clarity, reads as follows: "Prado and Blanco [owners of El Nacional]... offer a cordial farewell and a sincere 'See you soon' to the popular pianist Orlando Goñi who... achieved the most brilliant and successful engagement ever recorded in the annals of the Bar El Nacional."
Surely the perfect placement for this farewell ad would have been at the bottom of the day's radio page in El Mundo. But that spot was already occupied by a same-sized, look-alike ad from the Palermo Palace announcing Goñi's debut there the following day. The two "anchor" ads for the Goñi orchestra ran side by side, on facing pages—an unprecendented exposure for the man and the band.
Quick quiz for tango-history geeks: What other "renegade" pianist occupied the stage of Bar "El Nacional" immediately after Goñi's departure from the Bar El Nacional? The answer is below.
[Answer: Osvaldo Donato with singer Horacio Lagos. They had begun a series of afternoon shows at the Palace on 1 February, and now moved to the evening slot.]
7. ASCENDING THE THRONE. (16 February 1944) "The irreplaceable, romantic pianist of our popular music," crows this ad, "Orlando Goñi with his Grand Orquesta Típica and his brand new singers." The Palermo Palace was no stranger to publicity, and they went all out for Goñi's debut on this Wednesday in February. The jumbo, five-column ad, occupying nearly a third of a page, is even bigger than the one the Palace placed for the debut of Castillo's orchestra the previous September. In addition to Goñi and his singers, it promised guest performances by Castillo himself, Washington-Bertolín, the radio hosts Ivan Caseros and Juan Zuchelli, and others, including a glosa artist, Carlos Waiss.
8. THE OCTOPUS OF EMOTION. (27 February 1944) The copy reads, "The Great 'Hit Offensive' continues at the Palermo Palace with Orlando Goñi and his típica. His fingering, [like the] tentacles of an octopus, capture all the emotion of tango! Exclusive in this room."
9. HEAVY HITTERS. (24 June 1944) The six weeks following Goñi's final performance at the Palermo Palace must have been packed with rehearsals with his latest singer, former Troilo bandmate Francisco Fiorentino, though Goñi's personal demons may have slowed progress somewhat. Though both men were at the peak of their popularity, there were no gigs during the month of May. The first advertised appearance of the Goñi-Fiorentino binomial was on Sunday 4 June at the Prince George Hall, hosted by the Círculo de Floresta. (The succinct headline of the ad was, "Sensational!!!!") The second gig was this one-night "homage" to Goñi and Fiorentino at the Palermo Palace, with guest performers Roberto Rufino, Domingo Federico, the típica Maipo, Mary Lirio, and Harrison's Tropical Boys. Also pictured are Rufino, whose eight-week stint at the Palace would end on 30 June, and Alberto Castillo, whose return engagement would begin on 1 July.
10. WHY GO ON? (26 August 1944) After three months under Goñi's unpredictable leadership, Fiorentino had resolved to form his own orchestra with Astor Piazzola as director. The new partnership was announced on 29 August. This show at the Centro Región Leonesa would be the final advertised gig for the Goñi-Fiorentino binomial.
11. SINGER OF THE MONTH CLUB. (8 September 1944) Teaser ads in the days preceding this engagement asked: "Orlando Goñi?..." and "Orlando Goñi with?..." The question mark turned out to be singer Alfredo Castell, a virtual unknown. Castell didn't stay with Goñi long. There were a few one-night stands during the month of September along with this recurring appearance at the Empire Espectáculo Dancing Restaurant beginning on 8 September. The ad only appeared once. None of Goñi's ads during the month of October named a singer, so it's hard to be sure whether Castell was still on board or not, leaving us with yet another question mark: "Orlando Goñi with?..."
12. CALCULATED RISK. (10 December 1944) In November Goñi debuts with a highly-regarded vocalist, Raúl Berón, newly parted from Miguel Caló, with whom he had recently recorded the vals Jugando, jugando ("Gambling, gambling") among others. Working with Goñi must have been quite a gamble for Berón: anyone could see that the pianist was rapidly drinking and drugging himself to death. The two played a total of five advertised gigs: 11 November at Argentino Juniors football club; 12 November at Barracas Central; two nights at ANBA, the Buenos Aires Swimming Association on 18 and 19 November; 1 December at the Palacio de Baile in the Parque Retiro; and this one, Goñi's final advertised appearance, on Sunday, 10 December at the social headquarters of the Chacarita Juniors football club, hosted by the Mutualidad Tatay Civic Association. Increasingly ill, Goñi would retreat to the home of a friend in Montevideo, where he died two months later, on 5 February 1945.
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