Tango Stories #3 - Organito de la tarde

TANGO STORIES #3 - ORGANITO DE LA TARDE - 1924

(Street organ of the evening)

Musica: Cátulo Castillo, Letra: José González Castillo (Cátulo’s father)

In 1924 the DISCO NACIONAL record company held their first contest at the Grand Splendid Cinema-Theater, 1860 Santa Fe Ave. in Buenos Aires. to find the best new tango music.  Winning this contest meant immediate success for the composer, because of the large number of record sales and the prestige that would follow. The winners were determined by a vote of the general public and the results were:

1º “Sentimiento gaucho” de Francisco and Rafael Canaro and Juan Andrés Caruso.

2º “Pa' que te acordes” de Francisco Lomuto and Andrés Seitún.

3º “Organito de la tarde” de Cátulo and José González Castillo.

As a result, the tango Organito de la tarde was recorded in 1925 on the Odeon label first by Carlos Gardel, and then by Ada Falcon with Francisco Canaro.  Catulo Castillo was then just 18 years old, and in addition to being a violinist and pianist, he was a competitive boxer and a champion in the featherweight boxing category. 

Organito de la Tarde

Street Organ of the Evening

Al paso tardo de un pobre viejo

Puebla de notas el arrabal,

Con un concierto de vidrios rotos

El organito crepuscular.

Dándole vueltas a la manija

Un hombre rengo marcha detrás,

Mientras la dura pata de palo

Marca del tango, el compás.

Letra: José González Castillo

At the slow pace of a poor old man

The sunset organito sows its notes 

Across the neighbourhood

A concerto of broken glass

A man, lame, shuffles behind 

He turns the handle while

The wooden leg

Marks the beat of the tango.

English translation by Paul Bottomer

Organito is the common name for the hand-operated barrel organs and street organs once used in Argentina and Uruguay, which became popular in the late nineteenth century. To produce music, a person needed only to turn a handle to rotate a cylinder inside the organ.  The cylinder activated hammers to strike piano-like strings which made them sound the notes of the tune. Each cylinder contained 10 different tunes and could easily be exchanged to play other tunes. The instrument could be carried by a man, or mounted on wheels as they weigh up to 50 kilos.  Because of its ease of use, it was a popular instrument that coexisted with the piano and the gramophone, even replacing them at popular parties. It was one of the ways by which tango music was brought to the population - especially before radio transmissions arrived in the 1920s. The mention of the organito in the Rio de la Plata region lyrics was always linked to nostalgia.

In Los Angeles we are fortunate to be able to visit one of the worlds finest collections of Mechanical Musical Instruments at The Nethercutt Collection in the San Fernando Valley.  They have many wonderful things in their collections, including the second largest theater organ in the country with 5,000 pipes. It is played regularly for visitors and it is spectacular!

There are many excellent versions of Organito de la Tarde and for dancing we recommend the 1954 Instrumental recording by Carlos Di Sarli on the album Dos maestros, dos estilos - Carlos Di Sarli - Juan D'Arienzo - Selección Bailable - Vol. 1 - Archivo RCA (EU-16019).

Sources: es.wikipedia.org, El Hermano’s blog, Museo del Organito Argentino - La Salvia, Paul Bottomer - YouTube

By Donald Cooper