Welcome to Tango 100 years

On 1st March 1926 the technicians of the Victor company in Argentina made the first electrical recording in Argentina, with their rivals Odeon following suit six months later. Prior to this, recordings had been made using the acoustic system in which a horn focussed sound energy directly onto the stylus which cut the groove into the wax.
Musicians crowd around the horn in the recording studio using the old acoustic system 

The new electrical technology (with a microphone and valve amplifier) offered much better fidelity than the old system. In particular, the high and low frequencies were recorded more faithfully than before. However, neither company made a big announcement because they did not want to damage sales of their existing discs, of which they had large stocks. Was this introduction without much consequence, then? Not at all. It acted as a huge stimulus to the musicians, keen to exploit the advantages of the new system. The development of tango music - already under way with musicians such as Fresedo and De Caro, now accelerated, a process interrupted only by the Great Depression which struck Argentina in 1931. Very soon it will be 100 years since an electrically excited cutting stylus first transmitted the vibrations of an Argentine tango into a wax disc. In this blog we'll commemorate the 100th anniversary of important tango recordings as they fall due. Don't expect many posts in 2026, or at least not until tne end of the year - whilst many important recordings were made in 1926, not many are that interesting for the dancer of today.
Location: Norwich, UK

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Rosita Quiroga - La musa mistonga (The humble muse)

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