It Takes Two To Tango?

'La cumparsita' is a musical piece written by Gerardo Matos Rodríguez, an Uruguayan musician, in 1917. It is among the most famous and recognizable tangos of all time. The tune quickly gained success and has been recorded by numerous orchestras and artists all over the world. The music exhibits the soul of the tango and this is taken advantage of by tango dancers to express the needed passion in performance



Oscar Alemán recorded 'La Cumparsita' in August 1928 together with Gastón Bueno Lobo, the record was released by Victor as one of the first recordings of the piece and contributed to the success of the Les Loups duo.

During his career as a performer excelling in swing and popular tunes of the day from 1940 to 1960 Alemán did not record tango pieces, however, there exsist private recordings from the 1960s and 1970s of live performance in radio and TV where he plays 'La Cumparsita' as a solo piece for guitar in between other popular music. On his last album recorded for the Redondel label September 1974, OSCAR ALEMAN EN TODOS LOS RITMOS (RED-809), he finally recorded a version of 'La Cumparsita' as a solo piece for guitar. Let's celebrate this great version by the maestro, and let it forever contradict the saying that 'it takes two to tango'!



Jo