Orquesta típica Ricardo Malerba

Ricardo Malerba

*24.08.1905 +29.06.74

Number of recordings

30 in the Forties
12 in the Fifties

To buy

www.tangotunes.com. 

Gitana Rusa - Orlando Medina - 1942

Style

simple compás, lovely melodies

Biggest hits

Gitana Rusa (1942, Medina)

Remambranza ( 1943, Medina) 

Important Singer

-Orlando Medina  (1941-1945)

Introduction

Malerba's music is solid, but his orchestra is not first class. His few superhits like Gitana Rusa and Remembranza are outstanding.

Bandoneonist Malerba earned his first merits in neighborhood cinemas, where he performed as accompaniment of silent movies with his brothers Alfredo (piano) and Carlos (violin) with a small combo.The scent of the wide world and the life of a bohemian he sniffed between 1927 and 1930. Together with his brothers, he performed in Europe in the orchestra of Catullo Castillo, which at times also included Miguel Caló and Roberto Maída. They mainly toured Spain and Portugal. In the thirties, he finally led his own orchestra. Francisco Fiorentino was the singer, they could perform in the Cabaret Tabarís and on the radio.

La piba de los jazmines

Gabi and Gustavo Gómez; - Nürnberg - 2016

La vida de Carlos Gardel - 1939

Malerba and his orchestra can be seen from 1:11:57. Hugo del Carril plays the role of Carlos Gardel.

Successful years after 1940

It was the great singer Libertade Lamarque, the fiancée of his brother Alfredo, who got them a slot on Radio Belgrano in 1938, to which Malerba remained loyal for 20 years.

An appearance in the film La Vida de Carlos Gardel (1939) promoted the popularity of the orchestra, in which a number of great musicians matured. The sound of the bandoneon series was shaped by Ricardo Pedevilla, who led an orchestra in the style of Di Sarli in the fifties. Pianist Dante Smurra was responsible for the arrangements and composed - together with Malerba - great hits of the orchestra such as Embrujamiento, La piba de los jazmines or Violín.

Voice of the Orchestra: Orlando Medina

The most important singer of the orchestra is certainly Orlando Medina.

He began his career as a twelve-year-old singing child star. After engagements in smaller combos, he entered the world of the cabarets in 1938 as a singer in Hector Varela's orchestra. When Varela put his orchestra at D'Arienzo's disposal in 1940, Medina, to his own regret, was not allowed to join, and so he switched to Malerba, where he experienced his most successful years.

Antonio Maida joined the orchestra in 1944, eventually replacing Medina. In the fifties, Alberto Sanchez was the frontman of the popular dance orchestra. The existing recordings from these years are musically pale.

Remembranza - 1943 - Medina

Daina Pezzotti Y Aoniken Quiroga - Mailand, 2017

Embrujamiento - 1943 - Medina

Rocio Lequio and Bruno Tombari – Berlin, 2014

The Malerba sound

Already in the forties Malerba was associated with the D'Arienzo school, which is why it was very popular as a dance orchestra. But there are even more parallels with Biagi:

One finds singing violin melodies played only on one string (like D'Arienzo), piano fills in Biagi's style and also Biagi's stylistic element of repeating the melody line in a simple but sensitive way as a simple series of notes. Malerba also adapted the emphasis of each beat in staccato. And even the texture, similar to Biagi's, is often a bit thinner. But Malerba's musicians - and the arrangements -  don't have the class like Biagi's or D'Arienzo's. Pianist Smurra hits the keys quite monotonously while playing the chords, his playing misses dynamics, and also the marcato of the bandoneons is often monotonous. The piano fills lack the nervous, vibrant, lively quality we know from Biagi and D'Arienzo.

The reason why Malerba, despite this monotony,  ends up in the playlists and makes dancers happy are the beguiling melody lines of the first violin, Alfredo Lattero, as well as the sweetly-emotionally performed vocals of Medina.

Malerba for dancers

Since the tangos are all quite similar, you can definitely combine them in different ways. And because they are so similar, it is best to stick to the few big hits.

A beautiful romantic tanda with singer Orlando Medina:

Gitana Rusa
Mi taza de café
Embrujamiento
Remembranza

And more rhythmical:

Noches de Montmartre
Encuentro
Ninguna
Embrujamiento

With the instrumentals like Charamusca or Sollozos you notice that without voice the tangos are a bit arbitrary.

Corazón de artista

MARIA TSIATSIANI y LEANDRO PALOU Buenos Aires, 2017

A nice vals is Corazon de Artista, which combines well with valses from García.

Mariana - 1942 - Orlando Medina

Virginia Pandolfi, Jonatan Aguero

Of the four milongas, only Mariana (1942, Medina) really invites to playful milonga dancing.

Well-illustrated, fact-filled and informative, Raimund and Daniela of Tangomundo deal with Gitana Rusa in their series Around the World in Eighty Tangos, which they produced during corona lockdown:

Around the world in 80 Tangos - Episode 26 - Gitana rusa - Ricardo Malerba