Canaro en París - A vibrant tango: “Canaro en París”

n April 23, 1925 on the stage of the Dancing Florida, on the Rue Clichy Nº 20, Paris —with their Pampean garments— Francisco Canaro and Agesilao Ferrazzano (violins), Carlos Marcucci and Juan Canaro (bandoneons), Fioravanti Di Cicco (piano), Rafael Canaro (double bass and doubling on musical saw), Romualdo Lomoro (drums) and Teresita Asprella (vocals and guitar) were amazing the French audience.

They were Canaro et sa Symphonie —that is to say the Orquesta Típica Canaro— according to a French name that did not fit with the gaucho garments that the musicians were forced by a contract to wear.
Scarpino y Caldarella

And while Canaro was a boom for the French public, in Buenos Aires the news of his success filled the newspapers. Juan Caldarella read one of those daily papers. He was a guitarist that, like Rafael Canaro, also managed to get notes out of the musical saw. By that time he was looking for a title for a tango he had composed in collaboration with the bandoneon player Alejandro Scarpino. The rest was told by Caldarella himself to Francisco García Jiménez, as follows:

«I jumped from the bed and wrote the title on the music staves. I had just found it on the page of Crítica that, hanging open from the night table, scarcely allowed me to see the headline: «Canaro makes comments about tango in Paris». I tell you, what I was seeing was the corner of the page on which I only succeeded in reading the beginning of the two lines of the headline: «Canaro... in Paris».

When the tango was already given a title, José Scarpino collaborated with the composers to write the lyric.

Paradoxically, those lyrics had nothing to do with Canaro but referred to a countrywoman who had left her hut to unexpectedly go to Paris. Years later, Scarpino adapted a new lyric to it, which can be heard sung by Enzo Valentino and which tells us about the success of tango in Paris. But this time it does not refer to Canaro either.

Anyway, despite its lyrics, “Canaro en París” has remained as an instrumental piece.

Some recordings of “Canaro en París”:

Conjunto Enrique Alessio
Conjunto Enrique Quagliano
Conjunto Juan Sánchez Gorio
Conjunto Oscar D'Auria
Conjunto Panchito Cao
y sus Muchachos de Antes
Cuarteto D'Cote
Cuarteto Domingo Scapola
Cuarteto El Rescate
Cuarteto Guardia Vieja
Cuarteto José Basso - Pepe y su Cuarteto Loco
Cuarteto Juan Cambareri
Cuarteto Juan Carlos Caviello - Cuarteto De Oro
Cuarteto Quartango
Cuarteto Tango Lorca
Dúo Flor De Tango (Mirta Wymerszberg-Guillermo García)
Dúo Marcatto En Dos (Claudia Humoller-Laura Ferrío)
Dúo Marcelo Marcellini-Pablo Mungione
Faggiano Dúo
Flautango (Adorjan-De La Vega)
Gabriel Clausi (bandoneon solo)
Luis Saltos (armónica) with orchestra
New York Tango Trío (Raúl Jaurena-Pablo Aslan-Ethan Iverson)
Octeto Académico de Caracas - Dir: José Carli
Octeto De Buenos Aires - Dir: Néstor Marconi
Orquesta Alfredo De Angelis
Orquesta Armando Pontier
Orquesta Baffa-Berlingieri
Orquesta Cristóbal Herreros
Orquesta Doly Costa
Orquesta Domingo Federico
Orquesta Donato Racciatti
Orquesta El Arranque
Orquesta Enrique Rodríguez
Orquesta Francini-Pontier
Orquesta Francisco Canaro
Orquesta Fulvio Salamanca
Orquesta Héctor Varela (3)
Orquesta Hugo Di Carlo
Orquesta Jorge Dragone
Orquesta Jorge Dragone, sings Enzo Valentino
Orquesta José Basso
Orquesta José Colángelo (2)
Orquesta Juan D'Arienzo (3)
Orquesta Los Auténticos Reyes
Orquesta Los Gauchos - Dir: Sammy Walker
Orquesta Los Mancifestas
Orquesta Los Solistas
Orquesta Mario Canaro
Orquesta Miguel Villasboas
Orquesta Municipal de Tango de Concepción Del Uruguay
Orquesta Omar Valente
Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese (2)
Orquesta Pascual Mamone
Orquesta Quintango
Orquesta Roberto Zanoni
Orquesta Típica De Buenos Aires
Orquesta Típica Tokio - Dir: Shimpei Hayakawa
Palermo Trío
Quinteto Argentino De Cuerdas
Quinteto Leonardo Marconi
Quinteto Pirincho - Dir: Francisco Canaro
Quinteto Pirincho - Dir: Oscar Bassil (2)
Quinteto Quique Lannoo
Quinteto Real (2)
Quinteto Walter Ríos
Sexteto Don Florindo - Dir: Florindo Sassone
Sexteto Los Mendocinos - Dir: Francisco Lauro
Sexteto Mayor (2)
Sexteto Tango Real
Tami Tango Trío
Trío Federico-Berlingieri-Cabarcos - Tango Por 3
Trío Hugo Díaz
Trío Yumba