TS 6.05 - Caló & Fontana + Luque 1965
Tags: Miguel Caló, Singer, InstrumentalCategory: AlbumSamples
By the mid-1960s, Miguel Caló had reached another late-career crest. After his successful collaboration with the Japanese singer Fujisawa in 1964, Caló found yet another unforgettable voice in 1965: Marga Fontana, a female singer with a strikingly distinctive, dramatic timbre.
Very little is known about Fontana’s life today. Beyond her recordings with the quartet Estrellas de Buenos Aires (Armando Cupo, Hugo Baralis, Jorge Caldara, and Kicho Díaz) and this 1965 session with Caló, she is perhaps remembered most as the long-term life partner of the tango legend Alberto Morán. They lived together for more than three decades, despite never having formally married.
Fontana’s singing bears a clear Moránian gene: intensely theatrical diction and phrasing, and an uncompromising emotional projection. With Caló she cut six recordings— Ahora No Me Conocés, Confesión, En Esta Tarde Gris, Gricel, Mi Buenos Aires Querido, and Volver. The repertoire was unmistakably chosen to showcase her strengths.
Roberto Luque, Caló’s long-time collaborator, appears here in consistently excellent form. This album includes five vocal recordings with Luque, among which Antes Del Adiós and the waltz Soñar Y Nada Más are especially unforgettable, easily among Caló’s very best on record. Malena, Qué Falta Que Me Hacés, and Vuelves Hoy are equally compelling. A dazzling instrumental piece, Uno, showcasing Trípodi’s virtuosity, is also included.
TS 6.05 gathers these rare works in one album and presents them with restoration of exceptional clarity. They deserve to be appreciated and heard by a wider audience.
Following the convention of Caló’s 1960s vocal recordings, this stereo album is panned with violins on the left channel and bandoneón on the right, including the instrumental Uno. Strangely, Gricel is presented in mono, for unclear reasons.
These recordings were made by Odeón in Colombia. We cannot overstate Colombia’s crucial role in preserving tango during the 1960s—precisely the decade when Argentina, in many ways, “abandoned” the genre. Sonically, the Colombian studio places the bass slightly farther back, making the accents less forceful than in most contemporary Argentine recordings; the overall balance across low, mid, and high frequencies is notably more even.
Before TS 6.05, these titles had never received an official digitally released remaster. After careful restoration, they reveal a startling sound quality that stands fully alongside Argentine recordings of the same era. We hope more discerning listeners will recognize their value and help bring them back to the public ear.
Frank Jin
| Date | Track | Genre | Singer | Label | Pitch | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Ahora No Me Conocés | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 02:13 |
| 1965 | Confesión | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 02:32 |
| 1965 | En Esta Tarde Gris | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:42 |
| 1965 | Gricel | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 02:28 |
| 1965 | Mi Buenos Aires Querido | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:25 |
| 1965 | Volver | Tango | Marga Fontana | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:06 |
| 1965 | Antes Del Adiós | Tango | Roberto Luque | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:19 |
| 1965 | Malena | Tango | Roberto Luque | Odeón CO | 442 | 02:58 |
| 1965 | Que Falta Que Me Hacés | Tango | Roberto Luque | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:19 |
| 1965 | Vuelves Hoy | Tango | Roberto Luque | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:28 |
| 1965 | Soñar Y Nada Más | Vals | Roberto Luque | Odeón CO | 442 | 02:42 |
| 1965 | Uno | Tango | Instrumental | Odeón CO | 442 | 03:46 |
