Alfredo De Angelis: How Italian Immigrants Created Argentine Tango

In this episode of the Tango Orchestras podcast, we trace the unlikely path from a yellow fever epidemic and Italian tax law to the Golden Age of Tango — with Alfredo De Angelis at the center. We explore how mass migration turned Buenos Aires' tenement courtyards into musical pressure cookers, how the first Argentine-born generation of Italian descent came to define the genre, and why De Angelis — dismissed by critics as a "carousel orchestra" — built one of the most enduring legacies in tango history. His red hair earned him the nickname El Colorado; his music, with its unwavering beat and perfectly curated vocalists, earned him a daily national radio broadcast, a 30-year recording contract, and a permanent place on dance floors around the world.

To listen to the tanda I've prepared featuring Alfredo De Angelis's instrumental recordings, you're warmly invited to visit my Patreon page: https://patreon.com/posts/2025-50-alfredo-143992756