(March 1901-September 1971)

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A controversial and gifted artist

A controversial musician, Enrique Rodiguez was a composer and influential figure; his career thrived in the 40’s and 50’s and continues to impress tango addicts today.

Revolutionary?

Born in Buenos Aires, Rodriguez was revolutionary for his time: merging genres, sneaking in cheeky little instruments and refusing to play anything but cheerful or romantic tunes. These admirable risks paid off as he became extremely popular in Argentina and in the remainder of Latin America, although faced criticism by some for his musical choices!

 

The early years

The baby steps of his career began by performing live music in cinemas during silent movies (oh the irony…) He specialised in playing the bandoneon – which is the Argentinean version of the more familiar accordion, although he was talented with many other instruments as well, especially the piano and violin. He soon progressed to performing for Radio Belgrano as backing for Francisco Fiorentino then for his beautiful actress/singer wife-to-be: Maria Luisa Notar!

 

Enrique Rodriguez, the radio star

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Rodriguez felt he had bigger fish to fry, so he soon put his own orchestra together La orquesta de todos los ritmos (meaning: the orchestra of rhythm).

The company; Odeon, later hired him for 34 years, during which time he recorded over 350 songs! He toured Latin America, spending a lot of time in Columbia and Peru where he was most loved and respected.

 

The music itself

Without a doubt Rodriguez’s most cherished song was Tengo mil Novias; a successful little waltz number. Rodriguez experimented with a variety of different genres and nationalities of music, it pleased his fans but in the end he went back to performing dance music, his original obsession, which got audiences on their feet, singing and dancing.

 

Lyrics translated

We have a printable version of the lyric translation of Llorar Por Una Mujer (To Cry For A Woman) Or simply read it online here.

 

Printable version of this fact sheet

Here is a printable version of the fact sheet.

 

The lucky few

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There were few vocalists that were lucky enough to work for Rodriguez. The first was Roberto “Chato” Flores who recorded 35 songs with the talented composer. However, the most iconic singer was Armando Moreno (“El nino Moreno”) who sang with the orchestra on and off. Moreno was involved in over 200 of Rodriguez’s songs and toured with him.

 

Lyrics writer Cadicamo wrote many memorable songs for Rodriguez, including: Amigos de Ayer, En la Buena y en la Maala, Lre, Son Cosas Del Bandoneon, Yo Tambien Tuve un Carino, Lagrimitas de mi Corazon and Tenga Mil Novas.

 

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

We have translated a favourite track of ours; Llorar por una mujer (To cry for a woman), composed by Enrique Rodriguez with lyrics by Enrique Cadicamo, for you to read (or sing if you’re that way inclined, we don’t judge…). On the student area, we’ve also uploaded a playlist for you do get dancing to – or to simply listen to if we’ve worn you out too much lately! Enjoy!

 
Images: www.terra-melodica.de