Here at https://corrientessocialclub.co.uk/ we love to enthuse our students and tango punters to learn about the history of Tango. For our sessions on Vals criollo we present this video blog about the origen and evolution of Tango Vals.

**The origin of the "vals campero pampeano" and the national "vals criollo", research by Juan María Veniard with original films clips featuring Anibal Troilo and Hugo del Carril signing and dancing ‘Desde el Alma’,the world famous vals criollo.**
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The origin of the "vals campero pampeano" and the national "vals criollo", research by Juan María Veniard with original films clips featuring Anibal Troilo and Hugo del Carril signing and dancing ‘Desde el Alma’,the world famous vals criollo.

The designation "vals criollo" appeared at the end of the 1920s, perhaps as a result of the novelty of the "ranchera" from 1926 onwards, to refer to the waltz rooted in the countryside, played with accordion and guitar. We have a waltz in the countryside thus designated - the name "vals criollo" comes later...it is a dance that finds its most suitable instrument in the accordion, which favoured the listening of musical pieces with an accompanied melody, with an outstanding singing and an accompaniment that could be made expressive. Moreover, it was the most widespread musical instrument in the Buenos Aires countryside at the time, in the hands of those who played music at dances for large crowds, even in the open air.

It should be noted that, later on, the piano accordion appeared, a more expensive instrument and more complicated to play, but with which better results were obtained. The bandoneon, the bandonica (a mixture of accordion and bandoneon) and the large concertina with twenty keys and forty voices were also used.

The most famous "vals criollo", thus considered, written in the Rio de la Plata has been Rosita Melo's Desde el alma, which toured the world. Born in Montevideo and raised in Buenos Aires, she composed this waltz here in 1911 when she was fourteen and already an accomplished pianist. The piece was a Boston waltz and was naturally published under that name, as can be seen in the early editions. In the 1920s it received lyrics by Víctor B. Piuma Vélez ("Yo también desde el alma / te entregué mi cariño..."), which brought it greater fame, published as "Valse Boston con letra". In 1948, with new lyrics and as a characterised "vals criollo", it was included in the music of the film Pobre mi madre querida (starring the singer and actor Hugo del Carril), making it known to a new generation of Argentines.

Among the most famous "valses criollos" we should also remember Palomita blanca, lyrics by F. García Jiménez, music by Anselmo Aieta, recorded in 1929 by Ignacio Corsini, in song; also by Francisco Canaro and even by Aníbal Troilo, who played it with great speed and puntillado values.

Research by Juan María Veniard has a degree in Music (esp. Composition), a degree in Musicology (UCA) and a PhD in History (USAL). He is a Career Researcher at the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), in the area of History of Culture, at the Centre for Research in Philosophical and Cultural Anthropology (CIAFIC), Buenos Aires.