D'Agostino and Vargas

Ángel D'Agostino and Ángel Vargas (vocalist) were affectionately known as The Two Angels. Their tangos are still very popular in Buenos Aires and throughout the world of tango, because their music is made for dancing. Their tangos are noted for their simplicity, and Ángel Vargas' voice has the quality of another instrument one can dance to.

Ángel D'Agostino

As a youth, Ángel D'Agostino and a couple of his friends played in a small theater near the Buenos Aires zoo, but they were never paid as they started a fire in the place! He quit school to pursue both tango and jazz, and rich families hired him to play piano during parties. He started his first orchestra in the 1920's. A very good dancer, himself, D'Agostino tailored his music to fit the dance. That is why his music remains so popular in the salons of Buenos Aires today.

Ángel Vargas

Vargas started his career in the early 1930's. "A singer with impressive personality, he is the symbol of porteño (from Buenos Aires) tango phrasing in the 40s. Vargas sings as only in the 40s tango was sung. His phrasing was reo and compadrito but at the same time of an infinite good taste." [Blaya]

The Two Angels

In 1940 D'Agostino and Vargas formally established their team, and the combination of the two stands as one of the greatest of the 1940's.

"I am milonguero, I always was, in the best sense of the word. I was a good dancer .... So I shaped my orchestras with two conceptions that I never gave up: respect for the melodic line and rhythmic emphasis to make the dancing easier. When the singer breaks into the scene and displaces the musician from the spotlight, the orchestra was structured in such a way that music and singing did not interrupt the possibility of dancing. For that, the singer had to turn into one more instrument, a privileged instrument, but not apart." Ángel D'Agostino [Pinsón,Blaya].