Monthly Archives: May 2014

Corrections to Gabriel Valiente’s Encyclopedia of Tango

Gabriel Valiente’s Encyclopedia of Tango, published in 2014, is an invaluable resource for tango DJs and collectors.  The book provides complete or near-complete discographies of about 150 of the most important tango orchestras, with information about vocalists, genres, labels and recording dates.  It also includes hard-to-find details about the musicians that played in many of these orchestras over time.  I encourage anyone who is serious about tango music to get a copy of this excellent book.

It is inevitable that a work of such scope and ambition will contain some errors and inaccuracies.  Even the most respected discographies of individual orchestras, such as Lefcovich’s, are known to contain mistakes.  So we shouldn’t be surprised to learn that a book that sets to comprehensively list the recordings of dozens of orchestras isn’t completely error-free.

In the hope that this initiative may be of value to other tango fans, or help Gabriel prepare future editions of his encyclopedia, I have decided to create a spreadsheet listing all errors and omissions I was able to find.  The document will be regularly updated, as I examine new sections more closely and compare the information found on its pages with that in my own discographies.  If you spot any mistakes not already listed, I would be grateful if you could notify me about it.

Information that I believe to be incorrect is listed in strikethrough. Information that I believe to be dubious is listed in italics. The corresponding comments provide the correct information or explain my reasons for doubt. In addition, omissions from the Encyclopedia are listed in boldface.

Orquesta Típica Victor discography

My discography of Orquesta Típica Victor is now finished.  (For context on this project, see here.)

In addition to the fields displayed below (title, genre, recording date, vocalist(s) and record number) you may find information about record labels, matrix numbers, orchestra conductors, and more, by scrolling to the right using the horizontal bar at the end of the table. Alternatively, you may access the entire spreadsheet on Google Drive here.

I have also created a spreadsheet with a list of tracks often incorrectly attributed to Orquesta Típica Victor, or attributed without sufficient evidence. You will find this spreadsheet here.

The main sources used to create this discography are listed at the end of this post.  I would like to thank Johan and Héctor Mario Lobato for valuable feedback.

If you spot any inaccuracies or discover missing information, please leave a comment or send me a message.

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