Osvaldo Montes and Anibal Arias are among the most important musicians in the Argentinian tango scene. In Andrés Mayo’s unique, hours-long film "Buenos Aires, Dias y Noches de Tango", a comprehensive documentation of the extraordinary musical life of Buenos Aires, particular attention is given to these two artists. For over twenty years, Osvaldo Montes and Anibal Arias have played tangos, waltzes and milongas as a duo; tours take them to Japan, the USA and Europe, and an invitation from Musiques de Nuit in Bordeaux gave Winter & Winter a chance to record both artists playing significant works by Aníbal Troilo, Carlos Gardel, Juan Carlos Cobián and Ángel Villoldo. Osvaldo Montes (born 1934) and Aníbal Arias (born 1922) are still very young when classic tangos such as "El Choclo", "Sur", "Arrabal Amargo" and "Romance de Barrio" are first heard in Buenos Aires. As a child, Osvaldo Montes has already sold his soul to the bandoneon. The best music is played in cabarets, which drives him into disreputable nightclubs, but his mother holds him back, and forbids him to frequent such circles. A lady nightclub owner who recognises Osvaldo’s talent immediately offers a salary of 1200 pesos, and his mother’s resistance is broken. Osvaldo remembers that he was never allowed to stay in the lounge, or mix with the girls. After his performance, he disappears through the back exit: he’s barely more than a kid, and just wants to play music. It’s much the same for Aníbal Arias. At the age of four, he is already being taught the guitar by his father, and aged nine, he and his elder sister Amanda are appearing in tango clubs; at ten, he begins professional studies with the virtuoso guitarist Pedro Ramírez Sánchez. For a long time, Osvaldo Montes and Aníbal Arias go their separate ways. Osvaldo Montes joins the tango orchestras and groups of Mariano Mores, Leopoldo Federico, Atilio Stampone, Carlos García and Raúl Garello; he tours the Caribbean, the USA and Europe. Aníbal Arias plays in the Ensembles Cuarteto a puro Tango, the Solistas de Jorge Carreras, and the Cuarteto Aníbal Troilo, and works with the most famous singers: Héctor Mauré, Osvaldo Alonso, Libertad Lamarque, Olga Cabrera, Carlos Acuña and Angel Cárdenas. From 1980 he is the soloist in the Orchesta del Tango of the city of Buenos Aires, and founder of the Escuela de Música Popular. Obviously, Osvaldo Montes and Aníbal Arias have known each other since adolescence. Their love of the traditional tango has brought both artists close together: in the eighties they formed the duo Montes y Arías, and they play the music they have both grown up with, and are tied to. Tangos, milongas and waltzes: music from Buenos Aires that celebrates a breakthrough in Paris between the First and Second World Wars. It’s only after this success that the tango gains salon access, and social recognition. Carlos Gardel, born in Toulouse in 1890, reared in Buenos Aires, makes his Paris debut in 1928. Carlos Gardel is the first and perhaps only Argentinian world star in show business: he brings the tango back to Argentina. Osvaldo Montes and Aníbal Arias begin their album "Tango para todo el Mundo" [Tango for the Whole World] with a composition by Carlos Gardel entitled "Arrabal Amargo" [Bitter Neighbourhood], and the great composer Aníbal Troilo takes music history further with "Romance de Barrio" [Neighbourhood Romance]. Osvaldo and Anibal remember the tangos, waltzes and milongas from Buenos Aires and Argentina. They’re not big anthems, but intimate songs about a little bit of heaven ["Pedacito de Cielo"], the last time I got drunk ["La última curda"], a childhood dream ["Sueño de Juventud"], and the South ["Sur“], played by two stars of tango who have devoted their lives to this music. The album ends with the composition "Los Mareados", by Juan Carlos Cobián. Juan Carlos Cobián also wrote "Niebla del Riachuelo" and "Mi Refugio", and is regarded as creating the so-called "Tango-Romanza", a motive that runs as a main thread throughout the album "Tango para todo el Mundo".
