D'Agostino began as a dancer, he loved to dance and when he established his orchestra he said that he did so with the dancer in mind: "when the singer breaks into the scene" he is reported as saying on todotango, " 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."

D'Agostino is said to have chosen the pieces that his orchestra played, always with an eye to the dancer, and often featuring the lyrics of Enrique Cadicamo. Interestingly Cadicamo and D'Agostino are said to have had a pact never to marry which was only broken in their fifties by Cadicamo - and resulted in the ending of their friendship. 

If you are looking for CDs of the music of this orchestra you can't go past the four volumes called 'Tangos de Los Angeles' - these will give you the classics of this orchestra - volumes 2 and 4 are slightly better than 1 and 3. We have added them to our Amazon store .

Watching this video also gives you some idea of the milongas in Buenos Aires in the 1940s (I am presuming this film was made around the mid-40s). The dancers watch and wait at the beginning, just as now in Buenos Aires they talk or wait for the first 40 to 60 seconds of a piece before dancing. Then look at the floorcraft, the way the milongueros navigate the floor and at the embrace. This clip is a wonderful window on this period.

Pan y Agua was loaded onto Youtube by TangoVia Buenos Aires , a nonprofit organisation, whose aim is "to contribute to the preservation, development and promotion of tango as an art form in Buenos Aires and the world".  The organisation is particularly focussed on collecting and restoring musical scores, films and recordings. The artistic director is Ignacio Varchausky, who recently visited Sydney, Australia, as part of the musical program with the Sydney Youth Orchestra's tango orchestra.