¿Who the heck is …? is an intent to talk about some artists I like in Tango, and maybe get you to discover some new stuff. A bit of Tango culture, but nothing too serious 🙂
LUCIO DEMARE
You might not know his name, but you have almost certainly danced on one of his tangos : Solamente Ella, Mañana zarpa un barco and of course the famous Malena.
Mercado del Abasto (~1893)Lucio Demare is born in 1906 in the neighbourood of El Abasto, in Buenos Aires, in a family of musicians. The father Domingo played the violin, his brother chose the bandoneon, Lucio chose the piano. At 8 he was already playing to musicalize silent films in a cinema. In 1926, he joins the orquesta of Francisco Canaro and knows an incredible success in Spain with a trio assembled by the maestro (Canaro was an incredible business man).
Back in Buenos Aires in 1936, he creates his own orquesta and uses some marvelous singers, such as Raúl Berón, Miranda or Horacio Quintana. He also worked with the incredible poet Homero Manzi, the author of Malena and Mañana zarpa un barco (composed by Demare) and of many other tangos (Gricel, Torrente, Tal vez será su voz). Demare is famous for his style at the piano, romantic, lyric, with a very personal sound and phrasing.
References :
* ABC del Tango, Jose Maria Otero
* http://www.todotango.com/creadores/biografia/1085/Lucio-Demare/
* https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucio_Demare
* A good album to start with : Lucio Demare y Su Orquesta
MALENA
and in every single verse she pours her heart.
Like a slum weed her voice exude
Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon.
Perhaps, back in her childhood, her lark’s voice
acquired that dark intonation of a back alley,
or maybe it is the romance she only names
when she gets sad with the alcohol.
Malena sings the tango with a somber voice;
Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon.
Your song
has the cold of the last encounter,
your song
embitters itself with a salty remembrance.
I don’t know
if your voice is the bloom of a sadness;
all I know that in the muttering of your tangos, Malena,
I sense you are better,
much better than me.
Your eyes are dark like the oblivion,
your lips, pressed tight in a grimace of rancor
your hands, two doves that suffer the cold,
your veins have blood of bandoneon.
Your tangos are forsaken creatures
that walk across the mud of a back alley,
when all the doors are locked
and the spirits of the song howl.
Malena sings the tango with a choking voice,
Malena has the sadness of a bandoneon.
et dans chacun des vers, elle met son cœur.
L’herbe folle du faubourg parfume sa voix,
Malena tient sa peine du bandonéon.
C’est peut-être dans son enfance que sa voix d’hirondelle
a pris cette couleur obscure de ruelle,
ou bien en chantant cette romance qu’elle ne dit
que quand vient la tristesse avec l’alcool.
Malena chante le tango avec une voix d’ombre,
Malena tient sa peine du bandonéon.
Ta chanson
a la froideur de la dernière rencontre.
Ta chanson
se fait amère dans le sel du souvenir.
Je ne sais
si ta voix est la fleur d’une peine,
mais je sais
qu’au son de tes tangos, Malena,
je te sens si bonne,
plus bonne que moi.
Tes yeux sont obscurs comme l’oubli,
les lèvres, serrées comme la rancœur,
[tes mains, deux colombes qui ont froid,
dans tes veines coule le sang du bandonéon.]
Tes tangos sont des créatures abandonnées
qui rôdent dans la boue des ruelles
[quand toutes les portes sont fermées
et que hurlent les fantômes de la chanson.]
Malena chante le tango avec une voix brisée
Malena tient sa peine du bandonéon.
y en cada verso pone su corazon.
A yuyo del suburbio su voz perfuma,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneon.
Tal vez, alla en la infancia, su voz de alondra
tomo ese tono oscuro del callejon,
o acaso aquel romance que solo nombra
cuando se pone triste con el alcohol.
Malena canta el tango con voz de sombra;
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.
Tu cancion
tiene el frio del ultimo encuentro,
tu cancion
se hace amarga en la sal del recuerdo.
Yo no se
si tu voz es la flor de una pena,
solo se que al rumor de tus tangos, Malena,
te siento mas buena,
mas buena que yo.
Tus ojos son oscuros como el olvido,
tus labios, apretados como el rencor,
tus manos, dos palomas que sienten frio,
tus venas tienen sangre de bandoneon.
Tus tangos son criaturas abandonadas
que cruzan sobre el barro del callejon,
cuando todas las puertas estan cerradas
y ladran los fantasmas de la cancion.
Malena canta el tango con voz quebrada;
Malena tiene pena de bandoneon.
