EL FIRULETE NOW HAS ITS OWN BLOG
http://elfirulete.wordpress.com


Publisher
Planet Tango

Joint Editors
Alberto Paz & Valorie Hart

Graphic Design and Production
Alberto Paz

Editorial, Advertising, Inquiries, Comments, Questions and
Suggestions

E-mail to:
info@planet-tango.com

Website
http://www.planet-tango.com

The information published is intended for entertainment purposes only and it is as accurate as you want it to be. All correspondence and manuscripts are submitted at owner’s risk. All become property of the publisher.

All rights reserved throughout the world. Printed in the United States of America. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without the express written consent of the publishers.

The opinions and advertising printed in El Firulete are the sole responsibility of the authors, and they are not necessarily the opinions of the publishers, therefore we can not be held liable for their opinions and their actions.
EL FIRULETE
The Argentine Tango E-zine

MISSING CARLITOS

Every year on this date, June 24th, I'm haunted by the image of the freak airplane crash that took the lives of Carlos Gardel and Alfredo Lepera in 1935.

For most folks born outside South America, it is nearly impossible to understand what it meant for the nation of Argentina, and many other South American countries, to wake up on the morning of June 25, 1935 to the chilling news shaped in bold letters headlines that, except for minor variations in copy, were saying the same unthinkable fact: GARDEL IS DEAD.

Gardel and Lepera had become very successful partners in the tango-for-films department. Under contract with Paramount, Carlos Gardel was becoming a box office attraction in South America because of his personal appeal, his baritone voice, and his successful tours around Western Europe. Yet, the underlying attraction of Gardel, the music and lyrics of his tangos, had presented a public relations problem for the Hollywood suits. There was something about the language and jargon embedded in the lyrics of the tangos Gardel sang that didn't fly very well outside Buenos Aires.

So they brought Alfredo Lepera, a Brazilian born writer and poet then living in Buenos Aires. His mission was to write new lyrics in a more palatable Castillian language that would be universally understood and appreciated in all of South America and Spanish speaking Europe.

The resulting body of work represents the most popular and celebrated songs that are easily recognized by people all over the world, even when many may not realize that they were all written for films starring Carlos Gardel.

Can you remember hearing any of these titles: Cuesta abajo, Volver, Melodia de arrabal, El dia que me quieras, Por una cabeza...?  It was during a promotional tour for his latest film, El dia que quieras, that Gardel and Lepera met their untimely deaths. First Puerto Rico, then Cuba and finally Colombia were visits that attracted large crowds eager to see, touch and listen to Carlos Gardel.

EL DIA QUE ME QUIERAS, Carlos Gardel

Towards the end of the tour, Gardel and his entourage boarded a plane at Medellin airport for a short flight to Cali, where he would make his final appearance on a radio program before returning to New York, in time to board a ship to Buenos Aires to fulfill a promise he had made to his mother, that is, spending more time with her. The aircraft never got completely airborne as it suddenly veered of course and slammed into another aircraft waiting to enter the runway. Among a twisted pile of melting metal and an infernal blaze, Gardel ended his mortal existence.

Almost instantly he became immortal, and his image, his legacy and his works eternally became the subject of a religious adoration and veneration for a large majority of people spanning many generations.

When his remains arrived in Buenos Aires almost a year later, the city came to a grinding halt. He laid in wake for a day at the Luna Park arena, located where Corrientes Avenue begins to grow up into the heart of the city. Dignitaries, musicians, singers, artists, and plain people all shed tears of sorrow and mourning before his casket began its final journey along Corrientes Avenue to the cemetery of Chacarita where he was laid to rest. The slow pace of the funeral march was accentuated by a shower of flowers and tears being cast from every balcony and every door along the way.

Carlos Gardel began singing at a very young age. Raised in poverty and with limited means of survival, he managed to get singing gigs at weddings, birthdays and other family receptions. His repertoire was mostly made out of Creole compositions, a genre that included folk songs and rural milongas typically accompanied by one or more guitars. Gradually he began to hang out at some seedy cantinas surrounding the old Mercado de Abasto, a sort of central wholesale market. Visitors today may have noticed a subway station under Corrientes Avenue named after Gardel. A super modern mega shopping center stands above on the grounds of the old Mercado de Abasto. It was in one of those cantinas that he faced Uruguayan folk singer Jose Razzano in what was supposed to be a duel for supremacy and ended up becoming a sensational duo that started performing at theaters, clubs, and cabarets around the country and in neighboring Uruguay.

The story goes that sometime in 1917 Gardel was approached in Montevideo by a street poet who had a penchant for writing risky lyrics to existing tango music. Gardel loved what Pascual Contursi had written for a tango named Lita composed by Samuel Castriota. In private gatherings he was amused at Contursi's clever use of lunfardo expressions to describe the sappy tale of a pimp in love who laid awake at night hoping for the return of his former whore.

It began with, "Percanta que me amuraste, en lo mejor de mi vida..." (Woman who left me at the best moment of my life) and ended with,
"Porque tu luz no ha querido, mi noche triste alumbrar..." (Because your light (talking to a lamp in the room) has not wanted to illuminate my sad night." And those three last words, MI NOCHE TRISTE, became the title of the first and foremost tango lyrics, setting the stage for a rich chapter in the glorious book of tango history.

Going against the advice of his friends, Gardel decided to take a chance singing "Mi noche triste" at a theater performance. Razzano bailed out, and Carlos Gardel made history by singing his first tango in public, sending the audience into a frenzy and receiving a standing ovation.

What followed was a body of work touching on tales of love, hate, infidelity, and crimes of passion depicting the fictional relationships between pimps and their whores. Record companies couldn't press enough vinyl to keep up with the demand, and many popular bards followed Contursi's suit and inundated the market with one of the most prolific productions of lyrics in tango history.

Gradually, Gardel began to incorporate tangos in his recordings, and by the early nineteen twenties the popular demand and the pressure from the record companies made him become a full time tango singer.

Soon he traveled to Spain and was met with great success. Then he ventured into Paris where he became the darling of a decadent aristocracy who catapulted him into international fame. He kept returning to Buenos Aires in what became trips "to enjoy the city as a visitor, rather than as a resident."

The Radio Broadcasting Company brought him to New York from where he made history by broadcasting a program via telephone lines to Buenos Aires. Paramount saw in Gardel their golden opportunity to enter the Latin American film market. At the time of his death, he had become an idol among fans from all over Latin America.

So, if shouldn't come as a surprise that this June 24th, as it has been happening since 1935, men and women in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Bolivia, Uruguay, Puerto Rico, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Mexico will listen to Gardel with a very special purpose, to continue paying respect to his memory, to continue admiring a singer that sings better every day.

When Gardel died, so did the hopes of any aspiring singer to ever reach universal acceptance. Agustin Magaldi and Ignacio Corsini were great popular singers contemporaries of Gardel but withered under his shadow. Horacio Deval's register was identical to Gardel's so he was chastised for that, and in spite of a short success with the Horacio Salgan orchestra, he never achieved popular recognition. People have found Horacio Deval and heard him sing the Gardel repertoire at one of the many Argentine restaurants and tanguerias in the city of Miami, where he had been residing for many years until his recent death.

Uruguayan born Julio Sosa came very close to reach the pinnacle but his life was cut short in a car accident. Roberto 'El Polaco' Goyeneche reached cult-like following and respect, but he managed to age and deteriorate in the eyes of the public. They say that it will snow again in Buenos Aires the day a replacement for Gardel is born.

Perhaps what it is most important to understand about Gardel, the man, the myth, the icon, is the identification that the common people of Buenos Aires have with his rise to fame from humble beginnings. With his unmatched fame and success, and his eternal smile, he has been shining a ray of hope over the tribulations of those who face life challenges from a less than ideal social standing. Gardel is the epitome of the socially challenged immigrant who made it out of the tenement and into the royal palaces of Europe all the while retaining the modesty, humility, loyalty and generosity of those who never forget the friends they make on their way up because they know that they'll still be there when it's time to come down. The eternal smile reminds us of that.


TANGAZOS



It's not unusual to take for granted the special Creator. A good tango dancer listens to the music...

Suddenly this tango thing has spread out like a forest fire. Here in California we are very much aware of the dangers posed by the raging...

There is a school of thought that encourages people who are in a position to motivate and encourage others, to make a point of trying...

The exaggerated boasting of some returning travelers and the generous eagerness of foreign visitors have created in the otherwise...

She walked into the club with the typical apprehension of a newcomer and with a body language that betrayed her efforts to make...

November is turning out to be a banner month for Argentine Tango in this country. Take for example the successful run of Forever Tango...

A nation that lacks legends, said a poet, is condemned to freeze to death. It is arguably possible. But the populace that lacks myths...

One night PigNumber1 ran into PigNumber2 and PigNumber3 at a suburban milonga and as it always happens, their Tango experiences...

Like an unsinkable gigantic vessel steaming across the waters of an inexorable destiny, some people’s lives proceed night after night...

The Argentine Tango has always been a reflection of the people who created it. This is not to say that the music and the way we...

It is hard to imagine a time when Tango did not exist. It has been around all of our life and the lives of our parents and grand parents but not...

I always find it rewarding when friends show a genuine interest in what is underneath the unexplainable attraction we feel towards the...

We have become so enthralled with everything that publicizes and promotes the Argentine Tango to the general public that we have faile...

Growing up in Buenos Aires, one gets used to the onset of winter during the month of July. The days are gray, the wind is unrelenting....

Many things about Tango and the underlying contradictions of the porteños are paradoxical and they can lead to frustration if we...

Time flies when you are having fun. Far removed from the stereotypes and clichés that the Argentine Tango seems to induce when...

The difference between a theater critic and the general public who attend a show is that a critic gets paid to pose as an expert while...

We have completed another year of our lives. It has been a great one and we can’t wait to start the new year so we can continue enjoying the...

The waiting was becoming uncomfortable. For days I had been dealing with mixed emotions about a revelation that came via e-mail. While...

As we get underway on the new year, we pause for a moment to contemplate the incredible growth of the Argentine tango ...

It was a muggy evening. Shiny pearls of perspiration reflected the spot lights that hung above the bottles on the back wall of the bar...

He could tell what time it was by the sudden stop of the music. It was midnight in the USA, the time for "fantasias milongueras" to go beddy...

El Taita had been lying in a ditch by the side of the road of life for more than he cared to remember. Surrounded by weeds and the...

I grew up with a belief that the world was going to the end in the year 2000. This was part of a religious upbringing. I remember making...

Standing in the living room, we formed a circle and held hands. One by one we introduced ourselves. Some came from Texas, others...

This time of the year Tango dancers become aware of the existence of other people who, curiously enough are not Tango dancers...

It's been five years since the "Year of the Milonguero" was "declared" by the head of the dance department at Stanford University to...

First and foremost the Tango was a dance back when the common people of Buenos Aires began to dance differently what the...

When trying to put a historical perspective on the development of what is known today as the Argentine Tango, we often run into a variety...

For over forty or fifty years, the dance halls where Tango is danced in Buenos Aires, continue to enjoy a tradition that is widely...

Back a few decades ago, in the city of Buenos Aires at carnaval time, we used to sing along with a catchy tune that reflected the spirit and...

Up to now most books written as testimonials of personal Tango experiences tend to fall under the category of out of body encounters of the...

ntelligence, oral articulation and morality are what set humans apart from animals. That and the fact that animals can't dance Tango...

Juan Semilla de Manzano had faced more serious problems before. He held a full time job as a VP in charge of peanut butter packaging...

Another year went by, and the new year is moving in at a frightening speed. If history repeats itself, we are now well into...

Tango has been called the three-minute romance, and a thriving circle of aficionados says the late-late 20th century is the right...




ESSAYS, CHRONICLES AND ARTICLES ARCHIVES


Halfway through the decade of the ‘20s, the period of renovation headed by Julio De Caro, the veterans of the old guard felt the...

He will always be remembered by the contagious and joyful nature of his personality and dancing style. We hope that his legacy...

For those who knew Rodolfo Cieri, his passing earlier this year meant sorrow, sadness and grief. It also rekindled the sweet memories...

Francisco Canaro was a promoter and an ambassador of the Tango, from neighboring Uruguay and Chile to Spain, France...

As the new year starts many tangueros and those curious about the birthplace of the Argentine Tango, start making travel plans...

As a single woman who has gone to Buenos Aires solita, I can attest to the essential truth of your article in the January issue of...

At Stanford Tango Week 1995, Graciela Gonzalez became the stuff of mythic proportions. This diminutive powerhouse...

I was at Stanford and in most of Pablo Veron’s classes. I was privileged to be allowed to attend the classes at Stanford through the...

On June 12, 1998 the Tango people of Buenos Aires packed Salon El Pial to honor Mingo Pugliese's golden anniversary as a...

Just like the first generation of anonymous dancers of the 19th century, the milongueros of the ‘40’s were motivated merely by the...

Friday, July 10, 1998, 4:30 PM, the Tango Week classes have ended but many tired feet lead to the conference room where in a few minutes...

Shortly before the successful Congreso Internacional de Tango Argentino held in Bs. As. at the end of March 1999, Fabian...

Every relationship, whether personal or professional, goes through the “honeymoon” phase, that special window of time where...

One month after the opening of Forever Tango on Broadway, the editors of El Firulete were the guests of Luis Bravo to attend the Tuesday...

A table at a coffe shop seems the ideal place to solve the problems of the world, to catch up with the latest gossip and to passionately chat...

A year ago, in a concurrence of circumstances, I was introduced to the world of Argentine Tango. I had no idea at the time, that I was...

Five years after it first came to San Francisco, Forever Tango returned to the Theater on the Square with joy and happiness for the...

As I write my piece for the cover story, about the five years of life of El Firulete, my heart is full of emotions as the memories flash by...
The first time I saw El Firulete was mid week at the 1995 Stanford Tango Week. It appeared on a table in a messy pile of local flyers. It stood...

Those who undertake the endless journey on the path of the tango, travel through well-known avenues where the emotions intersect...

The year was 1718, the occasion a one way cruise; the skipper was Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur de Iberville, his mate, brother Jean-Baptiste...

Recently a film crew of RAI, the Italian Television Network was in Buenos Aires to interview Diego Maradona, the mothers...

As a first time visitor to Buenos Aires, and a personality in the Tango world and as a foreign woman, every person in Buenos Aires...



Tell us what you think about the new look, please...
CONTACT US

El Firulete | Tango Lyrics | Tutorial | Contacts | TangoLinks |
Website designed by Planet Tango Visual Consultants - Copyright (c) Planet Tango 1998-2011 All Rights Reserved
Mail inquiries to, 808 Washington Ave - New Orleans, LA 70130 - (504) 535-3614
Reports to, webmaster@planet-tango.com
Last update, 12/29/11mac