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EL FIRULETE
The Argentine Tango E-zine
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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.
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EL DIA QUE ME QUIERAS, Carlos Gardel
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TANGAZOS
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It's not unusual to take for granted
the special
Creator. A good tango dancer listens to the music...
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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...
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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...
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The exaggerated boasting of some
returning travelers and the generous eagerness of foreign visitors have
created in the otherwise...
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She walked into the club with the
typical apprehension of a newcomer and with a body language that
betrayed her efforts to make...
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November is turning out to be a banner
month for Argentine Tango in this country. Take for example the
successful run of Forever Tango...
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A nation that lacks legends, said a
poet, is condemned to freeze to death. It is arguably possible. But the
populace that lacks myths...
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One night PigNumber1 ran into
PigNumber2
and PigNumber3 at a suburban milonga and as it always happens, their
Tango
experiences...
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Like an unsinkable gigantic vessel
steaming across the waters of an inexorable destiny, some people’s
lives proceed night after night...
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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...
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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...
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I always find it rewarding when friends
show a genuine interest in what is underneath the unexplainable
attraction we feel towards the...
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We have become so enthralled with
everything that publicizes and promotes the Argentine Tango to the
general public that we have faile...
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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....
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Many things about Tango and the
underlying contradictions of the porteños are paradoxical and
they can lead to frustration if we...
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Time flies when you are having fun. Far
removed from the stereotypes and clichés that the Argentine
Tango seems
to induce when...
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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...
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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...
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The waiting was becoming uncomfortable.
For days I had been dealing with mixed emotions about a revelation that
came via e-mail. While...
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As we get underway on the new year, we
pause for a moment to contemplate the incredible growth of the
Argentine tango ...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Standing in the living room, we formed
a circle
and held hands. One by one we introduced ourselves. Some came from
Texas,
others...
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This time of the year Tango dancers
become aware of the existence of other people who, curiously enough are
not Tango dancers...
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It's been five years since the "Year of
the Milonguero" was "declared" by the head of the dance department at
Stanford University to...
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First and foremost the Tango was a
dance
back when the common people of Buenos Aires began to dance differently
what
the...
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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...
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For over forty or fifty years, the
dance halls
where Tango is danced in Buenos Aires, continue to enjoy a tradition
that
is widely...
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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...
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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...
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ntelligence, oral articulation and
morality are what set humans apart from animals. That and the fact that
animals can't dance Tango...
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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...
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Another year went by, and the new year
is moving in at a frightening speed. If history repeats itself, we are
now well into...
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Tango has been called the three-minute
romance, and a thriving circle of aficionados says the late-late 20th
century is the right...
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ESSAYS,
CHRONICLES AND ARTICLES ARCHIVES
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Halfway through the decade of the ‘20s,
the period of renovation headed by Julio De Caro, the veterans of the
old guard felt the...
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He will always be remembered by the
contagious and joyful nature of his personality and dancing style. We
hope that his legacy...
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For those who knew Rodolfo Cieri, his
passing earlier this year meant sorrow, sadness and grief. It also
rekindled the sweet memories...
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Francisco Canaro was a promoter and an
ambassador of the Tango, from neighboring Uruguay and Chile to Spain,
France...
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As the new year starts many tangueros
and those curious about the birthplace of the Argentine Tango, start
making travel plans...
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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...
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At Stanford Tango Week 1995, Graciela
Gonzalez became the stuff of mythic proportions. This diminutive
powerhouse...
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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...
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On June 12, 1998 the Tango people of
Buenos Aires packed Salon El Pial to honor Mingo Pugliese's golden
anniversary as a...
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Just like the first generation of
anonymous dancers of the 19th century, the milongueros of the ‘40’s
were motivated merely by the...
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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...
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Shortly before the successful Congreso
Internacional de Tango Argentino held in Bs. As. at the end of March
1999, Fabian...
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Every relationship, whether personal or
professional, goes through the “honeymoon” phase, that special window
of time where...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Five years after it first came to San
Francisco, Forever Tango returned to the Theater on the Square with joy
and happiness for the...
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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...
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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...
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Those who undertake the endless journey
on the path of the tango, travel through well-known avenues where the
emotions intersect...
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The year was 1718, the occasion a one
way cruise; the skipper was Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur de Iberville, his
mate, brother Jean-Baptiste...
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Recently a film crew of RAI, the
Italian Television
Network was in Buenos Aires to interview Diego Maradona, the mothers...
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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...
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