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Argentine Tango School

“Mi castigo” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1942.

“Mi castigo” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1942.

César Vedani, Argentine Tango lyricist.

César Vedani

Lyricist (23 August 1906 – 14 April 1979)

César Vedani’s best-known tango is “Adiós muchachos”, published at the beginning of his career.

Then he released other successes, among which we can count “Mi castigo”.

He collaborated in some newspapers and had an outstanding performance on the board of the Argentine Union of Lyricists and Composers SADAIC in the most prosperous moments of the entity.

Read more about César Vedani at www.todotango.com

Listen and buy:

  • Amazon music

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We are happy to have a collaboration with the people from tangotunes.com from whom some of you may have heard, they do high-quality transfers from original tango shellacs.

It is the number 1 source for professional Tango DJs all over the world.

  • Now they started a new project that addresses the dancers and the website is https://en.mytango.online
    You will find two compilations at the beginning, one tango and one vals compilation in amazing quality.
    The price is 50€ each (for 32 songs each compilation) and now the good news!

If you enter the promo code 8343 when you register at this site you will get a 20% discount!

Thanks for supporting this project, you will find other useful information on the site, a great initiative.

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“Tu diagnóstico” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

“Tu diagnóstico” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

José Betinotti, payador of 1910. Argentine Tango music.

José Betinotti

Guitarist, singer lyricist and composer (25 July 1878 – 21 April 1915)

The classic payador was the one of the rural areas, the one who traveled across the towns of the interior and the country taverns in order to contest with the well-known local peers.

He used to do it for the sake of pleasure and his reward was: food and shelter.

Instead we can call Betinotti –and some other of his time- an urban payador.

The one who, preferably, does not get out of his town, but prowls around the outskirts of town and, from time to time agrees to travel to the interior, not in a wandering way but with an arranged route, after an agreement about the money, or being allowed to organize raffles to raise funds on his own benefit or to sell his photographs.

Read more about the History of Tango

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“Total pa’qué sirvo” by Aníbal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

“Total pa’qué sirvo” by Aníbal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

Aníbal Troilo, as a boy. Argentine Tango musician, leader and composer.

Aníbal Troilo

Bandoneon player, leader and composer. (11 July 1914 – 19 May 1975)

He was spellbound by the bandoneon when he heard its sound at cafés in his neighborhood.

He was ten when he persuaded his mother into buying one for him.

His first encounter with an audience was when he was eleven, on a stage near El Abasto, a noisy market of fruit and vegetables, today transformed into a shopping-center.

In 1941 he started recording with his emblematic singer, Francisco Fiorentino.

As composer, Troilo contributed an extensive number of major works. Among them: “Total pa’qué sirvo”.

Read more about Aníbal Troilo at www.todotango.com

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“Malena” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1942 (English translation).

“Malena” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1942 (English translation).

Music: Lucio Demare. Lyrics: Homero Manzi.

Malena sings the tango like no other
and she puts her heart in every verse.

Her voice perfumes like suburban weeds,
Malena feels the pain of the bandoneón.
Perhaps in her distant youth her lark’s voice
took on that dark back-alley tone,
or perhaps it was that romance that she speaks of
only when she saddens herself with alcohol.
Malena sings the tango with a shadowy voice,
Malena feels the pain of bandoneón.

Your song
has the chill of a last meeting…
your song
becomes bitter in the salt of memories…
I don’t know
if your voice is the bloom of a wound,
I just know
that the sound of your tangos, Malena,
makes me feel that you are better,
better than me.

Your eyes are dark as forgetfulness,
your lips are pressed together like rage,
your hand are two doves that feel a chill,
your veins pump the blood of the bandoneón.
Your tangos are abandoned creatures
that pass through the back-alley mud.
When all the doors are closed
and the ghosts of song weep,
Malena sings the tango with a broken voice,
Malena feels the pain of the bandoneón.

Note: this translation was found by Suzanne Metcalfe in https://lyricstranslate.com. Thank you Suzanne for sharing it.

More Argentine Tango lyrics

Listen and buy:

  • Amazon music

  • iTunes music

  • Spotify

We are happy to have a collaboration with the people from tangotunes.com from whom some of you may have heard, they do high-quality transfers from original tango shellacs.

It is the number 1 source for professional Tango DJs all over the world.

  • Now they started a new project that addresses the dancers and the website is https://en.mytango.online
    You will find two compilations at the beginning, one tango and one vals compilation in amazing quality.
    The price is 50€ each (for 32 songs each compilation) and now the good news!

If you enter the promo code 8343 when you register at this site you will get a 20% discount!

Thanks for supporting this project, you will find other useful information on the site, a great initiative.

Ver este artículo en español

More Argentine Tango music selected for you:

We have lots more music and history

How to dance to this music?

“Maragata” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

“Maragata” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Francisco Fiorentino in vocals, 1941.

Anibal Troilo & Francisco Fiorentino, Argentine Tango music.

Francisco Martino

Guitarist, singer, composer and dancer (6 June 1884 – 25 May 1938)

There was no criollo gathering or gaucho ensemble in Buenos Aires and its outskirts that did not count him as one of its great entertainers since 1900, since as a child he began in the art of footwork and very soon afterward, the secrets of the guitar to accompany himself singing first and then serve their inspiration, in styles, figures, and milongas.

Already in his first adventures, Carlos Gardel recorded the style “El Sueño”, his original work, in 1912, on Columbia records, and over time he did the same with “Maragata”.

Martino died in 1938, but three years after his death, Aníbal Troilo, who deeply admired Carlos Gardel and wanted his orchestra to sound like the voice of the Morocho, adapted this tune in time of tango and made a wonderful creation with the priceless intonation by Francisco Fiorentino.

Read more about Francisco Martino at www.todotango.com

Listen and buy:

  • Amazon music

  • iTunes music

  • Spotify

We are happy to have a collaboration with the people from tangotunes.com from whom some of you may have heard, they do high-quality transfers from original tango shellacs.

It is the number 1 source for professional Tango DJs all over the world.

  • Now they started a new project that addresses the dancers and the website is https://en.mytango.online
    You will find two compilations at the beginning, one tango and one vals compilation in amazing quality.
    The price is 50€ each (for 32 songs each compilation) and now the good news!

If you enter the promo code 8343 when you register at this site you will get a 20% discount!

Thanks for supporting this project, you will find other useful information on the site, a great initiative.

Ver este artículo en español

More Argentine Tango music selected for you:

We have lots more music and history

How to dance to this music?