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Argentine Tango School

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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?

“La puñalada” by Juan D’Arienzo y su Orquesta Típica, 1937.

“La puñalada” by Juan D’Arienzo y su Orquesta Típica, 1937.

Pintín Castellanos

Pianist, composer, lyricist and leader (June 10, 1905 – July 2, 1983)

In 1933 an event that would change his life happened in a night club of Carrasco where he played the piano.

One night he offered the audience a new number of his, a tango that he had entitled “La puñalada” with a certain milonga air.

In that number all his fame would be based.

In the early summer of’36, Juan D’Arienzo —as usual— was ready to begin one more season in Montevideo.

And it was probably his intuition or that of his pianist Rodolfo Biagi —for many, the one responsible for devising the rhythm that made the leader famous— that transformed Castellanos’s tango into a milonga.

Biagi and the violinist Alfredo Mancuso were who transcribed the piece.

Read more about Pintín Castellanos 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?

“Nyanzas y malevos (Barrio de guapos)” by Enrique Rodriguez y su Orquesta Típica with Armando Moreno in vocals, 1941.

“Nyanzas y malevos (Barrio de guapos)” by Enrique Rodriguez y su Orquesta Típica with Armando Moreno in vocals, 1941.

Pintín Castellanos, Argentine Tango musician, leader, lyricist and composer. Portrait at the cover of his book.

Pintín Castellanos

Pianist, composer, lyricist and leader (10 June 1905 – 2 July 1983)

A strange title was the only one that the orchestra leader Enrique Rodríguez included in his repertoire, sung by Armando Moreno, on March 20, 1941: “Nyanzas y Malevos”.

In his book Entre cortes y quebradas, published in Montevideo in 1948, in the chapter VII Día de Reyes, he comments about the party of candombes and other jubilees held by the negroes that were divided in groups called “nations”, each one in charge of a chief.

These differentiated groups were distinguished for their names, they were The Cabindas, The Congo, The Benguelas and among others, also The Nyanzas and The Malevos, hence the title.

Read more about Pintín Castellanos at www.todotango.com

Ver este artículo en español

Listen and buy:

  • Amazon music

  • iTunes music

  • Spotify

More Argentine Tango music selected for you:

We have lots more music and history

How to dance to this music?

“Misa de once” by Alfredo De Angelis y su Orquesta Típica with Julio Martel in vocals, 1949.

“Misa de once” by Alfredo De Angelis y su Orquesta Típica with Julio Martel in vocals, 1949.

Misa de once, original music sheet cover.

Armando Tagini

Lyricist, composer and singer (9 June 1906 – 12 July 1962)

He had the need and the habit of composing.

He himself says: “I take the themes of my songs from life itself, from what I see passing before my eyes, from every impression I pick up when passing by, adding to it my own emotion, when committing it to paper.

Every place is suitable to take notes, that later become verses… I prefer the sentimental genre and especially in tango, that is per se nostalgic, it is more attuned with the temper of our people.

I would dare to say that we, the Argentines are a little romantic…”

Read more about Armando Tagini 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?

“Sólo se quiere una vez” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Floreal Ruiz in vocals, 1946.

“Sólo se quiere una vez” by Anibal Troilo y su Orquesta Típica with Floreal Ruiz in vocals, 1946.

Argentine Tango music vinyl.

Claudio Frollo

Lyricist (8 June 1887 – 20 March 1942)

Enthusiast of  popular music began writing lyrics in 1927.

Dedicated to it definitively, he contributed significant successes such as the tango “Sólo se quiere una vez”.

He was a lawyer and an author. Judge of Instruction in the courts of the Federal Capital for several years, he knew how to reflect in his books, from 1935, the most interesting court anecdotes that he had to deal with closely.

Read more about Claudio Frollo at www.todotango.com

Ver este artículo en español

Listen and buy:

  • Amazon music

  • iTunes music

  • Spotify

More Argentine Tango music selected for you:

We have lots more music and history

How to dance to this music?