Ástor Pantaleón Piazzolla was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina in 1921 to immigrant Italian parents, Piazzolla spent most of his childhood with his family in New York City. While there, he acquired fluency in four languages: Spanish, English, French, and Italian. He also started playing the bandoneon, quickly rising to the status of child prodigy. While still quite young, he met Carlos Gardel, another great figure of Argentine tango. He returned to Argentina in 1937, where strictly traditional tango still reigned, and played in night clubs with a series of groups. The pianist Arthur Rubinstein (then living in Buenos Aires) advised him to study with the Argentine composer Alberto Ginastera. Delving into scores of Stravinsky, Bartók, Ravel, and others, he gave up tango temporarily and worked as a modernist classical composer.
At Ginastera's urging, in 1953 Piazzolla entered his "Buenos Aires" Symphony in a composition contest, and won a grant from the French government to study in Paris with the French composer and conductor Nadia Boulanger. The insightful Boulanger turned his life around in a day, as Piazzolla tells beautifully in his own words:
"When I met her, I showed her my kilos of symphonies and sonatas. She started to read them and suddenly came out with a horrible sentence: ‘It's very well written.’ And stopped, with a big period, round like a soccer ball. After a long while, she said: “Here you are like Stravinsky, like Bartók, like Ravel, but you know what happens? I can't find Piazzolla in this.” And she began to investigate my private life: what I did, what I did and did not play, if I was single, married, or living with someone, she was like an FBI agent! And I was very ashamed to tell her that I was a tango musician. Finally I said, “I play in a ‘night club.’” I didn't want to say “cabaret.” And she answered, “Night club, mais oui, but that is a cabaret, isn't it?” “Yes,” I answered, and thought, “I'll hit this woman in the head with a radio....” It wasn't easy to lie to her.
She kept asking: “You say that you are not pianist. What instrument do you play, then?” And I didn't want to tell her that I was a bandoneon player, because I thought, “Then she will throw me from the fourth floor.” Finally, I confessed and she asked me to play some bars of a tango of my own. She suddenly opened her eyes, took my hand and told me: “You idiot, that's Piazzolla!” And I took all the music I composed, ten years of my life, and sent it to hell in two seconds."
Piazzolla returned to Argentina in 1955, formed the Octeto Buenos Aires to play tangos, and never looked back.
Upon introducing his new approach to the tango (nuevo tango), he became a controversial figure among Argentines both musically and politically. The Argentine saying "in Argentina everything may change — except the tango" suggests some of the resistance he found in his native land. However, his music gained acceptance in Europe and North America, and his reworking of the tango was embraced by some liberal segments of Argentine society, who were pushing for political changes in parallel to his musical revolution.
During the period of Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, Piazzolla lived in France, but returned many times to Argentina, recorded there, and on at least one occasion had lunch with the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla. However, his relationship with the dictator might have been less than friendly, as recounted in Astor Piazzolla, A manera de Memorias (a comprehensive collection of interviews, constituting a memoir):
In 1990 he suffered a thrombosis in Paris and he passed away two years later in Buenos Aires.
Piazzolla's nuevo tango was distinct from the traditional tango in its incorporation of elements of jazz, its use of extended harmonies and dissonance, its use of counterpoint, and its ventures into extended compositional forms. Piazzolla also introduced new instruments that were not used in the traditional tango, including the flute, saxophone, electric guitar, electronic instruments, and a full jazz/rock drum kit.
Piazzolla played with numerous ensembles beginning with the 1946 Orchestra, the 1955 "Octeto Buenos Aires", the 1960 "First Quintet", the 1971 "Noneto", the 1978 "Second Quintet" and the 1989 "Sextet". As well as providing original compositions and arrangements, he was the director and Bandoneon player in all of them. He also recorded an album with jazz sax player Gerry Mulligan. His numerous compositions include orchestral work such as the "Concierto para Bandoneón, Orquesta, Cuerdas y Percusión", "Doble-Concierto para Bandoneón y Guitarra", "Tres Tangos Sinfónicos" and "Concierto de Nácar para 9 Tanguistas y Orquesta", as well as song-form compositions that still today are well known by the general public in his country, like "Balada para un loco" (Ballad for a madman) and "Adiós Nonino" (dedicated to his father) which he recorded many times with different musicians and ensembles. Biographers estimate that Piazzolla wrote around 3,000 pieces and recorded around 500.
He suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in Paris on 4 August 1990, which left him in a coma, and died in Buenos Aires, just under two years later on 4 July 1992, without regaining consciousness.
other albums not listed here
~ The Birth of Tango Nuevo, Vol. 1 - Sinfonia de Tango
~ Mis 30 Mejores Tangos
~ Piazzolla Interpreta A. Piazzolla (Original Album - Remastered)
~ Ensayos
~ Tiempo Nuevo
~ Se Armó
~ El Milrago - The Early Recordings, Vol. 2 (Astor Piazzolla With His First Own Orchestra, So Called 1946 Band.)
~ Tango Moderno
Barrio de Tango
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Durmiendose al costado del terraplen.
Un farol balanceando en la barrera
Y el misterio de adiós que siembra el tren.
Un ladrido de perros a la luna,
El amor escondido en un porton,
Y los sapos redoblando en la laguna
Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
Calles lejanas, como estaran!
Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo
Que se habran hecho, que es lo que haran!
Barrio de tango, que fue de aquella
Juana, la rubia que tanto ame,
Sabra que sufro, pensando en ella,
Desde la tarde en que la deje...
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
Desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver!
Un coro de silbidos, alla en la esquina.
El codillo llenando el almacen.
Y el dramon de la palida vecina
Que ya nunca salio a mirar el tren.
Asi evoco tus noches, barrio 'e tango,
Con las chatas entrando al corralon
Y la luna chapalendo sobre el fango
Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.
The lyrics of Astor Piazzolla's song, Barrio de Tango, provide a vivid account of the suburban life of Buenos Aires in the 1940s. The song describes a neighborhood in Pompeya, a southern district of Buenos Aires, with a railway line cutting through it, and a sense of mystery, nostalgia, and melancholy permeating throughout the environment. The first verse paints a picture of the local ambiance with a lamplight flickering on the railway barrier, the howling of dogs, the love affairs hiding behind the closed doors, and the sound of toads croaking in the nearby pond. And, as the night deepens, the sound of bandoneón, a type of Argentine concertina that became synonymous with the tango music, echoes through the neighborhood, blending with the soulful tunes of the city.
In the second verse, the singer looks back at the past with regret and affection, reminiscing about old friends, asking about lost love, and wondering how they have fared in life. He also recalls the common scenes of his neighborhood, such as the rowdy gatherings at the corner, the meat sold at the local store, and the sad story of a neighbor who had given up on everything and stopped watching the trains. Through these images, Piazzolla evokes the nostalgia and longing for a lost place and time, which are a recurring theme in tango music. The song's title, Barrio de Tango, suggests that this place was not just any suburb but a focal point of the tradition and culture of Argentine tango, which was later elevated to the status of a national symbol.
Line by Line Meaning
Un pedazo de barrio, alla en Pompeya,
A part of the neighborhood, there in Pompeya
Durmiéndose al costado del terraplén.
Sleeping on the side of the embankment.
Un farol balanceando en la barrera
A lantern swaying on the barrier.
Y el misterio de adiós que siembra el tren.
And the mystery of goodbye that the train sows.
Un ladrido de perros a la luna,
A howl of dogs at the moon,
El amor escondido en un portón,
Love hidden behind a gate,
Y los sapos redoblando en la laguna
And the toads beating in the lagoon,
Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.
And in the distance, the voice of the bandoneón.
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
Neighborhood of tango, moon, and mystery,
Calles lejanas, como estarán!
Distant streets, how will they be!
Viejos amigos que hoy ni recuerdo
Old friends whom I no longer remember,
Que se habrán hecho, que es lo que harán!
What have they become, what will they do!
Barrio de tango, que fue de aquella
Neighborhood of tango, what became of that
Juana, la rubia que tanto amé,
Juana, the blonde whom I loved so much,
Sabrá que sufro, pensando en ella,
Will she know that I suffer, thinking of her,
Desde la tarde en que la dejé...
Since the afternoon when I left her...
Barrio de tango, luna y misterio,
Neighborhood of tango, moon, and mystery,
Desde el recuerdo te vuelvo a ver!
From memory, I see you again!
Un coro de silbidos, allá en la esquina.
A chorus of whistles, there on the corner.
El codillo llenando el almacén.
The ham hock filling up the store.
Y el dramón de la pálida vecina
And the drama of the pale neighbor
Que ya nunca salió a mirar el tren.
Who never went out to watch the train.
Así evoco tus noches, barrio 'e tango,
Thus I evoke your nights, neighborhood of tango,
Con las chatas entrando al corralón
With the wagons entering the enclosure,
Y la luna chapaleando sobre el fango
And the moon splashing on the mud
Y a lo lejos la voz del bandoneón.
And in the distance, the voice of the bandoneón.
Writer(s): Homero Manzione, Anibal Troilo
Contributed by Victoria Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Noviembre Oficial
Excelente chicos , un abrazo gigante
Marcos Sierra
Vamos Barrio de Tango!!! Muchos éxitos maestros!!!
Barrio de Tango Quartet
Marcos Sierra : Muchisimas gracias !!!