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
Chiquilín de Bachín
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
de angelito con bluyín
vende rosas en las mesas
del boliche de Bachín
Si la luna brilla
sobre la parilla
come luna y pan de hollín
Cada día en su tristeza
que no quiere amanecer
lo madruga un seis de enero
con la estrella del revés
y tres reyes gatos
roban sus zapatos
uno izquierdo y el otro ¡también!
Chiquilín
dame un ramo de voz
así salgo a vender
mis vergüenzas en flor
baleame con tres rosas
que duelan a cuenta
del hambre que no te entendí
Chiquilín
Cuando el sol pone a los pibes
delantales de aprender
él aprende cuánto cero
le quedaba por saber
Y a su madre mira
yira que te yira
pero no la quiere ver
Cada día, en la basura
con un pan y un tallarín
se fabrica un barrilete
para irse ¡y sigue aquí!
Es un hombre extraño
niño de mil años
que por dentro le enreda el piolín
Chiquilín
dame un ramo de voz
así salgo a vender
mis vergüenzas en flor
Baleame con tres rosas
que duelan a cuenta
del hambre que no te entendí
Chiquilín
The lyrics of Astor Piazzolla's Chiquilín De Bachin tells the story of a young boy named Chiquilín who sells roses at a bar owned by Bachín. He is described as having a dirty face, wearing jeans, and having an angelic appearance. He struggles with poverty and loneliness, and his only solace seems to be his ability to sell flowers in hopes of earning enough money to get by. The despair in Chiquilín's life is emphasized through his encounters with three cats who steal his shoes, leaving him vulnerable and unprotected.
Throughout the song, there is a sense of melancholy that is felt strongly in the lyrics. Chiquilín is depicted as a lost soul, searching for something to hold onto in order to survive. His requests for "a bouquet of voice" and to "shoot him with three roses" signify his longing for connection and communication, even if it is through flowers. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a young boy who is struggling to find his place in a harsh world.
Overall, Chiquilín De Bachin is a hauntingly beautiful song that touches on themes of poverty, loneliness, and the human need for connection.
Line by Line Meaning
Por las noches, caras sucias
de angelito con bluyín
vende rosas en las mesas
del boliche de Bachín
At night, with dirty faces
of angels wearing blue jeans,
he sells roses on the tables
of Bachín's club.
Si la luna brilla
sobre la parrilla
come luna y pan de hollín
If the moon shines
over the grill,
he eats moon and soot bread.
Cada día en su tristeza
que no quiere amanecer
lo madruga un seis de enero
con la estrella del revés
y tres reyes gatos
roban sus zapatos
uno izquierdo y el otro ¡también!
Every day in his sadness,
not wanting to wake up,
he's woken up on January 6th
even though the star is upside down,
and three cat kings
steal his shoes,
one left and the other, too!
Chiquilín
dame un ramo de voz
así salgo a vender
mis vergüenzas en flor
baleame con tres rosas
que duelan a cuenta
del hambre que no te entendí
Chiquilín
Little boy,
give me a bouquet of voice,
so I can go sell
my embarrassments in bloom.
Shoot me with three roses
that hurt on account
of the hunger I didn't understand.
Little boy.
Cuando el sol pone a los pibes
delantales de aprender
él aprende cuánto cero
le quedaba por saber
Y a su madre mira
yira que te yira
pero no la quiere ver
When the sun puts learning aprons
on the boys,
he learns how much zero
he still has left to learn.
And he looks at his mother
turning and turning,
but he doesn't want to see her.
Cada día, en la basura
con un pan y un tallarín
se fabrica un barrilete
para irse ¡y sigue aquí!
Es un hombre extraño
niño de mil años
que por dentro le enreda el piolín
Every day, in the garbage,
with a piece of bread and noodle,
he makes himself a kite
to leave... but he's still here!
He's a strange man,
a child of a thousand years,
whose string gets tangled inside.
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: Astor Pantaleon Piazzolla, Horacio Ferrer
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@melperry3576
this is my xmas present
@user-rr1rf4ew1n
Спасибо
@tachikararules
Rusanda is my favorite violinist. I just can't say or get enough of her contribution to the world ❤
@chmorena
soy de Mar del Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina... ciudad natal de Astor Piazzolla. Gracias por lo que hacen.. es increible
@joyfulfishman5445
I literally cannot believe how moving and beautiful this music is, I’m so happy all three of you were alive to make this recording. Thank you so much for sharing and please never stop making music
@hamwhacker
Stunning ladies, thank you so much. It feels so alive like we are there with you. Such a beautiful location which you made feel even more special.
@konzerteimmozarthaus2766
Wie immer Spitze. Wunderschön.
@jmardinly
Piazzolla masterpiece masterfully performed.
@cristiano8882
Interpretação sensacional desse clássico do maestro Piazzola!!!
@Supertoteman
Exquisita interpretación de esta obra maestra de A.Piazzola. Maravilloso 👍👍