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
Dando Vueltas En El Aire
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cada vez que estamos bien
Cada vez que lo encontramos
Lo volvemos a perder
Cada salto en el vacío es una cuestión de fe
Nunca nada se repite como la primera vez
Cada vez que te lo pido
Cada vez que vos llamás
Cada rasgo enloquecido
Cada foto de mamá
Cada síntoma en el cuerpo
Cada golpe de verdad
Cada vez estoy más lejos
Pero bien lejos de acá
Y siempre nos quedamos solos
Y voy a salir a buscar
Y voy a salir a pegar
Vueltas y vueltas y vueltas en el aire
Van quedando pocos trapos
No me importan cuantos van
Ya no se ni donde vivo
Ya no sé donde parar
Empecé a moverme un poco
No es cuestión de estar tan mal
Lo que no puedo explicarme
Ya lo voy a transpirar
Que se queden cosas
Que se queden ahí atrás
Que se queden con su mundo
Yo no me voy as enfermar más
Volviendo a vos
creo que lo que mejor sería es cambiar de tema
No me importa
Ni que entiendas ni que juzgues
Ni que hables o que mientas
Siempre nos quedamos solos
Y voy a salir a buscar
Voy a salir a pegar
Vueltas y vueltas y vueltas en el aire
The lyrics to Astor Piazzolla's "Dando Vueltas En El Aire" explore the tumultuous and cyclical nature of relationships. The opening verse sets the tone, with the singer recognizing that every time they fight, every time they're happy, and every time they find what they're looking for, they end up losing it all over again. This sets the stage for the rest of the song, which is peppered with vivid imagery and themes of isolation, desperation, and the search for meaning.
The chorus, which repeats several times throughout the song, creates a sense of disorientation and vulnerability. The lines "vueltas y vueltas y vueltas en el aire" ("circles and circles and circles in the air") suggest a lack of control and the feeling of being lost in space. The singer acknowledges that they are increasingly estranged from the one they love, but they are determined to keep moving forward, even if it means taking risks and experiencing pain.
The final lines of the song offer a sense of resolve and hopefulness. The singer declares that they will move on from the past, leaving "things" and "worlds" behind. They claim agency over their own life and emotions, asserting that they will not allow themselves to get sick again. Overall, "Dando Vueltas En El Aire" is a powerful and emotional exploration of what it means to be human and to experience love and loss.
Line by Line Meaning
Cada vez que nos peleamos
Every time we fight
Cada vez que estamos bien
Every time we are good
Cada vez que lo encontramos
Every time we find it
Lo volvemos a perder
We lose it again
Cada salto en el vacío es una cuestión de fe
Every leap of faith is a question
Nunca nada se repite como la primera vez
Nothing ever repeats like the first time
Y siempre nos quedamos solos, solos
And we always stay alone, alone
Cada vez que te lo pido
Every time I ask you
Cada vez que vos llamás
Every time you call
Cada rasgo enloquecido
Every frantic trait
Cada foto de mamá
Every photo of mom
Cada síntoma en el cuerpo
Every symptom in the body
Cada golpe de verdad
Every true blow
Cada vez estoy más lejos
Every time I'm further away
Pero bien lejos de acá
But far away from here
Y siempre nos quedamos solos
And we always stay alone
Y voy a salir a buscar
And I'm going to go out and search
Y voy a salir a pegar
And I'm going to go out and hit
Vueltas y vueltas y vueltas en el aire
Spinning and spinning in the air
Van quedando pocos trapos
There are few rags left
No me importan cuantos van
I don't care how many go
Ya no se ni donde vivo
I don't even know where I live
Ya no sé donde parar
I don't know where to stop
Empecé a moverme un poco
I started to move a little
No es cuestión de estar tan mal
It's not a matter of being so bad
Lo que no puedo explicarme
What I can't explain
Ya lo voy a transpirar
I will sweat it out
Que se queden cosas
Let things stay
Que se queden ahí atrás
Let them stay behind
Que se queden con su mundo
Let them stay with their world
Yo no me voy as enfermar más
I'm not going to get sick anymore
Volviendo a vos
Returning to you
creo que lo que mejor sería es cambiar de tema
I think it would be best to change the subject
No me importa
It doesn't matter to me
Ni que entiendas ni que juzgues
Whether you understand or judge
Ni que hables o que mientas
Whether you talk or lie
Siempre nos quedamos solos
And we always stay alone
Y voy a salir a buscar
And I'm going to go out and search
Voy a salir a pegar
I'm going to go out and hit
Vueltas y vueltas y vueltas en el aire
Spinning and spinning in the air
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Written by: FITO PAEZ, RODOLFO PAEZ
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind