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
Rinascero
Astor Piazzolla Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
In una sera di giugno
Con questa voglia di amare
O di vivere più che mai
Rinascerò destino
Nell'anno 3001
Sarò una festa di colori
Nella mia bella città
I cani randagi
Abbaieranno alla mia ombra
Col mio modesto bagaglio
Giungerò all′aldilà
E inginocchiato sulla riva
Del mare trasparente
Un cuore nuovo di sale
E fango mi plasmerò
Verranno un vagabondo
Un pagliaccio e un mago
I miei immortali compagni
Diranno forza su
Così! Così! Coraggio fratello
Nasci che è duro
Ma difficile il lavoro di morire
E di rinascere poi
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
E una gran voce extraterrestre mi darà
La forza grande pura che mi servirà
Ritonerò, ricrederò e lotterò
E un fiore rosso all'occhiello porterò
E se nessuno e mai rinato, io potrò
Paese mio, secolo trenta, tu vedrai
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
Rinascerò dalle cose
Che ho amato molto tanto
Quando le ombre della casa
Diranno piano qui
Io bacerò il ricordo
Dei tuoi occhi taciturni
Per teminare il poema
Che tralascerai a metà
Rinascerò dalla frutta
Di un mercato rionale
E dalla sciocca atmosfera
Di un romantico caffè
E dalle rovine di un piccolo
Paese terremotato
E dalla rabbia della gente
Del sud rinascerò
Vedrai che rinasco
Nell'anno 3001
Con gente che non c′è stata
Ma che allora ci sarà
Benediremo la terra
Terra mia, te lo giuro
Che questo paese di nuovo
Insieme si fonderà e poi
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
E una gran voce extraterrestre mi darà
La forza grande pura che mi servirà
Ritonerò, ricrederò e lotterò
E un fiore rosso all′occhiello porterò
E se nessuno e mai rinato, io potrò
Paese mio, secolo trenta, tu vedrai
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
In the song "Rinascero," Astor Piazzolla expresses a desire to be reborn, to start anew, with a heart full of love and a will to live more than ever before. He imagines himself being reincarnated in the year 3001, where he will bring a celebratory burst of colors to his beautiful city. The singer feels the presence of his immortal companions; a vagabond, a clown, and a magician, who cheer him on and remind him of the hard work involved in dying and being reborn. He believes that a great extraterrestrial voice will give him the pure strength he needs to come back to life and bring a red flower as a symbol of his triumph over death.
Piazzolla also speaks of the things that he will be reborn from, including the memories of the things he has loved, the fruits of the local market, the romantic atmosphere of a café, and even the ruins of a town destroyed by an earthquake. He promises to kiss the memory of his silent-eyed loved ones to complete the poem they left unfinished. And he vows to return to his country, to merge it once again, as he was today, with the people of the future.
Overall, the song "Rinascero" is a hopeful and optimistic view of death and reincarnation. The lyrics suggest that death is not the end but a beginning, a chance for rebirth, renewal, and growth.
Line by Line Meaning
Io rinascerò un′altra volta
I will be reborn again
In una sera di giugno
On an evening in June
Con questa voglia di amare
With this desire to love
O di vivere più che mai
Or to live more than ever
Rinascerò destino
Destiny will be reborn
Nell'anno 3001
In the year 3001
Sarò una festa di colori
I will be a celebration of colors
Nella mia bella città
In my beautiful city
I cani randagi
The stray dogs
Abbaieranno alla mia ombra
Will bark at my shadow
Col mio modesto bagaglio
With my modest luggage
Giungerò all′aldilà
I will arrive in the afterlife
E inginocchiato sulla riva
And kneeling on the shore
Del mare trasparente
Of the transparent sea
Un cuore nuovo di sale
A new heart of salt
E fango mi plasmerò
And I will mold myself from mud
Verranno un vagabondo
A wanderer will come
Un pagliaccio e un mago
A clown and a magician
I miei immortali compagni
My immortal companions
Diranno forza su
They will say, 'strength up'
Così! Così! Coraggio fratello
So! So! Courage, brother
Nasci che è duro
Born, because it's hard
Ma difficile il lavoro di morire
But it's hard work to die
E di rinascere poi
And to be reborn then
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
I will be reborn, I will be reborn, I will be reborn
E una gran voce extraterrestre mi darà
And a great extraterrestrial voice will give me
La forza grande pura che mi servirà
The great pure strength that I will need
Ritonerò, ricrederò e lotterò
I will return, I will reconsider and I will fight
E un fiore rosso all'occhiello porterò
And I will wear a red flower on my lapel
E se nessuno e mai rinato, io potrò
And if no one has ever been reborn, I can
Paese mio, secolo trenta, tu vedrai
My country, 21st century, you will see
Rinascerò, rinascerò, rinascerò
I will be reborn, I will be reborn, I will be reborn
Rinascerò dalle cose
I will be reborn from the things
Che ho amato molto tanto
That I have loved so much
Quando le ombre della casa
When the shadows of the house
Diranno piano qui
Will whisper gently here
Io bacerò il ricordo
I will kiss the memory
Dei tuoi occhi taciturni
Of your silent eyes
Per teminare il poema
To finish the poem
Che tralascerai a metà
That you left unfinished
Rinascerò dalla frutta
I will be reborn from the fruit
Di un mercato rionale
Of a local market
E dalla sciocca atmosfera
And from the foolish atmosphere
Di un romantico caffè
Of a romantic café
E dalle rovine di un piccolo
And from the ruins of a small
Paese terremotato
Earthquake-stricken town
E dalla rabbia della gente
And from the anger of the people
Del sud rinascerò
I will be reborn from the south
Vedrai che rinasco
You'll see that I'm reborn
Nell'anno 3001
In the year 3001
Con gente che non c′è stata
With people who haven't been there
Ma che allora ci sarà
But who will be there then
Benediremo la terra
We will bless the earth
Terra mia, te lo giuro
My land, I swear to you
Che questo paese di nuovo
That this country again
Insieme si fonderà e poi
Will come together and then
Contributed by Christopher M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.