by Derrick del Pilar

There are dancers’ singers, whose voices cause eyes to dart around the milonga, feet to tap restlessly, and fingers to drum on tabletops. There are singers’ singers, whose voices are best enjoyed at home, ensconced in a wing chair, perhaps with a snifter of good brandy in hand. And then there are the truly great singers, whose voices simultaneously pluck our heartstrings and impel our bodies to dance.

One of these rare titans of tango is still singing Buenos Aires—and he will soon grace our shining seacoasts with his presence, backed up by Alex Krebs’s orchestra, a bridge connecting us to the Golden Age. I am speaking, of course, of the inimitable Alberto Podestá. Before he was even twenty years old, he had recorded classics with Caló, Di Sarli, and Laurenz, timeless pieces that we tirelessly dance to this day.

This list includes but a few of the myriad excellent songs that Podestá recorded in the Golden Age—there are many more that are equally worthy, like “No está,” which was on my first list of tangazos.

by Derrick Del Pilar

Scottish statesman Andrew Fletcher famously wrote, “...if a man were permitted to make all the ballads, he need not care who should make the laws of a nation,” or, as I like to put it, I don’t give a damn who makes the rules as long as I get to write the songs. Or at least translate some of them and present them to you.

Many popular songs and ballads have heroes, (and anti-heroes) whose trials, tribulations, antics, and exploits reflect either the community’s real experiences, or the ideal lives they construct for themselves. Here are just a few from the porteño realm of tango, for your listening and dancing pleasure.

La maleva

There are so many powerful and amazing women out on the dance floors of the world—but often the way women are portrayed in tango lyrics is not exactly inspiring. As you’ll see below, when they are not jilting their men, women in tango lyrics are often victims either of his caprices or destiny and disease.