Fabrice Knecht Tango DJ
Fabrice Knecht Tango DJ
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These Tangos, Valses, and Milongas were recorded around the same time. Take a look to discover what else this orchestra—or others—may have recorded during the same week or even on the exact same day.
La mariposa is a Tango written by Celedonio Flores and composed by Pedro Maffia.
The Tango song “La Mariposa” delves deep into themes of love, betrayal, and sorrow. The lyrics tell the story of a man reflecting on a past relationship, where his deep affection met with the indifference and deceit of his lover. He expresses not regret for having loved deeply but is pained by his beloved’s forgetfulness and betrayal, which plunged him into “amargo llanto” (bitter crying). The metaphor of a butterfly, used to describe the fleeting and damaging actions of his lover, portrays her moving from one love to another, leaving a trail of heartache. As he recounts his sincere, yet ultimately harmful, love and the solitude he faced post-betrayal, a complex image of love’s darker aftermath is painted.
The primary symbol in this Tango, the butterfly (“La mariposa”), represents fleeting beauty and the capriciousness of the narrator’s lover. She moves from one relationship to another as a butterfly might flit from one flower to another, sipping the nectar without considering the consequences. This imagery not only highlights the transient and sometimes superficial nature of her affections but also serves as a caution to her future lovers. Flores’s choice of words like “engañadora” (deceiver) and “traidora” (traitress), combined with the delicate but potentially destructive nature of a butterfly, deepens the lyrical portrayal of emotional betrayal and its impacts.
Created in 1930, “La Mariposa” reflects the rich cultural era of Tango in Argentina, a time when Tango music and dance were pivotal in expressing the emotional and social narratives of the people. The period was marked by social changes and a blossoming of the arts, with Tango often depicting themes of love, loss, and betrayal, common amongst the working-class barrios. The inclusion of street-level colloquialism and the depiction of everyday struggles through the Tango’s storyline offered a resonant voice that mirrored the listener’s own experiences and emotions. This song, like others of its time, provides a window into the emotional landscape of the Argentine populace during an era of intense cultural expression and social dynamics.
Celedonio Flores was a renowned Argentine poet and Tango lyricist known for his deep and evocative depiction of urban life and sentiments in his works.