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.
Mañanitas de Montmartre is a Tango written by Roberto Fugazot, Agustín Irusta and composed by Lucio Demare.
The song recounts the melancholic and nostalgic reflections of a speaker reminiscing about the days spent in Montmartre, a notable artistic district in Paris. In these lyrics, the speaker narrates how youthful naivety led to wasted years amid the grey mornings of Montmartre, now a painful yet passionate memory. The song intertwines personal regret with a broader lament for a lost lover, personified as a woman whose life drifts towards inevitable despair and moral decline.
The phrase “Las grises mañanitas de Montmartre” uses Montmartre as a symbol of youth and folly, with ‘grises’ (grey) alluding to the somber or melancholic tint of past experiences. The morning in Montmartre represents a formative period, charged with passion and emotion, yet ultimately fading into grey. The song also employs nautical imagery to describe the woman’s life as a “frágil barca” (fragile boat) subject to shipwreck, symbolizing vulnerability and life’s precariousness. Moreover, the recurrent snowfall in the narrative symbolizes coldness and the harsh consequences of life choices, falling on her “acongojada alma” (sorrowful soul).
Recorded in 1928, “Mañanitas de Montmartre” emerges during a vibrant period of Tango’s international reach and the blossoming of cultural exchanges between Paris and Buenos Aires. Montmartre, known for its bohemian lifestyle and as a haven for artists and writers, acts as a backdrop portraying the universal themes of youth’s frivolity and the inevitable passage to adulthood. This connects well with the 1920s societal context, a time marked by both the aftermath of World War I and the frivolity preceding the Great Depression. The coupling of these themes in the lyrics underscores a global resonance with emotional and cultural dislocation.
Roberto Fugazot and Agustín Irusta were prominent figures in the golden era of Tango, contributing significantly as lyricists and musicians to the genre.