Fabrice Knecht Tango DJ
Fabrice Knecht Tango DJ
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Orchestra
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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.
Triste flor de tango is a Tango written by Carlos Bahr and composed by Enrique Mario Francini.
The lyrics of “Triste flor de tango” narrate the emotional and tumultuous life of a woman enthralled by the passionate and sometimes perilous world of tango. The “mirage of tango” initially seduces her, leading to a life where her paths are twisted by the vertigo of dance and sweet words (halagos) that intoxicate like alcohol. As she becomes fully immersed in the dance, both physically and emotionally, she finds herself lost, misled by a dancer, symbolizing a lover or perhaps the dance itself as an entity.
In “Triste flor de tango,” the author uses potent symbols to convey emotional depth. The repeated references to “flor de tango” signify the woman as a flower—a natural, beautiful, yet transient and delicate being, deeply intertwined with the essence of tango. She blooms in this milieu, but also wilts under its pressures. The bandoneón, a quintessential instrument in tango music, is personified as her “comrade,” reflecting its fundamental role in defining her life’s rhythm. The dance floor becomes a place not just of physical dance, but of emotional play, where love and pain entangle irrevocably.
“Triste flor de tango” was written and recorded in 1953, a period when tango music was undergoing significant evolution in Argentina. Post-World War II, Argentine society was marked by rapid urbanization and changing social norms, particularly in cities like Buenos Aires where tango music thrived and evolved. The music and dance were expressions of deeper social and personal upheavals, and Bahr’s lyrics poignantly capture this: the lure and disillusionment of city life, the intermingling of joy and sorrow, and the search for identity in a rapidly changing world. The story of the woman in the song reflects the larger narrative of those trying to find their place in this new urban landscape.
Carlos Bahr was a prolific Argentine lyricist known for his contributions to the tango genre, profoundly capturing the spirit and complexities of mid-20th-century Argentine life.