Tango and football

Jesús Castañón Rodríguez

Tango and football. Soccer and tango. Two concepts to describe two kicks to fate that dilate the eye pupils.

Two intricate legs movements to baffle and occasional enemy. Two products of romanticism that idolizes a distant past, a reality longed from the magic of an idyllic childhood or the always elusive moment of happiness.

Tango and football have become an identity marked with its own music, cultural expressions and life styles. They represent the spirit that combines remembrances, exuberant happiness and love for the strains of the language.

However, an initial analysis of the unusual relationships developed during the Century XX, indicates that tango and football have created a diverse scene based on three pillars: tangos based on football related themes, lyricists and musicians, and integrating cultural expressions.

TANGOS BASED ON FOOTBALL RELATED THEMES

Our first consideration goes to the presence of football as a theme in tango lyrics. Although there are many tangos dedicated to sports which make references about boxing and the bursting passion for horse racing and gambling, after a first review, we find 47 references to football.

The football-style tango focus in two main thematic groups: the events and the social experience tinted by passion.

1.1.- Sports events

World Cup

A wide section of this group comprises experiences during the 1978 and 1982 World Cups. The final stage celebrated in Argentina gave place to eight compositions that are truly ahead of the game: "Marcha oficial del Mundial '78", the hit of "Viva el Mundial", "Los chicos del Mundial", "La Copa tiene dueño", "La Copa es de Argentina", "El equipo del Mundial", "Argentina, te queremos ver campeón" and "Argentina, te llevo dentro de mí". And the final phase in Spain was the field for the "Milonga clementera", based on the popular character created by the cartoonist Caloi.

Players

The emotions of the players, their illusions, aspirations and feelings, have been widely epitomized in the lyrics, as a reference to both debutantes and famous stars in the field.

The first ones reflect the reality of the little celebrity in their neighbourhood lot who fails to become a professional (Del potrero), the social experience of a humble personage (La mascota del barrio), the hopes placed on the children who play and dream of becoming superstars (Pelota de cuero, Déjele, señora, El sueño del pibe) and the beginner who turns into a famous player (La realidad del pibe). Due to its emotional intensity and the way it

pictures the illusions pinned on the ball, the tango that stands out is "El sueño del pibe", by Reinaldo Yiso, interpreted for the first time by Osvaldo Pugliese with the voice of Roberto Chanel.

In relation with professional football, there are references to clubs from Argentina and Uruguay who maintain a traditional rivalry. That´s the case of the arguments about the quality of the teams from Buenos Aires named River Plate and Boca Juniors, in the tanto "Domingo a la noche", and the reflection of the climate between the Nacional and Peñarol teams, from Montevideo, immortalised in the tango "La promesa".

Another curiosity is the inclusion of professional football players in the tango lyrics. In one case, to highlight the level of a player against the myth of Pele, in "Dieguito Tango". But the preference is to frame the nostalgia and trigger the illusions of the young boys to become superstars. The first instance is shown with the relationship of Pedernera, Monzón and Gollet in "Quién te ha visto Buenos Aires". The second one affects Benavidez, Méndez, Lacasia, Labruna, Boyé, Grillo, Pescia in "Déjele, señora"; Emilio Baldonedo, Rinaldo Martino, Mario Boyé and Bernabé Ferreyra in the original version of "El sueño del pibe", and Mario Kempes and Diego Armando Maradona, in the peculiar adaptation of "El Pelusa" done by the last one.

There are also players from Argentina, Uruguay and Spain who have their own individual tangos. Amongst the Argentineans, we find the names of Bernabé Ferreyra and Diego Armando Maradona.

The first one, who made an extraordinary career at the River Plate team, was immortalised by the lyrics of Laino y Dispagna and the music of Miguel Padula and Francisco Germino in their tango "La fiera".

Diego Armando Maradona represents a truly striking case. Professional football player but amateur singer, Diego recorded the son "Querida amiga" with Pimpinela, and has received the Platinum Record after selling 60,000 copies of his theme "Yo soy el Diego de la gente" in just a few days. This is a double CD that comprises several hours of uncensored conversation between the football star and the journalists Cherquis Bialo and Daniel Arcucci, held at Havanna (Cuba) during the completion of Diego´s autobiography, titled "Yo soy el Diego de la gente". Always a Tango fan, Diego has been dedicated three compositions in Italian by the "tifosi" from Naples.

The "Tango de Maradona", originally written in the Neapolitan dialect to highlight the happiness brought by Maradona to the people. The "Maradona Tango" reflects the favourable change experimented by El Pelusa while his stay in Naples.

Out of the Spanish players, the more noticeable is José Samitier, a player of the F. C. Barcelona team, and technical secretary to the Real Madrid, with an extraordinary ability for social connections that allowed him to participate in the Peña Pepe, a literary circle held in the Café Baviera at the Alcalá Street, where he exchanged his viewpoints with personalities as the physician Gregorio Marañón, the bullfighter Juan Belmonte and the writer José María de Cossío.

For the record, it´s important to highlight his friendship with Carlos Gardel, started during the European tour made by the Zorzal in 1923. El Zorzal, a vehement admirer of his horse Lunática and member of the Racing Club of Avellaneda, attended the final of the Copa del Rey of 1928 in Santander, between the Real Sociedad de San Sebastián and the F. C.

Barcelona. At the game of May 21, the players Platko, Castillo, Perera and Samitier got injured and, after meeting them, Gardel livened up their evening and planned them a tour in Argentina and Uruguay, which allowed the blue and red team to play against River Plate, Boca Juniors, some players from Rosario, and the Nacional and Peñarol teams of Montevideo.

At the end of the tour, Gardel dedicated the tango "Sami" to his friend, with lyrics by Lito Mas and music by Nicolás Verona.

Among the Uruguayan players, there is one who has a tango specifically dedicated to him. We are talking about the emblematic José Francisco Sasía, not only an international player with the national team, but also a player with Defensor, Peñarol, Nacional and Racing from Uruguay as well as Boca Juniors y Rosario Central from Argentina. This composition, with lyrics by Jaime Roos, was titled "Al Pepe Sasía", and emphasises his courage, bravery and craftiness.

1.2.- The social experience tinted with passion

The other point to highlight is the social experience of football. A passionate experience that fits in every single level of individual life, memories from childhood and daily life at the Río de la Plata.

The nostalgia for the past is summarized in "¿Sabes, Buenos Aires?" and "Tiempo de tranvías".

The daily life of Uruguay is reflected in "La promesa". But in Argentina, lifestyle has different variables: the neighbourhood and its activities (in "Calles de Buenos Aires", "Del barrio", "Para poder volver", "A Héctor Tarela", "Villa Crespo de mi ayer", "Vuelvo al barrio", "Quién te ha visto", "Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires", "Al amigo soñador" y "Paredón y después"); football as subject of conversation ("Domingo a la noche", "Desde el café" and "Carloncho"), as source of values ("La canción del deporte") and also as defining element of times related with television, adolescence and violence ("Tirate un lance", "Canción de mi adolescencia" and "Por qué").

While football is an essential part of social life and gatherings, it reaches a special emotion in the experience of uncontrollable passions of the fans as reflected in "Lo que nunca deschavé", "Amarroto" and "Desde el tablón". This glance is expanded by the existence of the sick child in "La número cinco", and the condemnation of the man who makes his wife´s life miserable with his excesses ("Amigotes"), and the painting of the middle aged heartthrob who has replace his life by football games, as in "De la canilla".

LYRICISTS, MUSICIANS AND INTERPRETERS

A second section in the tango scene is dedicated to the people who gave voice, music and artistic expression to the football passion. Different orchestras and soloists have triggered the feelings of the audience by capturing the cloud of magical emotions of football.

Amongst these lyricists and musicians, we can mention Pepe Aguirre, Osvaldo Avena, A. Aznar, Juan Sebastián Bella, Hilda Bevacqua, Miguel Bonano, Antonio Botta, Miguel Buccino, Enrique Campos "Inocencio Troncone", Juan Cao, Mario Clavel, Gustavo Cosentino, Saúl Cosentino, Orestes Cuffaro, Martin Darre, Degrossi, Dispagna, Omar Facelli, Hebert Fayet, Enrique Ferrari, Horacio Ferrer, J. Fontana, Manuel Reyes García

"Lito Bayardo", Raúl Garello, Francisco Germino, Roberto Giménez, J. Guichandut, Laino, Natalio Lamicela, Rafael Lauria, Francisco Lomuto, Nolo López, Héctor Marco, Alberto Margal, Lito Mas, H. Morales, Jorge Moreyra, Héctor Negro, Julio Nudler, Miguel Padula, Armando Pontier, Juan Puey, N. Rama, Edmundo Rivero, Jaime Roos, O. Rubens, Sheriko, Federico Silva, Luis Spinelli "Roberto Morel", Osvaldo Tarantino, Adriana Varela, Nicolás Verona, Reinaldo Yiso and Zeliz Blanco.

Besides that, it´s worth to mention the particular case of the comics cartoonist Caloi or the Napoles team fans, who respectively express the hopes at the World Cup 1982 in Spain and their thankfulness to Maradona, their idol.

Football players and musicians

A famous case was the one of the players who also performed as tango musicians, like the violinist Raimundo "Mumo" Orsi, a national player at Independiente of Avellaneda and the Juventus of Turín, and also an international star with the National Teams of Argentina and Italy. His football career hit the maximum glory during the Olympic Games of 1928, during the final game between Argentina and Uruguay, and also in 1934, when he became a World Cup champion playing for Italy.

CULTURE

Literature

The literary scene has united tango and football in playwrights and short stories. That´s the case of Roberto Fontanarrosa, who wrote "Wilmar Everton Cardaña, número 5 de Peñarol" and "Cielo de los argentinos". In the first short story, he recreates a situation that actually happened at the final between Peñarol and Nacional of Montevideo, on November 3, which lead to the creation of the tango "La número cinco". The boy, José Petunio Inveninato, confined to bed at the Hospital Muñoz with a incurable disease, writes a letter to the center-half Wilmar Everton Cardaña asking for the ball used at the game, signed by the whole team. Cardaña, a rough player, manly and brave, with a shocking aspect, starts crying as soon as he reads the letter. Peñarol suffers a heavy defeat and the whole team goes to visit the boy. They give him the requested ball and the boy, pretty upset by the defeat, insults Cardaña and throws the ball at his face. At that moment, Cardaña gets angry at the boy, makes his famous flying kick and breaks four of his ribs.

En "Cielo de los argentinos", imagina un edén donde se disputan los mejores partidos de fútbol, entre ellos el clásico entre River y Peñarol, y están presentes las grandes estrellas del tango como el hincha de Racing, Carlos Gardel.

The passion for football has been taken to the stage in the literary work "Once corazones", premiered on February 18, 1999, at the Teatro de la Ribera in Buenos Aires. Through a stage language that resorts to music, two guitars, two singers, narration and choreography, Miguel Cantilo and Jorge Durietz have reflected the history of a neighbourhood team that ends up selling their headquarters as a result of financial interests of one of their members. In eight themes interpreted as duets at the broken and fast rhythm of a tango, they restore the nostalgia of the street playgrounds and the disappointment at the current operation of the football business and its excessive commercial interests.

Stamps and exhibitions

At the end of the Twentieth Century, the cultural and vital intertwine of Argentinean emotions and spirit gave place to two different works: in 1999, the philatelic work "Literatura, música popular y fútbol", by Nuevo Milenio and, in October and November, 2000, to the Megaexposición Tango at the Palais de Glace in Buenos Aires, with a staging of "El sueño del pibe".

The tuning fork of emotions

One of the particular characteristics of Sports in Argentina consists of expressing the life of sportsmen at the rhythm of tango, by relating the spirit of sporting events to such musical compositions, or by showing their emotions in fragments of those songs.

This can be verified in the books of remembrances titled "¡Gracias, vieja!" and "Yo soy el Diego de la gente". Diego Armando Maradona, who declares himself an aficionado to singing and listening this type of music, remembers the profound emotion he felt when the Nápoles welcomed him at the music of "El Choclo". Alfredo di Stéfano, and admirer of Carlos Gardel, remembers his conversations with José Samitier, the person who brought him to Spain, who was fond of talking about life incidents with tango lyrics. Samitier, a personal friend of Carlos Gardel, called him "Percanta", in reference to the composition by Pascual Contursi, "Mi noche triste", which was the first tango recorded by Carlos Gardel.

Alfredo di Stéfano describes the first defeat of the Real Madrid in the quarterfinals of the Europe Cup, against the Barcelona, on November 23 1960, in the tango "Bronca".

This form of narration is limited to the players, as it has been quite successful in the communications world. We can find it at the literary and baroque style used by the weekly magazine El Gráfico from Argentina, in the television program Polémica en el fútbol of Canal 11 of Buenos Aires -with "Desde el tablón"- and in the musical setting of the movie "Calles de Buenos Aires", based on the homonymous tango. Perhaps the most striking piece of information has occurred at the radio, in charge of Bernardo Bergé. Bernardo, son of the singer Claudio Bergé, created Microespacio B during the 90s. B. Gol en el Aire, a program that combines sports and tango in an original magazine that gives a space to sports players with special productions about world current events, signature tunes, narrations, poems, interviews…

EPILOGUE

In summary, football and tango dazzle the mind, trigger romanticism, highlight the magic of the big events and passionate experiences, until all this fills daily life and forms a style of life and linguistic expression.

The melodic notes of the bandoneon in a playwright, 47 tangos based on football themes, the presence of two composers (Hilda Bevacqua and Adriana Varela), the walk of the Clemente with Carlos Gardel poster during the World Cup 1982... concentrate all the nostalgia, the bursting joy and the love for the language rhythm.

REFERENCES

General bibliography and discography

BARELLA, Humberto, El tango después de Gardel, Buenos Aires, Editorial Corregidor, 2000. BURNS, Jimmy, Maradona, La mano de Dios, Madrid, El País-Aguilar, 1996. CANTILO, Miguel-DURIETZ, Jorge, Once corazones, Buenos Aires, Teatro de la Ribera, 1999. CAROL, Màrius, El Barça, una pasión sin fronteras, Barcelona, Barcanova, 1998. CASTAÑÓN RODRÍGUEZ, Jesús, "Gambetas que encandilan las pupilas", La Página del Idioma Español, Río de Janeiro, 21 de diciembre de 2000. CLUB DEL TANGO, http://www.clubdetango.com.ar, Buenos Aires. DI STÉFANO, Alfredo, Gracias, vieja, Madrid, Aguilar, 2000. EDUARDO RAFAEL, "El deporte y Gardel", en Gardel Extra III ¡Qué los cumpla feliz, Troesma!, Los Ángeles, Tango Reporter, 1998. "’El Pelusa’ triunfa en Argentina con un disco en el que relata su vida", La Voz de Asturias, Oviedo, 24/25 de diciembre de 2000. FONTANARROSA, Roberto, "Wilmar Everton Cardaña, número 5 de Peñarol", en El mayor de mis defectos y otros cuentos, Buenos Aires, Ediciones de la Flor, 1997, págs. 55-64. - "Cielo de los aergentinos", en Uno nunca sabe y otros cuentos, Buenos Aires, Ediciones de la Flor, 1999, págs. 301-315. GARCÍA CANDAU, Julián, Los mundiales de fútbol, Madrid, El Independiente, 1990. MARADONA, Diego Armando, Yo soy el Diego de la gente, Buenos Aires, Planeta, 2000. - Yo soy el Diego de la gente. Sin censuras, Buenos Aires, Sony, 2000. MARADONA, Diego Armando-DÚO PIMPINELA, Querida amiga, Buenos Aires. MASSARINO, Marcelo, "’El hombre que está solo y espera’ y la cultura futbolística de los argentinos", Lecturas: Educación Física y Deportes número 18, Buenos Aires, febrero de 2000. Megaexposición Tango, Buenos Aires, Palais de Glace, octubre y noviembre de 2000. MERCÉ VARELA, Andreu, Josep Samitier, Barcelona, Barcanova, 1998. NUEVO MILENIO, "Literatura, música popular y fútbol", Lecturas: Eduación Física y Deportes número 17, Buenos Aires, diciembre de 1999. PUENTE, Carlos de la, "España y América: lo que nos une y separa en el lenguaje deportivo", en El idioma español en el deporte, Madrid, Fundación Efe, 1994, págs. 388-393. ROMANO, Eduardo, Las letras del tango, Antología cronológica 1900-1980, Córdoba, Editorial Fundación Ross, 2000. SESSA, Aldo, Tango, Buenos Aires, Sessa Editores, 1999. TANGO SHOW, http://www.tangoshow.com, Buenos Aires. VARELA, Sergio, Tangos que cantó Gardel, Buenos Aires, Distal, 1998. VILAGUT, Miquel (Coordinador), Barça, centenario de emociones, Barcelona, Lunwerg Editores, 1999.

Discography of tangos

AGUIRRE, Pepe, La realidad del pibe. AZNAR, A.-YISO, Reinaldo, La mascota del barrio. BELLA, Juan Sebastián, Buenos Aires. BEVACQUA, Hilda, Los chicos del Mundial. BONANO, Miguel-DEGROSSI, Déjele, señora.

BOTTA, Antonio-LOMUTO, La canción del deporte. BUCCINO, Miguel-CAO, Juan, Amarroto. CALOI-OLIVER-VEZZANI, A.-FARUK-GURVICH, N.-DOLINA, A. R., La milonga clementera. CLAVEL, Mario, Carloncho. COSENTINO, Gustavo-COSENTINO, Saúl, Por qué. DARRE, Martin, Marcha oficial del Mundial '78. FACELLI, Omar, Amigotes. FAYET, Hebert, La promesa. FAYET, Hebert, Villa Crespo de mi ayer. FAYET, Hebert, Al amigo soñador. FAYET, Hebert, A Héctor Tarela. FERRARI, Enrique, Del barrio. FERRER, Horacio, Paredón y después. FERRER, Horacio-TARANTINO, Osvaldo, Canción de mi adolescencia. GARCÍA, Manuel Reyes "LITO BAYARDO"-MARGAL, Alberto, Vuelvo al barrio. GUICHANDUT, J.-RUBENS, O., Domingo a la noche. HINCHAS DEL NÁPOLES, Tango de Maradona. HINCHAS DEL NÁPOLES, Dieguito Tango. HINCHAS DEL NÁPOLES, Maradona Tango. LAINO-DISPAGNA-PADULA, Miguel-GERMINO, Francisco, La Fiera (Bernabé Ferreyra). LAURIA, Rafael-LAMICELA, Natalio, Quién te ha visto, Buenos Aires. LÓPEZ, Nolo-MORALES, H., Calles de Buenos Aires. MARCO, Héctor, Tirate un lance. MAS, Lito-VERONA, Nicolás, ¡Sami! MOREYRA, Jorge-CAMPOS, Enrique "INOCENCIO TRONCONE", Del potrero. NEGRO, Héctor-AVENA, Osvaldo, Desde el tablón. NEGRO, Héctor-GARELLO, Raúl, Tiempo de tranvías. NUDLER, Julio-COSENTINO, Saúl, Desde el café. RAMA, N.-FONTANA, J., The hit of Viva el Mundial. RAMA, N.-FONTANA, J., La Copa tiene dueño. RAMA, N.-FONTANA, J., La Copa es de Argentina. RAMA, N.-FONTANA, J., El equipo del Mundial. RAMA, N.-FONTANA, J., Argentina, te queremos ver campeón. RIVERO, Edmundo-MARCO, Héctor, Pelota de cuero. ROOS, Jaime, Al Pepe Sasía. SHERIKO-RAMA, N., Argentina, te llevo dentro de mí. SILVA, Federico-PONTIER, Armando, Para poder volver. SPINELLI, Luis "ROBERTO MOREL"-GIMENEZ, Roberto, Lo que nunca deschave. VARELA, Adriana, De la canilla. YISO, Reinaldo-CUFFARO, Orestes, La número cinco. YISO, Reinaldo-PUEY, Juan, El sueño del pibe. ZELIZ BLANCO, ¿Sabes, Buenos Aires?.

All the lyrics can be found at "Letras de tango", the website for tango lyrics: http://argentina.informatik.uni-muenchen.de/tangos/index.htm

Traducción: Cristina Márquez Arroyo

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