Episode 9 - English-language songs in Spanish
The songs that are most often translated from English are usually pop and rock. There's been some cases in which music experts said the covers topped the originals...
Some of these Spanish language covers can sound pretty much like the original tunes or can be adaptations in other musical style such as salsa, for example.
These are five of the songs in English with a Spanish version, selected in no particular order.
01 My Way - The Sinatra anthem sang by Spain's Raphael: "A mi manera"
02 I'll feel a whole lot better, by The Byrds - by Charly Garcia
03 Piano Man, by Billy Joel by Ana Belén of Spain.
04 "Blame it on the Boogie", originally by the Jackson 5. Here's the cover in Spanish by Latin powerhouse Luis Miguel
05 The Drifters's "Under the Boardwalk" was made their own by Argentine rock group Los Perros: "Bajo la Rambla".
Episode 8- Brazilian songs in Spanish
Brazil, Argentina's great neighbor. While there's a massive rivalry in football, it is one of the countries whose culture, Argentines are attracted to the most, just like they are attracted to their beaches and joie de vivre.
From the 1960s onwards, many soloists and groups of Brazilian music became popular in Argentina. The matter even became epic when the already consecrated Vinicius de Moraes arrived in August 1970 together with a very young Toquinho and Bahian singer Maria Creuza for a series of concerts at a café concert La Fusa, in the city of Buenos Aires.
The gigs were a great success; the small place with capacity for about 100 people was packed every night and that series of presentations came down in history as legendary.
These are only five of the many songs translated from Portuguese into Spanish:
1. Aquarela - by Toquinho
2. Garota de Ipanema, by Jobim, in Andrea Bocelli's version
3. A million friends, by Roberto Carlos
4. Flooded - by Os Paralamas do Sucesso
5. At first sight - by Pedro Aznar based on Chico César's composition
Translation and V.O: Fernando Farías
Content Production: Silvana Avellaneda
Web Production: Julián Cortez
Episode 7- Italian Ballads in Spanish
Argentina was the third destination in the World for Italian immigrants who left their home country at the turn of the 20th century and up to WWII. Everyone in Argentina, with or without Italian background, has a special bond with that European nation's culture, art and melodies.
Between the 1960s and the 1980s, ballads from Italy conquered the world and are still in people's hearts.
With the rise of Italian musicians and composers, there were plenty of Spanish and Latin American artists who also recorded their versions of these famous ballads, with mixed results.
In addition, many of the Italian performers sang them in Spanish and to better reach the Latin American market.
These are only five of these Italian songs versioned in Spanish.
Rosa (Italian singer Nicola di Bari himself did a version that managed to consolidate his fame in Latin America).
I don't ask you for the Moon ( hit by singer Fiordaliso, in Spanish version Sergio Dalma).
Toda la vida (A tune by Lucio Dalla in the somehow free rendition by Mexico's Emanuel).
La distancia - Distance (Spanish-language version by Doménico Modugno, whose songs are on the top five of Billboard magazine).
The World (Spanish version also performed by its writer, Jimmy Fontana).
Translation and V.O: Fernando Farías
Content Production: Silvana Avellaneda
Web Production: Julián Cortez
Episode 6 - Great New Tango Orchestras
In the 1990s a movement known as "neo tango" emerged, with young people coming from rock and other styles, who began approaching tango, particularly, the style that had been born in the decades of the 20s or 30s.
Thus they formed orchestras that, in the style of those from a century ago, merged instruments with stamina for expressing new or old lyrics.
From then on, the fierceness of the Orquesta Típica Fernández Fierro (with its own lyrics anchored in the new urban landscape), the Quinteto Negro La Boca (with anarchist lyrics and Osvaldo Bayer's support) or La Misteriosa Buenos Aires (with a danceable tango of the 1940s).
Also Amores Tango (where tradition merges with jazz); La Chicana (which rescues the tradition of a more intimate space); and the Milonguera Romantic Orchestra (with a style anchored in the tradition of Pugliese).
The list follows no particular order. But this is the proposal of the week. To dance even without knowing well the step of the two by four
1 Fernández Fierro Typical Orchestra - Infierno Porteño
2- Quinteto Negro La Boca - El Tugurio
3- Misteriosa Buenos Aires - My Pain
4- La Chicana - Farandulera
5- Milonguera Romantic Orchestra - Bomboncito
Translation and VO: Fernando Farías
Content Production: Silvana Avellaneda
Web Production: Julián Cortez
Episode 4- Tango in Women's Voices
Women have always had a leading role in the interpretation of tango. From those paved the way like forerunners Olinda Bozán, Nelly Omar and Tita Merello to contemporary figures like Susana Rinaldi, Lidia Borda or Adriana Varela.
All of them earned their own space in such a very much male and conservative genre but, at the same time, they were admirers of the strong characters and the typical imprint of those "minas" (lunfardo word for "women") who were praised by the big men of Tango.
Here are five of these female tango figures that we will share in this edition
Tita Merello - Arrabalera
Nelly Omar- I'm the shirtless
Susana Rinaldi - Red Ink
Adriana Varela - Mano a Mano
Lidia Borda- Bitter Fruit
Presenter: Fernando Farías
Content Production: Silvana Avellaneda
Web Production: Julián Cortez
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Episode 3 - Songs of love (and heartbreak)
The confinement that came with the pandemic has brought to light hundreds of issues that in the days when we were free, and with no facemasks, we did not question.
Thus, coexistence or solitude have made social media explode, either as a way out or distraction or for looking for new experiences far from the public eye.
Over recent weeks, hundreds of songs of resistance, of desire for freedom and of celebration have been shared by Argentines on the internet. These are songs of love and lack of of love that every Argentine, whatever their age, knows.
So, let's share five of these timeless classics?
1. Spaghetti of Rock - Divididos
2. A Dress and a Love - Fito Páez
3. Serú Girán - Seminare
4. Nothing is Forever - Fabiana Cantilo
5. To go on living without your love - Spinetta
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Episode 2 - Songs on passion for football
There is no doubt that Argentina is one of the countries where the passion for football is strongest. Fans, either of world-famous squads or tiny local teams, have their own songs, chanting and rituals.
The love "for the colours of a shirt" is sometimes too big to comprehend for the outsider, as it happens basically with any passion. It's a kind of passion that do not know about gender, social class or age. Football is such a key element in everyday life for Argentines, that old matches are broadcast instead of new ones amid the Coronavirus lockdown, and yet... those re-runs make record ratings.
And so football is present in literature, cinema and music...practically all aspects of culture have been touched by "la redonda" (the round one), which is how the universe of "fútbol" is also known.
So, let's enjoy some of these rock, ska or pop songs where the football references are like declarations of love, as it's the case of "Siempre yo te sigo a todas partes", "I always follow you anywhere you go"; or songs dedicated to the player who dodges the rival while keeping the ball attached to his foot, or songs with a History twist, making reference to the World Cup championship in 78, amid the military dictatorship in Argentina, such as "The City Burns". And the final song on the playlist will be a homage to the most important character of this story: Diego Maradona.
-I Always Follow You Everywhere - Los Calzones Rotos (ska style)
-The Dance Of Drums - La Bersuit Vergarabat (rock)
-So Much Glory, So Much Football - Sardelli Brothers (pop)
The City Burns - La Mancha de Rolando (rock)
La Mano de D10s - Rodrigo (quartet, popular rhythm of the province of Cordoba, in the center of the country)
Presenter: Fernando Farías
Web Production: Julián Cortez
Content Production: Silvana Avellaneda
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Argentine music to enjoy in quarantine
Since ancient times, when plagues were explained as divine punishments, shamans and sorcerers had in music an ally to comfort people in sorrow and fearful.
So what can be better that listening to some Argentine music to counter the confinement and fear? Let's enjoy!
Episode 1 - Tangos of the Guardia Vieja
"Guardia Vieja" is the cultural movement that laid down the foundations for Argentine tango’s original identity.
There is no exact date in which all scholars agree, but they do agree that from the end of the 19th century until the 1930s, tango took on the fundamental elements that define it: the bandoneon, the typical orchestra line-up of piano and violins, and above all, the 2-4 beat as the key rhythm of the genre.
From this period are "El entrerriano" (1897), "Don Juan", "El choclo" (1903), "El porteñito" (1906) and "La morocha" (1905).
We will listen to them in their original recordings, in the following order:
1. El entrerriano - by Rosendo Mendizábal- performed by the Orquesta Típica de Juan D'Arienzo
2. Don Juan - by Enrique Ponzio - Performed by Carlos di Sarli's Orchestra
3. El Choclo - by Angel Villoldo - Performed by Los Reyes del Tango Typical Orchestra
4. El Porteñito- by Angel Villoldo- Performed by Francisco Canaro's Quintet
5. La Morocha - by Angel Villoldo and Enrique Saborido - Performed by Juan D'Arienzo's Orchestra with vocals by Ada Falcón
....
Announcer: Fernando Farías
Web: Julián Cortez/ Federico García/ Martín Bibiloni
Production: Silvana Avellaneda