Saturday, April 25, 2015

Flor De Fango, an implausible fiction


Corrían las postrimerías del año 1964 y bajo el puente sucio de la Tercera Avenida, los pensamientos de Langston decidieron inesperadamente huir de esa inhóspita existencia callejera para llevarlo lejos, muy lejos en el tiempo, más precisamente treinta años atrás, pero cerca, muy cerca... aquí, en esta misma ciudad…

It was late in 1964 and under the dirty bridge of Third Avenue, Langston's thoughts unexpectedly decided to flee from that inhospitable street’s existence, taking him far, far away in time, more precisely thirty years ago, but close, very close... here, in this same city...



El ruido cadencioso del ventilador Robbins sacudía con pausados intervalos su liviano dormitar en esa insoportable tarde de verano en Colored Town.  El sonido de fondo de un disco de Gardel salía craqueado del vetusto fonógrafo... (era el tango Flor De Fango, más precisamente) y en el mismo instante en que una rebelde gota de sudor pretendía correr a tientas por su sien derecha, el sonar impertinente del teléfono lo saca de la apatía de sus pensamientos.

The lilting noise of the Robbins brand fan shook with its slow intervals Langston’s light slumber on that excruciating summer afternoon in Colored Town. The background sound of a Gardel’s record came out cracked from the ancient phonograph... (it was the tango Flor De Fango, more precisely) just at the same moment that a rebellious drop of sweat tried to grope for his right temple, the cheeky ringing of the phone takes him out of the apathy of his thoughts.

La voz chillona de la operadora lo volvió a esta pegajosa realidad, al tiempo en que detrás de los ruidos ininteligibles de la línea aparece el mismo Dizzy Gillespie gritando la increíble noticia. Langston casi se cae de su asiento. Pero... si esto es impensable!

The operator's shrill voice brought him back to this catchy reality, as Dizzy Gillespie himself behind the unintelligible line noises, started shouting the incredible news. Langston almost fell out of his seat. But... this is unthinkable!


Lyric Theatre
819 NW 2nd Ave, Overtown
Como cuando aprendió a bailar tango, La Reina Del Plata se le aparece subrepticiamente y los recuerdos se le vienen encima como perros hambrientos, abarrotando su memoria y congelando su presente.

As when he learned to dance tango, Buenos Aires “La Reina Del Plata” surreptitiously appears to him and memories come, like hungry dogs, cluttering his memory and freezing his present.

Solo piensa ahora en esos intrigantes momentos en que sin saberlo se encontró de pronto con aquella mujer de andar pausado y gatuno proveniente de la lejana y brumosa Sudamérica, admirando su innegable bizarría para adentrarse sin miedos por las calles tenebrosas y turbias de esta ciudad brava, veladamente acompañando  al Maestro Osvaldo Fresedo, en la más misteriosa de sus visitas.

Just think now of those intriguing moments when he unknowingly ran into that slow-paced, cat-like woman from distant and misty South America, admiring her undeniable bizarreness to fearlessly enter the dark and murky streets of this rough city, veiledly accompanying Maestro Osvaldo Fresedo, in the most mysterious of his visits.


Como para no recordar su clandestina belleza... hasta su nombre era inquietante... Margo.

As if not to remember her clandestine beauty... even her name was disturbing... Margo.

Langston nunca pudo olvidar esos ojos de fuego que le penetraron sus vísceras y sus sueños más profundos. La magia se desplegó de golpe al cruzarse sus miradas  en el aire enrarecido y mohoso del pequeño Lyric Theatre, al tiempo que ella entraba en compañía del gran Maestro para su secreta “zappada” en Colored Town con el todavía desconocido Gillespie.

Langston could never forget those fiery eyes that penetrated his viscera and his deepest dreams. The magic suddenly unfolded as their eyes met in the rarefied and moldy air of the little Lyric Theater, as she entered accompanying  the Grand Maestro on his secret free-form improvisation in Colored Town with the still unknown Gillespie.

La sangre aún le bulle en su cabeza al repensar esta escena, recordándole que todavía está tan vivo.

Blood still boils in his head as he rethinks this scene, reminding him that he is still so alive.

El Maestro y Dizzie comenzaron lentamente con su improvisación, dejando el mundo y a todos atrás. Langston decide retirarse a su estrecha oficina del subsuelo como para no perturbar el encanto en la ocasión en que, imprevistamente, apareciendo detrás del arrumbado decorado de El Buque Fantasma de Wagner, divisa la figura felina de Margo.

Wagner's Flying Dutchman
The Maestro and Dizzie slowly began their improvisation, leaving the world and everyone behind. Langston decides to retreat to his narrow underground office so as not to disturb the charm when, unexpectedly, appearing behind the rumpled theatrical scenery of Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, he sees the feline figure of Margo.

Los dardos se dispararon, y el sutil gesto de un casi imperceptible cabeceo fue más que suficiente para que sin darse cuenta comenzaran a desgranar los tangos dulces y sentidos  que habitaban en sus mentes, hasta que ambos íntimamente fueron traspasados por la emoción de sus cuerpos.

The darts shot up, and the subtle gesture of an almost imperceptible caberceo was more than enough so that they inadvertently began to reel in the sweet tangos and senses that inhabited their minds, until both were intimately pierced by the emotion of their bodies.

Flor De Fango.... sí, Flor De Fango fue el nuestro primer tango… no?
Flor De Fango.... yes, Flor De Fango was our first tango... right?

Aún hoy le quema su mano derecha cuando recuerda el cruce con su cintura, el calor de su respiración acompasada y su brazo izquierdo contorneando su cuello... Paz y pasión, pasión y paz conjugadas en una forma que él nunca había sentido.


Even today his right hand burns when he remembers the crossing with her waist, the heat of his rhythmic breathing and her left arm outlining his neck... Peace and passion, passion and peace combined in a way that he had never felt.

Y los tangos inevitablemente fueron suyos en aquel sombrío foso del escenario mientras el lejano piano y la trompeta se entremezclaban con recelo surcando los aires impregnados de la sala a semioscuras.

And the tangos were inevitably owned by them in that dark moat of the stage while the distant piano and the trumpet intermingled with suspicion crossing the impregnated breath of the semi-dark room.

Repentinamente, esa misma voz que le despertaba tanta ternura lo saca de su ensueño, con ese acento tan particular del cual nunca logró despojarse… sí, era Margo diciéndole que ya era tiempo de volver al refugio. Suddenly, that same voice, impregnated with the same tenderness, takes him out of his reverie, with that particular accent that she never managed to get rid of… yes, it was Margo telling him that it was time to return to the refuge.



Todavía sigue viendo toda la hermosura e intriga de sus ojos negros, y aun en esta miseria irrefrenable la sigue amando con la misma locura, sabiendo que las topadoras de las autopistas que hoy cruzan Overtown lograron llevarse su casa pero no sus anhelos mas profundos... la proyección de su alma en la de Margo. He still continues to see all the beauty and intrigue of her black eyes, and even in this unstoppable misery he continues to love her with the same madness, knowing that the bulldozers of the highways that cross Overtown today managed to take his home but not his deepest longings .. the projection of his soul in Margo’s.

Y así fue como ella, presa del amor más impensado, se quedó para siempre en esta ciudad olvidada, persiguiendo todos esos ideales que Langston le propuso. Y nunca más la vieron bajo la gloria del cabaret Tibidabo, despertando con su sola presencia tantas oscuras ilusiones, especialmente si el tango se apoderaba de la pista. And that was how she, captive in the most unthinkable love, stayed forever in this forgotten city, pursuing all those ideals that Langston proposed to her. And nobody saw her again under the glory of the Tibidabo cabaret, awakening with her only presence so many dark illusions, especially when tangos took over the dance floor.

Y cuando la frágil cúspide del edén habia sido alcanzada por la más bella de la flores de fango, Buenos Aires (como siempre trata a los que audazmente llegan a desafiar su gloria) fue especialmente cruel, enterrándola en la más gris de las amnesias colectivas. And when the fragile peak of Eden had been reached by the most beautiful of the mud flowers, Buenos Aires, (as the city always treats those who boldly come to challenge its glory), was especially cruel, burying her in the gravest of collective amnesias.

Al poco tiempo ya nadie la recordó. Before long, no one remembered her.

Y hasta cuentan que el mismísimo gran Fresedo negó tres veces haberla conocido nunca. And even it’s said that the great Fresedo himself denied three times that he had never known her.


A ella no le importó… en aquel entonces supo que por primera vez su vida tendría algún sentido. She didn't care... back then she knew that for the first time her life would have any meaning.



© Luigi Seta



Flor de Fango
Tango - 1914 

Music: Augusto Gentile
Lyricist: Pascual Contursi

(Hermosa pero efímera milonguera) / (Beautiful but ephemeral milonguera)

Flor De Fango - Tango
Alfredo De Angelis Orchestra.
Singer Oscar Larocca -1951 version



Notas del Autor / Author’s note



Overtown, o las dos caras de Miami / Overtown, or the two faces of Miami


Overtown es uno de la barrios más pobres de Miami, y cuenta con uno de los índices más altos de indigencia en los Estados Unidos.

Overtown is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Miami, and has one of the highest indigence rates in the United States.

Cuando Miami fue fundada era conocida como "Colored Town" (ciudad solo para gente de color), porque durante la segreagión racial ese era el único lugar donde se le permitía a la comunidad afroamericana comprar propiedades.

When Miami was founded it was known as Colored Town, because during racial segregation that was the only place where the African American community was allowed to buy property.

Hacia mediados del siglo pasado, el área se empezó a llamar Overtown por su cercanía con el Downtown y fue para esa época un lugar de resplandeciente referencia de la cultura negra.

Towards the middle of the last century, the area began to be called Overtown due to its proximity to Downtown and at that time it was a place of shining reference for black culture.

El Lyric Theatre fue fundado en 1913 y fue el primero de su tipo en todo Miami. Durante el boom de La Florida en los años 20s, Colored Town fue un vibrante centro de actividad cultural y social, variando desde organizaciones sociales, exitosos negocios de todo tipo, bibliotecas, hospitales y muchos centros de diversión nocturna y night clubs comparable a lo que es hoy South Beach.

The Lyric Theater was founded in 1913 and was the first of its kind in all of Miami. During the Florida boom in the 1920s, Colored Town was a vibrant center of cultural and social activity, ranging from social organizations, successful businesses of all kinds, libraries, hospitals, and many centers of nightlife and nightclubs comparable to what it's South Beach today.


Su decadencia y abandono comienza en los 50s con los desacertados planes de "renovacion urbana" demoliéndose por ello muchísimos de sus edificios para dejar paso a la traza de las diferentes autopistas que la cruzan y dividen, firmándole así su certificado de defunción.

Its decline and abandonment began in the 50s with the misguided plans for "urban renewal", thus demolishing many of its buildings to make way for the layout of the different highways that cross and divide it, thus signing its death certificate.


Destrucción de Overtwon,
nudo de autopistas en lo que fue su centro cultural
Overtwon's destruction,
highway junction in what was its cultural center

Ya no es más la "Harlem del Sur" y hoy solo tiene unos pocos residentes con una altísima tasa de desocupación y criminalidad.

It is no longer "the Harlem of the South" and today it only has a few residents with a very high unemployment and crime rate.



Osvaldo Fresedo y su relación con los Estados Unidos / Osvaldo Fresedo and his relationship with the United States

El país de Norte no le fue para nada desconocido al gran Maestro, aún antes de ser muy famoso en Buenos Aires, en 1920 viaja a New Jersey a grabar varios discos con un quinteto creado por la compañía Victor. De esa época encontramos el tango Mala Sangre.

The United States was not at all unknown to the great Maestro, even before he became very famous in Buenos Aires, in 1920 he traveled to New Jersey to perform several records, with a quintet created by the Victor company. From that time we find the tango “Mala Sangre” (bad blood).

Muchas veces regresa a los Estados Unidos a grabar y a confraternizar con la comunidad jazzística, por la cual fue muy influenciado, a tal punto que hace ingresar a sus orquestas instrumentos impensados para el tango como bronces, timbales, platillos y hasta arpa, dándole un inconfundible sesgo renovador a su música.

Many times he returns to the United States to record and getting acquainted with the jazz community, for which he was highly influenced, to the point that he brings into his orchestras unthinkable instruments for tango such as bronzes, timpani, cymbals, and even harp, giving him an unmistakable renewing bias to your music.

Referente a Dizzy Gillespie, Fresedo se encuentra con el genial trompetista negro en Buenos Aires a mediados de los 50s y lo invita a su "boite" (nightclub) Rende Vous a improvisar en una inolvidable versión de su tango Vida Mía.

Regarding Dizzy Gillespie, Fresedo meets the great African-American trumpeter in Buenos Aires in the mid-50s and invites him to his "boite" (nightclub) Rendez Vous to improvise in an unforgettable version of his tango Vida Mía.

Estuvo Fresedo alguna vez en Overtown? Esa es una parte de la historia que nunca podremos comprobar…

Has Fresedo ever been to Overtown? That is a part of history that we can never verify...


Tango Vida Mía 
Osvaldo Fresedo Orchestra
with Dizzie Gillespie
Rendez Vous, Buenos Aires, 1956


© Luigi Seta


4 comments:

Titania said...

Muy bueno, Luigi!

Monica said...

Que blog mas spectacular el tuyo...impecable.
Se ve la mano de arquitecto :)

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