Date:    Tue, 13 Feb 1996 11:10:29 -0800
From:    Polo Talnir 
Subject: Tango superstitions

See note after the transcripts of previous message segments...


Eckart wrote:

>> Listen ! They are playing a tango, very simple,
>> very beautiful, very "dancable" ... it's Canaro playing "Adios
>> muchachos". Ulrike and I have a choreography on this one. Shall we
>> throw it away ?


Polo warned:

>Whaw! You chose precisely "Adios Muchachos". It may be useful for you
>guys to know that for the Argentines, this is a no-dance Tango, no matter
>who plays it (and believe me, I love Canaro!). Just in case you will
>need to perform in front of a partially Argentine audience... Are you
>performing this in Buenos Aires by any chance?. Anticipate some discomfort
>then ....

>They say that it is "bad luck" - "yeta" in Lunfardo. I don't believe in
>those b...s... but some do ...

>Un abrazo

>-Polo


Eckart (although currently out of discussion) took the time for this brief
 question:

Polo, now we did NOT throw away our choreography as originally suggested and
BOOM ! - wrong again. Can we never please you Porte~no guys ?

Hope to see you in Bs.As. in december. We'd love to show you our choreographies

Un abrazo
Eckart

--------

Hello Eckart,

Thanks for the invitation! December indeed sounds good. Do you have dates?
Actually I think that pleasing porten~os in Tango matters is indeed
HARD. My feeling is that we have the tendency to dismiss too much,
stretching it ... I am not sure whether I escaped that tendency or I
am just another incarnation of the average porten~o/Tango melange.
Oh, well. My intentions are good anyway (even though I sometimes may
sound rough!).

To the superstitions questions. I guess that adding some superstition
around a popular cultural phenomenom (i.e. Tango) is not uncommon.

I am aware of the following, and would like to know if anyone knows
more of them so that we can compile a full list for general education,
especially for those that plan to become Tango sorcerers ...

1. Carlos DiSarli is "el innombrable", the one whose name can not be
   mentioned. I think that this comes from a rumor (not sure about
   its veracity) that Maestro DiSarli once attempted to commit suicide.

2. Adios Muchachos is "yeta", bad luck. No clue why this one is "yeta"
   and the other thousands of Tangos with even more depressing lyrics
   are not. Any suggestions/guesses/reasonings are welcome.

3. I heard also about a violinist (if my memory does not fail me now,
   it was Antonio Agri, who played with Piazzolla among others)
   that is in the "yeta" list. No clue why.

However, 1. and 2. are, by far, the most common "knowledge".

That is all I have.

Any others?. C'mon, can not be that the porten~os have such limited
imagination. There must be some more ... (I can't believe I am
writing about this ... Black magic?   :-)

Muchos Tangos, and send a hug to Ulrike too!

-Polo
 polo@mls-5.informix.com

Date:    Tue, 13 Feb 1996 13:54:40 -0800
From:    TangoMan 
Subject: RE. Tango superstitions

Polo wrote (BTW Polo, your contributions are exccellent and
congratulations for having made The Best of Tango-l in the February
issue of you know what.)

2. Adios Muchachos is "yeta", bad luck. No clue why this one is "yeta"
   and the other thousands of Tangos with even more depressing lyrics
   are not. Any suggestions/guesses/reasonings are welcome.

Picture this. I am reading about AM and now while I type I am using
only one hand, because the other one is holding on to my crotch.
It seems that Carlos Gardel's last song before the fatal flight that
took his life was the one you mention. Since then, singers regularly
refuse to sing it in public, because it is bad luck. They even go to
the extend of grabbing their crotch while the tango is played, as a way
to recall the painful experience of Gardel and his travel companions
burning like charcoal in the tarmack of Medellin airport.
Polo played AM once to many last year and two weeks later Chez Louis
shut down after 40 years in business, and was levelled by the
construction of a drugstore in the place it used to stand.
I played AM one night in 1991 on KIQI in San Francisco, forgetting the
ritual of holding on to my jewells. Two weeks later the show was
cancelled and went off the air. Go figure it!
Our friend Nora D. adds that the women's version to keep the yeta away
is to grab their left breast.
Now, Eckart, how about a video of the updated choreography of AM, in
light of these new revelations of the dark side of Argentine Tango?

Alberto
TangoMan
Conventillo de la Paloma, Pieza 69


TangoMan is the e-mail handle of Alberto Paz
Publisher and editor of El Firulete
tangazo@ix.netcom.com