Sheet music for "Mandria," 1926, music by Juan Carlos Rodríguez, lyrics by Brancatti and Velich. Note the three stanzas at the bottom of the page.
And we answer: Great question! The lyrics you see during the instrumental section are the verses that the lyricists Velich and Brancatti wrote, but that were not sung on this recording. Almost all tangos had three verses; they were included in the sheet music for the song. In early tango-orchestra recordings (pre-Troilo) most songs were sung with only one verse or a fragment of a verse, which was called an estribillo, a refrain. The singer, consequently, was called an estribillista, a refrain singer. At the same time, there were other recordings in the tango canción ("tango song") style that were recorded for listening, not for dancing, and which included all three verses, often with a repeated chorus. Aníbal Troilo's band was probably the first tango dance orchestra ("orquesta típica") to allow the singer to sing two full verses of the song, and the idea caught on fairly quickly with other orchestras, too. That gave greater importance to the singer, who now came to be called un cantor de orquesta, "an orchestra singer," although the term estribillista was still used on record labels for many years after.
In this 1939 version of MANDRIA, Echagüe sings the first verse and then, after an instrumental interlude, the second half of the third verse. It's a bit more than an estribillo, but not quite a full orchestra singer's part. However, the intention of this subtitled video is to present the full narrative of the song. Therefore we included the unsung verses in brackets, as we have done on several other subtitled videos.
We believe these unsung verses do a lot to illuminate the meaning of the song, even on recordings all of the lyrics aren't heard. They may also reveal a lot about tango culture and tango history. They are part of the song's identity, its DNA. Keep in mind that many listeners at the time would have been familiar with the lyrics of MANDRIA via the tango canción version recorded by Rosita Quiroga in 1927. Keep in mind also that it was not unusual for a popular tango to be sung on the radio by any number of different singers over the years, and also to be played from the sheet music (or by ear) by small groups or solo performers in a live setting like a home, a cafe, or a bar.
We believe these unsung verses do a lot to illuminate the meaning of the song, even on recordings all of the lyrics aren't heard. They may also reveal a lot about tango culture and tango history. They are part of the song's identity, its DNA. Keep in mind that many listeners at the time would have been familiar with the lyrics of MANDRIA via the tango canción version recorded by Rosita Quiroga in 1927. Keep in mind also that it was not unusual for a popular tango to be sung on the radio by any number of different singers over the years, and also to be played from the sheet music (or by ear) by small groups or solo performers in a live setting like a home, a cafe, or a bar.
As an example, I recently read a biography of Borges that describes frequent gatherings in the early to mid-1920s at the home of Nora Lange, a fiery redhead of Nordic ancestry who Borges loved, but never managed to possess. Nora used to play old-time instrumental tangos on the piano, and Borges and his intimate friends danced late into the evening. Then they'd go to a nearby bar where a tango orchestra was playing—Juan De Dios Filiberto was mentioned as one of them—and after a few drinks they'd sometimes pick fights with the other patrons, who were fans of the newly emerging style of sung tango, with its mournful lyrics, which Borges deemed to be, "the effeminate whinging of jilted pimps."
To hear MANDRIA in all its glory, with the original Spanish and English-language subtitles, please use the links below:
MANDRIA performed by Orquesta Típica Juan D'Arienzo with vocal by Alberto Echagüe, 1939.
MANDRIA performed by Rosita Quiroga with guitar by Vicente Spina, 1927.
MANDRIA performed by Rosita Quiroga with guitar by Vicente Spina, 1927.
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