Di Sarli: Los Muñequitos

From the Di Sarli playbook:

"The tango that is causing a sensation, LOS MUÑEQUITOS by F. Fracánico [sic]. Debuts today at 12:45 today on LR1. Carlos Di Sarli. Vocal Roberto Rufino."

(Ad appeared 3 November 1943; song recorded the following day. The composer is Francisco Pracánico, with a P.)

En la tortura de vivir sin canción,
Mi alma sin fe, rompió a llorar,
La dulce infancia, blanca flor de ilusión
Hoy con dolor, vuelvo a evocar...
Pobres... están aún en un rincón,
Ellos... muñequitos de cartón,
Pobres muñequitos que contemplo
Con ternura y emoción.

In the torture of living without a song,
My faithless soul burst into tears,
Sweet childhood, white flower of illusion
Now, in pain, I remember again.
Poor babies... they’re still in a corner,
Those... paper dolls,
Poor little dolls that I ponder
With tenderness and emotion.

Jueguen muñequitos,
Bailen, salten como ayer,
Que hoy mi tristeza
Necesita del recuerdo.
Jueguen muñequitos,
Bailen, salten otra vez,
Como en la infancia
Que revive mi emoción.

Play, little dolls,
Dance, leap as you did yesterday,
that today my sadness
May pine for the memory.
Play, little dolls,
Dance, as in childhood,
Leap once more,
So it revives my emotion.
 
Vuelvan a brindarme esa alegría,
Para ahogar la pena mía,
Que hoy me quema el corazón.
Jueguen muñequitos,
Bailen, salten como ayer,
Que hoy me quema el corazón.

Bring that happiness again,
To drown this sorrow of mine,
That now burns my heart.
Play, little dolls,
Dance, leap like yesterday,
For today my heart is burning.

Comments

[Jantango]

This brief post prompted my investigation: did I know the tango Los munequitos? What is LR1?

YouTube provided this recording of the tango. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5LKCpWGyr4
No, I'd never heard this recording before today.

I discovered that LR1 is Radio El Mundo founded in 1935.

If the tango hadn't been debuted, how did it cause a sensation? I suppose this was marketing in the 40s.

I wonder how the composer felt that his surname was misspelled in the ad.

[Michael]

Jan, Di Sarli would almost certainly have performed the song before live audiences prior to the radio. He played at the Marabú almost every night, and in the barrios most weekends. In those setting, the song might have caused a sensation even before being performed on the radio or being recorded. The estreno ("debut") in this case was the song's first appearance on the radio.

I'm sure Francisco Pracánico (b. 1898, who was, by the, way a towering figure of the Guardia Vieja) was happy to see his song recorded by the great Carlos Di Sarli, and later by Enrique Rodríguez and Libertad Lamarque. If he felt a twinge of distress at seeing his name misspelled, I'm pretty sure it was offset by the pleasure of seeing his song reach a wide audience.

[Michael]

Yes, LR1 is Radio El Mundo, the radio station owned by the English company, Editorial Haynes, which also owned the El Mundo morning newspaper, from which most of Tango Time Machine's materials are derived. I've written often about the station in my entries on this blog, and I've analyzed many of the daily radio schedules that appeared in the paper. They are full of information about the period. For an example: http://www.tangodecoder.com/2015/10/radio-carnaval-sixteen-orchestras-in-four-hours.html