106  Article in New York Times about the difficult times the Cafes in BA

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Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 21:45:38 -0400
From: James Murphy <cmurf@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject: Article in New York Times about the difficult times the Cafes in BA
are having

The New York Times newspaper today (July 23,01) has an article on page A4
written by Clifford Krauss and titled, "Recession Blues Are Turning Into a
Ballad of the Sad Cafes."

The lengthy article describes the effect that the harsh economic times are
having on cafe life in Buenos Aires.
Among the tango related points noted in the article:

"It is hard to overestimate the importance of the cafe in the social and
cultural life of Buenos Aires. It is a place to read about the latest
financial crisis in the morning newspaper over a cup of espresso, dance the
tango in midafternoon or watch a soccer match on television after work."

"Tributes to cafe life are almost as frequent in tango songs as heartfelt
considerations of unrequited love."

"Enrique Santos Discepolo, the great tango composer of the 1940's once wrote
an ode to the cafe in a classic ballad called,"Cafetin de Buenos Aires"
about a lonely man reminiscing about how as a child he once looked dreamily
through the windows of a cafe seeking wonder."You are the only one who
reminds me of my mother," the song goes. It is the cafe, he writes, that
gave him his "first cigarette, the faith in dreams and a hope of love."

Mr Krauss goes on to say, "all that can still be found in the Buenos Aires
cafes, just in smaller doses."

Several cafes are mentioned by name with comments by various people on the
scene. With the article is a photo of the nearly empty cafe 36 Billares
around midnight. The same photo is included in the online version of the
article.

The current URL for the article is:
https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/23/international/americas/23ARGE.html?searchp
v=nytToday

Articles are available for viewing on the New York Times web site for a week
after they appear in the paper but I am not sure if the above URL will
remain the same after today.


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