1810 Borges, Edmundo Rivero, etc.
Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2003 12:34:36 -0700
From: luda_r1 <luda_r1@YAHOO.COM>
Subject: Borges, Edmundo Rivero, etc.
Hi everybody,
I received an interesting piece of information about
Borges recently, which I'd like to check out. Does
anybody else know anything about this? That the
arrabal mentality was all in Borges' head? And how to
get a hold of that legendary Edmundo Rivero recording?
"But, according to Edmundo Rivero, el
cantor, he talked to Borges about how his poetry
portrayed
so well the arrabal and the street, and I guess the
general feeling of tango. And he answered Rivero that
it
was all imagined. He never lived it, as his parents
would not allow him to go play with the street
urchins.
Re:Borges and music, Rivero made a legendary recording
of Borges-based lyrics. if you find it somewhere, it
should be very enjoyable."
Luda
=====
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 01:51:37 -0400
From: the pulpo pereyra <hpereyra@NYC.RR.COM>
Subject: Re: Borges, Edmundo Rivero, etc.
Borges life is intertwined with his literature. He build a labyrinth
with pieces of his life as he will do with his writing.
In "The Garden of Forking Paths the protagonist plans to build a
Labyrinth and a book where people will get lost, "No one realized that
the book and the labyrinth were one and the same..." This somehow is an
autobiographical note. His own depiction of himself (and we get all
this through his many conferences) was part of his literature.
He manifests: "for years I believed I had grown up in a suburb . . . of
risky streets and visible sunsets. The truth is I grew up in a garden,
behind lanceolate railings, and in a library of unlimited English
books." but also Evaristo Carriego (who was a friend of his father)
will visit his house and will bring many stories about that secret
Buenos Aires into the Borges house. Borges wrote a book about Carriego
and there he writes about tango and about what he calls "the cult of
courage". This become a central subject on his literature and he
explores it in "Hombre de la esquina rosada" (first published in
Revista Multicolor as "Hombres Pelearon"), "El Sur"' Historia de
Rosendo Juarez", and in his book "Para las seis cuerdas". He recreated
the archetypical Guapo (hoodlum ) putting together what he heard in his
childhood, and what his readings on literatura gauchesca, but also what
he himself saw.
During the 20's, when he comes back from Geneva and Spain (where he was
initiated into the "Ultraist" movement by Rafael Cansinos Assens), he
embraces Buenos Aires with fervor (one of his early books is called
"Buenos Aires Fervor"/ "Fervor de Buenos Aires") and prowls the street
with a group of young artists plastering the walls of the city with a
large broadsheet shaped magazine called "Prisma"
That, and the Buenos Aires from his childhood is what he recalls as
"his Buenos Aires", so his statement about a fictionalized Buenos Aires
is like his labyrinths. meant to get people lost in them.
He new Buenos Aires, he read Buenos Aires, he walked Buenos Aires and
he also witnessed it through the eyes of Evaristo Carriego and
Macedonio Fernandez
. Some Tango historians criticize the fact that his Hoodlums didn't
exist or at least in the police files they had a different fate. They
hold this against him to discredit his knowledge, the fact is that he
was beyond the names, he was in search of the "archetypical hoodlum" he
was a writer.
You can find that secret pulse of Buenos Aires in his literature as you
can find it in Piazzolla's music. And that those parallel lines finally
intersected in their album called "El Tango" I think it is out of print
but there are copies around (I might have one somewhere, if I look in
the mess that my house is!!) or you can ask Oscar Himschoot from "El
Club de Tango" (www.clubdetango.com.ar).
We play a beautiful version of Jacinto Chiclana with the Zvi Migdal in
an arrangement of Adam Tully. Those of you who live in NY can come on
friday to Belle Epoque or on Sunday to Via della Pace (48 E 7th street,
@ 2nd Ave.) to listen to it and many other tangos and milongas; and
those who don't can visit our website (www.thezvimigdal.com) for some
music and more Borges quotations.
Here is some stuff I find on the internet about the recording, I also
had included a photo of Borges home in Palermo but the server won't
allow me to submit it, sorry
Good Night
the pulpo
p.s.: forgive my poor written English!
Originally released on LP in 1965, this album combines Piazzolla's
music with Borges' poetry.
1. El tango
2. Jacinto Chiclana
3. Alquien le dice al tango
4. El títere
5. A don Nicanor Paredes
6. Oda intima a Buenos Aires
El hombre de la esquina rosada
(A suite for 12 instruments, narrator, and singer.)
7. I. Aparición de Rosendo
8. II. Rosendo y la Lujanera
9. III. Aparición de Real
10. IV. Milonga nocturna
11. V. Bailongo
12. VI. Muerte de Real
13. VII. Epílogo
Musicians:
Astor Piazzolla -- Music, arrangements, and direction
Jorge Luis Borges -- Texts
Edmundo Rivero -- Voice
Luis Medina Castro -- Reading poems
Daniel Binelli -- Bandoneón
Jaime Gosis -- Piano
Oscar Lopez Ruiz -- Guitar
Roberto Di Filippo -- Oboe
Margarita Zamek -- Harp
Antonio Yepes -- Percussion and vibes
Leo Jacobson -- Percussion
Antonio Agri -- Violin
Hugo Baralis -- Violin
Mario Lalli -- Viola
Jose Bragato -- Cello
Kicho Diaz -- Bass
the pulpo
www.thezvimigdal.com
info@thezvimigdal.com
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 11:01:09 -0400
From: the pulpo pereyra <hpereyra@NYC.RR.COM>
Subject: Re: Borges, Edmundo Rivero, etc.
Evaristo Carriego(1883/1912) Was born in Parana- Entre Rios
He was a bohemian poet who depicted in his poems the passions and
tragedies of the working class and the "sad happiness of the
neighborhood", particularly his neighborhood: Palermo.
He was involved in the "criollismo" (a school/ tendency of writing,
based on the exhalation of national values). He also wrote some poems
for an anarchist newspaper called "la protesta" this and the fact that
they were neighbors might have been the reason why he became friends
with Jorge Guillermo Borges (Borges father), who was himself an
anarchist.
Borges wrote a book about him, probably most based on his personal
knowledge of the writer and his bohemian side that in his own writings.
Most of his writings are compiled in his only book called "Misas
Herejes"
though he was a minor poet, many tango Lyricist and poets where very
interested in his dramatic depiction of the characters of the
neighborhood and he seemed to have infused some of them. Not only he
has a tango with his name, some tangos quote him or name him.
You can find his complete works here:
https://www.biblioteca.clarin.com/pbda/poesia/carriego/poesia.htm
they are in Spanish. Don't know if there exists any English translation
the pulpo
www.thezvimigdal.com
info@thezvimigdal.com
the pulpo
www.thezvimigdal.com
info@thezvimigdal.com
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 10:29:13 -0400
From: the pulpo pereyra <hpereyra@NYC.RR.COM>
Subject: Re: Borges, Edmundo Rivero, etc.
Hi Luda,
yes I live in Brooklyn,NY. I sing tangos with my band, named "Zvi
Migdal", you can check our website www.thezvimigdal.com
This month we presented a show called Buenos Ayres, Tangos from Heaven
and Hell.
It is a multimedia tango concert featuring: the Zvi Migdal, guest
musicians, and dancers Carolina & Diego and Cecilia & Ronen.
The show has text from Borges, Cortazar and Juan Gelman.
There will be more info about it in the website as soon as I upload it.
First thing I read by Dostoyevsky was Crime and Punishment when I was
13 years old. In a very particular moment of my adolescence. I am still
haunted by that book. It is beautiful in a terrible way!! I've found
some of Dostoyevsky's influence in the narrative of Roberto Arlt, an
argentine journalist/writer/inventor. His particular way of writing
(rough, violent) was very controversial but I think it depicts with
perfection certain dark side of the Porteños (people from Buenos
Aires). Tango itself is not an specific subject in his literature but
all it's elements are present there. It is a must read!!
I don't think there is a recording where Rivero sings strictly Borges
rather than that recording of "El Tango" that is all based on Borges.
The fact is that the Borges poems that have music to them are this ones
included in "El Tango". If I am not wrong there are two milongas
Jacinto Chiclana and El Titere. There are more milongas by borges in
his book "Para las 6 cuerdas" but nobody put music to them as far as I
know.
This might be due to the fact that Borges approaches milongas in his
own literary way, thus we have milongas that are meant to be read as
poems but it's structure makes it impossible for them to be sung. At
least in a classic way.
This are some of the CD's that I have by don Edmundo Rivero:
Escencia Criolla
2 cd's with a compilation of 40 songs. The first one has his works with
different orchestras like Tarantino, Stamponi and DeMarco. The second
one are his pieces with guitar, he plays in many of them.
Lunfa Reo
it's all about lunfardo. Guess it will be very difficult to translate
but it's worth the try. I believe it is a key piece for understanding
tango in a more social/political way.
Horacio Salgan - Edmundo Rivero Con sabor a tango.
Now, about Borges literary preferences:
I will say his complete works are a list of his own preferences. He
worked a lot with inter-texts. He also wrote prologues for a collection
that might be used as well as a guide and articles for a magazine (El
Hogar) where he will review books.
One of the books he reviewed by that time was "the Gangs of New York"
by Herbert Asbury that has been recently taken to the screen by Martin
Scorcesse.
After the movie they re-edited the book and included Borges forward.
Have a good day
the pulpo
www.thezvimigdal.com
info@thezvimigdal.com
