1730  Nicknames in Tango

Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 16:05:23 -0300
From: Alberto Gesualdi <clambat2001@YAHOO.COM.AR>
Subject: Nicknames in Tango

Dear friends from Tango List

I am still trying to take out the disgust after reading the posting from Ashol Kahn .It seems some of the "juices" of his nickname has poured down into his or her posting , since I don t know the gender of this dubious contributor.

But, once again , let s try to take out some good from this aggresive posting, and focus into tango and nicknames.

Nicknames are very usual in Buenos Aires and other cities. Cordoba city , where Rick Mc Garrey has been this days, is one of the places where most creative nicknames came from ,unfortunately not all of them can be properly translated since they are very local idiom.
Maybe these one , ' Sandwich ' , since it is at all the parties.
"Baby" , it got sleep sucking (not precisely mother milk ...)
"Coiffeur" , it keeps talking backwards you

"Slaughter knife" It is always taking the leather out. "Taking the leather out" has the special meaning of gossiping and talking bad from other people when they are not in front of you , Ashol Kahn , this is a special for you , naughty boy/girl.

*-*
Tango and nicknames ( I put the spanish nickname and a translation as accurante as possible in english)

Let s see some nicknames in Tango
D Arienzo was called "El rey del compas/ The king of beating" this do not need too much explanation. But he was also known ad "Grillito/Little cricket" . This nickname was at his first perfomances as musician, playing the violin . It seems D Arienzo was not too good with the instrument, so his fellow musicians put him this nickname to say he play like a cricket :)

Di Sarli was "El tuerto/Pop eye" . There were several legends about why Di Sarli wear also dark glasses. Some people said it was due to a fight with one of his ousted musicians , The bare truth was that Di Sarli worked with his father on a gunshop , and one employee accidentally fire a weapon near the face of Di Sarli. He was 12 years old , he was taken to the hospital of Bahia Blance where he lived, a platinum plate have to be inserted into his skull, and he have to wear dark glasses from that time on.

Francisco Canaro "Pirincho" and also "El Kaiser"
Pirincho was almost his birth nickname, since when the midwive that assisted his mother saw him said " it looks like a Pirincho" a popular bird from uruguay, that has some hair standing over his head.
El Kaiser, was a later nickname that his musicians give him , due to his almost military discipline and demand (also a strong character, although there comments that he was not so hard) .The Kaiser refer to the Kaiser Wilhelm I ,King of Germany from 1871 to 1888.

Vicente Greco: Garrote/club/stick. One of the brothers of Vicente, Fernando, was butcher . Every time a quarrell arise, Fernando use his strong fists , and they were so heavy that people compare the fistcuff as a stroke with a club/stick, garrote in spanish. Garrote was Fernando, and later Vicente being his brother "inherited" the nickname .


And now , to end this very small list (since almost all musicians and singers have nicknames) , Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr.Carlos Gardel , bearer of endeless nicknames , I will omit those nicknames that are simply superlatives like El Unico(the only and only) , El inolvidable ( the unforgettable) , lets see some of the nicknames that require and explanation

- El Morocho del Abasto , due to his dark complexion and the fact that he lived very close to El Abasto, the wholesale market for fruits and vegetables of Buenos Aires.
- El Zorzal, due to the quality of his singing (later Angelito Vargas was called ' the mocking bird of Buenos Aires' .El Zorzal is a very popular bird in Buenos Aires , as well as the sparrow. But the sparrow is not so musical like the zorzal , it keeps chirping and making "arrangements":)
-El Mago(the magician. This was due to some of this garments, those days it was common to wear top hat , more or less like the top hat the magicians use to draw rabbits at their shows.

I will like to end this comment with a fragment of a tango made by uruguayan composer Jaime Roos to Gardel, it is called " Don Carlos" and says this

Misterio taura del tiempo Great mystery of time
que te dicto su sentencia that pronounce their veredict
sos inventor de la ciencia





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