LEJANA TIERRA MIA, BY CARLOS GARDEL

CARLOS GARDEL, THE HEART OF THE TANGO.

A SYMBOL OF LOVE FOR CARLOS GARDEL IN THE CITY OF BUENOS AIRES

Source: Roberto Fiadone (painter) 2006 Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

STORY OF THIS POST.

My Blog group gave us the following prompt for the FTSF Blog Hop:

 

“If I could hang out with any celebrity, it would be…”

My choice was… Carlos Gardel!

When I mentally went through my list of celebrities, I was somewhat shocked to discover that most of them were either dead or retired! That’s what comes of being an oldie!

However, I don’t live exclusively in the past, I do admire some present day celebrities, but they don’t seem to be from Hispanic America, which is the focus of this Blog.

There is also another factor that is working for me here and that is the fact that my life is filled with music: I love music, I listen to music, I play a musical instrument, I enjoy some of the beautiful lyrics of my best loved songs. 

So I finally chose my favorite of all times, Argentina’s famous composer, singer and actor of the 1920s and 1930s, Carlos Gardel. He is actually still amongst us; his legacy has made him immortal!

 He was an incredible interpreter of the Tango, as well as all types of ballads and love songs and his compositions are still well loved in Spanish America.

Gardel’s singing voice, and the ease with which he used it to portray emotions, was so powerful that UNESCO recognizes his music and recordings as an Intangible World Heritage.

His partner was Alfredo LePera, a gifted lyricist who provided the beautiful verses for Gardel’s musical compositions.

Carlos Gardel and Alfredo LePera met their tragic deaths in a plane accident in Medellin, Colombia, on June 24, 1935. They were on tour and on their way back to Buenos Aires, Argentina.  

For this post I have chosen a lovely melody called LEJANA TIERRA MIA.

LEJANA TIERRA MIA

THE IMMORTAL CARLOS GARDEL

Source: José María Silva, Public Domain, Wikimedia Commons

This song represents the Tango-canción at its best. It expresses an immigrant’s longing for his home country, and therefore has a distinct flavor of the traditional songs from Spain. It is not really a Tango, but a Tango-Vals, although the accents on the rhythm are different to the more well known Viennese Waltz.

This song was created as part of a movie called Tango Bar, produced in February 1935 in Long Island, New York, for Paramount Pictures. It was released to public view a few months after the tragic deaths of both Gardel and LePera. YouTube has videos of the some of the scenes that include Gardel actually singing this song in the movie.

For this post I have chosen another type of video which includes the singing and a historical record of Buenos Aires, I hope you will listen to it, it is beautiful and interesting! 

 

MY VERY FREE TRANSLATION OF THE LYRICS.

Verse.

Distant land of mine,

Under your sky,

Under your sky

I want to die some day

With your solace,

With your solace.

And hear the golden song

Of your bells

That I yearn for.

If I return to gaze at you,

I don’t know if I will laugh

Or I will cry.

The silence of my village,

Broken solely by

An ardent Romeo’s serenade

Under a sweet silver moon.

On a flowered balcony

The murmur of a pledge

Can be heard,

Carried on the breeze

With other throes of love.                                                                                                          

Interlude.

The balcony is still there

With its flowers

And its sun

You’re not there

I miss you…

Oh my love!

Verse

Distant land of mine

And of my love

How I name you

In my sleepless nights

With eyes full of wonder…

Tell me, little star of mine,

that my hopes are not in vain;

You know well…

That I must soon return…

To my bygone love.

SOME CLOSING WORDS.

This particular composition by Gardel – LePera holds a special significance for me: it was the first of Gardel’s repertoire that I played in public on my new Casio keyboard. The interpretation evoked a lot of sentiment in the listeners, as it did in me also.

In spite of the tragic and premature deaths, the partnership of Gardel and LePera is very much with us still. 

For this post I have chosen a video that includes Gardel singing "Lejana Tierra Mia", while showing scenes from Buenos Aires of the first decades of the 1900s. The classic style of the buildings is common to most of the important cities of Spanish America.

I have also added some examples of the Fileteado art which in Buenos Aires goes hand in hand with the Tango culture.

FILETEADO ART DECORATING  A STORE FRONT IN BUENOS AIRES

Source: Roberto Fiadone (painter), CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

SPANISH VERSES

(This Blog is bilingual)

Lejana tierra mía

Bajo tu cielo,

Bajo tu cielo,

Quiero morirme un día

Con tu consuelo,

Con tu consuelo.

Y oír el canto de oro

De tus campanas

Que siempre añoro;

No sé si al contemplarte

Al regresar

Sabré reír o llorar…

Silencio de mi aldea

Que sólo quiebra la serenata

De un ardiente Romeo

Bajo una dulce luna de plata.

En un balcón florido

Se oye el murmullo

De un juramento,

Que la brisa llevó  con el rumor

De otras cuitas de amor.

Siempre está

El balcón

Con su flor

Y su sol…

Tú no estás, faltas tú…

¡Oh! Mi amor…

Lejana tierra mía

De mis amores,

Como te nombro

En mis noches de insomnio

Con las pupilas

Llenas de asombro…

Dime, estrellita mía,

Que no son vanas mis esperanzas;

Bien sabes tú.. Que pronto he de volver…

A mi viejo querer

CARLOS GARDEL STREET IN BUENOS AIRES

 

Notice the Fileteado street art decorating the building!

Source: Alexav8, CC BY SA 3.0. Wikimedia Commons

See you on my next post! I hope you have enjoyed this one!

© 2013  joanveronica  (Joan Robertson)

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