What is Non-Tango ? We still have no answer to this question. So another song that can be classified as Non-Tango. Today we look at  Alfredo Zitarrosa with his song “El Violin de Becho”.

This is a song without bandoneon and it will probably not be played at a traditional milonga (is being not Golden Age enough to classify it as Non-Tango ?). Anyway, it has a nice danceable habanera rhythm, it has gitars and violins and it has even Spanish vocals. Nasty DJs will play this song at modern style milongas and all modern style dancers will get up at once and do the nasty Tango Nuevo.

Alfredo Zitarrosa was born in Uruguay in 1936 and was exposed to the music of the countryside (among that many milongas) during his youth. His career as a singer started in 1964 in Peru and following that, he established himself as one of the great voices of Latin American popular song [1]. He died in 1989 in Montevideo.

One of his most beautiful songs is “El Violin de Becho”:

 

 

Here are the lyrics in Castellano [2]. The song is popular, so it has been played by other important musicians. These are the versions of Mercedes Sosa and Lidia Borda:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjHqa7wi-aw

 

 

This is a more modern interpretation by OT Silencio for those who miss the bandoneon:

 

 

Finally a couple (Maria Filali & Fausto Carpino) performing to this song (I like their liquid approach and their sensual interpretation):

 

 

Now let´s look at a European couple (Eva Kovacova and Hendrik Jan van Rijswijk) performing to the same song (a little bit more on the Nuevo side) :

 

 

So enjoy,

-Richard

 

 

 

References:

1                    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfredo_Zitarrosa

2                    http://www.cancioneros.com/nc.php?NM=4247