Skip to main content

There are no happy Tango songs.....

The White Chapel
lyrics by Hector Marcó
In the white chapel
of a town out in the provinces
very close to a crystal clear creek,
your hands
drove me to prayer.
Your hands that used to enflame
my child’s heart,
and the foot of a Holy Christ
you gave me a drink
from the waters of tenderness.
Happily the moon watched us
come down the mountain
following the stars,
drinking among your goats
a little dose of love…
and today those timid bells
are dark birds
that toll from afar
the call to prayer.
Your voice died in the river,
and in the white chapel
it left an empty space…
empty, like both our souls.

La capilla blanca
En la capilla blanca
de un pueblo provinciano
muy junto a un arroyuelo de cristal,
me hincaban a rezar
tus manos.
Tus manos que encendían
mi corazón de niño,
y al pie de un Santo Cristo,
las aguas del cariño
me dabas de beber.

Feliz nos vio la luna
bajar por la montaña
siguiendo las estrellas,
bebiendo entre tus cabras,
un ánfora de amor…
y hoy son aves oscuras
esas tímidas campanas
que doblan a lo lejos
el toque de oración.

Tu voz murió en el río,
y en la capilla blanca
quedó un lugar vacío…
vacío como el alma de los dos.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

2020

Ah 2020. You have been upended in the most ridiculous way possible by a virus that has destroyed every single activity we do for fun, leisure, pleasure, necessity, survival. Because, humans. Was so looking forward to a year of dancing starting with the Taiwan Valentine's Tango Marathon, leading into STM v5, London, Portugal and maybe BA by the end of the year. Guess what! ALL GONE, DESTROYED. It has been a year since I went to a marathon/event. I am probably the saddest I have been when it comes to the dance front. 11 years ago I made it such a part of my identity that it has accompanied me through the years of visiting different cities for work, for holiday, for weddings, for connections, for reunions with exes, for meeting new interests. Shaped my 20's like nothing else has and only grows stronger year after year. 2020 was the reset required. Mentally, emotionally. This relationship with Tango remains my strongest and most developed of my many relationships with many a...

Malaysia Prelims & Tango Festival - Musings

Off the back of a weekend that required me to leave work early and sleep cray hours to finally get back into a semi-human mode of work and sleep. Thoughts? When I first started tango, I jumped straight into a Fire & Ice festival in Ann Arbor January of 2010. That was my first taste of a tango festival which was relatively social and a good scene in hindsight. Coming back to Malaysia I've participated in the KL Festival every single year, Singapore festival twice, Taiwan festival once (24 hour on a whim - fuck it all flight), Shanghai festival once. Other than that the flavour of the day nowadays is definitely geared more toward marathons/encuentros, and for a good reason. Festivals in this part of the world are seriously so tipped toward a certain "type" that it is far more worth my money and sanity to go for the social dancing rather than the festival format. Granted, lessons were good, always learning, picking up new things. Competition was, so-so for me, was...

The Unselfish Lead

Been putting on the hat of a leader over this past week and enjoying it even more. Yeah I have no idea how to do giros or sacadas, and don't talk about ganchos either, but what I've figured is that as long as musicality is there, as long as connection exists, both parties enjoy it. This has made me wonder about something though-I always thought that leaders were having all the fun at the start-in the sense that the steps that are taken in this dance are dependent on the leaders to have trained and learnt them-as a follower you can follow even if you don't know much about what you are doing, as long as the leader does. All the classes then seem to be about the leader's steps. But then I've also come to realise that, as a leader, you are expected to craft the dance to understand the steps through the viewpoint of the lady, and maybe this is where many teachers don't emphasize enough. That every step you take, you have to realise what signals you are giving ou...