Nada...a beautiful song by José Dames written in Buenos Aires in 1943.  Made famous by the great Argentine orchestras of the time, including Caló and DiSarli.
Orquesta Z chose to perform a more recent arrangement by Tango Fuego from 2004 for this version, we first recorded in 2010, remastered in 2021.
Orquesta Z is an Argentine tango sexteto located in the San Francisco Bay Area. For more information:  www.OrquestaZ.com

Nada - Orquesta Z (2010)

Written my Lucio Demare with wonderful lyrics by Homero Manzi, "Malena" is the classic Argentine tango, written in 1941.  Orquesta Z recorded this in 2016, and although we rarely perform it, it is one of our favorites.  (The original recording was by the famed Anibal Troilo orchestra with Francisco Fiorentino singing in 1942)

Here are the lyrics and my translation:

Malena
Tango 1941
Music: Lucio Demare
Lyric: Homero Manzi

(Original lyrics)
Malena canta el tango como ninguna
y en cada verso pone su corazón.
A yuyo del suburbio su voz perfuma,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.
Tal vez allá en la infancia su voz de alondra
tomó ese tono oscuro de callejón,
o acaso aquel romance que sólo nombra
cuando se pone triste con el alcohol.
Malena canta el tango con voz de sombra,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.

Tu canción
tiene el frío del último encuentro.
Tu canción
se hace amarga en la sal del recuerdo.
Yo no sé
si tu voz es la flor de una pena,
só1o sé que al rumor de tus tangos, Malena,
te siento más buena,
más buena que yo.

Tus ojos son oscuros como el olvido,
tus labios apretados como el rencor,
tus manos dos palomas que sienten frío,
tus venas tienen sangre de bandoneón.
Tus tangos son criaturas abandonadas
que cruzan sobre el barro del callejón,
cuando todas las puertas están cerradas
y ladran los fantasmas de la canción.
Malena canta el tango con voz quebrada,
Malena tiene pena de bandoneón.


(English) 
Malena sings the tango like no other
and in each line puts her heart.
A slum weed her voice exudes,
Malena has the pain of (the) bandoneon.
Maybe during her childhood her skylark voice
took this dark tone of (the) alleyway,
or maybe it’s that romance that she only mentions
when she gets sad with alcohol.
Malena sings the tango with the voice of shadow,
Malena has the pain of (the) bandoneon.

Your song
has the chill of the last meeting.
Your song
makes itself bitter with the salt of memory.
I don’t know
if your voice is the flower of a sorrow,
I only know about the rumor of your tangos, Malena,
I feel you are much better,
much better than I.

Your eyes are as dark as oblivion
your lips tight with bitterness (rancor), 
your hands feel like two cold doves
your veins have (the) blood of (the) bandoneon.
Your tangos are forsaken creatures
crossing over the muddy alley,
when all the doors are closed
and bark at the phantoms of the song.
Malena sings the tango with a broken voice
Malena has (the) pain of (the) bandoneon.

Malena - Orquesta Z (2016)

This is a rough draft of an original tango written today 1/24/2022.
Lyrics by Bendrew Jong and Cristina Bensadoun
©2022 Bendrew Jong

A tango of loneliness and lost love, borrowing Chuang Tzu's Taoist tale of dreaming he was a butterfly!

OZ 2022

Como Una Mariposa - Orquesta Z (2022)

Tu Beso (Your Kiss) - Orquesta Z (2022)
Musica: Bendrew Jong    Letra: Cristina Bensadoun

Cuantas veces he imaginado tu amor
How many times did I imagine your love?
Cuantas veces te desnude
How many times did I disrobe you?
Tu amor me ha robado la voz
Your love has stolen my voice
Como un sol al amanecer enciende el sentir
Like the rising sun ignites feeling
es difícil describer lo que al verte vi.
It is difficult for me to describe  what I felt when I saw you. 

Y…la luz llegó y la tristeza se fue.
And...the light arrived and sadness left.
Un circulo cerró.
A circle closed
Mi corazón festejó 
My heart played

Cuantas veces he imaginado tu amor?
How many times did i imagine your love?
Cuantas veces te desnude? 
How many times did I disrobe you?

Pensando en cómo te fuistes me deja triste,
Thinking of how you left leaves me feeling sad,
y sigo Imaginando tu regreso
And I continue imagining your return
Y confieso soñando tu beso.
And I confess dreaming of your kiss.

©2022 Bendrew Jong

Tu Beso - Orquesta Z (05/18/2022)

How about one more early tango I wrote for Orquesta Z in 2011 with my collaborators, Cristina Bensadoun and Cristina Bruch (Los Dos Cristinas)?  - Bendrew Jong

OZ#5 ZT#7 (11.01.09)

¿Por Qué Ahora?

Far and Away - by Gunnar Madsen (1997), arr. Bendrew Jong (2012)
When I started my architecture practice in the 70's, I lived in a sweet, large studio apartment in North Berkeley.  Sharing a common wall was a couple of UC Berkeley students, one of whom was a quirky, charming kid named Gunnar Madsen.  30 years later, while I was the artistic director of a performing arts theater in Berkeley (for fun) we invited an "a capella" group named the Bobs to perform for a couple fund-raisers...and lo and behold the founder of the Bobs was none other than Gunnar.  They had just performed for the Oscars!  And Gunnar was making a living, writing all the music for "Sex in the City"!  I didn't even know Gunnar was a musician!!!  Anyway, "Far and Away" is one of the songs Gunnar wrote for "Sex in the City" and later I arranged it as an alternative tango for Orquesta Z, my tango band!  So here it is...

OZ#9

Far and Away -Orquesta Z (2012)

Number 4 of 4 Pugliese/Maciel covers:  Esta Noche de Luna

Orquesta Z covered in 2012 four tangos sung by Jorge Maciel in the 1950's and 1960's while singing for the Osvaldo Pugliese Orchestra.

Arranged for Orquesta Z and sung by Bendrew Jong

In the 1950's, Osvaldo Pugliese, whose tango orchestra spanned 3 decades, combined with vocalist Jorge Maciel to create some of the most compelling Argentine tangos at the close of the Golden Era of tango...combining solid musical arrangements with beautiful lyrics. I've translated the lyrics so you can understand why this period of tango compares with the best of the Great American Songbook in terms of the poetry of love, but so often in tango of love lost and heartbreak. So here's the forth of four tangos I recorded in 2012 with me, Bendrew Jong, singing with Orquesta Z.

OZ#8 (12.10.29)

Esta Noche de Luna - Orquesta Z (2012)

Orquesta Z covers this well-known tango first recorded in 1942 by the Lucio Demare orchestra, with singer Juan Carlos Miranda.

Arranged for Orquesta Z in 2017 by Bendrew Jong, director and vocalist.

OZ21-5. (17.05.09)

No Te Apures, Carablanca - Orquesta Z (2017)

Fueron Tres Años - by Orquesta Z (2012)
This is a tango originally performed in 1956 by the Héctor Varela Orchestra with the wonderful singer Argentino Ledesma.  I arranged this piece in 2012 for my tango sexteto Orquesta Z in San Francisco, with me, Bendrew Jong, singing.  As the 50's were closing, an upheaval in Argentina was beginning that would lead to a military take over in the 1960's through 80's that would end tango in its tracks, as gatherings were illegal which made the dances or "Milongas" close for years.  We can only imagine what wonderful tangos were loss during these dark years.  But here's an example at the height of the Golden Era of Tango.

https://soundcloud.com/bendrew-jong/fueron-tres-anos-orquesta-z-2012

Malena - Orquesta Z (2016)

Bendrew

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