Enrique Santos Discépolo

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Enrique Santos Discépolo ( Discepolín ) (born March 27, 1901 in Buenos Aires - died on December 23, 1951) was an Argentine tango and milonga musician and composer, author of famous tangos such as Cambalache and many others performed by several of the most important singers of his time, amongst them notably Carlos Gardel.

Discépolo was attracted to the arts from an early age and tried acting and theater writing (with moderate success) before finally "arriving" to Tango. Even when his decision to write popular music wasn't totally separated from his previous exchanges with theater and acting, his older brother Armando resisted this move and therefore in the beginning things weren't easy for Enrique. Armando had taken over his education after his parent died when Enrique was very young.

He wrote a few songs (including, the later famous "Que vachaché") with little success until his break came in 1928, when singer Azucena Maizani performed his "Esta noche me emborracho" ("Tonight I'm getting drunk"). Days after this performance, the lyrics to this tango circulated across the nation and gave him notoriety. Later on that year, actress and singer Tita Merello rescued "Que vachaché", and propelled it to the same popularity as "Esta noche me emborracho". To close a great 1928 he also met his wife, Tania, who will be with him for the rest of his life.

He continued to get fame within the years and in 1935 he wrote "Cambalache", a song whose lyrics not only reflected the Argentinian political climate of the era but also almost predicted its future. Argentines sometimes reflect on how much of those lyrics still reflect life in Argentina, even 80 years later.

[edit] Style

Discépolo wasn't as prolific as some other Tango writers (like Enrique Cadícamo, for example) but he was very versatile in his styling. He was not only able to write ironic and moralist songs ("Que vachaché", "Yira... yira...", "Que sapa señor", "Cambalache"), but also romantic ("Sueño de juventud"), sarcastic ("Justo el 31", "Chorra"), expressionist ("Soy un arlequín", "Quién más, quién menos"), passional ("Confesión", "Canción desesperada") and nostalgic on ("Uno", "Cafetín de Buenos Aires").

His songs, as most of tango songs do, make extensive use of Lunfardo and make of understanding his lyrics an exercise in patience for the people unused to that dialect.