El Afronte Orchestra Performing in San Telmo

The tango Orchestra, El Afronte performs every Sunday in the San Telmo fair near the corner of Defensa and Humberto Primo.

El Afronte Orquesta Típica does soulful tango numbers that can range from euphoria and despairing in their performances.

The orchestra was established in 2004, and today is one of the most well-known orchestras on the milonga scene of Buenos Aires.

Bringing the intense sentimentality of tango to the present, they are fully acoustic. It’s a deviation from the trend at the time: electro-tango hit the charts worldwide with tunes from Bajofondo Tango Club and Gotan Project.

But an Orquesta Tipica like El Afronte is a standard in a good milonga.

‘Catch an El Afronte Orquesta show live to experience the true aching nostalgia of Buenos Aires through its music.

(On this day yours truly was attending a charity event inside the adjacent Parroquia San Pedro Telmo. Since the music was drowned out inside, I decided to film the tango orchestra.)


Tarde (Late)
by Jose Canet
performed by El Afronte

De cada amor que tuve tengo heridas,
heridas que no cierran y sangran todavía.
¡Error de haber querido ciegamente
matando inútilmente la dicha de mis días!
Tarde me di cuenta que al final se vive igual fingiendo…
Tarde comprobé que mi ilusión se destrozó queriendo…

¡Pobre amor que está sufriendo
la amargura más tenaz!
Y ahora que no es hora para nada
tu boca enamorada me incita una vez más.

Y aunque quiera quererte ya no puedo,
porque dentro del alma tengo miedo.
Tengo miedo que se vuelva a repetir
la comedia que me ha hundido en el vivir.
¡Todo te lo di!…
¡Todo lo perdí!…
Siempre puse el alma entera,
de cualquier manera,
soportando afrentas
y al final de cuentas
me quedé sin fe.

De cada amor que tuve tengo heridas,
heridas que no cierran y sangran todavía.
Error de haber querido ciegamente,
perdido en un torrente de burlas y mentiras.
Voy en mi rodar sin esperar y sin buscar amores…
Ya murió el amor porque el dolor le destrozó sus flores…
Y aunque hoy llores y me implores
mi ilusión no ha de volver.
¡No ves que ya la pobre está cansada,
deshecha y maltratada por tanto padecer!

From every love I have wounds
Wounds that don’t heal and bleed, still,
The error of having loved blindly.
Uselessly slaughtering, the happiness of my days
I realized late that faking you still live it
I realized late that my illusion was already broken, while loving

Poor love which is suffering
a tenacious bitterness!
And now that it’s the time for nothing
You in-love lips incite me one more time

Even though I wanted to love you, now i just can’t
Because inside my soul I am fearful,
I’m fearful it will all repeat again,
The comedy that’s sunken me in life
Everything I gave!
Everything I lost!
I always gave all my soul
nevertheless
Enduring dishonor, at the end of it all,
I’m without hope

I have wounds from every love I had,
Wounds that don’t heal and bleed, still,
The error of having loved blindly,
Lost in a flood of jokes and lies
I go along not waiting or looking for love
The love died because the pain withered its flowers
And although you cry and beg
My love hasn’t returned
Can’t you see that the poor thing is tired , rejected and maltreated
from suffering so much?

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