An Argentine tango—a classic expression of Argentine culture—highlights the richness of the Greek language, as it is full of Greek words, despite being sung… in Spanish.
Its composer, Daniel Armando, realized during a trip to Cuba that the Spanish language is full of Greek words. The stimulus was a book titled “The 17,000 Greek Words in the Spanish Language”, and Armando decided to begin creating the song.
He composed a piece that contains no Spanish words, only Greek ones, pronounced with a Spanish accent and causing surprise—except for the refrain, which also serves as the song’s title.
He named it “Mi Último Tango en Atenas,” that is, “My Last Tango in Athens.”
To understand the reason behind its creation, one only needs to look at the album’s release date: 2012. Greece was in crisis, and the artist, by creating a song with Greek words, expresses a cry—an awakening call to citizens who accept, without reaction, the measures imposed on them.
“Unfortunately, because we do not react and we are harmless, the people of the “Troika” (EU Financial overseers of Greece) impose measures on us, they experiment on us. If we do not do something at this moment, we will probably not have the opportunity to dance any other tango. This will be our last,” the creator—who was born and raised in Argentina—had said in an interview with T.H.
“It is a Spanish song with Spanish lyrics. I wrote the music and lyrics, and selected 100 words in Spanish that are Greek. The idea came to me from a book I bought on a trip to Cuba. In it, various authors wrote short stories, and I realized they used many Greek words.
This, of course, was something I already knew, but I became much more aware of it through this book. So I began working internally on the idea of writing a song with such words. In the end, it came out as a cry.
And that is because it was born within the situation we have been living in Greece in recent years—a situation I know from Argentina, because I am Argentine and my entire family is there, so I know very well what all this means. My Last Tango in Athens means that if we do not do something as human beings right now, we probably will not have the opportunity to dance any other tango. It will be our last.
Because I feel both Greek and Argentine, I was able to condense the two cultures into one song: my Latin American culture, which I carry with me anyway because that’s where I was born and raised, and the Greek one, because I have lived here for many years. So I felt that in this way I speak both languages and can express myself in the two languages that live within me. Now, if this can be a message for other peoples and other countries, I hope so. I did not do it to awaken all the countries of the world that have problems. I did it because I felt the need to do it as an Argentine and as a Greek.”
The performers of the piece are “our own” Elli Paspala and Apurimac, a group made up of Greek and Latin musicians.
The lyrics of Daniel Armando’s song follow.
“Armonia neurotica en el microcosmο de la metropoli cultura narcisista en una monarquia dogmatica simfonia cacofonica, pandemonium en la atmosfera melodia simbolo, melodrama y tragedia.
Orgasmo ideologico del barbarismο a la teoria politico dislexico en parodia onirica tirania fantasma, dilema megalomano de un metabolismο retorico sin tesis ni antitesis.
Este mi ultimo tango en Atenas tango lloron, que corre por mis venas. (X2)
Patriota heroicο, tragicο, sistematico hipocrecia paranoica sin dialogo esotericο teatro ironicο, sindicato plasticο y epicentro de la epidemia, una quimera, una utopia.
Energia hyperbole, antidotο democraticο Laberinto critico sin entusiasmo, sin rima musica epidermica en un pentagrama masoquista y la simetria toxica de un epilogo necrologico.
Este mi ultimo tango en Atenas tango lloron, que corre por mis venas. (X2)
