This vals criollo or Peruvian waltz is so-called because it refers to the waltz form created by European immigrants (criollos) in the Viceroyalty of Perú, the Spanish colony which traced a serpentine route from today's Panama, through Perú, to the mouth of the Rio del Plata. That part included Buenos Aires and became its own viceroyalty in 1776. Vals evolved as an important genre in the tango repertory, and both the composer, Angél Cabral, and the lyricist, Enrique Dizeo, were from Buenos Aires. John presented his translation at Falucho Chelsea; then the Spanish lyrics were sung by Carmen Currasco as a birthday vals for several attendees. Currasco also deejayed.
Notes
Que nadie sepa mi
sufrir
(Amor de mis amores)
Vals criollo (1936)
Letra de Enrique Dizeo
Música de Ángel Cabral
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That Nobody Knows of My Suffering
(Love of My Loves)
Peruvian waltz
(1936)
Lyrics by Enrique
Dizeo, trans. J. Osburn
Music by Ángel
Cabral
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No te asombres si te
digo lo que fuiste,
Una ingrata con mi
pobre corazón,
Porque el brillo de
tus lindos ojos negros
Alumbraron el cariño
de otro amor.
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Don’t be astonished if I tell you how you hurt me,
Taking advantage of my vulnerable heart,
Because your eyes that are so bright and black and
brilliant
Lit the fire beneath that other impassioned affair.
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Y pensar que te
adoraba tiernamente,
Que a tu lado como
nunca me sentí.
Y por esas cosas
raras de la vida
Sin el beso de tu
boca yo me vi.
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To think that I had adored you oh so gently,
That only with you could I ever have felt like this.
And those several special crucial of life’s lessons
Made me see I was without your lips to kiss.
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Amor de mis amores,
Reina mía, qué me
hiciste
Que no puedo
consolarme
Sin poderte
contemplar.
Ya que pagaste mal
A mi cariño tan
sincero,
Lo que conseguirás
Que no te nombre
nunca más.
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O lover of all my lovers,
My empress, for what you did to me
There’s no way I can console me
But by thinking about you.
Now that you’ve done me wrong
To my sincerity and kindness,
You’ll find from this day fore
Your name will pass my lips no more.
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Amor de mis amores
Si dejaste de
quererme,
No hay cuidado que
la gente
De eso no se
enterará.
Que gano con decir
Que una mujer cambió
mi suerte,
Se burlarán de mi,
Qué nadie sepa mi
sufrir.
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O lover of all my lovers
If now you no longer love me,
There is no reason then to worry
That anyone will see that it’s so.
What good comes from saying
A woman made me in my life unlucky,
They will make fun of me,
May nobody know of my suffering.
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A classic version from Dante and de Angelis:
The tune was internationally successful, including in a French re-write (not a translation) for Édith Piaf:
The tune was internationally successful, including in a French re-write (not a translation) for Édith Piaf:
Vals, like milonga, has a pronounced and less malleable rhythm than tango, at least to the casual ear, and I found it essential to pay attention to accent and emphasis in this translation. Bugs surely remain, but this scans to a greater extent than my straight tango translations, particularly if recited or, perhaps, sung (some syllables can be spoken flatly without violating the natural accents). I kept to the end rhymes, as well as playing with English equivalents to the alliterative phrases lindos ojos negros and esas cosas raras.
—John Osburn
—John Osburn
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