The poet who left a mark on the music of Buenos Aires and was inspired by the ‘Chorros ’kids

“One that we all know.” The phrase, so repeated in recitals, stoves or mate, became a popular joke.

In Argentine poetry, which we all know is easy to recognize: “Do not bind love but fright”, of Jorge Luis Borges; The famous “Here I start singing …” of the gaucho Martín Fierro; or “70 balconies and no flowers”, from Baldomero Fernández Moreno.

But there is another author, less known but equally popular and sophisticated. This March 29 are fulfilled 120 years of the birth of Raúl González Tuñóna poet who, like the most famous, left a mark on the Argentine tongue and ear, with poems such as “the thieves”, “the moon with trigger”, “Eche twenty cents to the slot” and “the armored rose”.

So poet rocker It was that, long before the figures of Dandy decadentism as Keith Richards or Tom Waits sing to whiskey in all its forms, he had already dedicated a poem: “JUANCITO WALKING”. Yes, an ode at Johnnie Walker and the art of getting lost in the city.

It was not the first nor will it be the last. The discs dedicated to poets range from the first of Serrat, honoring Antonio Machado or Miguel Hernández (who, by the way, was a friend of Tuñón), until the most recent of Taylor Swift.

Although it does not focus on a particular poet, the pop diva album captures that atmosphere of Damn French that Arthur Rimbaud, Baudelaire and Jim Morrison knew how to carry out so well.

The recordings of Tuñón and Juan “Tata” Cedrón, who collects recordings of the 60s and 70s, also left his mark with the album Cedron quartet sings to Raúl González Tuñón.

It was one of the Key discs for tango renewal (although not by the path of Piazzolliana influence), which would appear at the end of the 90s with groups, orchestras and singers such as Chicana and Lidia Borda, among others.

In this regard, the singer Lidia Bordawinner of several Carlos Gardel Awardstell this newspaper:

“Tuñon’s poetry is revolutionary. When you read” take twenty cents to the slot “, for example, it has mystery, freshness and elegance. His poetry has as something of magical realism, of crazy things, but at the same time within a realism, of the life of each one. And it is one thing that only happens to me with his work and with the poems of María Elena Walsh”.

It was not a battle of urban tribes, like Mods vs. Rockers, Oasis vs. Blur, Soda Stereo against the Rounds, or Lo “keto” contra lo nac & pop.

However, for the generation of González Tuñón, which with only a few years of difference was part of the same litter as Jorge Luis Borges and Roberto Arlt (friend of Tuñón), the sides did exist. An intellectual mouth and river.

At that time, there were two well -marked writing schools, and their names, taken from the neighborhoods where the poets joined, they say a lot about what each represented.

Florida, more associated with the avant -garde; Boedo, with social justice and politics. The funny thing is that, although Tuñón came from Floridahis poetry has something that links him more with Boedo.

The anecdote tells that Gabriel García Márquezone of the most celebrated writers in America, crosses with a journalism student loaded with books about writing, chronicle, workshop, and so on.

The author of One hundred years of loneliness The admon one, but at the same time releases it: “Lost all that and listen to the lyrics of Rubén Blades.” And it is not for less, if even Bob Dylan has been considered such a prominent lyricist that a Nobel Prize was won.

González Tuñón wrote about the chorros kids … but before. Of course, not about the group with that name or on the cumbia Villera. A poetry, musicalized by Tata Cedrón, and today a classic, called “The thieves”.

His style, which merged the Florida Academy and Boedo Street, allowed him to create a chronicle as unique as the one that Rubén Blades would do with his classic “Pedro Navaja.”

And, in addition, it has an almost extended beginning. If it were a series True Crimeit would be the perfect intro: “Thieves wear a gray cap, dark scarf and striped shirt.”

Tuñón enters after the activities of the low funds, describing their tattoos, the music they hear and dance, and even the rosaries and virgins of silver that venerate in the assaults and robberies.

Not for nothing, filtered through Cedron quartethis work attracted artists such as Palo Pandolfo, the composer and singer of Tango Alejandro Guyot, or the Potemkin armored group.

González Tuñón was part of Clarín’s writing team From its beginnings to almost his death in 1974. Even after retirement, he kept his desk in the newspaper, where he continued writing every morning.