Tango has an amazing quality of making you nostalgic for things you never experienced themselves. Many tangos were written from the 1930's to 50's, its golden age, and thus reflect on a society that we never experienced. Indeed, many tangos are about people looking back in their youth, to an even older Argentina that now lives only in books, old movies and tango lyrics.
Cafetín de Buenos Aires was written by Discepolo - one of the masters of Tango - in 1949. It reflects the type of male-only cafes that had almost become extinct by the time I grew up. Probably because of that - because by then men and women had a much more equal society and men no longer had the time to hang out in cafes while their wives took care of everything - I find it so beautiful and it's indeed one of my five or so favorite tangos.
I'm dedicating this free translation to Tim, the owner of Zocalo Coffeehouse, who has managed to create, in San Leandro of all places, a 21st century version of what a cafetín used to be, a place where men went to meet with friends, bond and even grow up.
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