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Chau Pinela!!

Updated: Jan 21

Chau Pinela!

This is the name of a tango that became known by the 1930 recording of the Carlos Di Sarli Sextet with Ernesto Fama on vocals, under the RCA Victor label, lyrics and music by Humberto Castiglioni.

"Chau Pinela" is an expression in lunfardo, almost a trademark of very common use, as Argentine as drinking mate, eating asado, having dinner after 11 pm and being a soccer fan.

The expression is used when telling a story we reach the end and when we emphasize the closing we say "chau pinela" meaning that it is the end, that it is over...what is being told or whatever.

The anecdote behind this story goes back to the beginning of the 20th century, when it was very common to go, on Sundays, to 11 o'clock church service (believers and non-believers) and then go to lunch together with friends. This story takes place in San Fernando, a city in the province north of Buenos Aires, where many chose to go to that church because was located near Don Emilio Frugone's Confiteria. This place was very crowded, it was always very full, and there were real meetings of friends with endless chats. This was the case of Angel Pineda, well known by all, who was almost always the last to leave. When this happened, the owner was already very busy with the closing of the cash register and all the indications to the waiters, then very quickly used to told Angel Pineda: "Chau Pineda" to tell him to leave and to come back to pay him another time, since he was very complicated. Then the expression was modified over time, from Pineda became Pinela and was passed from mouth to mouth and was thus commonly used in everyday slang and in a very funny tango as its lyrics.

In the Tango recorded by Carlos di Sarai it has only a part of the lyrics, it is not complete…


Why don't you say

If you're thinking of leaving

Do what you like, old lady

That it's all the same to me

Women like you

There are a million of them

If it's true that you scare

That daddy heart


Say, just say, why so much thinking?

Grab your things; never, never come back again

If you don't do it, to leave my side

I'll grab my things and: bye-bye pinela! bye-bye!



Link to listen to the this tango:


Here we danced to this tango in Caen (Normadie - France)



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