TRANSCRIPT ~ EPISODE 26

EPISODE 26: Love takes practice, with Mitra Martin

Producer/Host: Liz Sabatiuk | Music: “Zorzal”, arranged and recorded by Orquesta Típica Misteriosa Buenos Aires with music and lyrics by Dorita Zárate | Image Credit: Glenn Campbell

MITRA:
You asked me last time, is there something you say in Persian for the New Year? And I was like, I was completely befuddled. And I didn't remember that of course there is. And it's "Eid Shoma Mobarak" (عید شما مبارک) which means happy new year, like, enjoy the spring festival is basically what it means. And it's funny, I think we had our first conversation on the first day of the new year spring festival. And today is the last day of the new year spring festival. So that's, like, wild. Anyway, and happy new year and all the best for a beautiful spring.

[MUSIC]

LIZ ID INTRO:
I'm Liz Sabatiuk, and this is Humans of Tango, where we explore what tango has to teach through the experiences of those who dance it.

LIZ SCRIPT:
That was Mitra Martin, co-creator of Oxygen Tango School and Awaken Tango. And yes, Mitra and I nerded out so hard the first time we talked that we decided to talk twice.

MITRA:
When I was a kid, I lived in one, two, three, four, five different places, went to high school in the Netherlands, and my mom is from Iran, and my dad is American, and so I kind of grew up in this bicultural context, but then also, like, living in different, um, cultures as my family and I moved. So we had a very sort of strong family culture. It's a model that I draw on now, that commitment to coming together at the end of every day, and lighting a candle and having dinner together and paying attention to each other. And I think there's actually a lot of similarity between some of the textures of Middle Eastern culture and Persian culture and the world of tango. So that when I found tango, it felt a little bit more like this, you know, recognition of the festivity, the ritual, the sort of sensuality.

I had moved to New York after college, and I was working in this consulting company and, by some random fluke, I ended up being assigned to this, um, business trip that took me to several different cities around the world. And I remember the night before I left, my boss, who's CEO of this company, he said, "you know, Mitra, when you're in Buenos Aires, I want you to dance a tango." It's just so random, you know? It's like he picked up out of the air-

LIZ: And you're like, "alright boss" [LAUGHING]

MITRA: -you know, he's my boss. "Hmmm, okay, I'd never thought of tango. I didn't know what it takes to dance it. I don't know! It was a bit of a blessing in a way. It was a blessing. And you know how they say, like, "the tango awaits you"?

[LIZ ASIDE] El tango te espera.

MITRA: I remember arriving in Buenos Aires, and it was springtime. It was like September, October, I think. You know, it was beautiful. Everywhere around me was tango. There were people dancing tango in the hotel lobby. There were people dancing tango on the streets. There was music of tango in the taxi cabs. And, you know, I asked everybody, like, "okay, where do I get to dance a tango? Like, where should I go?" Somebody that I had been working with, he was like, "oh, I can figure that out for you." And he gave me a slip of paper that said the address for La Viruta-

[LIZ ASIDE] an iconic tango club that celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2024.

MITRA: -and he was like, you know, "this is where you should go. This is a real tango place, you know, but don't go before midnight." So I was like, "okay, I'll go." And I showed up and it was like enchanted. It was so beautiful. You know, like, the fairy lights, the sense of energy and focus and festivity. And there were people of all ages, there were teenagers, there were older people. And I think there was a connection between that and, like, the, the festivity and bright energy of some of the Persian gatherings that I remember with my extended family. The sense of, like, all sharing across generations, eating, sitting together, playing together.

Because there was anti-Iranian sentiment when I was a child, you know, my mother and our family kind of distanced themselves from Iran and the Persian language and Persian culture. There was a bit of racism and there was a, you know, I think there was just a lot of disappointment about sort of what happened in that country and with the government.

[LIZ ASIDE] Check the show notes for background on the recent history and government of Iran.

MITRA: So that kind of put me in the space of, like, wanting to find this part of myself that was not so accessible to me. And I think that sort of quest and kind of, like, sense of yearning has served me well in trying to understand tango, which is another culture that's, you know, not one that I was born into, but one that's, like, hugely important to me and sort of the sense of being fueled to kind of penetrate something that feels like it's my birthright in a way, and yet I didn't come into the world with the chance to, like, embody it with ease. You know, it takes some cultivation and some training and some determination.

You know, I've struggled with the idea of, like, you know, I, I want to fully inhabit my Persian-ness. In a similar way, like, I want to fully inhabit my identity as an Argentine tango practitioner. And both of those things are a little bit... you know, someone will say, well, you'll never really embody tango because you're not Argentinian. You know, I mean, there's that kind of voice in the head, you know? You'll never really be Persian because you weren't born in Iran or you're not fluent and native in the language, you know? But I don't know if those voices really matter. Because I think through just love and committing to your own journey within a culture and within a craft and within a practice, you can embody whatever you want to. And there's nobody to tell you that it's not authentic or real or enough.

I did my, uh, undergraduate in Comparative Literature. I studied gardens in medieval French and Persian poetry. That was like my thesis. I worked on it for almost two years. It was so interesting how the poets of, uh, French, you know, medieval times, like "The Romance of the Rose," for instance, like, they presented gardens as this really dangerous place where, like, if you go in, you are going to be seduced and you will, you know, fall into sinfulness. And then in the Persian tradition, the gardens are these places that God created, full of sensual gifts that are of God, where you, you go there to immerse in, like, the gifts of the creator, essentially. And it's, like, such different relationships with the body, with sensuality, with nature, using the same metaphor, the same kind of symbol. And I think about that a lot. You know, I think sometimes in tango, you know, we're trying to create this, like, idyllic paradise place, this garden. And yet, if we come from, like, the Western European Anglo tradition, there's so much fear about really going there and, like, feeling our feelings and inhabiting our sensuality and all of that stuff.

But, you know, in the Persian tradition, and I think that there's a lot in common between, you know, Middle Eastern cultures and Latin cultures, as I mentioned before, there's this sense that like the sensuality and the sort of festivity is so natural and it's, it's a gift. And that's what we're here to inhabit and embody and share and use as a catalyst for growth.

[MUSIC]

MITRA:
I danced, you know, for six years in New York City, mostly at TriANGulO, which was a really special place. I think so many of my, um, core friendships and basic experiences happened through the TriANGulO community.

[LIZ ASIDE] More about TriANGulO in the show notes.

MITRA: It was really new and just really special to be able to, like, have friendships that also had this kind of movement, kinesthetic, physical component, and so much care. And, you know, and I remember one time feeling like, oh, you know, tango is too hard. It's not for me. I'm not good enough at this. I'm not moving fast enough. And I told everybody "oh, I'm quitting tango." And one of my friends was like, she's like, "okay." And then, like a month later, she was like, "oh, you know, it's your birthday. We're having a birthday party for you at TriANGulO. So, you know, please come." I was like, "okay." And I went back. [LAUGHING] And, you know, I feel like it's these friendships that kind of keep us connected to it, like, people actually caring about you.

I was dancing a lot and I was starting to travel more. And it seemed to me like the West Coast was, like, an exciting place to be for tango. So I wanted to go to the West Coast. One of my friends was moving to Los Angeles. I think my brother and sister were both going to Santa Barbara at the time. So I was like, "oh, I'll go to Los Angeles." In New York, I'd also gotten- started to get exposed to contact improvisation. I found it really beautifully complimentary to tango.

[LIZ ASIDE] Hear more about tango and contact improv in Humans of Tango episode 16, featuring Aníbal Dominguez.

MITRA: So I got to LA. I went to a contact improv jam and I met Stefan, who's been my partner pretty much since then. [LAUGHS] And I was obsessed with tango. And he was curious about it and a little skeptical. I mean, he was a modern-contemporary dancer and he had all these, like, I don't know, ideas about tango or...

LIZ: Like the stereotypes? Were the stereotypes a turnoff? 

MITRA: Yeah, the stereotypes. He was like, I don't know...you know, I don't know about this tango. But then, you know, he came and he saw it and he was really, really authentically drawn in and so he started to explore tango. And I was already- I'd been on fire with tango for six years. So we started traveling together, and, and after a while, we wanted to create some of the tango culture that we enjoyed so much in the northern part of the West Coast in LA.

There was a lot of tango already in LA, but there were elements of the music environment and just the culture and the creativity that we wanted to kind of bring in. And we just wanted to have more dancing on the West Side. So we started experimenting with building community, with teaching. We started a tiny, teeny tiny práctica. We found two people who were excited to learn tango and we started this práctica. I think it lasted for two years. And we tried to build it-

LIZ: Just with two people?

MITRA: It was just with two people. Like, it started out at our house.

LIZ: Nice. Nice. That makes me feel so good... about my classes that sometimes have two people.

MITRA: It's like, you know, that's sometimes where you start. You know, and we called it "the nobody-comes-but-us práctica." [LAUGHING] Like, we wanted more people to come, but somehow it was like, yeah, that was the limit. And they became amazing dancers. Their names are Jennifer Bae and Dan Rizzotto. And I think we all were kind of aligned by this idea that tango could be, like, a force for good in the world. And we wanted to put on an event for the community that would symbolize that. And we called it the Oxygen Milonga because we decided that for everybody who came, we would... We would take a dollar to donate to plant a tree. So we started off the Oxygen Milonga in 2008. And a year later, after we had done a lot of experiments in teaching beginners and community building, we decided to start an actual school. And that was Oxygen Tango.

The frame or the construct of saying it was a school got me really engaged with how people learn and how to teach. And I learned as much as I could from, like, teachers who were offering teacher trainings. I went to people's classes and transcribed their lessons and analyzed... I think the conclusion that I came to was there's some kind of a fundamental mismatch between the delivery format that we conventionally use to teach tango, which is, like, the group class, and kind of the needs that people have.

[LIZ ASIDE] Check the show notes for a link to Mitra's analysis of the problem with group classes.

And then the other thing was seeing that people when they're learning needed a sense of, like, a goal to work towards.

LIZ SCRIPT:
Which brings us back to Mitra's partner, Stefan Fabry.

MITRA: Our first few collaborations were in dance theater, where we were bringing elements of tango into performance art.
But then when we started the school, like, the most productive aspect of our collaboration was in designing programs, and it really still is, because Stefan brings kind of a structural perspective to program development that really allows me to kind of unleash my creativity. You know, when we create like a program, he thinks of it from the perspective of establishing a worthy goal for the learner. And a lot of teachers don't think like that. The idea of, like, goals is kind of like strange in tango. It doesn't feel improvisational. It doesn't feel...

LIZ: I'm glad it's not just me. Because I feel like when you were like, "you should have a goal," I'm like, "oh, yeah, yeah, that makes sense." But you know, it's not a given, is it?

MITRA: It's not a given. And it's like, you know, it doesn't have to be your goal forever. But it could be a goal for like 12 weeks. You know, and our tango challenge recital was like a goal like that, that really riveted and galvanized beginners. It was a 12-week program. They had to pay in advance for the whole thing. Had to sign an agreement. The requirements included coming
to tango three times a week.

LIZ: Oooh - nice.

MITRA: And there were also homeworks. Like, there was a journal about kind of, like, what they learn and what they were curious about. There was a workbook. There were projects, I think, like, eight projects. Even something as simple- like, one of the first projects was, like, distinguishing between tango, milonga, and waltz.

[LIZ ASIDE] The three rhythms of tango.

MITRA: I think that project or the next one was also distinguishing between D'Arienzo and Di Sarli.

[LIZ ASIDE] Referring to two Golden Age orchestras with very different styles. Find examples in the show notes.

MITRA: Those are challenging projects, in fact, for a total beginner, but they're concrete goals that they can accomplish. And then they can say, well, I did that thing. And I can prove that I can distinguish these things now. So that's kind of what I mean, is like, if your goal is to be able to perform in an improvised group recital at the end of 12 weeks, what are the little micro-goals that are going to get you there? And giving the beginners those micro-goals along the way also was a way of retaining them. Like, we have much better retention in that program than a conventional drop-in group class.

I'm sure lots of people experience this, but I think you always want it to be easy and just amazing and blissful with your life partner and your love partner. You want the tango to really, really work. And it was really difficult for us. It took us almost 10 years of practice and difficulty before we actually started enjoying dancing with each other.

LIZ: Wow.

MITRA: But we persisted and we kept trying. We kept trying. And it was like that idea of, like, love takes practice. All right, let's just keep trying. Let's see if we can find this. And also, you know, during that time, we really cheered each other on in our own tango adventures. And we still do. And we have the trust, so we're just excited for each other when the other person is, like, dancing their heart out, you know? No matter with who. So that's been a really nice foundation to be, like, growing our relationship on.

And I think the other dimension of it is that we had to learn communication and one of our students, Andrei, really helped us with that. He's trained in nonviolent communication and so, just learning the skills and the rituals, how to kind of like approach it when we had friction with each other. It's just difficult to be, like, dance partners and business partners and love partners and life partners and all of that stuff. And, you know, friction is bound to arise. And so it's really helpful to have a toolkit. And it was helpful to also introduce that to the community and some people really picked up on Marshall Rosenberg's nonviolent communication work and were able to apply it in other aspects of their life and their business and stuff. So that was kind of helpful to see it take shape.

[MUSIC]

LIZ SCRIPT:
Mitra and Stefan co-directed Oxygen Tango from 2008 to 2017, when they decided to pass the torch to two dedicated members of their community, Dave Lampson and Magan Wiles. Mitra continued analyzing and experimenting with tango, eventually launching what she describes as an emerging innovation ecosystem called Awaken Tango, in collaboration with other inquisitive tango humans including Korey Ireland, Meredith Klein, and Avik Basu, who, by the way, you can hear from in
episode 20 of this podcast. In fact, Mitra and I first connected because of a survey she and Avik conducted through Awaken Tango.

MITRA:
I'm a researcher in terms of like the types of roles that I've done professionally. So I have seen firsthand the value of research
in shaping experiences, shaping products, shaping organizations, you know, and what useful stuff comes out of it when you actually ask people questions and listen to their answers and try to create things based on what they say they want and need. You know, it's not perfect, but it's actually really quite useful. And I think in tango, you know, we're all so passionate about this dance. And we have this aspiration that tango can grow and become a more meaningful part of our society. I think to achieve that potential, research is actually really helpful. I think tango is illegible outside of the community of tango dancers, and people don't really understand why it's special, why they might want to try it or learn about it or support it or create more tango in the world. I think we all also have strong ideas and opinions about how to teach, how to learn. I mean, I do, obviously, you've heard me share mine, you know, and I think there's a need for more innovation that could challenge what we have inherited as the conventions of tango. So I think that's what Awaken Tango was really about. Like, let's see what we can learn if we ask questions and try to really find high-quality answers through applying the techniques of research.

Avik actually brought forward this idea for this survey. It was something he was really curious about, this concept of, like, what are people actually experiencing, thinking about? Like, what is the kind of inner world of tango dancers? I thought it was an interesting question. And that's really it. So the impulse for the survey was really Avik's. And, I mean, we went on quite a journey to get the insights and then formulate it in a way that people could understand. And I think a few things really stand out from this. One is that the inner experience that people are having is pretty similar across the board. I mean, we're all attending to music. We're all attending to our partner. And there's a lot of positive affect that's pretty frequently a part of the tango experience, right? Helpfulness, noticing details of the present moment. And then it's just interesting to see how the data crystallized into these 13 different thought patterns, we call them, and which ones are, like, more closely correlated to each other and which ones are distant from each other. Music, expansion, intimacy, noticing details, helping my partner, self-acceptance, these are all aspects of the inner experience that are likely to happen with each other. In contrast, self-judgment, comparing and external appearance are less likely to arise in combination with these other ones.

One of the things that it brings up for me is there's maybe this assumption, maybe it's even a myth, that it's possible to have the most blissful, connected, profound, immersed, flowing encounter with your partner while also attending to the detail of how you appear from the outside. And that may be possible for some people, but I think what the data suggests is that mostly those thought patterns are anti-correlated to each other.

You know, I think it's healthy if teachers and influential tango people know that for many people, it's a bit overloading and maybe impossible to pay attention to the way you look while also fully inhabiting the moment with your partner. In a way, it's not surprising, it's totally intuitive, but it's nice to see the data showing it. That like, if you're focusing on the music, like, you're probably not focusing on how you look to others. Like, those things don't go together. You know, if you're really focusing on, like, intimacy with your partner, probably you're not focusing on comparing yourself to other people. You know, and if you're focusing on helping your partner or noticing details about what's going on in the present moment, probably you're not focusing on self-judgment. So there's these like different poles that are not commonly arising at the same time. There's like these different mindsets - you know, one that's more judgmental and one that's more accepting. And some events sort of nudge us into judginess and some nudge us into acceptingness.

There's a lot in our culture that brings us back to the visual. There's like the videos and there's the performing and there's the mirrors on the wall and if we're aware of that, then we know, well, an event that has photographers, that has performances, that has mirrors all over the walls, that has expectations that people dress in an elegant way, let's say, like, all of that's fine. People might love that. And, like, there'll certainly be, like, a following for that. And it might be that at those events, it is harder to step away from the judgmental tango mindset and the thought patterns that form that cluster. And that's kind of the thing that motivates me in the work with Awaken Tango and some of the other work I'm doing with community is, like, how do we create those containers that bring out the bliss and the acceptingness? 'Cause it seems like that's really where the richness of tango - the richness of the music, the richness of the present moment, the richness of the gift of your partner - that's where it really lies.

[MUSIC]

Morocho de ojazos negros
Y chambergo requintao,
Pañuelo florido al cuello
Y zapatos charolaos.
Cantaba sentidos tangos
Con su voz sentimental,
Y allá en su barriada humilde
Le llamaban el zorzal.

Cien noches le cantó
A su arrabal,
Cien noches sollozó
Su corazón.
Cariños tuvo mil
Y en su cantar,
Iba sembrando
Sus amores el zorzal.

LIZ SCRIPT:
The concept of the acceptance mindset may have emerged from the inner experience survey, but Mitra herself has been working on acceptance in tango since her early days.

MITRA:
You go into a tango space and there's lots of peoples- there's lots of energies, and it's a real practice to try to decipher what's honest, like, what's true for you. Do you want to go to the left or do you want to go to the right? Do you want to walk towards this person or do you want to sit down? Do you want to dance this tanda or do you not want to dance this tanda? Are you going to wear your leading shoes or your following shoes? Like, there's so many choices at every moment in the milonga and you need to chart your path through the milonga. That's kind of the art of milonguear, right? And that takes years to really learn how to be yourself at a milonga, right? And being yourself means learning how to know and be honest about what you like and to also decipher what are the mental goblins that hold you back from moving towards and cultivating what you like and what you're interested in.

And there's something about tango itself that is self-correcting. So if, let's say, I am really interested in some things and I like some things, and I find that the people that I want to dance with don't want to dance with me, then I get that feedback. So I don't know, I really think there's room for, like, a million flowers to bloom in tango in all different ways, and that it's nice to create that sense of radical inclusivity and acceptance of the many ways that we in this complicated global culture with our different heritages and our different ancestries, our different histories, our different understandings, our different levels, to let each person kind of find their journey.

I mean, my understanding of tango is that there's a lot of room for everybody in tango, you know what I mean? There's, like, room for creativity. There's a room for innovation. That's, like, very deeply embedded in the culture of tango. And you go to Buenos Aires, and I have been, and - not that this is the only source of truth - but, like, there's so much creativity there, you know? It's not... It's not like that there's one way, and yet I think as, at least as Americans, like, we can enter tango with a sense of anxiety, wanting to be sure we're doing it right, like, getting it right, you know? And I think that anxiety and fear is at cross purposes with what tango really is about, what it offers. I just don't think tango is one thing. It's created by, like, who we each are and what we're each bringing to it.

I think when Stefan and I started Oxygen, you know, we were seeing the dance itself as, like, a way of training ourselves to actually love ourselves and other people, you know? This idea of, like, love takes practice, right? And patience and the commitment to keep showing up. So tango kind of creates this practice ground for, like, dissolving this illusion of separation that is everywhere. That was actually our original mission statement with Oxygen Tango, to dissolve the illusion of separation, which is a bit like grandiose and-

LIZ: Wow. Wow. I love it...

MITRA: wide. Yeah. And I think, you know, looking back, I think it was kind of coming out of this experience of dancing Argentine tango, like, just the practice of it as, like, a cauldron for personal growth, you know? The dance ends up happening more beautifully as you learn to accept yourself and believe in yourself and also as you learn to accept your partner and really notice them and be present with them and- you know, as they really are, not as you want them to be. I think it's like the essence of tango that you kind of keep on looking to connect even when it's difficult. And that was one thing we used to say at Oxygen is like world peace, one embrace at a time. I don't think we can have world peace unless we're practicing becoming the more refined and more peaceful and joyful version of ourselves.

It's been a journey to, to accept myself, you know, just the way I am, to be honest. I think there was, at one point when within the dance, I got really clear about accepting myself. You know, when I dance with somebody, like, and I accept myself, I'm not trying to get approval from my partner. Like, I feel like that was a big kind of revelation, insight for me that, like, I'm enough and I don't need my partner's approval, you know? Maybe we're creating something together, but that's different.

And then it was another big insight for me to find that same vibe at the milonga, you know, the art of milonguear and coming into the milonga and knowing who I am and knowing that I'm a gift and knowing that, like, maybe it will work or maybe it won't. But, like, I don't need to be pleasing to other people, you know, and try to get some particular response from them.

And I think now I'm trying to discover that and embody that in the tango community like writ large, you know, and just be like... You know, it's so easy to think, like, well, you know, your thing is only a thing if some particular person approves of it or if it starts to kind of, like, catch fire or people are liking it. And innovation isn't really like that. Like, if you're going to try to create something new that is a true gesture of your own voice, like, you have to just stay with it as it matures, you know? And it's not a question of trying to get somebody's approval. And I guess I would like for anybody who feels drawn to innovate and create new work and new structures and new culture and new elements of tango to find the right confidence and spaces where they can actually take risks and grow in the process.

I'm kind of like ready for a new phase or era of contribution to tango. I don't think it's going to be on a local level, more about kind of creating collaborations across communities, hopefully, and helping center resources that could be of benefit to organizers.

LIZ SCRIPT:
Which brings us back to Awaken Tango.

MITRA: I think the thing I'm interested in now is what are the kinds of spaces and contexts and containers that really bring out the best in people, you know, and bring out the potential that this form has to offer us. Encouraging the innovators, like encouraging people who have some thing they want to create that is difficult to create.

And you had asked about altruism in tango. I mean, I kind of wanted to get back to it. I do think that for our experience of tango to get to another level, like, it is important to invest in things that don't necessarily, you know, make financial sense right away. That's what Oxygen was. We invested a lot in experiments and pilot projects and curriculum development - things that don't really have, like, a direct way of becoming monetized. Many, you know, many art forms, there's a tradition of, like, maybe the word is patronage, you know, donors, like, people who actually support the development of new work and new thinking. And I think it would be really healthy if we normalize that in tango and kind of, like, really see, okay, there are some of these challenges, things we need to solve that need funding. Tango organizers can put in some of that energy. And if it can come from other places, you know, that's really helpful and it would lead to more of the solving of the root challenges that we experience in tango related to things like marketing, like beginner retention, like conflict resolution, like a lot of the different areas that have been long-standing problems, because there's just no funding to really get to the bottom of the, of the problem and start experimenting with, like, piloting solutions.

It also is just about kind of creating this place where we're kind of encouraged to, like, pay really high-quality attention to one another and really try to create that type of a field that is fertile, that things grow from. Because things can't grow without that kind of nourishment of somebody's attention. I mean, I think that's what happens in a tanda, right? Like, your partner comes alive in the sort of sunlight of your high-quality attention to them and you come alive in the context of somebody else paying attention to you and those are the best dances, right? I think people's genius comes out when they're gifted with attention.
And so the people who take you seriously, like, before you're anything special, it's like, that's such a gift. Somebody who's willing to, like, actually lean in and engage and ask questions and help you develop your ideas. I'm thinking about people who, like, read rough drafts of stuff I wrote or, like, played early versions of games. When I was still a mess and opinionated and incoherent and had just all these ideas, you know, people who really listened and, like, took me seriously and tried to find the signal and the noise.

[LIZ ASIDE] Check the show notes for a list of people Mitra named who provided this attention for her.

MITRA: Not that they were uncritical. They were critical without being, like, judgy, you know, while staying open and present and helping me evolve my ideas, you know. And those are the people who we need if we're going to create new ways of teaching and learning and convening and dancing and presenting tango and performing it and, you know, engaging with each other through conflict. Like I'm just in-awe grateful to those people. And I aspire to be that person for other people around me too. You know, we talk about, like, a rising tide lifting all boats. You know, I think that's how the tide gets created, is that kind of generosity.

LIZ SCRIPT:
Here's to accepting - and maybe even loving - ourselves and each other and to the ways we grow in the process. Thank you Mitra and thanks to La Orquesta Típica Misteriosa Buenos Aires for their interpretation and recording of "Zorzal" with music and lyrics by Dorita Zárate.

[MUSIC]

El barrio ha quedado triste
Ya no tiene su cantor,
Se fue siguiendo una estrella
Porque en ella va su amor.
Aquella morocha linda
Que lo supo enamorar,
Cerró sus ojos pa´ siempre
Y tras ella fue el zorzal.

Cien noches le cantó
A su arrabal,
Cien noches sollozó
Su corazón.
Cariños tuvo mil
Y en su cantar,
Iba sembrando
Sus amores el zorzal.