Text/Music Relationship in the Tangos by Alfredo "Tape" Rubín. An Analytical-Expressive Proposal

Abstract

The Argentine musician Alfredo “Tape” Rubín has dedicated his work to the tango
since the early 90's. By the beginning of the 21st century, the instrumental format
with which he will present his compositions until the present time is consolidated: the
guitar and voice assembly. Since the release of his first record, Rubín – also known as
“El Tape”– has become a leading influence on the current tango circuit and one of
the most versioned singer-songwriters of the ‘new tango’. As a part of my own studies
on Rubín’s creative work, my aim in this paper is to investigate the text/music
relationship of the Rubín’s tango songs, as an analytical proposal of their expressive
possibilities. Through two pillars of perspective (text and music), I propose the splicing
of these visions in five activity positions: 1) that of the topics used; 2) the ‘poietic’
treatment of the lyrics; 3) the presence of textual and musical homo-language; 4) the
rhythmic in/of the words; and 5) the uses of rhetoric in lyrics and music.