My mother mentioned this song to me as one that she used to sing with me and my siblings when we were young and that she had learned when she was growing up in 1960s Chile. As far as she knew, it was a traditional children’s song that had folkloric roots. Upon further investigation, the song appears to have very confusing and uncertain origins. One of the most popular recordings of this song is by the Dueto de Antaño, a Colombian musical duet that recorded the song in 1948 and attributed the composition to one of their members, Camilo García. García said that he had been inspired by the music in the 1933 movie “Bogus Bandits”, which had been based on the opera “Fra Diavolo”, which was written by French composer Daniel Auber and had premiered in 1830. You can hear some similarities in this recording of the opera, about 28 minutes in: https://youtu.be/7djsX9CbYWU?t=1680 However, García’s story is suspect due to the recordings of the song that exist previous to 1933. In 1928, Argentinian composer and musician Juan Maglio, also known as Pacho, recorded the song in a tango style under the title “Se va la lancha”. The same year, Cuban singer and actress Pilar Arcos did her own recording of the same song. Even more confusing is that there exists a book with that was published in 1900 in Concepción, Chile, that contains the lyrics to the song alongside a handful of other lyrics to tangos from the era. Titled “Cancionero última moda: se va la lancha” (“Latest fashion songbook: the boat is leaving”), the book has no known author. Despite its murky origins, “La Lancha” gained enough popularity to eventually be used as a children’s song, though with slightly altered lyrics. One of the most popular modern recordings is by Zapallo, a Chilean musical group, from their 2002 CD “Antologia de canciones infantiles tradicionales” (“Anthology of traditional children’s songs”). Links: Dueto de Antaño https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wnx-X0fswoM&ab_channel=audiocolombia Juan Maglio https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eu5_3a5-ANQ&ab_channel=CantandoTangos Pilar Arcos https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1Rn2jFr96c&ab_channel=CarlosJim%C3%A9nez Zapallo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGMWSm1SmLE&ab_channel=ZapalloInfantil References: https://www.elcuerpoaguanteradio.com.mx/se-va-la-lancha-o-la-lancha/ https://www.musicapopular.cl/grupo/zapallo/ https://libros.uchile.cl/files/presses/1/monographs/468/submission/proof/files/assets/common/downloads/E_PP_034.pdf?uni=aeaf66aa98c04640e9323a1d01791603 Zapallo Lyrics and Translation
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