In Argentina in the late 1960s, Leonardo Favio was a major artistic figure. A rare hyphenate success – the filmmaker-singer. Today, he is seen to be one of the most important Argentine film directors of the 1960s. He was already an established filmmaker when he turned to songwriting.
Here is a video from his most famous song, FUISTE MIA UN VERANO (“You Were Mine for a Summer” from his 1968 album of the same name. The sound is not the modern folk of that period; Favio is a 1950s romantic balladeer, albeit influenced by local zamba and milonga.
The song is about seeing an ex-lover passing by while drinking in a bar. The protagonist attempts to strike up a conversation but she refuses – “perhaps another time.” Our protagonist knows she doesn’t mean this and that they will never speak again. Her rejection provokes memories of their brief summer romance.
But here’s my favorite song by Favio.
Like many Argentine artists of that era, he was exiled during the dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. He returned to the country in 1987.
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