Cuarteto (Spanish: quartet), sometimes called cuartetazo, is a musical genre born in Córdoba, Argentina.
The roots of the cuarteto ensemble are in Italian and Spanish dance ensembles. The name was coined because the early dance-hall numbers were invariably four-piece bands (violin-piano-accordion-bass).
Cuarteto is almost always upbeat; its rhythm range is similar to that of modern Dominican merengue.
In the 1970s, cuarteto became one of the cornerstones of Córdoba's cultural identity—together with Hortensia magazine. Both reflected a local brand of popular culture overlooked by the establishment, and proposed an alternative to the Buenos Aires-centered culture that television was spreading to the rest of the country.
Cuarteto was one of the genres that gave birth to the Buenos Aires tropical scene, which was renamed as bailanta in the 1990s following the usage of Corrientes province.
Cuarteto Leo was the leading cuarteto band for almost 30 years, back in the 1970s. It established the sonic texture that prevails in cuarteto to this day.
They don’t know,
They won’t see,
They won’t change,
They won’t be,
They won’t love,
They won’t go,
They won’t touch,
So they don’t know,
How much it takes for me to stay awake,
Dodging the poisonous darts you throw with your face,
I try to avoid the dark but it’s hard,
When you let go of me like rose pedals in the front yard,
One card, we play till we pass out,
Used to be my ace, now I’m feeling assed out,
So I back out the front porch,
While you reconsider what you really want more,
Me? Nah, I got a knack at leaving you breathless,
Bringing out the smiles that the angels eat for breakfast,
You deadest on watching me step,
Across a bed of coals just to see which arguments next,
Stress don’t leave when you’re next to me,
I’m my kinder side, you’ve got the best of me,
So let’s act like we don’t care,
There’s a moonlit path outside,
We should go there,
And make the clouds part,
I’ll grab you by the wings and you can guide me through the wild part,
Then that smile starts to speak,
Telling me why it’s been gone for weeks,
If it was all on me,
We’d get together right now,
Debate our different lifestyles,
And this is how it might sound,
They don’t know,
They won’t see,
They won’t change,
They won’t be,
They won’t love,
They won’t go,
They won’t touch,
So they don’t know,
What it’s like to wake up to a princess,
Eyes like a lighter, you spark my interest,
We invest too much to be selective,
Ingest solitude then redefine my objective,
Cause that necklace really makes me want to choke you,
Kill all the demons that grab your soul and hold you,
If I could mold you to just my shape,
I’d change absolutely nothing,
Mm that’s great,
Now that we got it all out on the table,
Come here baby girl I want to fuck with your halo,
Grab you by the hips and settle the score,