Youkali

Disclaimer & credits

About this site

This is a small homage to theatre, music and dance — three arts that have given me, over the years, more pleasure than I will ever be able to return. The site is written and published by as a personal thank you for the privilege of working alongside the people who make these arts, and for the emotions they continue to offer to the rest of us.

The song

Youkali — Tango Habanera is a composition by Kurt Weill (1934) on a text by Roger Fernay. Weill died in 1950; in life-plus-seventy jurisdictions his composition entered the public domain on 1 January 2021. Roger Fernay (1905 – 1983) is still in copyright in the same jurisdictions until 1 January 2054. The text is reproduced here in good faith as a critical, non-commercial presentation; copyright holders who wish a citation amended or removed can write to the contact below.

Translations

  • French — original text by Roger Fernay (1934).
  • English — translation by A. Reaux, in circulation among Weill recital singers and reproduced here in good faith.
  • Italian — translation prepared for this site by the author.

Recordings and listening

The performances embedded on the site are hosted by YouTube and load only after explicit click; this site does not host any audio file itself. The interpretations page links out to authoritative discographies; specific recordings remain under their own neighbouring rights, which this site does not claim, transfer or affect.

Image credits

  • Kurt Weill, 1932 — Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-2005-0119, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0 DE.
  • Langston Hughes by Carl Van Vechten, 1936 — Library of Congress, Van Vechten collection. Public domain.
  • Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya at home, 17 August 1942 — published in the United States 1931 – 1977 without copyright notice; public domain in the US.
  • Albert Marquet, Quai des Grands Augustins, Paris, soleil d’hiver, c. 1934 — painting reproduction; the artist died in 1947, the work is in the public domain in life-plus-seventy jurisdictions.
  • Paris by night, c. 1934 — Agence Meurisse, Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica). Public domain.
  • Théâtre de Paris — stage and balconies — photographs by HaguardDuNord, licensed CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

If a copyright holder is identifiable and considers any image out of scope of fair use / critical commentary, please get in touch and the image will be removed.

External sources referenced

Build and code

The site is statically generated with Astro and served as plain HTML and CSS, with no client-side tracking, no analytics, no cookies. The only third-party requests the site initiates are the YouTube embeds, and only after the visitor explicitly clicks a poster image. The repository is open for inspection.

Contact

For attribution requests, corrections or take-downs, please contact the author via .