El Baile del Duende (English: The Dance of the Elf) is an unidentified cuarteto song first broadcasted on July 29th, 2000 on the Argentinian channel Crónica TV.
Search History[]
2000s[]
On July 4th, 2007, YouTube user jmkange published a YouTube video titled "El Pitufo Enrique Completo", with the description reading "El pitufo enrique historia completa".
The song refers to a mythical creature known as the Pitufo Enrique, a supposed elf that inhabits the mountainous areas of western Argentina, and which was first reported on April 17th, 2000. According to reports, it is a short humanoid figure with blue skin and red eyes, which tends to attack anyone who approaches it and is strong enough to lift cars.
During the summer and fall of 2000, Crónica TV, a national news channel known for its sensationalism and tabloid journalism, began to repeatedly and constantly cover sightings of the goblin, which was dubbed “Pitufo Enrique” by the production team and used as a recurring joke during programming.
The most common joke was to present reports of Pitufo Enrique as “breaking news,” with anchors talking about them as if they were a matter of utmost seriousness.
On July 29th, 2000, the channel presented a news item entitled “Exclusive: Pitufo Enrique arrived at the dance hall”, which was a fragment of a video clip of a cuarteto song about the elf. The report went down in history, mainly because presenter Claudio Orellano was unable to maintain the seriousness he was asked to and burst out laughing.
2010s-2020s[]
Over time, the song was reuploaded to YouTube by several users, such as iONI TV, Xeirt Design, P, Funado, Zumi, Chris Network, AlianTheObscure, Chikito Wave, 𝑀𝑟. 𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑝𝑠, Q, and multiple others, amassing over 80k views.
In 2024, Orellano was interviewed by the podcast Una vida tranquila, where he talked, among other things, about his experience covering the Pitufo Enrique phenomenon, mentioning that the band that produced the song was from San Fernando de Catamarca, capital of the province of Catamarca.
This is consistent with a comment by a YouTube user on an upload of the song that has since been deleted, in which he claimed that the group that made the song was called La Diferencia and that they were from that city. However, research has failed to find any information about this group, so it cannot be confirmed that they are the authors.
Leads[]
La Diferencia[]
It is believed that the song was made by a group called "La Diferencia". However, no information about them has appeared online. A YouTube comment about the group was made on P's now-deleted reupload (TRANSLATED):
"I'll bring some info here: Group: "La Diferencia". They were a quartet from Catamarca. The group is no more. A rushedly recorded demo was kept. Supposedly, it's in a cassette nowadays. Here's hoping the cassette exists and hasn't degraded too much. The version that's featured in Crónica is not kept by the one who told me this. César Notaro might know anything or provide a contact of those who worked in Crónica during the early Noughties. I'll search my history and, if I find more I was told about, I'll add it."
Another comment mentioning the group's dissolution, from this upload (TRANSLATED):
"I remember when I watched this on TV. Sadly, that band is no more. This track would be the shit otherwise."
Lyrics[]
(Snippet 1)
El baile
El baile
El baile del duende (El baile del duende)
El baile del duende (Todos quieren bailar)
Lo baila el presidente (También el intendente)
Lo baila el gobernador (Cambien el senador)
Lo baila el diputado (Cambien el concejal)
(Snippet 2)
El baile
El baile
El baile del duende (El baile del duende)
El baile del duende (Todos quieren bailar)
El baile del duende
No lo baila la policía
Ni tampoco los remiseros
(Snippet 1)
The dance
The dance
The dance of the elf (The dance of the elf)
The dance of the elf (Everyone wants to dance)
The president dances it (So does the mayor)
The governor dances it (So does the senator)
The representative dances it (So does the councilman)
(Snippet 2)
The dance
The dance
The dance of the elf (The dance of the elf)
The dance of the elf (Everyone wants to dance)
The dance of the elf
The police don't dance it
Nor do the taxi drivers
Gallery (scenes from the video)[]
