4 El Firulete October 2000 On Our Cover A Rag to Riches Tango Tale Francisco Canaro was a promoter and an ambassador of the Tango, from neighboring Uruguay and Chile to Spain, France and the United Sates. Perhaps his most important outreach was Japan were Pirincho's fertile compositions set the foundation for the Rising Sun Empire’s infatuation with the Argentine Tango. His compositions number over five hundred titles spanning fifty years of dedicated labor to the development of the business of Tango. here are no historical records His critics from the academic halls about weaklings. To name Fran- of the Argentine Tango establishment Tcisco Canaro is to name some- are quick to point out his lack of artistic body who represents the very essence of temperament. Francisco Garcia the development and growth of the Jimenez wrote, because of that, he Tango both as a musician and a direc- (Canaro) couldn’t introduce a single note tor. Few examples of perseverance, of significance in the interpretation of the dedication and passion for his trade are music of Buenos Aires. He adhered to a The signs of fatigue after almost sixty as evident as in the case of Canaro. His familiar rhythm impressing on it an years of uninterrupted professional legacy includes an example of construc- accentuated sonority. In other words, no activity are evident on Francisco tive tenacity applied not only to the devoted purist would find ecstasy Canaro's tired face in one of the last circles in which he reigned, but also to listening to any recording of his orches- photographs taken of him before his the rest of the community at large. He tra, but for the rest of the world death. was a typical example of a self-made Canaro’s name and sounds will be man who rose from a life of misery and forever associated with an irresistible pute because of its association with poverty with an uncompromising desire to hit the dance floor because back room illegal gambling, bordello determination. His struggle was prima- dancers were who Canaro played for. waiting rooms, seedy bars and the rily motivated by a materialistic pur- Canaro wanted to be a musician, irrational fear of the characters populat- pose, lacking in brilliance and everlast- and intuitively he was one from an ing the dangerous empty lots of the ing creativity. Somehow for him the end embryonic stage. He lacked resources, outskirts. justified the means, but the hefty means, principles and mentors to guide This was the state of things when benefits resulting from his hard work him through the scholastic paths of the Francisco Canaro was born on Novem- also trickled down to the bohemian art of music. What he had instead, all ber 26, 1888 in San Jose de Mayo, a Tango movement of which he became around him, was the continuous spin small city of the Republica Oriental del the undisputed captain: the fearless that emerged from the popular har- Uruguay. As a matter of trivia, it is said navigator that sailed through the monic sounds and cadenced dances that a neighbor quickly noticed the troubled waters of unfair labor practices that stuck to his ear, matched his baby’s rebellious fuzz of hair and to bring the rights of authors and cordial heartbeat, communicated exclaimed, he looks like a ‘pirincho’ (a composers to a safe port. through the lips and incited his sensi- South American bird of the magpie tive fingers to want to join their legion of family), and the nickname stuck to him interpreters. The rhythms danced at the for the rest of his life. dawn of the twentieth century in Argen- tina were foreign by adoption, but What also followed was almost fifty progressively being naturalized. Waltzes, years of uninterrupted labor for the polkas, mazurkas were quickly changing music and the Tango which set Canaro their original threads to enter the apart as one of the key men of the vernacular prairie. The European waltz history of the music of Buenos Aires. settled in Buenos Aires and became Creole. Soon the mazurkas would Dodging poverty in a crowded evolve into rancheras, and polkas into tenement room chamames, moving deep inside the countryside. The Canaro family, numbering ten between immigrant parents, sisters and In Buenos Aires another dance music was cornered and limited to an brothers, crossed the River Plate and moved to Buenos Aires towards the end obscure underworld. It had been born of the nineteenth century. They out of the conjunction of various immi- struggled to make the essential ends grant rhythms. It possessed the evident genius and silhouette of the city demo- meet, living in the extreme poverty of a A rare mug shot of Francisco Canaro tenement’s crowded room. Barely ten graphics. The Tango, music and dance, circa 1907 when he first began to make years old, Pirincho took to the streets was explicitly banned from salons and inroads into the recording industry as a shoe shiner and a paper boy. family living rooms and held in disre- October 2000 El Firulete 5 Entering adolescence, he first graduated to a thick brush wall painting job, and eventually to an apprentice job at an olive oil can factory. There, the dawn of his musical vocation awakened, and with the help of a friend he built a violin with wood and an empty oil can and begun to play the makeshift instrument “by ear.” With the rudimentary instru- ment he joined other youngsters forming minor groups with whom they enter- tained neighborhood parties and family reunions. As his musical ambitions continued to grow, at age eighteen he purchased his first violin, an old and beat up instrument with a sound that matched its inexpensive price and the limited technique of its player. However, this made his incipient dream about owning a real violin come true. Cradle of thugs and tough men The year was 1906 when he made his professional debut in a remote Director Francisco Canaro and his orchestra in 1957 during a performance of village far away from Buenos Aires with Tangolandia, one of his musical comedies. a trio consisting of his violin, a guitar and a mandolin. This is when he first made the decision to choose the popular faut) and Angel Villoldo (El choclo, El the center of the city as the duo made music of the Tango to entertain those on porteñito). their way to hold court in Calle Corri- the dance floor. We all know now how Stepping up to the plate entes where the Tango would become popular and prestigious the Tango synonymous of the legendary street’s would become because of his influence From the cafes of La Boca to name. Canaro and Greco played to the in rescuing it from scorn and contempt, Hansen’s in the garden district of delight of the best dancers at the and earning it the credential of citizen of Palermo, well-to-do men mixed it up milongas of Salon La Argentina the world. But first, young Canaro had with the thugs from the arrabals in located on Rodriguez Peña, steps away to witness the worst spectacle of human their pursuit of female favors. Seeking from Calle Corrientes. behavior at sleazy cantinas and seedy the acceptance of one of those gangs, It was during this period that the houses of prostitution lined up along the Canaro wrote his first composition, La record label Casa Tagini produced their dirt roads that dug deep into the guts of barra fuerte (The tough gang), a first records, a milestone of sorts in the desolate province of Buenos Aires. mercifully forgotten piece that deflated Tango history. Seeking a catchy slogan, A rigorous childhood and the daily his pretensions of being a composer. Vicente Greco coined the phrase contact with thugs, tough guys and That did not deter him from continuing Orquesta Tipica Criolla to identify the dangerous criminals toughened to step up to the challenge of his fellow group. This denomination, Typical Canaro’s character. His music in the tanguistas. With a limited education Creole Orchestra, with the Creole later beginning didn’t pretend to please and unrefined manners, he resorted to dropped, became the defining phrase to anybody’s ear, but to keep moving the using a resolute practical approach to identify any group that interpreted swift legs of the rowdy element that test the ground where he would step on, Argentine Tango with authenticity. made up his audience. always moving forward. The images of His adventurous spirit constantly his initial poverty and misery drove him Eventually Canaro moved on and took him to the most remote villages in to seek the accumulation of money as out from the shadow of Greco to join an the province of Buenos Aires. He spent his main priority. In that, he foresaw intuitive pianist named Martinez in a lengthy periods with the trio playing at clearly the fortunes afforded by the trio that began playing at Teatro dances and social events. In 1908 he Tango as it captured the imagination, Olimpo. They soon converted it into a finally left the boondocks and returned heart and adoration of the mass popula- dance academy of Tango con corte led to set roots in the capital district of tion. This was also going to be his ticket by another legend, Benito Bianquet, Buenos Aires, joining trios and en- for admission to the higher strata of better known as El Cachafaz. It was sembles that competed for popular society where he become the Tango there when Martinez wrote a Tango of acclaim with the likes of Vicente Greco caterer de jour.