Emilio Balcarce – La bordona
Today we have an interview with Emilio Balcarce, violinist, bandoneonist, conductor, composer and arranger, who died in 2011. On January 5, 1999 I finally met him in the dressing room of the legendary tango club “El viejo Almacén” during a rehearsal of the Tango School Orchestra.
At that time Balcarce was already over 80 years old. But he still radiated so much vitality and enthusiasm that I was immediately drawn to him. He had dedicated himself to tango for more than 60 years and had written arrangements for the most important orchestras of the golden age, for Anibal Troilo, Osvaldo Pugliese, Alfredo Gobbi and others. And he was violinist in the Orquesta Típica de Osvaldo Pugliese from 1949 and in the Sexteto Tango since 1968.
He told me about the importance of Carlos Gardel and Julio De Caro, how different the styles of the great orchestras were in the golden age of tango and the importance of each arranger. And how he started playing the bandoneon at an advanced age.
Listen to what Emilio Balcarce has to say about his rich musical life with tango!
Buy the full transcript of the interview
Or the English translation:
Part of the interview with Emilio Balcarce:
Yes, I am… when I began to be interested in tango, I was really interested in tango, when I began to listen to the artists of Julio de Caro, right? I had heard Canaro who I found very interesting this one, Fresedo… very delicate and rhythmic this… but I was surprised by the expression so… this, strong of the orchestra of Julio de Caro, so porteña, so with flavor to ours, right? and there I liked it very much, I fell in love with Pedro Láurenz; the bandoneonist. Well, that’s where my great warmth for our music began, right?
Yes, revolution especially in expression, in the expressive and in the harmonic, by Brother Francisco de Caro, who was a pianist of very good musical training, then it brought a little harmonic enrichment. That was the renewal, let’s say, of de Caro’s set.
No, there were styles like Roberto Firpo’s, with very pronounced nuances; style of Osvaldo Fresedo, this… it was rhythmic, but at the same time it had a very… very… this, very fine isn’t it?; that of Canaro that had an expressive richness, but that was of another tone, it was not of the strong, strong, painful tone at times, that is, it had all the contrasts and the things that a human being has.
Biography all tango
Wikipedia
Attracted to music, his first instrument was the mandolin. He studied violin from the age of 7 to 13 with Orlando Paiva and Cayetano Marconi, and counterpoint, harmony and fugue with maestro Juan Elher, entering Ricardo Ivaldi’s ensemble in 1935 as his brother’s successor and to make some arrangements. With him, he played in dances, confectioneries, in the spa “El Indio”, by Vicente López and in the intermissions of theatrical works.
In 1939, summoned by Emilio Orlando and with Alberto Demari (later called Marino), he directed and made arrangements for his ensemble. In 1940, at just over 20 years old, he formed his own orchestra, where he replaced the violin with the bandoneon, although he returned to the violin to work with the orchestra of Edgardo Donato. After his work here, he returned to his orchestra, where he had Alberto Marino as a singer.
With the disassociation of Alberto Castillo with Ricardo Tanturi, Balcarce worked in the beginnings as a soloist of this and was its director in 1943, achieving successful musical themes such as White hand, Anchor in Paris, Charol and Amarras, which were performed mainly in Carnival dances and on Radio Belgrano (formerly called LR3), reaching the records.
In 1944, with his own ensemble, he summoned the singer Jorge Durán and formed a group with Amadeo Mandarino.
He continued, from 1948, as a musical arranger in the orchestras of Aníbal Troilo, Alfredo Gobbi, Francini-Pontier, José Basso, Leopoldo Federico, among others.3 His popularity increased with the premiere of La Bordona, considered his greatest creation, which Pichuco recorded in 1956.
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