Hugo Baralis
His cradle was a double bass, violinist Hugo Baralis told me when I visited him at his home in January 1999.
He was born in Buenos Aires on April 2, 1914 and was the son of Hugo Ricardo Baralis, who had played double bass in the famous orchestras of Eduardo Arolas, Osvaldo Fresedo, Francisco Canaro and in the legendary Sextet of Julio de Caro.
Victor Hugo Baralis began his musical career at the age of 15. Like his father, he played in his long career with the most innovative musicians of tango: from 1933 in the sextet of the violinist Elvino Vardaro, then in the Orquesta Típica of Aníbal Troilo, and later in many ensembles of Astor Piazzolla, among them the Octeto Buenos Aires and the Conjunto 9.
What Baralis had experienced in his rich musical life was so interesting that my conversation with him – despite his 85 years – lasted an entire hour, supported by his wife and a few cigarettes.
He told me what he liked about Elvino Vardaro’s sound and how special Anibal Troilo’s orchestra was. He told me about his close friendship with Astor Piazzolla and how they prepared jokes together to scare their colleagues, like this story of the frog sack. You’re going to hear it in our next podcast.
Listen today to the first part of this interview with violinist Hugo Baralis, who died on February 4, 2002 at the age of 88.
Listen also part 2 of the interview with Hugo Baralis
More information
Hugo Baralis (April 2, 1914 – February 4, 2002) was an Argentine violinist, conductor and arranger, focused on playing Argentina’s national dance, tango.
Notable musician, son of Hugo Ricardo Baralis -that excellent double bass player who began with Eduardo Arolas-, was an exquisite violinist, rooted in the school of Elvino Vardaro and also owner of a very tango sound and a singular phrasing.
At the age of 14 he made his debut in Radio Cultura and in the orchestra of Minotto Di Cicco, who performed in the legendary Cabaret Armenonville.
After participating in different ensembles accompanying songwriters and singers, he joined the native orchestra led by the bandoneonist and composer Rafael Rossi. They were his companions, the musicians: Elvino Vardaro, Vicente Spina, Ismael Gómez, José Galarza and the songwriter Herminia Velich.
In 1933, there was a very important event in tango, the great violinist Elvino Vardaro created his famous sextet, formed by the bandoneons of Aníbal Troilo and Jorge Argentino Fernández, the piano of José Pascual, Pedro Caracciolo on double bass and on the violins, the conductor himself and the young Baralis.
In 1935, most of its members moved to the formation of Ángel D’Agostino: Pichuco, Baralis, Fernández and Caracciolo. The singer was a little boy: Alberto Echagüe. Two years later, after a brief stint in the orchestra of bandoneonist César Ginzo, Baralis returns with Vardaro.
The following year, his friend Troilo, who had already formed his own orchestra, summoned him to it. This union not only identified him with the same musical sensibility but also with the codes of life and bohemia so special of that generation. The participation would extend until August 1943.
The estrangement was the product of Troilo’s anger with Orlando Goñi, motivated by the pianist’s work indiscipline. Unfortunately, on the night of the eviction determination, Baralis had also been missing, therefore, the director sent the telegrams of dismissal to the two of them. Despite this, the friendship lasted until Troilus’ death.
After this episode, he was summoned by Juan Carlos Cobián to join his orchestra. He was very short, because his friend Francisco Fiorentino, who had also disassociated himself from Troilo, offered him the conduction of his orchestra, but Hugo decides to pass the baton to Astor Piazzolla, leaving him as first violin.
Later, that group became Astor’s first orchestra, when Fiorentino decided to take other paths and moved away from it. Baralis continued there, until 1951, except for a brief stint with Francisco Rotundo. In that year, he became head of the direction of Alberto Marino’s orchestra, debuting in Odeón albums, on May 21 with the recording of the tangos: Margot and on the reverse Domani, by Cátulo Castillo and Carlos Viván.
The Baralis-Marino relationship lasted a year, but before dissolving, they recorded four more songs, among them, Marino’s most popular success as a soloist, Venganza, a Brazilian song by Lupicínio Rodrigues translated into Spanish by the writer Augusto Roa Bastos. The other three: Mi vieja viola, Noche de luna and Viejo cochero, true jewels of the genre.
In 1953, he made his debut on Radio Belgrano conducting his own orchestra. The following year, he was invited by Juan Canaro to participate in his tour to Japan, along with other musicians of great hierarchy, among them: Arturo Penón, Emilio González, Alfredo Marcucci, Osvaldo Tarantino and the singers María De La Fuente and Héctor Insúa. On his return from that trip, he composed the tango Anone, which in Japanese means: listen.
In 1955, he was a founding musician of piazzolla’s historic Octeto Buenos Aires, which was completed by Enrique Francini, Atilio Stampone, Leopoldo Federico, Horacio Malvicino, José Bragato and Juan Vasallo.
Between 1956 and 1957, he was the first violin of josé Basso’s orchestra and, between 1960 and 1961, he participated in the quartet Estrellas de Buenos Aires, along with Armando Cupo, Jorge Caldara and Quicho Díaz, replaced a few times by José Alegre and the voices of Marga Fontana and Héctor Ortiz.
Baralis’ contribution has been extensive, in addition to everything related we must add his passage with Julio De Caro, with Carlos García, with whom he also traveled to Japan, with the Sexteto Mayor, with Raúl Garello and his last work, for many years, in the Tango Orchestra of Buenos Aires.
I want to highlight for the end, the importance of Hugo in the career of Astor Piazzolla. It was he who integrated him into Aníbal Troilo’s orchestra. Who gave him the baton in the direction of the Fiorentino orchestra. The one who integrated and collaborated, in every way, in his first formations, in the Noneto, in the Octeto Buenos Aires, in the Operita María de Buenos Aires. That is, in the whole musically novel idea of the master. But above all, I want to highlight the admiration and affection I felt for the creator of Adiós Nonino.
From 1990, already professionally removed from music because of a hemiplegia, he was tormented by not being able to be with his friend El Gato, as he called Piazzolla, from whom he could not say goodbye in life. Their anecdotes, their stories, allow me to increase not only my knowledge, but to turn them into interested readers, which allows them to investigate and penetrate the soul of those great tango and Hugo Baralis was one of them.
Hugo Baralis – Youtube
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