Rafael Canaro was born on June 22, 1890 in San Jose de Mayo, Uruguay, as the brother of Francisco Canaro (Francisco had two other brothers besides him, Luis and Mario, all of whom were tango musicians) [1]. In 1925, he visited Paris as part of a contingent of musicians from Francisco’s orchestra, in the midst of the second Tangomania, and played double bass and saw (!) there [1]. He returned in 1926 and conducted his own orchestra in Paris, which played until 1936. In Europe, he also played with Carlos Gardel, who subsequently became one of his closest friends. Due to the war, he returned to Buenos Aires and died there on January 28, 1972.

Rafael is known not least for his composition (together with Francisco) “Sentimiento Gaucho” and his musical pieces for Odeon and Regal, which were mainly recorded in Europe [2].

These pieces are once again the focus of European milongas today, especially the recordings with Luis Scalon as singer. Here’s an example of a tanda by DJ Yüksel:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTbyaowcwTs

 

Here is a recording together with Raoul Sander in French (“Rien que nous deux”):

 

 

Another photo taken with Jaime Plana in 1936:

 

And finally, the Melodia de nuestro adios, also in French:

 

 

 

Abrazos!

 

-Richard

 

 

 

1 http://www.todotango.com/creadores/biografia/350/Rafael-Canaro/

2 https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rafael_Canaro