The educated Tanguero

The first tango musicians at the beginning of the 20th century were amateur musicians without formal musical training (including Vicente Greco, Juan Maglio, Eduardo Arolas, and Angel Gregorio Villoldo), some of whom played in the tradition of the payadores, the Argentine itinerant musicians. Among other things, they integrated rustic rhythms like milonga and candombe, as well as other Creole elements, into the nascent tango and founded the first orchestras. Until then, there were no dedicated tango orchestras, so the characteristic instruments had to be discovered and the performance techniques developed. These early tango musicians are collectively known as the “guardia vieja” (old guard). The first orchestras played a significant role in developing the musical tools and performance structures that shaped the character of tango. In a historical context, this period ended around 1925 and led into a transitional phase in which the orchestras evolved into their final form, the EDO, around 1940.

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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.

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Francisco Canaro wasn’t just the King of Tango; with his second nickname, ‘El Kayser,’ he was called the Emperor of Tango. Why? Let’s listen to his great tangos and take a look at his biography..