Osvaldo Pugliese
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Osvaldo Pedro Pugliese (
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
, December 2, 1905 – July 25, 1995,
Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...
) was an
Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...
tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...
musician. He developed dramatic arrangements that retained strong elements of the walking beat of salon tango but also heralded the development of concert-style tango music. Some of his music, mostly since the 1950s, is used for theatrical dance performances. In Buenos Aires, Pugliese is often played later in the evening when the dancers want to dance more slowly, impressionistically and intimately.


Personal life

His father, Don Adolfo Pugliese (1877–1945), pushed him to work harder; his mother, Aurelia Terragno (1880–1947), often whispered to her son while he was practicing, ''¡Al Colón!'' (''To the Colón!''), referring to Buenos Aires' famous
Teatro Colón The Teatro Colón (Spanish: ''Columbus Theatre'') is the main opera house in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is considered one of the ten best opera houses in the world by National Geographic. According to a survey carried out by the acousti ...
, where only the country's finest artists play. His other brothers ''Adolfo Vicente'' and ''Alberto Roque'' were violinists. He was married two times, to María Concepción Florio and to Lydia Elman. His first wife died in 1971, and he had one daughter, Lucela Delma "Beba" Pugliese (b. 1939), a pianist in her own right.


Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese

In 1918 he left primary school to work as a print graphic artist. His father finally convinced him to take classes with the teacher Antonio D'Agostino, at the Conservatorio Odeon. He wrote his first tango, ''Recuerdo,'' in 1924, when he was 19. Two years later, when it was finally recorded, it became a classic. '
La yumba La yumba (zhoóm-ba) is a tango created by Osvaldo Pugliese in 1946. The term ''yumba'' - despite its indigenous origin - was not chosen by Pugliese for its etymology but for its onomatopoeic similarity with the profound gasping from a bandoneón ...
' (1946) is another famous and most popular Pugliese's tangos compositions. In 1939 he formed his orchestra as a cooperative and made his debut at Café El Nacional (980 Corrientes Avenue – "Cathedral of Tango") on the 11th of August, 1939. The orchestra toured the former Soviet Union in 1959 (eighty cities in three months – sometimes playing two or three shows a day) and also China (twenty-eight cities in another month), Chile (1990), Mexico, Columbia (1980), Peru, Cuba (1984, 1988, 1992), Japan (1965, 135 shows in five months; 1979, 1989), the U.S. (stopping in Chicago in 1979), the Middle East, France (1984), Portugal, Spain (1985; 1988 playing in Madrid, at Teatro Albéniz with the singer
Joan Manuel Serrat Joan Manuel Serrat i Teresa (; born 27 December 1943) is a Spanish musician, singer and composer. He is considered one of the most important figures of modern, popular music in both the Spanish and Catalan languages. Serrat's lyrical style h ...
, and Barcelona), Belgium, The Netherlands (with
Astor Piazzolla Astor Pantaleón Piazzolla (, ; March 11, 1921 – July 4, 1992) was an Argentine tango composer, bandoneon player, and arranger. His works revolutionized the traditional tango into a new style termed ''nuevo tango'', incorporating elements from ...
in Amsterdam, 29 June 1989), Finland and almost all South and Central American countries: Uruguay (1987,
Solís Theatre Solís Theatre (''Spanish'': Teatro Solís) is Uruguay's most important and renowned theatre. It opened in 1856 and the building was designed by the Italian architect Carlo Zucchi. It is located in Montevideo's Old Town, right next to the Plaza ...
in Montevideo). For his work the maestro received high cultural distinctions, including from the Argentine, French and Cuban governments.


Teatro Colón concert (1985)

At age 80, he was allowed on the 26th of December 1985 to give a concert at the Teatro Colón, in Buenos Aires. He received 5 standing ovations. With characteristic humility he said: “The truth is... it’s a night of the people, of the masses, lovers of our genre, our beloved genre, tango.” The ceremony was led by
Luis Brandoni Adalberto Luis Brandoni (born 18 April 1940) is an Argentine actor and politician. Biography Brandoni was born in Dock Sud, a port community east of Avellaneda. He debuted on the stage in 1962, television in 1963, and on film in 1966. He joined ...
and
Héctor Larrea Héctor Larrea (born October 30, 1938) is an Argentine radio and television host. Life and work Larrea was born in Bragado, Buenos Aires Province, in 1938. He lost his father at age nine, and found comfort with his mother in radio broadcasting ...
. The orchestra's members that night were: Roberto Álvarez, Alejandro Previgniano, Fabio Lapinta (bandoneons), Osvaldo Montermi, Fernando Rodríguez, Diego Lerendegui, Gabriel Rivas (violins), Merei Brain (Viola), Amílcar Tolosa (double bass) and Osvaldo Pugliese (piano). List of songs that were played: # “Arrabal”. # “Los mareados”. # “Después” (Abel Cordoba). # “Quinto año” (Adrian Guida). # “Chacabuqueando”. # “A Evaristo Carriego”. # “Melodía de arrabal” (Abel Cordoba). # “Almagro” (Adrián Guida). # “Recuerdo”. # “Chiqué”. # “Mala junta”. # “La canción de Buenos Aires” (Abel Cordoba). # “Contame una historia” (Adrián Guida). # “Copacabana”. # “Protocoleando”. # “Milonga para Gardel” (Adrián Guida, Abel Cordoba). # “Desde el alma”. # “
La yumba La yumba (zhoóm-ba) is a tango created by Osvaldo Pugliese in 1946. The term ''yumba'' - despite its indigenous origin - was not chosen by Pugliese for its etymology but for its onomatopoeic similarity with the profound gasping from a bandoneón ...
”. # “La mariposa”. # "Toda mi vida". # "El encopao". “La yumba” was played with his old orchestra members: * Oscar Herrero, violin (1943–1978). * Jorge Bruschi, violin (1980–1983). * Kike Lano, violocelist (1963–1973). * Silvio Pucci, violocelist (1973–1983). * Norberto Bernasconi, viola (1954–1978). * Alcides Rossi, contrabass (1970–1978). * Oscar Castagnaro, bandoneon (1943–1951). * Ismael Spitalnik, bandoneon (1956–1971). * Arturo Penón, bandoneon (1961–1984). * Julián Plaza, bandoneon (1959–1968). * Osvaldo Ruggiero, bandoneon (1939–1968). * Victor Lavallén, bandoneon (1959–1968). * Daniel Binelli, bandoneon (1968–1982).


Tango compositions

The most famous tango composition of Osvaldo Pugliese are: Recuerdo (1924), Ausencia (Tango mío) (1931), El frenopático, Primera categoría, El encopao (1942), Recién (1943), Adiós Bardi (1944), Una vez (1946), Igual que una sombra (1946), La yumba, Negracha (1948), Malandraca (1949), Milonga para Fidel (1961), Para Eduardo Arolas. The first recording of "Recuerdo" was by the Julio De Caro orchestra, on December 9, 1926, in instrumental form. In 1927 the female singer Rosita Montemar recorded it sung for the first time, with the accompaniment of musicians from the Víctor label. The Bianco-Bachicha orchestra recorded it instrumentally in Paris in 1928. And in 1930, the Orquesta Típica Victor, with the voice of Roberto Díaz. All labels feature A. Pugliese. And even more, it still appears like this on the RCA-Víctor 39776 album, from Ricardo Tanturi's version of 1942. The famous tango "Recuerdo – a los amigos" was composed by Puglise in the honor of his friends: Torcuato Di Giorgio, Amadeo Pioriello, Alfredo Bianchi, Jose Tonareeli & Rogelio Boisselier. Pugliese had composed the immortal Recuerdo in 1924 – “a tango for the year 3000”, according to Julio De Caro, who premiered it in 1927– and performed with Paquita Bernardo, Alfredo Gobbi (h) and Elvino Vardaro: he was not a stranger, but a popular musician who put together that initial orchestra as a cooperative.


Political views

Pugliese was outspoken in his political opinions. His
communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
sympathies, though never violent, at times earned him the hostility of those in power. Populist President Juan Perón is said to have had labor union heavies once intimidate Pugliese by locking him in a sinking boat, rescuing him at the last minute; though the alleged 1949 incident has never been proven (Pugliese, likewise, seldom spoke of it publicly), the day Pres. Perón awarded the great pianist the Order of May (Argentina's highest civilian award), he embraced Pugliese, saying: "Thank you, maestro, for forgiving". Clarín, 26 July 1995. Pugliese reportedly responded, "Forgive what?". “The exact reason why Osvaldo Pugliese was imprisoned the first time was never known, a fact that did not occur during the Perón government but before, in 1939, when he was preparing to debut with his orchestra at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Communist Party”..."They wanted to punish the rebellion by imprisoning a prestigious figure on the left." according to the writer Enrique Medina. It is known: at the police station he was treated with respect, invited to drink mate in the officer's office and they went to look for “tortitas negras”, which he liked. After a few days, freedom, the expected debut now at the National Theater and the confession of the police that they had "felt honored to be with such an artist." The idea of the red carnation on the piano was born: if Pugliese was in prison, the orchestra played the same, without a pianist. It has been said that it was proposed by Negro Mella, then presenter and reciter and later replaced by Eduardo Moreno, the author of the lyrics of Recuerdo. However, other testimonies –Petit de Murat, García Jiménez, Jauretche- pierced that story: yes, the carnation was placed on the piano, but many times Don Osvaldo appeared later, gave the flower to some lady in the audience. He was a member of the Communist Party starting in 1936. He also managed to help create "Sociedad de Músicos y Artistas Afines" to increase job stability and wages for musicians. In 1961, he wrote ''Milonga Para Fidel'' to show his support for the Cuban revolution. When he was in jail, he still wrote arrangements and the orchestra still performed, and placed a red carnation on the keyboard of the piano in his honor. The 1960s government of the late General
Juan Carlos Onganía Juan Carlos Onganía Carballo (; 17 March 1914 – 8 June 1995) was President of Argentina from 29 June 1966 to 8 June 1970. He rose to power as dictator after toppling the president Arturo Illia in a coup d'état self-named ''Revolución Argen ...
(who had a deep fear of Peronists and communists alike) simply banned Pugliese from radio broadcasts and public places. Pugliese was a man of integrity and humility. He spent years in jail due to his beliefs. The government also restricted his recordings to 10 per year. As a communist, he organised his orchestra as a cooperative and paid his members by their contribution, earning their loyalty. Quite rare, his core orchestra members (Osvaldo Ruggiero 1st bandoneon, Enrique Camerano 1st violin, Julio Carrasco and Oscar Herrero 2nd violins, Alcides Rossi on double bass) stayed with him nearly 30 years (1939–1968). In 1955 Pugliese was imprisoned in Devoto from January to July, and in that prison he was seen, with a mop and bucket, cleaning corridors, refusing to let other detainees take away that work. Don Osvaldo was never an agitator, but a man with convictions who never confused art with ideology. It happened that in certain political stages of Argentina, due to his popularity, they considered him a "war booty". At the end of 1973, a few months before Peron died, the founder of Justicialismo organized an artistic show to which he invited figures such as
Horacio Guarany Eraclio Catalin Rodríguez Cereijo, better known as Horacio Guarany (May 15, 1925 – January 13, 2017), was one of the main Argentine folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that ...
,
Mercedes Sosa Haydée Mercedes Sosa (; 9 July 1935
at BrainyHistory.com
– 4 October 2009), sometimes known as ' ...
,
Edmundo Rivero Leonel Edmundo Rivero (June 8, 1911 – January 18, 1986) was an Argentine tango singer, composer, and impresario. Biography Early days Rivero was born in the southern Buenos Aires suburb of Valentín Alsina. Joining his father in some of his ...
and Osvaldo Pugliese. The next noon there was a lunch in Olivos, and there Perón got up, went to Pugliese and extended his hand: "I want to apologize, teacher, for those little matters that we had pending..." The musician accepted the greeting and replied: "Don't worry. Everything is already forgotten." Perón looked him in the eye raised his voice: "Only greats like you know how to forgive."


Death

He died after a short illness on the 25th of July 1995 at 89 years old. His remains are in
Chacarita Cemetery Cementerio de la Chacarita in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is known as the National Cemetery and is the largest in Argentina. Location The cemetery is in the barrio or district of Chacarita, in the western part of Buenos Aires. Its main entrance i ...
in an imposing mausoleum, the work of Juan Carlos Ferraro (1997), which was made thanks to the generous contribution of his fans. His funeral received great attention with an impressive caravan that marched in reverse along
Corrientes Avenue Avenida Corrientes () is one of the principal thoroughfares of the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires. The street is intimately tied to the tango and the porteño sense of identity. Like the parallel avenues Santa Fe, Córdoba, and San Juan, it t ...
.


"San Pugliese"

It is said that during a Charly García recital a series of situations and technical problems were triggered that delayed the start of the show. The sound was not working well, until someone from the team tried to do a test with a record of Maestro Pugliese. Everything began to improve and Charly gave the show. Hence the myth of good luck that the invocation of the musician brought. In 2000, five years after Pugliese's death, the musician Alberto Muñoz wrote a prayer to pray to the tango patron saint. Other artists, including
León Gieco Raúl Alberto Antonio Gieco, pseudonym, better known as León Gieco (born on November 20, 1951 in Cañada Rosquín, Argentina) is an Argentine folk rock performer, Music composer, composer and interpreter. He is known for mixing popular Folklore, ...
and Javier Calamaro, acknowledged that they invoked the musician born on December 2, 1905, to ward off any inconvenience. "We always mention Pugliese", Gieco sings in "Los Salieris de Charly", a song dated 1992. Sebastián Bianchini, from the Tree group, composed an ironic song dedicated to Pugliese ("Suerte") "It seems that mixing his musical activity with the political would mean making it dirty, but he never loses sight of this ethical-aesthetic relationship that he has known how to project and shape in his interlocutors", said María Mercedes Liska In the image of "Saint Pugliese" the artist and the man committed to society are synthesized, without his name being at the mercy of the negative connotations of politics.


Filmography

He participated as an actor in the films: * '' Mis cinco hijos'' (1946). * ''Tango y tango'' (1984). * ''Coexistencia'' (1993). * ''Muchas gracias maestro'' (1993), unfinished documentary.


Awards

* In 1986, during the tenure of Mayor
Julio César Saguier Julio César Saguier (June 18, 1935 – January 13, 1987) was an Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This conne ...
, the Municipality of the
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declared him "Ciudadano Ilustre". * In 1988 he was awarded with the title of Commander of
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres The ''Ordre des Arts et des Lettres'' (Order of Arts and Letters) is an order of France established on 2 May 1957 by the Minister of Culture. Its supplementary status to the was confirmed by President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. Its purpose is ...
by the
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of
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
. * In 1992, on 11 November he was awarded with the Alejo Carpentier medal, the most important cultural distinction by the
Council of State A Council of State is a governmental body in a country, or a subdivision of a country, with a function that varies by jurisdiction. It may be the formal name for the cabinet or it may refer to a non-executive advisory body associated with a head o ...
of
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.


References


External links


Osvaldo Pugliese Biography (El Recodo Tango)

Osvaldo Pugliese Discography (El Recodo Tango)



Todo TangoTango.com – Discography

Unofficial site

Unofficial site
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pugliese, Osvaldo 1905 births 1995 deaths Musicians from Buenos Aires Argentine people of Italian descent Argentine composers Argentine conductors (music) Male conductors (music) Argentine tango musicians Argentine pianists Male pianists Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Orquesta Osvaldo Pugliese Burials at La Chacarita Cemetery 20th-century pianists 20th-century composers