Nardo Zalko

Zalko was the son of two Lithuanian Jews, Frida and Abrasha Zalko, who migrated to Argentina. He was born in 1941 and raised in the modest porteño neighborhood of San Cristobal, Buenos Aires. At the age of 19, Zalko sailed to Israel and joined Kibbutz Ein Shemer. He wrote for the Uruguayan weekly newspaper, Marcha, published in Montevideo, and reported on events for them such as the Eichmann trial.

Zalko was a paratrooper in the Six-Day War of 1967 and fought on the front lines in the Battle of Ammunition Hill in Jerusalem.

In 1970, he moved to Paris with his wife and three-year-old son. In 1979, he became a journalist for Agence France-Presse (AFP),[3] where he eventually became the shift manager of the South America department, Desk AmSud. He retired from his career at AFP as the head of AmSud in 2006.

In 1996, Zalko became editor-in-chief of the periodical Tango, Bulletin de l'Académie du Tango de France. He assembled a collection of rare documents, phonograph records, sheet music, books, pictures, and photographs about tango. He interviewed musicians, singers, and dancers, from Astor Piazzolla to Susana Rinaldi. This collection is now housed in the Centre National de la Danse (CND) in Paris.

In 1998, he published his first book, Paris – Buenos Aires, Un Siècle de Tango (ed. Du Félin)[4] where he documented the music, dance, lyrics, and culture of tango, which oscillated repeatedly between the two capitals. He demonstrated how tango had to become popular in Paris in order to experience a revival in its birthplace of Buenos Aires. This book was chosen by the French Education Ministry as a subject for the general matriculation exams in 2015.[5] His next book, Le Tango, Passion du Corps et de l’Esprit, was published by Milan Presse in 2001.

In Paris, in conjunction with the Pompidou Center[6], Zalko led a series of tours of places having a connection to tango. In 2005, he was appointed Parisian ambassador of La Academia Porteña del Lunfardo.

Zalko died in Paris in 2011 and was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery.[7] His gravestone bears the inscription "Buenos Aires – Jerusalem – Paris", testifying to the major landmarks in his life and work.[8] He was honoured by a tribute at the Argentine Embassy in Paris several months after his death.[9]

• Paris le Tango Buenos Aires, director: Odile Fillion, 2007 [11]
• Nardo Zalko. Paris – Buenos Aires. Un Siècle de Tango, director: Claude Namer and Manu Petit, 2010

Correspondent in Israel for Marcha, Montevideo – 1961–1970

Correspondent in Paris for Marcha, Montevideo – 1970–1974

Reporter for Clarin, Buenos Aires; Mondo Nuevo, Caracas;

La Vanguardia, Medellin; Amitiés France-Israel, Paris – 1974–1979

Reporter for El Universal and El Nacional, Mexico; El Herald, Miami;

El Carabobeño, Valencia; El Tiempo, Bogota – 1980–1991

Editor-in-chief of the periodical Tango, Bulletin de l'Académie du Tango de France, Paris – 1996