Osvaldo Pugliese

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, 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.

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' (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, and Barcelona), Belgium, The Netherlands (with Astor Piazzolla in Amsterdam, 29th of June 1989), Finland and almost all South and Central American countries: Uruguay (1987, Solís Theatre in Montevideo). For his work the maestro received high cultural distinctions, including from the Argentine, French and Cuban governments.

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 was outspoken in his political opinions. His communist 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".[1] Pugliese reportedly responded, "Forgive what?".

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 (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).

He died after a short illness on the 25th of July 1995 at 89 years old. His remains are in Chacarita Cemetery 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.

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 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.

He participated as an actor in the films:

• Mis cinco hijos (1946).
• Tango y tango (1984).
• Coexistencia (1993).
• Muchas gracias maestro (1993), unfinished documentary.

• In 1986, during the tenure of Mayor Julio César Saguier, the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires declared him Ciudadano Ilustre.
• In 1988 he was awarded with the title of Commander of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Ministry of Culture of France.
• In 1992, on 11th of November he was awarded with the Alejo Carpentier medal, the most important cultural distinction by the Council of State of Cuba.

Memorial to Osvaldo Pugliese, Villa Crespo, Buenos Aires.

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Osvaldo Pugliese

• Osvaldo Pugliese Biography (El Recodo Tango)
• Osvaldo Pugliese Discography (El Recodo Tango)
• TodoTango.com - Biography
• Todo TangoTango.com - Discography
• Unofficial site (in Spanish)
• Unofficial site (in Spanish)
• Unofficial site on Facebook (in Spanish)
• Osvaldo Pugliese at Find a Grave
• Osvaldo Pugliese at IMDb
• Osvaldo Pugliese at Cinenacional.com (in Spanish) (archive)
• Osvaldo Pugliese at AllMusic