Horacio Salgán (1916 - 2016)

Horacio Salgán (photo by Silvina Frydlewsky for The Washington Post)

Today the sad news of the passing of Horacio Salgán on August 19 reached me. Horacio Adolfo Salgán (June 15, 1916 – August 19, 2016) was an Argentine tango pianist, composer and band leader from Buenos Aires. Some of Salgán's most well-known compositions include Del 1 al 5 (Días de pago) (1944), Don Agustín Bardi (1947), Entre tango y tango (1953), Grillito, La llamo silbando, Cortada de San Ignacio, and A fuego lento. - Salgán began studying piano at age six. At age 18 he joined the cast of Radio Belgrano as a soloist and back-up musician. At 20 he was discovered by orchestra leader Roberto Firpo, who hired Salgán for his orchestra. In late 1942 he made his first recording, and in 1944 he put together his own orchestra, which lasted until 1947. Salgán then devoted himself to composing and teaching and in 1950 returned with a new orchestra. 1960 saw the formation of the Quinteto Real, with Salgán on piano, Enrique Mario Francini on violin and Pedro Laurenz on bandoneón. The goal of the group was to create instrumental tangos designed for listening rather than dancing. In 1998 he appeared as himself in the Oscar-nominated Best Foreign Language Film Tango, no me dejes nunca as part of El Nuevo Quinteto Real, an incarnation of the original group. In 2005 Konex Foundation from Argentina granted him the Diamond Konex Award, one of the most prestigious awards in Argentina, as the most important personality in the Popular Music of his country in the last decade. (from Wikipedia profile).

A career profile in English by Adam Bernstein in Washington Post is available here 

An obituary in Spanish by Mauro Apicella in LA NACION can be reached here 

Oscar Alemán admired and was a friend of Horacio Salgán. Alemán composed a tango as a homage to Salgán, Al Gran Horacio Salgán which he recorded at his 1974 Redondel album En Todos Los Ritmos. I posted a short article about this issue earlier,  here 

To commemorate a great Argentine musician and personality, here is inserted a performance by Horacio Salgán and his orchestra of A Fuego Lento from the concert in 2005 when Salgán received the Diamond Konex Award

Horacio Adolfo Salgán (June 15, 1916 – August 19, 2016) RIP

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Jo

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