Hugo del Carril has been one of the greatest artists of our country. He was a remarkable singer, actor, director and producer. He was born in Buenos Aires on November 30th, 1912, in Flores neighbourhood (San Pedrito 256). His real name was Piero Hugo Bruno Fontana, he went to primary school and he attended high school for four years. Since he was very small, he was very fond of singing in his neighbourhood and in serenades. In 1927 he made his firsts public performances. The following year he sang on radio for the first time, it was on Del Pueblo radio station, where he also worked as a speaker. In his first appearances as a singer, he used many pseudonymous, such as Oro Cáceres, Hugo Font, Hugo Caures, Carlos Cáceres, Hugo Riobó and Pierrot, until he adopted the definitive one, Hugo del Carril, in 1933. During this period, at the same time he performed as a soloist, he participated in several orchestras, in the Paris trio and in a duet with Roberto Acuña. In 1934, he appeared on the shows on La Nación radio station as a soloist, and the following year he made his first recordings as the vocalist of Edgardo Donato’s orchestra. In 1936, he performed as a soloist at the new El Mundo radio station, and started to record albums as a leading artist. From that moment on, his career was magnificent. In 1937 he sang on the film “Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina” (“The boys from old times didn’t use gel”), and appeared both as a singer and an actor on “La vuelta de Rocha” (“Rocha’s return”). His work spread over Argentina and other Latin American countries, as well as it did over Spain. After writing one of the most brilliant pages in tango history, Hugo del Carril died on August 13th, 1989. He had suffered a heart attack on January 1988, and couldn’t recover completely from it. Hugo del Carril was one of the most personal tango singers. His characteristic style has been unmistakable. He was so gifted, that at the beginning of his career he had the voice of three singers together. Many years later, he didn’t have that voice anymore, but he adopted a very expressive way of vocalising, like if he were dragging the words, which made tangos very strong, emotionally speaking, and which made him so popular. In 1971, I had the chance of working with Hugo in a show organised for the celebration of the Buenos Aires Week. I had to introduce Hugo, Alba Solís and Sexteto Tango, in several outdoors parks of Buenos Aires. That was how I got the opportunity of seeing how popular he was. Hugo had to arrive to the park by car, which took it even to the stage. One day we were in La Boca, it was said that the audience was not in a good mood. Hugo told me: “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it”. And he got on the stage and sang “Marechiare”. The ovation was huge and the success was total. From those days I keep the memory of Hugo as a great artist and an intelligent and kind man. Another of the fields in which he was able to outstand himself, was the film industry. As a singer he left his voice and his image in a lot of films that are still being watched. But he also was a great actor, whether he was doing comedy or drama. Besides, his interest in films, led him to a career as a director, being responsible for some of the best Argentine films ever, such as “Historia del 900” (“Story of the 900”) or “Las aguas bajan turbias” (“The waters come down dirty”). He got so interested in filming that he even left aside his singing career. He was more successful than almost every tango singer had been, however he always wanted more. As an actor, he didn’t only appeared on films, but also worked in many theatre plays, and even made tours around America and Spain. Between 1945 and 1946 he lived in Mexico, where he made three films; and from 1950 to 1951, he lived in Spain, where he worked in “El negro que tenía el alma blanca” (“The black man who had a white soul”). And, as he couldn’t be absent from the TV screen, he performed many times in a variety of shows. In 1973, he was the director of the Instituto Nacional de Cine (National Cinema Institute), although not for a very long time. In 1986, he was designated as Illustrious Citizen of Buenos Aires City.

Oscar del Priore

Tango XXI Magazine

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