Sucesos Semanales

He was born in Marcos Juárez, in Córdoba province, on March 15^th, 1918. His real name was Antonio Lino Ingaramo, and his parents were Antonio Ingaramo Moreno and María Luisa Cruz de Ingaramo Moreno. For working reasons, the whole family moved to Rufino, in Santa Fe province. Antonio Lino lived with his parents until the age of sixteen, although only during the holidays, since he spent school seasons in Córdoba, where he attended school, with some relatives. In that city he began to study violin, just as a hobby. When he was seventeen, he came back to Rufino. That was the moment where his passion for singing was born, although he didn’t abandon his love for violin. His artistic career as a “professional” began when he joined Luis Viscas’s orchestra as a violinist in 1938. The following year, the Ingaramo family moved to Santa Fe, where there was more activities related to tango. The young Antonio, entered a contest organised by a radio station. Although he never thought he had any chance, he won the contest, which gave him the opportunity of imitating Angel Magaldi. In the beginning of 1940, Antonio Ingaramo moved to Buenos Aires. He auditioned to replace Alberto Echagüe in Juan D’Arienzo’s orchestra, but he didn’t succeed. Without giving in, he entered another contest. This was organised by Argentina and Prieto radio stations, which were the two that had the most famous tango stars in their staffs: Azucena Maizani, Hugo del Carril, Alberto Gómez, Amanda Ledesma and many others. In that moment he adopted the name that would accompany him during his whole

career: Héctor Pacheco. He also won this contest, together with Marta del Solar; but this time he did it without imitating anyone, but because of his own style. This was the moment when he had more chances of progress in the artistic world but, ironically, he had to be hospitalised during six months because of a serious disease he got. Fortunately, the job opportunities waited for him, and that same year he made his debut as a vocalist in Alberto Pugliese’s orchestra for their presentations at the “Cote d’Azur” night club. Pacheco replaced Héctor Mauré in Mitre radio station, when he joined the orchestra of Juan D’Arienzo. In 1941, Pacheco was convoked by Pedro Maffia. This would be his real success and the episode that gave impulse to his career. That same year, Héctor made his debut as a theatre actor. It was at the Buenos Aires theatre, in a play by Cátulo Castillo, Pedro Maffia and Germán Ziclis, “Yo soy Juan Tango” (“I am John Tango”). His companions were singer Alberto Vila and comic actress Pepita Muñoz. That same play performed at the “Presidente Alvear” theatre, where Alberto Castillo replaced Alberto Vila. In 1947, Pacheco joined Alfredo Attadía’s orchestra, with which he performed at El Mundo radio station, the most prestigious radio station when it came to tango. With that same orchestra, Pacheco made his first recordings, with the song “Descamisado” (“Without a shirt”), between 1947 and 1948. In 1949, he decided to pursue a soloist career, and he formed an accompanying quartet with important musicians: Anselmo Aieta, Bernardo Sevilla, Armando Baliotti and Luis Adesso. With this quartet he performed at Splendid radio station and made a long tour around the country. Back in Buenos Aires, he is proposed to present in Montevideo, at the Ateneo Café. This performance made Uruguayan audience to definitely accept him. However, he would reach great popularity when, in 1951, he joined Osvaldo Fresedo’s orchestra to replace Armando Garrido. Pacheco was the only singer the orchestra had, and he made his first recordings with it on that same year. During his career in the orchestra of Fresedo, he made many recordings, performed on several radio stations, played at dances and summer seasons, and at important night clubs. That duet left us great versions of “Ninguna” (“None”), “Vida mía” (“My life”), “La casita de mis viejos” (“My parents’ house”), “Viejo malevo” (“Old malevo”), “Sosteniendo recuerdos” (“Holding memories”), “Muñequita de

París” (“Little doll from Paris”), “Fugitiva” (“Runaway”) and “Pero yo sé” (“But I know”). In 1955, he left Fresedo’s orchestra on good terms, and made his debut as a soloist at the “Crillon” night club. In 1956 he convoked Carlos García, with whom he formed a duet that would be very famous because of the quality of its musicians: Elvino Vardaro, Hugo Baralis and Leo Lipesker in violins; Tito Bissio in accordion; Mariano Titio in vibraphone; Leopoldo Federico and Héctor Artola in bandoneons; Julio Ahumada in guitar and Aldo Nicolini in contrabass. This group performed for the first time at El Mundo radio station, and had a spectacular success. They made important tours around the country, and recorded many albums for Odeón company. In 1956, the group renewed its contract with El Mundo, but this time as the main attraction of a show animated by Carlos Arturo Orfeo, Jorge “Cacho” Fontana and María Esther Vignola. In 1957, the television era began, and it didn’t take much time for Pacheco to perform in it. There was no musical TV show in which he was not invited, and he also continued playing at night clubs. Another of his achievements was to be the owner of the “Kings’s club”, one of the most elegant and aristocratic night clubs in Buenos Aires. During the following years, he continued to perform on TV shows, at night clubs and at any tango festival that was thought to be important. As a composer, some of his works are “Sueño de París” (“Dream about Paris”), “Siempre mía” (“Mine forever”), “Mi novia de Santa Fe” (“My girlfriend from Santa Fe”) and “Romina”, which was dedicated to his granddaughter.