Sucesos Semanales

He was born on July 1^st, 1926, and was the youngest son of Antonio Stampone and Ramona Zangone, who already had a 14-year-old son called Giuseppe. He was the one who started a musical career by joining the neighbourhood’s typical orchestra with which he performed at clubs, parties and carnival celebrations. Atilio began to discover his real calling, and his brother Pepe noticed it, so when the youngest Stampone had to go under surgery at the age of 10, his older brother bought him a piano. After his operation, Atilio started to take piano lessons and when he was 16 he joined Roberto Dimas’s orchestra, which performed at the Marzotto café. In certain occasion, Pedro Maffia went to see the performance and was fascinated by its young pianist, so he proposed him to play at his cabaret Tibidabo. Maffia himself talked to Atilio’s father, Don Antonio, so he could give the boy permission to work there, which he did, under the condition he should get home right after the show was finished. In 1945, Roberto Rufino convoked him to be part of his orchestra, which was directed by Alberto Cámara. That same year, he met Ástor Piazzolla who had recently left Fiorentino and was thinking about having his own orchestra. One year later, Atilio was part of Piazzolla’s first group, and was his pianist for the three following years. Once this experience was finished, Stampone wanted to perfect his technique with Vicente Scaramuzza. He also played in Mariano Mores’s orchestra with which he participated in the musical comedies “El otro yo de Marcela” (“Marcela’s

other self”) and “Bésame Petronita” (“Kiss me, Petronita”). In 1949, he played in Juan Carlos Cobián’s orchestra for a very short time, until he was offered a scholarship to study in Rome, Italy. He returned to Buenos Aires in 1952, and formed an orchestra with Leopoldo Federico, which would last until Stampone was convoked to direct Belgrano radio station orchestra. In 1955, Piazzolla proposed him to be the pianist of Buenos Aires Octet, in which very talented musicians played: Enrique Francini and Hugo Baralis in violins, José Bragato in cello, Juan Vasallo in contrabass and Pansera and Piazzolla in bandoneons. This experience was very successful but it only lasted for two years, when the orchestra broke up and its musicians began to take new steps in their careers. Atilio’s was directing his own orchestra. In 1958 he recorded his first album, which was also released in the United States. That year was also successful as regards his personal life: he decided to form a family and married Lucía Marcó. In 1959 he started to work for Microfón, doing the piano accompaniment of the company’s artists. In 1961 he produced the first tango concert in Buenos Aires Medicine Faculty. In 1964 he released his new album and also was one of the founders of “Caño 14”, which would be one of the most popular and recognised tango clubs in Buenos Aires for more than twenty years. In 1972, he released the album that would

leave a mark on his career: “Concept”, which accentuates the rhythmic, harmonic and melodic traces of tango, combined with the classic conservatory’s techniques. In the following years he released many albums, some of which are “Imágenes” (“Images”), 1973; “Jaque mate” (“Checkmate”), 1975; “Mis maestros” (“My teachers”), 1977; “Vivencias” (“Personal experiences”), 1987; “Discepolín”, 1989. As a composer, some of his best-known tangos are “Afiches” (“Posters”), “Romance de tango” (“Tango affair”), “Ciudadano” (“Citizen”) and “Viejo gringo” (“Old gringo”), which was dedicated to Don Antonio, his dear father. As he has a versatile and untiring personality, he also was the President of SADAIC ( the Argentine authors association), and, nowadays, he is still one of its Directives. He had a continuous activity in the media and ha acquired a well-earned prestige that led him to be the Director of Buenos Aires City Orchestra, with which he performs at all kind of events so that tango, and music in general, can distinguish itself with Atilio Stampone’s brilliant direction.