TROILO AND RIVER PLATE

During the 60s, Pichuco used to play every Thursday on Channel 11. The singer was Tito Reyes, and the speaker Horacio Aiello. The case was one Thursday, Troilo missed his appointment. The orchestra played without him, but this situation caused worry among the channel authorities. They thought that attitude was unbearable and were thinking about breaking Troilo’s contract.

Aiello told a friend of mine, who was also very close with Pichuco, about this problem, so he could tell the musician to go and talk with the authorities. I remember going with my friend to Pichuco’s house, where his wife Zita received us.

When my friend told her about the reason of our visit, the woman answered us with a question. “Do you know which teams played football last Sunday?” A bit confused, my friend said “Boca Juniors and River Plate” (River had won the game that time). And Zita kept talking “You know Pichuco loves three things more than anything in his life: his mother, tango and River Plate. Last Sunday morning, some of his friends picked him up to go to the stadium, and he hasn’t come back yet”.

These were the pranks of a lovable man, who enjoyed all the joy life would bring him.

Of course, at the channel, things didn’t get very serious, and he kept delighting us with his bandoneon and his exceptional talent week after week.