Jorge Caldara

Jorge Caldara was born on 17 September 1924 at the corner of Anchorena and Córdoba in the Abasto district of Buenos Aires, the son of Mario and María Caldara.^[1][4] When he was four the family moved to La Paternal, settling at Paramaribo 2219 (today Fragata Presidente Sarmiento), where he grew up with siblings Alberto and Nélida.^[1] From early childhood he was drawn to music; the piano was his first preference, but his father, a tango enthusiast, steered him toward the bandoneon and arranged neighbourhood lessons.^[1][2] The economic crisis of the 1930s forced him to leave formal studies at about fourteen and take factory work making cardboard and beams, yet he continued to play.^[1]

At fourteen, in 1938, he made his professional debut in the orchestra of the blind bandoneonist known as Cieguito Tarantini at Café El Nacional on Corrientes.^[2][5] Conscious of technical gaps, he studied further with Minotto Di Cicco, Carlos Marcucci and later Félix Lipesker.^[1][2] With fellow students he formed the Orquesta Juvenil Buenos Aires; its singer was Juan Dionisio Tobares, later known as Rodolfo Galé. The group appeared on Tuesdays at Café Germinal (Corrientes around 900) as the relief orchestra for Aníbal Troilo.^[1] When the ensemble dissolved he joined Francisco Lauro’s Orquesta Típica Los Mendocinos, which took its name from engagements at the restaurant Un Rincón de Mendoza; among the players were future leaders Bernardo Blas, Juan Sánchez Gorio, Astor Piazzolla and Alfredo De Angelis.^[1][2]

In 1939 he entered the orchestra of violinist Alberto Pugliese. The group performed summer dances on the grounds of the Sociedad Rural in Palermo, appeared on Radio del Pueblo and worked at the cabaret Côte d’Azur (25 de Mayo between Corrientes and Lavalle). Vocalists included Roberto Beltrán (“Leoncito”) and Héctor Pacheco.^[1][2] In 1944, at twenty, Caldara began compulsory military service with the Regimiento de Patricios in Palermo. Superiors permitted him to continue working; he joined the orchestra of Emilio Orlando on Radio El Mundo alongside singer José Berón, where as second bandoneon he refined his technique.^[1][2][5]

Around the same period Osvaldo Pugliese reorganised his bandoneon section after the departures of Enrique Alessio, Quiroga and Osvaldo Roscini. Caldara, Esteban Enrique Gilardi and Oscar Castagniaro entered. Pugliese later stated that he chose Caldara for his vigorous personality and capacity to lead the section within the orchestra’s style.^[1][2] Caldara remained with Pugliese for more than ten years, appearing on Radio El Mundo, at dances, on tours and in the studio. He formed a recognised duo with the long-serving Osvaldo Ruggiero. During this decade Pugliese premiered and recorded Caldara’s compositions Patético (1948), Pastoral (1950), Pasional (1951) and Por pecadora (1952).^[1][2][6] Pasional, with lyrics by Mario Soto, became his most widely known work; Alberto Morán recorded it with Pugliese for Odeon on 24 November 1952, establishing it as one of the romantic staples of the repertoire.^[2][7] Caldara expressed his admiration for the maestro in the tribute tango Puglieseando and in a distinctive arrangement of La yumba.^[1][2]

Family pressure concerning Pugliese’s political affiliations led Caldara to leave the orchestra at the end of 1954.^[1] While still with Pugliese he had met the Japanese singer Ranko Fujisawa, wife of Shimpei Hayakawa and associated with the Orquesta Típica Tokyo. She invited him to form an orchestra in Japan. He initially declined; on her second approach he accepted and, in 1955, travelled with his family.^[1][2] In Japan he assembled a group of local musicians after auditions. The orchestra debuted on Radio Tokio and subsequently appeared on Nippon, Binca and NHK radio, on television channel J.O.R.K., and in the theatres Kokusai and Nibiahai, where houses were full. For Odeon he recorded the instrumentals Lorenzo (Agustín Bardi) and Jueves (Udelino Toranzo and Rafael Rossi).^[1][2][5]

Returning to Buenos Aires after a year, Caldara formed his own orchestra, which was active between 1955 and 1960. It debuted on Radio Splendid opening with El irresistible (Lorenzo Logatti).^[1][2] The lineup included pianist Rodolfo Mansilla, double-bassist Norberto Samonta, bandoneonists Alberto Caracciolo, Alfredo Marcucci, Armando Rodríguez, Jacinto Nieves, Elbio Garbuglia, Carlos Niesi, Daniel Lomuto and Ricardo Varela, and violinists César Rilla, Juan Potenza, Norberto Bernasconi, Roberto Gallardo, Armando Cabrera, Alfio Messina, Eduardo Walczak and Fernando Suárez Paz.^[1][2] Early singers were Raúl Ledesma and Carlos Montalvo. On 29 July 1957 the orchestra recorded No ves que nos queremos (Abel Aznar) with Ledesma for RCA Victor.^[3][8] At the end of 1957 Ledesma was replaced by Horacio Dugan, later by Miguel Martino. The group also worked on Radio El Mundo and recorded for Odeon.^[1][2]

In 1960, while retaining his orchestra, Caldara joined the quartet Estrellas de Buenos Aires with violinist Hugo Baralis, pianist Armando Cupo and double-bassist Kicho Díaz. The quartet toured Latin America, appeared on Peruvian television and recorded for Odeon.^[1][2] As the tango market contracted in the early 1960s he associated with singers Ricardo Ruiz and Rodolfo Lesica, recording for Music-Hall. After Ruiz’s departure the combination continued as Caldara–Lesica, producing instrumentals such as Nochero soy, Mi bandoneón y yo (Crecimos juntos) and La yumba, and vocal titles including Confesión, Ríe payaso and Por la vuelta.^[1] He later assembled a larger studio orchestra that included cellist José Federighi and recorded a long-playing disc. In 1966 Lesica left and was replaced by Roberto Echagüe (son of Alberto), who recorded La novia ausente and Madame Ivonne before giving way to Raúl Funes.^[1][2]

Caldara’s compositional output includes the instrumentals Bamba (dedicated to his daughter), Papilino (to his son), Tango 05 (to the Argentine Air Force), Con T de Troilo, Puglieseando, Patriarca, Patético, Pastoral, and collaborative pieces with Luis Stazo (Mi bandoneón y yo, Cuando habla el bandoneón, Bandoneón para vos) and with Daniel Lomuto (Sentido).^[1][2] Vocal works with lyrics by Mario Soto comprise Gorrión de barrio (his first), Muchachita de barrio, Pasional, Por pecadora and Profundamente; other lyrics are by Abel Aznar (No ves que nos queremos), Norberto Samonta (Paternal) and others.^[1][2] In 1963 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease. He continued to work while undergoing treatment for four years and died in Buenos Aires on 24 August 1967, a few days short of his forty-third birthday.^[1][2][4]

Julián Centeya wrote of him that his bandoneon, dominated by his hands, ceased to be an object and acquired the communicative properties of flesh and spirit.^[1] Within the tango of the 1950s and early 1960s Caldara’s arrangements and compositions, especially those shaped inside Pugliese’s orchestra, remain part of the active repertoire.

Early career and apprenticeship

Caldara’s first professional engagement at fourteen with Cieguito Tarantini at Café El Nacional on Corrientes exposed him to the practical demands of the dance hall.^[2][5] Subsequent study with Minotto Di Cicco, Carlos Marcucci and Félix Lipesker, and the short-lived Orquesta Juvenil Buenos Aires that relieved Troilo at Café Germinal, prepared him for the more structured environments of Alberto Pugliese and Emilio Orlando.^[1][2] The military service of 1944 did not interrupt his development; authorised work with Orlando on Radio El Mundo as second bandoneon sharpened the precision later required by Pugliese.^[1]

The Pugliese years

Caldara’s decade with Osvaldo Pugliese (roughly 1945–1954) coincided with the orchestra’s consolidation of its characteristic rhythmic drive and dramatic phrasing.^[1][2] Pugliese selected him after the departure of Alessio, Quiroga and Roscini precisely because of the force of his personality within the bandoneon line.^[1] The partnership with Osvaldo Ruggiero became one of the section’s recognisable features. The four compositions Pugliese recorded—Patético (6 April 1948), Pastoral (1950), Pasional (1951) and Por pecadora (1952)—entered the standard repertoire; Pasional in particular, first associated with Alberto Morán’s 24 November 1952 Odeon recording, became a staple of romantic interpretation.^[2][6][7] Caldara’s own tribute, Puglieseando, and his reading of La yumba articulate the mutual regard that marked the association.^[1]

Japan and the independent orchestra

The invitation from Ranko Fujisawa led to a year (1955) in which Caldara formed a Japanese orchestra that appeared on Radio Tokio, Nippon, Binca, NHK and television, and filled the Kokusai and Nibiahai theatres.^[1][2][5] On return he assembled a large typical orchestra that debuted on Radio Splendid with El irresistible and recorded for RCA Victor and Odeon.^[1][3] The 29 July 1957 session with Raúl Ledesma that produced No ves que nos queremos is among the best-documented early sides of the independent group.^[3][8] Personnel lists from Todo Tango and Wikipedia document the presence of players who would later lead their own ensembles, including Alfredo Marcucci, Daniel Lomuto, Eduardo Walczak and Fernando Suárez Paz.^[1][2]

Later formations and compositions

The Estrellas de Buenos Aires quartet of 1960 (Baralis, Cupo, Kicho Díaz) and the subsequent associations with Ricardo Ruiz and Rodolfo Lesica allowed Caldara to continue recording after the decline of large dance orchestras.^[1][2] His instrumental catalogue—Bamba, Papilino, Con T de Troilo, Mi bandoneón y yo (with Stazo), Sentido (with Lomuto)—and the vocal works written with Mario Soto remain the core of his compositional legacy.^[1][2] The diagnosis of Hodgkin’s disease in 1963 limited further expansion; the four-year struggle ended on 24 August 1967.^[1][4]