Hugo del Carril

Piero Bruno Hugo Fontana was born on 30 November 1912 in the Flores neighborhood of Buenos Aires, the fourth child of Italian-born architect Ugo Fontana and Orsolina Bertani, daughter of the anarchist intellectual Orsini Bertani. His parents separated when he was two; he later stated that he was abandoned by them and raised by French godparents Alina and Francisco Faure, with whom he lived for a time in France before returning to Buenos Aires around age sixteen.^[9][10] He worked briefly in a soap factory and a glassworks while beginning to sing in neighborhood venues under names such as Pierrot. By 1929 he was taking lessons with soprano Elvira Colonese and appearing on Radio del Pueblo as an estribillista under various pseudonyms (Pierrot, Hugo Font, Carlos Cáceres).^[9]

In the early 1930s he sang in a vocal quartet with Emilio Castaing and the Podestá brothers, then in the Trío París, and later formed the Acuña–Del Carril duo, adopting the stage name Hugo del Carril. Mid-decade he recorded with Edgardo Donato’s orchestra. Director Héctor Quesada brought him to Radio La Nación; in 1936 he cut his first solo sides for Victor with Tito Ribero’s orchestra, beginning a long musical partnership.^[9] Late that year Manuel Romero cast him in Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina, where he sang Canaro and Romero’s “Tiempos viejos.” The brief appearance launched a film career that would eventually encompass more than fifty pictures as actor and, from 1949, as director.^[9][11]

Among the better-known titles of the late 1930s and 1940s are Madreselva, Gente bien, El astro del tango, Vida de Carlos Gardel (in which he portrayed Gardel), La piel de zapa and La cabalgata del circo (1945), the last of which also featured Eva Duarte. In Mexico during the late 1940s he recorded titles such as “Compadrón” and “Che, papusa, oí.” Parallel to the film work he continued to record tango for Odeon and other labels; remembered versions include “Nostalgias,” “Nada más,” “Percal,” “Pobre mi madre querida,” “Al compás del corazón” and “Tres esquinas.”^[9]

Del Carril’s political trajectory moved from radicalism toward Peronism. In 1949, at Juan Domingo Perón’s request, he recorded the Marcha Peronista (“Los muchachos peronistas”), which became the movement’s anthem. After the 1955 Revolución Libertadora he was briefly imprisoned and his films were banned; he spent periods in Mexico. He later directed Las aguas bajan turbias (1952, also known as River of Blood), widely regarded as one of his strongest works, and continued to make films into the 1970s, including Buenas noches, Buenos Aires (1964), in which Julio Sosa appeared. He also founded the directors’ association Directores Argentinos Cinematográficos in 1958.^[9][10]

In later decades he returned to the stage and to television (Tango Club on Canal 11 in 1971) and gave recitals, among them a 57-minute appearance at Caño 14 on 6 March 1980. He received a Konex award in 1985 and was named Ciudadano Ilustre of Buenos Aires in 1986. He died of a heart attack on 13 August 1989.^[9][10] Throughout a career that spanned radio, recording, acting and directing, del Carril remained one of the most visible interpreters of tango in Argentine popular culture, linking the musical tradition to the cinema of the Golden Age and to the political life of the mid-century.

Radio beginnings and early recordings

After lessons with Elvira Colonese, del Carril worked as an estribillista on Radio del Pueblo from 1929 and recorded with Donato in the mid-1930s. The 1936 Victor sessions with Tito Ribero established him as a solo tango voice before the cinema career fully developed.^[9]

Cinema career

The 1936 appearance singing “Tiempos viejos” in Los muchachos de antes no usaban gomina opened a long film career. He played Gardel on screen, starred opposite Libertad Lamarque and Eva Duarte, and from 1949 directed his own projects, most notably Las aguas bajan turbias.^[9][11]

Political engagement and later years

His recording of the Marcha Peronista in 1949 tied him publicly to Peronism. After 1955 he faced imprisonment and exile; he later returned to directing, television and occasional recitals until the 1980s.^[9][10]