Roberto Maida

Roberto Maida, whose real name was Domenico Maida, was born in Francica, in the province of Vibo Valentia, Italy. Sources disagree on the year: Todo Tango and most reference works give 3 March 1908, while the Spanish Wikipedia states 3 March 1906.^[1][2][3] He arrived in Argentina with his family in 1909 and settled in the Balvanera neighbourhood of Buenos Aires, near the Mercado Spinetto.^[1][4] As a boy he looked after the horses that pulled the carts of the Cairolo outfit while their drivers ate in the nearby fondas; it was in the back room of one such establishment, the restaurant Damato on Matheu and Victoria, that he began to sing at informal tango gatherings organised by the owner’s sons and their friends.^[1]

A singing teacher named Ralbis heard him and arranged an engagement in the intervals at the 2º Coliseo cinema on Bernardo de Irigoyen and Venezuela, accompanied by piano, violin and drums.^[1] The cinema owners, José and Antonio Galvano, enlarged a photograph of the young singer and placed it in the foyer. He was later taken to the Astral cinema by the Lococo circuit, where he appeared with Armando Baliotti, Miguel Caló, Raúl Kaplún and the fifteen-year-old pianist René Cóspito.^[1][4] In 1925 he made his professional debut as a singer with Miguel Caló’s orchestra.^[1][5]

In 1928 he travelled to Spain as vocalist with the orchestra of Cátulo Castillo, accompanied by Miguel Caló, Alberto Cima and the Malerba brothers; the tour lasted until 1930 and produced several Odeon recordings.^[1][4] While in Barcelona that year he met Carlos Gardel for the first time.^[6] Back in Buenos Aires in 1930 he premiered the tango “Te odio” (music by Francisco Pracánico, lyrics by Celedonio Flores) in a revue at the Teatro Sarmiento and recorded it, together with other titles, for Columbia with the guitars of Iglesias, Besada and Arrieta; he also made sides with Alberto Castellanos.^[1][4]

Later in 1930 or early 1931 he returned to Europe with the revue company of Bayón Herrera and Manuel Romero. In Spain he joined Bachicha Deambroggio’s orchestra and then moved to Manuel Pizarro’s group in Paris.^[1][6] In 1931 he spent about six weeks at Maxim’s in Lisbon, including the carnival season, with the Malerba brothers.^[1] After the death of Carlos Malerba in Bilbao he travelled to Paris, where he again encountered Gardel, who was living nearby on Rue Levi (or Le Ville) 27 and who later recorded Maida’s tango “Aquellas cartas” (music by Juan Andrés Ghirlanda) in Barcelona in 1932.^[1][6][7] Maida subsequently sang with Eduardo Bianco in Hamburg, Cologne, Munich and Berlin, then returned to Paris before securing a seven-month engagement at the Savoy Hotel in London with Pizarro’s orchestra.^[1] There he again met the Prince of Wales, who occasionally played a few chords of “Buen amigo” on a bandoneon. The European chapter ended in mid-1933.^[1][4]

On his return Samuel Yankelevich engaged him for a year at Radio Belgrano with guitar accompaniment.^[1] Yankelevich then recommended him to Francisco Canaro, with whom Maida had already made a successful test recording in 1930 of the tango “Titiriteros” and the vals “A lo lejos”.^[1][4] The formal association began in November 1934. Their first full session took place on 20 March 1935 and included “Alma de bandoneón”, “Cambalache”, “No hay que hacerse mala sangre” and the ranchera “Viva el casorio”.^[1][8] Over the next five years Maida recorded approximately two hundred sides with Canaro, among them “Poema”, “Noches de Buenos Aires”, “Milonga criolla”, “Casas viejas” and many others that remain staples of the dance repertoire.^[1][9][10] The verbal agreement had been for six years, but Maida left in 1939 when Canaro engaged Ernesto Famá and Francisco Amor, a departure attributed to professional jealousy.^[1][4]

In 1940 Maida formed his own orchestra with bandoneonists Héctor Artola, Máximo Mori and Tití Rossi, violinists Antonio Rodio, Cervo and Mario Núñez, pianist Cimarro (or José Juan Simarro), double-bass Francisco De Lorenzo, and arrangements and direction by Argentino Galván. The group debuted on Radio Belgrano and also appeared at Radio Sarmiento and the boîte Ocean.^[1][4] In 1942 he joined Antonio Sureda’s orchestra. Later he continued occasional work as a singer and as a lyricist; SADAIC lists forty-one registered works, among them “Aquellas cartas”, “Aquellas locuras” and others.^[2][7] In 1968 he left artistic activity to become intendant of Radio Belgrano. He died in Buenos Aires on 30 March 1993.^[2][4]

Maida’s voice, clear and well-suited to Canaro’s characteristic rhythm and orchestration, helped define a substantial portion of the orchestra’s mid-1930s recorded output. Titles such as “Poema”, “Alma de bandoneón” and “Cambalache” continue to be programmed at milongas, particularly outside Buenos Aires, and his European experience placed him among the singers who carried tango to continental stages before the Second World War.^[9][10]

Early life and first professional steps

The family’s arrival in Balvanera in 1909 placed the young Domenico in an environment of working-class tango culture centred on the Mercado Spinetto and its surrounding fondas.^[1][4] Informal singing in the back rooms of restaurants led to paid cinema work at the 2º Coliseo and later the Astral, where he shared the bill with future colleagues such as Miguel Caló and Raúl Kaplún.^[1] The 1925 engagement with Caló marked the transition to regular professional orchestral work and prepared the way for the Spanish tour of 1928–1930.^[1][5]

European years and return

The period from 1928 to mid-1933 took Maida through Spain with Cátulo Castillo, Portugal (Maxim’s in Lisbon during the 1931 carnival), Paris with Manuel Pizarro, Germany with Eduardo Bianco, and London with the Savoy Hotel engagement.^[1][6] Encounters with Gardel in Barcelona and later in Paris resulted in the recording of “Aquellas cartas”.^[6][7] The experience of working with several leading European-based tango ensembles gave him a broader stylistic range than many of his contemporaries who remained in Buenos Aires throughout the decade.^[1]

The Canaro collaboration

From November 1934 until 1939 Maida was one of Canaro’s principal vocalists, recording roughly two hundred sides that include both newly composed works and established titles.^[1][4] The 20 March 1935 session that produced “Alma de bandoneón”, “Cambalache” and “No hay que hacerse mala sangre” is frequently cited as the formal beginning of their recorded partnership.^[1][8] The collaboration also included participation in the 1936 musical comedy “La patria del tango”.^[4] The decision to leave when Famá and Francisco Amor joined the orchestra ended one of the most prolific singer-orchestra pairings of the 1930s.^[1]

Later career and compositions

The 1940 orchestra directed by Argentino Galván represented an attempt to establish an independent presence after the Canaro years; it performed on radio and in night clubs and attracted attention from other musicians of the period.^[1][4] As a lyricist Maida contributed a modest but documented body of work, the best-known of which remains “Aquellas cartas”, recorded by Gardel.^[2][7] His later administrative role at Radio Belgrano closed a career that had spanned cinema intervals, European tours, major orchestral recording and composition.