Armando Laborde

José Atilio Dattoli was born on 27 April 1922 in the Palermo neighbourhood of Buenos Aires; the birth was registered on the 30th because his father, a butcher, delayed the formalities in order to attend the horse races.^[1][2] He completed primary and secondary schooling and acquired some knowledge of accounting before turning fully to singing.^[1] As a young man he performed with small neighbourhood groups in Palermo and auditioned unsuccessfully for radio programmes with the orchestras of Manuel Buzón, Ricardo Tanturi and Horacio Salgán, among others.^[1][3]

In 1944 the composer Alberto Tavarozzi arranged an audition with Juan D’Arienzo, who needed a replacement for Héctor Mauré. Laborde sang approximately twenty tangos and was chosen over the competing candidate Carlos Bermúdez, largely because of his youth, appearance and lack of prior public recognition.^[1][4] Shortly before a tour to Uruguay he recorded his first two sides for RCA Victor on 26 December 1944: “Magdala” and “Color de cielo”.^[1][2] During the stay at the Hotel Carrasco in Montevideo he began to receive press attention. One evening, asked which orchestra he preferred, he answered “Aníbal Troilo’s”; D’Arienzo reacted sharply and informed him that the only orchestra he liked was D’Arienzo’s.^[1] The artistic name itself originated on the bus ride from the Hotel Carrasco to central Montevideo when D’Arienzo asked the driver his name and the driver replied “Armando Laborde”; the conductor adopted it on the spot for the record labels.^[1][2]

From 1944 onward Laborde shared the vocal duties with Alberto Echagüe and became one of the two emblematic singers of D’Arienzo’s orchestra in the period after 1940.^[1][4] He recorded roughly 145 sides with the orchestra across three principal periods (1944 onward, a return in 1952, and a final stretch from 1964 to 1974).^[1][2][5] Notable titles from the first period include “Con alma de tango” (D’Arienzo–Carlos Waiss), “Desde aquella noche” (Fulvio Salamanca–Carlos Bahr) and “Una y mil noches” (Alberto San Miguel–Orestes Cúfaro–Carlos Bahr).^[1] The 1952 return produced “El vino triste” (D’Arienzo–Manuel Romero); the 1964–1974 period yielded one of his best-known recordings, “Yuyo brujo” (Héctor Varela–Benjamín García–Carlos Waiss).^[1][2] Laborde himself remarked that “Juan used to kill us; at the speed he played there was no throat that could resist.”^[1]

In 1951 he joined the newly re-formed orchestra of Héctor Varela, recording twenty-four sides for the Pampa label alongside Rodolfo Lesica (or Lezica), with pianist César Zagnoli, bandoneonists Antonio Marchese and Alberto San Miguel, and violinists Hugo Baralis and Marco Abramovich.^[1][2][6] Among the Varela titles, “Noches de cabaret” is frequently singled out.^[1] He returned to D’Arienzo in 1952, then in 1957 formed a duo with Alberto Echagüe backed by Alberto Di Paulo’s orchestra, recording four sides.^[1][7] In 1959 he went back to Varela. The final return to D’Arienzo in 1964 lasted until 1974.^[1][2]

In 1966 Laborde appeared in the Argentine musical film Una ventana al éxito, directed by Enrique de Rosas, which also featured Juan D’Arienzo and Osvaldo Ramos among its musical performers.^[2][8] His recording career continued until 1984, when he cut ten sides for Magenta with Alberto Di Paulo’s orchestra; these largely revisited earlier successes, the sole novelty being “Malena”.^[1][2] He died on 12 December 1996 in Buenos Aires of esophageal cancer after twenty days in the Hospital de Gastroenterología and was buried in the Cementerio de la Chacarita.^[2]

Laborde’s voice—well-tuned, of agreeable timbre and capable of projecting over D’Arienzo’s characteristically rapid, driving rhythm—made him a favourite among dancers who preferred the orchestra’s style, even while some observers wondered what he might have achieved with slower, more elaborately arranged ensembles.^[1][4] His long association with D’Arienzo, spanning three decades and more than a hundred recordings, secured him a permanent place in the discography of one of the most influential dance orchestras of the mid-century.^[5]

Joining D’Arienzo and the origin of the stage name

The 1944 audition arranged by Alberto Tavarozzi placed Laborde, then still using temporary names such as Jorge Dalton or Roberto Thames, in competition with Carlos Bermúdez.^[1][2] Selection rested on youth and novelty rather than established reputation.^[1] The first recording session on 26 December 1944, made with little rehearsal time before the Uruguayan tour, produced “Magdala” and “Color de cielo”.^[1] The bus anecdote that supplied the permanent name “Armando Laborde” occurred during the same Montevideo engagement and illustrates the informal manner in which many stage names of the period were settled.^[1][2]

Recordings with D’Arienzo and Varela

The approximately 145 sides with D’Arienzo cover three distinct periods and include both new compositions written for the orchestra and standards adapted to its rhythmic profile.^[1][5] Key examples are “Con alma de tango”, “Desde aquella noche”, “Una y mil noches”, “El vino triste” (1952) and “Yuyo brujo” (1964).^[1][2] The 1951–52 and 1959 associations with Héctor Varela added twenty-four further sides on Pampa, of which “Noches de cabaret” is the most frequently cited.^[1][6] The 1957 duo recordings with Alberto Echagüe and Alberto Di Paulo form a brief but documented interlude between the larger orchestral engagements.^[1][7]

Style and reception

Contemporary and later commentary describes Laborde as a singer of natural gifts, accurate intonation and pleasant timbre who adapted successfully to the extreme tempos of D’Arienzo’s orchestra.^[1][4] The remark that the speed “killed” the singers’ throats is one of the few direct statements attributed to him about the working conditions.^[1] While his success was inseparable from that of the orchestra, some writers have noted that the same vocal qualities might have found a different expression in slower or more elaborately scored ensembles.^[1] His later Magenta sessions of 1984 largely confirmed the durability of the earlier hits rather than introducing a new phase.^[1]

Film, later years and death

The 1966 appearance in Una ventana al éxito placed Laborde, together with D’Arienzo and Osvaldo Ramos, in a commercial musical feature of the period.^[2][8] After the final D’Arienzo period ended in 1974 he continued occasional recording work until the 1984 Magenta sessions.^[1] He died in December 1996 after a short hospitalisation for esophageal cancer and was interred at Chacarita.^[2]