Galería de Fotos / Photo Gallery Galería de Fotos ... - Tango por si solo

Interview
Continued from page 18
GOOD TASTE AND MUSICALITY TO SING
A vocation that started as a teenager
Anesthesiologist and tango singer
With the help of his wife, he produces his shows
t’s a cold early winter morning, we met
Claudio Di Palma in a corner and he sug- Igests
going to a deserted pizzeria instead of
a crowded coffee shop. There we sit at a table
next to the oven’s wall. “Very soon, they are
going to turn it on and we’ll be a bit hot,” he
says while we order breakfast.
This tall, brown-haired, dark-eyed man
who looks straight at the listener, tells aspects
of his professional and artistic life. His body
is robust, and he appears elegant in a tuxedo
for his shows.
A Physician
“I met Cátulo Castillo at the age of 17 and
I told him that I wanted to be a singer; he
listened to me and told me to go to tanguería
Caño 14 to see Atilio Stampone, but before
that, I needed my father’s consent. I asked
him for it, but he told me that I should first
finish studying, get a degree to secure a future
for myself, and then, I could follow my vocation.
So that’s how I went on studying until I
graduated as a doctor. Currently, I’m an anesthesiologist.”
“When I started to practice medicine 40
years ago, saying that I sang tango would have
meant having some colleagues not even talk
to me anymore. I had a partner, a gynecologist,
who used to play in a very popular jazz
band, and he never mentioned this activity
in the medical environment; once, a patient
asked him ‘Aren’t you the one who was on
TV yesterday playing in a jazz band?’, ‘No,
madam! It’s somebody who resembles me
very much because I’ve already been asked
this question!’ He answered this way so the
woman should think ‘How good a doctor can
this man who plays the sax be?’ Nowadays,
this doesn’t happen.”
An Evident Vocation
“A decade ago, I started singing in public.
My mouth would get dry so I tried to have
a small audience to avoid feeling embarrassed. Only after
years of practice, did I start enjoying it, and I began to feel
the incomparable sensation that is a singer’s reward from
the audience. The strong and firm applause, not a mild one,
is priceless. And now doesn’t your mouth get dry anymore?
–he asks the question and he answers to himself– It does,
but only during the first song.”
“In the beginning, I used to go wherever I was invited; I
left one place and went to another. The tango environment
at night is very nice and that’s how I met many famous
people, who are my friends today. But that wasn’t the best
rhythm for my life, I needed to rest to resume my regular
work. So, with the help of my wife, María Ester, we started
to produce shows in different places (Almatango, La Casona
del Teatro, Afiche, Radio Palermo’s Resto-Bar and, at present,
at Bethania Resto-Bar.) In this way, I managed to
continue with the activity at a convenient schedule, with an
organized show, which is presented with Dr. Oscar Reyes
–folklore singer-, the couple of dancers Ana and Alberto
Tonon and the musicians Alberto Becerra and Leandro de
Rosas (guitars) and Santiago Gil (bandonion.)”
There is one way of singing tango
“Once, I was rehearsing with Ángel Sanzó in the basement
rooms of Las Palmas coffee shop, at the corner of Sarmiento
and Paraná Sts. I had finished my singing class with him and
he asked me to stay. A tenor from the Colón Theater who
had scheduled a tour around Europe was coming, and as he
knew that, being an Argentinean, he would surely be asked
to sing a tango, he wanted to learn how to do so. Angelito
thought that one way of learning was listening to how I
sang; I want to say that this made me very happy. If Angelito
picked me, even without having a lyrical singer’s skills,
it was because I had managed to sing tango in a way
which was in line with the genre. And that’s true, in
addition to vocal qualities, which are always good to
have, each musical genre has its own style.”
Recordings
He has released two CD’s: “RP./Claudio Di Palma”
and “…How Many Nights.”
His first record review published in this magazine
pointed out, “CLAUDIO DI PALMA undertakes a
repertoire of classic songs and gives them his personal
accent. He deals with a difficult area because
there will surely be comparisons, but he acquits
himself well because he has some qualities that make
him different from the other singers.”
On “…How Many Nights” we wrote, “(He) displays
perceivable expressive nuances through the story he
tells in each tango. For his perfect performance, he
has good vocal resources which enable him to properly
dramatize and communicate the tanguera poetry.”
“He has an evocative style typical of an adult man
whose way of singing, minute by minute, becomes
a melancholic and sad recitative style. And the lines
are expressed with all the inflexions needed to convey
emotions and feelings.”
Internet and youth
He’s not indifferent to technological developments
which inevitably mark a difference with old times.
“Today, there’s a phenomenon called the Internet,
this tool enables anyone with musical skills, interested
in music, and who wants to know the tango
world to do so faster than imagined in the past. On
the internet, they can listen to the songs they want,
while in the past, they had to wait for the radio
broadcast of a collector, because sometimes, it was
not even possible to get the songs in the record
shops. I can see that some young people are very
well informed and that they are starting to develop a
passionate interest in tango; I think that this is where
the revival of the genre in our culture will come
from, as it is already the case.”
Claudio Di Palma’s next shows will take place at
Bethania Resto-Bar, 3500 Corrientes Av., phone 48
62-08 88, on July 23, August 27, September 24, October
22 and November 26, at 9 p.m., together with the
artists that accompany him.
City’s Legislature
Continued from page 41
Tribute to Luis Zorz
Maestro fileteador Luis Zorz was recognized for
his works on this porteño art. The City’s Legislature
discussed on June 2 a bill submitted
by Deputy Raúl Puy. It was mentioned that his
fileteadas metal sheets can be seen through
all the town. He is the painter, among others,
of the fileteados at Café Tortoni and at
Homero Manzi’s Corner; his works are at the
Americas Museum in Madrid (Spain) and at the
City of Buenos Aires Museum.
The diploma that accredits him as Outstanding
Personality of the Culture (Law 3814) was
given to him on July 20 at “The Tunnel” Art
Gallery.
100 Years
Nelly Omar’s Birthday Party
Continued from page 15
This unique and outstanding singer, songwriter
and actress will celebrate her 100º
birthday party on September 10. She was
baptized Nilda Elvira Vattuone. She revealed
her vocation for singing since she was a
child. She performed in Buenos Aires, shortly
after arriving from her hometown Guaminí
(province of Buenos Aires), at age 13. In the
1930s she performed singing native songs
with her sister Nelida, while she sang tangos
as a soloist. She was called “The Gardel with
Skirts.” She participated in radio programs
and toured the provinces for years. She was
an actress in films Song of Love (1940) and
Melodies of America (1942), and had a participation
in the documentary Café de los
Maestros (2008). She had a long lasting and
controversial affair with Homero Manzi, until
his death in 1951. After the coup d’etat
against the government of Perón in 1955
(Liberating Revolution) she was banned from
radio and television media because of her
adherence to the Peronista cause. She went
into exile to Uruguay and then to Venezuela,
and returned to Argentina the next decade.
Since then she has been performing on stage
and on television until very recently –Nelly
Omar gave a recital at Luna Park Stadium in
2009. She was declared Illustrious Citizen of
Buenos Aires City in 1996.
54 B.A.TANGO
B.A.TANGO
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