LeonelEdmundoRivero

LeonelEdmundoRivero was born on the 8^th June 1911; he died on the 18^th January 1986. He was an argentine tango singer, composer and an impresario.

source of picture: www.elortiba.org

Biography

LeonelEdmundoRivero was born in the southern Buenos Aires suburb of the ValentinAlsina. He joined his father in some of his tours; he got exposed to the lifestyle and the music of the gauchos of the Nuenos Aires region of the country from his childhood days. His maternal great-grandfather called Lionel was a British immigrant who battled against the Pampas tribes in the mid-19^th century and was wounded by a spear.  LeonelEdmundoRivero inherited his blond hair and his first name.

In his childhood days, Rivero’s family relocated to the Belgrano neighborhood, in the days where the tango music of the country developed as a dancing music, though as well as an ever more complex music that is form under the ABC of the composers and the directors of the music, Arolas, Bardi and Cobian.

Rivero learned to play the classic guitar and he also trained as a music singer.

After working as a cover singer in tiny places, Rivero gets his first radio show singing a duet with his sister Eva in the Radio Cultura. He spent the early part of the 1930 alternating the radio work with the dance hall gigs. After singing for the bandleader Jose De Caro in the year 1935, his qualitiesdrew the attention of the band leader’s famous brother called Julio De Caro, who removed him from the orchestra that consisted of the non-traditional musical instrument and was a fixture of the Pueyrredon theatre ballroom that is in Flores. Rivero gained some popularity.

Though he was featured in some movies of the country in the 1930s and in the 1940s, the early part of the 1940s were a period of hardship for him. Even the bandleaders that hired him could not retain him for a long time, he claimed that his deep voice was a handicap at that period.

In the year 1944, Rivero joined HoracioSalgan. His thee year tenure with them left no recordings, but earned him the respect of avant-garde and the jazz music singer. He worked with the singer Carlos Bermudez to make ends meet.

In the year 1947, Rivero was hired by AnibalTroilo, who had a steller run of the recordings with the new hit tracks, most of them in collaboration with the lyrist called HomeroMnzi. At his three years stay with Anibal, he shared the fame with the Floreal Ruiz and Aldo Calderon and recorded 22 tracks including the mega hit called Sur. Having seen fortune and popularity, Rivero left the Troilo in the year 1950 and began a solo career. For the purpose of accompaniment, he alternated between the guitar quartets and a full format of the orchestra for the remaining part of his career. The most famous player of the guitar to follow his was called Roberto Grela.

In the 1960s, Selgan and Rivero had a revenge and recorded many songs together. He also collaborated with other artists in the country. In the year 1966, he showed up in the movie called Buenos Aires, Verano 1912.

By the later part of the 1960s, tango music had become the most rejected music of the country. Many fans of the music rejected the music of Astor Piazzolla and his followers since they players of the music are aging. With the fear of the fall of the tango music, in the year 1969, Rivero opened El Viejo Almacen, a tango club in the san Telmo region of the country. Many visitors to the Buenos Aires enjoyed his hospitality.

Rivero’s place was venue of that tango music and a place where the musicians knew they would be paid and respected after performing. He was an icon of the tango music of Japan. He travelled to japan in the year 1968 and got in touch with the Japanese musicians and dancers of the tango music.

Rivero hosted a TV show in the early part of the 1970s that included the artists from the club like BebaBdart, and also a lively conversation sprinkled with the lunfardo.

Selected recordings

Ø  Sur (perhaps the most popular tango in Argentina)

Ø  El ciruja (an underworld saga sprinkled with heavy doses of lunfardo)

Ø  Amablemente (a sonnet sung as a milonga—the lyrics lead to a dramatic ending)

Ø  Pucherito de gallina

Ø  No teengañescorazón

Ø  Malón de ausencia

Ø  Yotebendigo

Ø  Falsía

Ø  El últimoorganito