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All Music Guide:
The tango was brought to a higher level of sophistication by violinist and composer Francisco Canaro. The leader of one of the first tango groups to perform in aristocratic theaters, he continued to refine the genre, arranging many classic tango pieces for orchestra. Canaro's success was a far cry from his youth. Born in the small town of San Jose de Mayo, Uruguay, his family was so impoverished that he was unable to attend school. Although he moved with his family to Buenos Aires as child, he continued to live in severe poverty. By the age of ten, he was already working, selling newspapers on the streets of Buenos Aires. He later worked as a house painter. The first steps toward a better future came when Canaro was taught a few guitar chords by a neighbor. Inspired by the experience, he built a fiddle, using an oilcan and a wooden fingerboard. Teaching himself to play, he soon mastered the instrument. Performing with a trio, he made his debut in Ranchos, a town on the outskirts of the Argentinian capital city. Soon afterward, he found his first musical collaborator in bandeonist Vicente Greco. Devoting himself to the tango, Canaro joined Greco in a tour during 1908.
Canaro reached the next level of his career, in 1912, composing his first tune, "Pinta Brava," and conducting an orchestra for the first time. He continued to introduce new innovations to the tango tradition, becoming the first tango bandleader to feature a vocalist singing the "estrabillo" (bridge) and a contrabass singer providing harmony. Forming a 32-piece orchestra, Canaro performed at the Teatro Opera of Buenos Aires in 1921. Four years later, he traveled to Paris with a trio featuring vocalists Agustin Irusta and Robert Fugazot, and pianist Lucio Demare. For the next decade, he toured Europe with this group. Returning to the United States, Canaro continued to tour non-stop, establishing a fan base throughout North America. Their many radio appearances further established their standing as a leading tango group. Canaro's greatest disappointment was his lack of success as a movie producer. Although his company, Rio de la Plata Productions, produced 11 films between 1934 and 1950, none became hits. Canaro fought vigilantly for composers' rights throughout his life. In 1935, the SACEM (Argentine Society of Authors and Composers) was established at his estate. Canaro's memoirs were published, under the title Mis 50 Anos con el Tango (My 50 Years With the Tango), in 1956. He succumbed to Paget's disease on November 14, 1964.
Wikipedia:
Francisco Canaro (November 26, 1888 – December 14, 1964) was an Uruguayan-Argentine violinist and tango orchestra leader.
His parents, Italians emigrated to Uruguay, and later - when Francisco Canaro was less than 10 years old, they emigrated to Buenos Aires (Argentina) in the late nineteenth century. Canaro was born in San José de Mayo, Uruguay, in 1888. As a young man and found work in a factory, where an empty oil can would, in his skilled hands, become his first violin. Performing in seedy bars initially, he ultimately forged a career that spanned many decades, and his orchestra was one of the most recorded. His introduction to the tango came by orquesta típica leader Vicente Greco in 1908, and in 1912, he composed Pinta brava (Fierce Look). Canaro composed the music for the 1915 Argentine classic, Nobleza gaucha, and later was romantically attached to Argentine actress and tango vocalist Ada Falcón, but the relationship, which began in the early 1920s, grew apart a decade later.
Canaro was active in the cause of intellectual property rights from 1918 onwards, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Argentine Society of Composers and Songwriters (SADAIC), in 1935, purchasing the downtown Buenos Aires lot where its headquarters were built. He performed in Paris with his orchestra in 1925, and a success among local audiences, he remained in Europe for a decade. Becoming a naturalized Argentine citizen in 1940, much of his recorded music is in the classic salon style of that decade, but he is also considered a member of the old guard, and some of his later recordings contributed to the transition to concert tango.
His orchestra became a fixture on Argentine radio during the 1940s and early '50s, though for many contemporary dancers and listeners, his early golden age recordings remained the best in their genre. Canaro authored his memoirs, Mis 50 años con el tango (My Fifty Years with the Tango) in 1956, but later developed Paget's disease, and was forced to retire. He died in Buenos Aires in 1964.