The Kings of Tango: Francisco Lomuto

The Kings of Tango: Francisco Lomuto

An interview with the composer Francisco J. Lomuto, the composer of “Muñequita”, “Nunca Más”, and “Pa que te Acordés” [Conducted by Ernesto E. de la Fuente, Buenos Aires, 1928]

As we reach the home of Francisco J. Lomuto, the popular composer, we realize that we have arrived a little before the agreed time. He has promised to let us hear some of his latest musical productions, namely three tangos that have not been named yet.

As we reach the home of Francisco J. Lomuto, the popular composer, we realize that we have arrived a little before the agreed time. He has promised to let us hear some of his latest musical productions, namely three tangos that have not been named yet.

A pair of beautiful pomeranians, having received us at first with growls, now appear to be willing to partake in friendship by cuddling up to us, yet not without taking certain precautions.

A noisy breaking, a stopping car, and the author of “Muñequita” steps out of his car.

Lomuto is a devotee of velocity. He affirms that his greatest pleasure is not just to speed, but to fly through those streets of God on which Man had the bad idea of placing traffic officers.

—”Is there anything more unnecessary than those coppers who want to coerce us into traveling by car as if in a carriage being pulled by an old hack.”

—“Safety comes first!”, say some posters displayed here and there and, up to a certain point, we agree with them...

—“Why, then, do they allow the sales of cars?... The streets should be as free as my keyboard, on which my fingers perform fancywork without having to fear that someone commands them to stop...”

Francisco Lomuto

Lomuto lives quietly and apparently without many worries. He is perhaps another one of those musicians who have gained celebrity and money.

He lives in a beautiful, recently built house in company of his mother who, when he was young, compelled him to study music in spite of his own completely contrary predilections.

Among his piano, a mountain of pieces, and his inspiration: there he is at ease and expects to work a lot, because he is young, has energy, and flows over with enthusiasm.

—“Many things in preparation?...”

—“A few tangos that are almost finished, but I have to polish them a little more.”

—“Do you think they will be successful?”

—“In fact, I do; and leaving all modesty aside, I believe they will be to the liking of the audience because their melodies seem to me in no way ordinary but rather pleasant...”

Without saying more—and while the valet is placing a flask containing liqueur and multicolored glasses on a table—he starts playing the first notes of his latest tango: on that piano which he still keeps like a pleasant memory of his early times of incertitude and struggle.

It is a subtle harmony, a country tango, full of pleasant melodies and uncommon variations, with which the composer wanted to step away a bit from the commonplaces of the música típica that almost always cast it with the same molds.

Lomuto and his pomeranians

After having performed two more, equally pleasant tangos, in which Lomuto tried to escape the usual themes:

—“I still have not given them titles,” he tells us. “I have presently so many things on my hand that I almost cannot give my music the attention it deserves...”

Indeed, as it happens to popular composers and performers, Lomuto has to set aside many hours of the week for making records—a task that requires a greater dedication than the public thinks.

—“Which of your tangos had the greatest success?”

Our interlocutor ponders briefly and then responds:

—“There are many, but to be remembered as such are two or three of them. I could name 'La Rezongona', 'Muñequita', and 'Nunca Más', which have attained decisive success. Now, some time ago, I published 'A Toda Vela' that was liked very much.”

—“Have you not made compositions of other types?”

—“Some. For example, the dance numbers 'More more', a one-step that became popular quite unexpectedly; the same as the foxtrot 'Hay que aprender a bailar' and 'Rosicler', a waltz that I wrote almost haphazardly and was well liked.”

As the author of “Muñequita” is, in fact, one of the few composers of the country that have not yet gone on a “tournée” of the Old World, we question him in this respect.

—“I have not gone away from Buenos Aires,” he tells us, “because, to say the truth, I have not had the time to do so. I have always been the slave of unavoidable tasks that have tied me to this city, which I love with such immense affection...”

—“But do you have the intention to follow, at least, the unavoidable path to Paris?”

—“Perhaps I will do it next year. Although I must tell you that I sent a brother of mine to the 'City of Light', who has had the most favorable success with his orquesta típica.

Lomuto as well has savored the delight of immediate triumph with several of his compositions. At the tango competitions at the Gran Splendid, he met with sensational approval by the audience, which had to give its verdict on some tangos and letting 'Pa que te Acordés' prevail among others. This tango achieved an enormous dissemination.

Advertisement with the winners of the first Disco Nacional tango competition

Nevertheless, the tireless composer feels that something is missing in his life. He yearns for even greater triumphs and has faith in the sense that he must fulfill his intentions.

Therefore, when he remembers his first tango, published almost unnoticed more than 15 years ago, and the applause it reaped later, he cannot help but get emotional.

And then, sitting at the piano, he lets us hear the chords of “Muñequita”, that tango which resonated from one end of the country to the other.

¿Dónde estará
Mi amor, que no puedo hallarlo?
Yo no hago más que buscarlo
porque sin él ya no es vida.
Probé la fruta prohibida.
Probé el encanto de amarlo.
¿Dónde estará
Mi amor, que no puedo hallarlo?

And, as if to stifle his emotion, he pours down the glass of liqueur that has been waiting for its turn up to now on the silver tray.

Remarks

Francisco Lomuto (1893-1950) was the oldest of 10 children. His father was a violinist, and Francisco learned to play the piano from his mother. Three of his brothers also became musicians.

Early in his career, he worked at the music and phonograph store Casa Tagini and played music scores on the piano for prospective customers. (Casa Tagini was the largest store of this kind in Buenos Aires until Max Glücksmann took over Casa Lepage and expanded into the music business.) He composed his first tango, “El 606”, at age 13 in 1906. “Muñequita”, composed in 1918 and recorded by Roberto Firpo, was his first great success.

Lomuto formed his own orchestra in 1923 and started recording for Max Glücksmann's Odeon Disco Nacional in 1924. Together with Francisco Canaro and Roberto Firpo, his was among the most successful orchestras of the record label.

His tango “Pa que te Acordés” won the second prize of Disco Nacional's first tango competition in 1924, four years before this interview was conducted. (“Sentimiento gaucho” by Francisco and Rafael Canaro to a text by Juan Andrés Caruso took first place.) For the competitions of 1925 and 1927, Lomuto provided the performing orchestra, and his tango “De buena fe” won 6th prize in 1926.

Lomuto never performed in Paris, but visited Spain in 1947. His younger brother Victor went to Paris in 1921 (thus, more likely on his own accord than being 'sent' by his brother) and spend many years in Europe. He played in the orchestras of Manuel Pizarro and Bianco-Bachicha, among others, in Paris and toured with his own group throughout Europe. None of the other brothers of Francisco Lomuto appear to have worked in Paris.



Translation by Wolfgang Freis. ©2017. All rights reserved.